The story of Pididdly Links Jewelry began in the summer of 1961, when Elise was 13 and she met her future husband at summer camp. The best of friends, it was four years before they began dating.

What led them to creating this homegrown business was two dreams they shared.  One was to live in the country and the other was to own their own business.  Although they didn’t know it at the time, they were going to found a very successful jewelry business called Pididly Links.

Elise was working in New York and on the side, she was making intricate love beads. The day that changed everything was the day she went to a jewelry findings store up the street from where she worked and spent $10 for stampings, filigrees, and beads. She went home, took the pieces and created earrings and began to wear them.

People literally were offering to buy her jewelry…right off her ears. Married in 1969, Steve and Elise went cross country camping and again, she sold more earrings.  Upon their return she became more serious about creating jewelry. And thus it began...

Not being a sales person and being shy and unsure of herself, Elise found herself going to stores in New York City. Her opening line was often, “You don’t want to buy any jewelry, do you?”. Often the response to that was, “Yeah, we would like to.”

Elise managed to get some accounts and then Steve jumped in full-time, quitting his job at the record store. He landed some major accounts for them. He managed to land Canadian Fur, which had 200 stores. Elise was amazed.

It was at this point in Brooklyn, New York, in their bedroom apartment, (1969) that they began to gear up and make jewelry.  Steve continued to sell. They would sometimes go to 6th Ave and A street in the village where people would set up on the street and sell. Little by little they were landing accounts.

It was about this time that the pair met a woman who had a store on St. Mark’s Place called Queen of Hearts and she made antique production jewelry.  She was going out of business.  She taught them her process of antiquing. It was not a plating but an oxidation using sulphur and lye.  It would be cooked and it would turn the brass parts black. The parts would then be polished leaving an antique finish.  She was crucial in giving Pididdly Links their identifiable finish. Steven and Elise bought much of her unused stock and materials.

In the early 70s they were using brass stampings, most of which came from Providence, Rhode Island. There were a number of companies that made die cut stampings. Some of these companies had been in business for 100 years and had catalogs of stampings to purchase. The beauty of it was that even though the stampings were new, they were made from old original patterns.

Besides using stampings the other integral part was the glass. For years they advertised in trade magazines for old glass and often found themselves in musty basements going through boxes. For the two of them, it was a treasure hunt. They specifically searched for Czech glass from before the second World War.

Elise would go through sample books of available stamping and order sample lots. She would then arrange stampings and glass on a large board and would physically put things together until the perfect design was created. Even though Elise is an accomplished artist, she never sketched her designs. For her, putting pieces together and laying them out is what created the magic.

In cases where old glass was used for a design and the design did very well, they would run out of the bead. They had these old Czech glass beads reproduced in Germany. Although most people could not tell the difference between and the old and new glass, it was impossible to reproduce the handwork of the original Czech glass.

Steve met Zak Holland, the man that would become their first rep while out selling. Zak saw the line of jewelry and his response to it was 'I have to have it'.

In year? Steve and Elise moved up to Ellenville, New York. Using Elise's words, "It was like tobacco row. The house was rough." At that point they had a couple of rooms devoted to manufacturing jewelry with a couple of employees.

From there Pididdly Links was moved once again to Lake Katrine. The year was 1971, and Steve and Elise bought a big house in the Catskill Mountains. It was in what people called a Bungalow Colony. It consisted of 3 apartments and a bungalow in the back. The Bungalow housed Pididdly Links. They had eight people stuffed into that little bungalow, making jewelry.

In about 1974, a rep from one of the stamping companies wanted to come make a sales call.  He later told them that when he saw the building that housed their business, he almost died. It was not what he expected to see.

For the Pittelman's though, it was exactly right at the time. They both were kind of 'seat of the pant's kind of people. They didn't operate like a corporation and both wanted the compny to grow but they didn't want to push it. To them, "If it felt right, we did it."

It was 1977, when the business finally seperated from the family home. The new home for Pididdly Links was Kingston. They purchased the building and continued to grow.

The 1980's (year) came and Pididdly Links had taken off and for the first time Steve and Elise made the decision to 'go big'. So, instead of letting the company grow organically like they had always done in the past, they put in place plans to expand and shoot for the moon.

It was at about this time (year) that competition began to flow into the United States from the Far East. All of a sudden it seemed that there were more people competing for the same pie and the pieces were getting smaller across the board. The way that Pididdly Links had always done business, was disappearing in a changing world.

Although Pididdly Links did sell to large chains, their bread and butter clients were gift shops and small boutiques. Larger store chains with lower pricing moved many businesses to close. There was also a change in the attitude towards jewelry and no longer was it the linchpin of the fashion industry. Sales went down.

By 1990, with a huge mortgage and decreasing sales, Steve and Elise found themselves putting more and more money back into the company. As it turns out, that decision to 'go big' was ill-timed and by 1996, they were done.

Pididdly Links was sold to two employees. The name was changed to Pididdly Links II but within 3 years they had gone out of business.

Elise Pittelman spends her time creating in upstate New York. As a painter, songwriter, and jewelry designer, she continues to create beauty all around her. Note: Elise has/had no connection with Jeweled Creations or any other jewelry firm. She creates jewelry for her own pleasure. Her jewelry is available for purchase.

Steve Pittelman has pursued a successful career in financial planning.