On Baltimore Street in Gettysburg, in a compact studio that hums with the quiet energy of craft, Body and Soul Silversmith is introducing something both intimate and extraordinary. The shop’s new Touched™ collection transforms a loved one’s actual fingerprint into a fine-silver pendant, preserving a moment of human connection in metal meant to last generations.
The Touched™ pendants, an extension of the shop’s bracelets, reflection charms, earrings, necklaces, and rings, are the latest creations of Marcia Brasini, a classically trained silversmith and gemologist, and her husband Fred, a photographer who documents the studio’s work. Together, they run the shop as both a gallery and a working laboratory of bespoke old-world techniques.
Creating a Touched™ pendant begins not at a workbench, but in a quiet room where Brasini studies a customer’s fingertips. “Every finger is different,” she explained. “Some ridges are delicate, some very shallow. You have one chance to get it right.”
To capture the print, Brasini uses a special wax formula she developed through extensive experimentation. It must be soft enough to record the tiny ridges of a fingerprint, but strong enough to survive the heat and pressure involved in metal casting.
Once the wax is warmed to the precise temperature, the customer presses gently into its surface. If the impression is strong and clear, Brasini begins the next phase: attaching the wax print to a small casting “tree,” a structure that allows several pieces to be cast at once.
The tree is placed into a metal cylinder and surrounded with casting powder, a plaster-like material used in jewelry making. The mixture must be stirred, vacuumed to remove air bubbles, poured with perfect timing, and left to harden for up to eight hours. If any step is off by even a moment, the final casting may fail.
After the investment cures, the cylinder is placed into a kiln where the wax melts out—a stage known as “lost-wax casting.” The kiln cycle is long, slow, and exacting. Temperatures rise in stages to avoid cracking the mold, and Brasini monitors the process closely. “You’re babysitting it,” she said. “It’s alive in there.”
When the mold is finally ready, it is transferred to a vacuum casting furnace where the molten silver is heated with a torch until it becomes a bright, fluid pool, then drawn into the mold. The metal fills every line left by the fingerprint—even details too small for the eye to detect.
After cooling, the investment is broken apart by hand. Only then does the silver charm emerge, coated in white residue and still bearing the roughness of the casting process. Brasini cleans, shapes, polishes, and finishes each piece herself, often engraving initials or dates on the back.
From fingerprint to final polishing, a single charm can require more than two full days of work.
Brasini trained in South America, studying a range of visual arts before specializing in silversmithing and later gemology. For nearly 20 years, she operated a studio in New Oxford, creating sculptural silver and gemstone jewelry before moving to Gettysburg when her Baltimore Street space became available.
Fred’s photography supports the business visually, but he also serves as the shop’s steady presence—helping customers, documenting new work, and supporting the creative flow of the studio.
Together, they have built a reputation for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind pieces, including a line of Gettysburg-themed charms depicting the drummer boy, messenger, witness tree, and bucktail hat. Each one is carved in wax before being cast in silver.
The idea for Touched™ grew from a longtime customer who suffered a stroke and could no longer fasten traditional earrings. Brasini designed a one-handed earring for her. Later, when the woman was undergoing cancer treatment, her daughter returned asking for a piece engraved with her mother’s signature. That emotional request, Brasini said, “made me realize how much people want to hold onto touch.”
Visitors to the shop often meet Sage, the couple’s good-natured dog who guards the doorway but mostly naps. Brasini works both in the retail space and in the back studio, where the kilns and casting equipment operate with the rhythm of a small laboratory.
The studio is open Thursday through Saturday, with custom appointments available throughout the week. As the holiday season approaches, Brasini expects the Touched™ line to resonate with families seeking meaningful gifts that preserve presence in a tangible, lasting way.
