Tag Archives: jewelry

This week’s Etsy find repurposes and refurbishes watches of all kinds into some very stunning pieces of jewelry.  The seller — A Second Time — has a wide variety of pieces including necklaces, cufflinks, earrings, brooches and tie tacks as well as a selection of watches available for sale.  The pieces of watches that are used in her pieces include the watch face itself, the bezel, the gears and springs inside of the watch.  Pretty much any piece of the watch itself may be found in one of her artistic creations of extremely wearable jewelry for men and women.  I really love how recognizable some of the pieces are as former time pieces.  This kind of repurposing is great because it’s like being a walking ad for eco-friendly living.  Everyone sees what the item used to be — this can lead to a conversation starter or even an inspiration for greener living.

When selecting which pieces of the clock will be used, the artistian ensures that the piece is no longer viable for use as it’s intended purpose.  This ensures that only pieces of watches that are “useless” are used to make the jewelry out of.  If the watch is salvageable, it’s repaired and available for sale at her shop as well!  This kind of fix or use policy really makes sure that the time pieces are kept out of the garbage and reused in one way or another.  There’s a wide variety of styles of pieces available for sale in her shop.  Go and check it out!!

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This week’s “Hump Day” find is repurposed zippers.  Lots and lots of zippers!  Etsy artisan Amalia Versaci definitely has a love of all things zipper-y and it shows in her work.  She uses every bit of the zipper — the pull, the metal teeth and the banding that holds the metal teeth together.  She finds vintage zippers — sometimes as old as the 1930′s! — and creates unique and fabulous work out of them.  Lucky for us, she also sells it on Etsy!

I’ve never seen jewelry quite like these pieces that are somehow reminiscent of the 80′s to me.  Retro 80′s styling is definitely “in” again.  The bold, bright colors of the zipper pulls on the necklace especially harken back to days of my youth.  I love how these earrings and necklace don’t try to hide their previous use.  Instead, the artist embraces it’s past use and makes that the main feature of the piece itself!  Anyone who looked even remotely closely at the jewelry who recognize it immediately.  One common, everyday item turned into a beautiful accessory.

These pieces are also quite affordable as well with the earrings being $14 plus shipping and the necklaces being $36 plus shipping, both in USD.  She’s got a huge range of other jewelry available for your perusal on her site as well — zipper tape earrings and necklaces, earrings and necklaces of pull tabs of every color and design imaginable as well as a variety of bracelets.  She ships to Canada, the US and everywhere else with really pretty reasonable shipping rates as well.  But if you think that jewelry could be the only use for these upcycled zippers, think again!  She also makes some really fantastic jars that are covered in zippers that require more than a passing glance to realize what it’s made with.

There’s also some fun and colorful magnets which could be used in the office or in the home to hold up the odd bits and pieces of notes, photos or whatever that must be remembered.  I’d definitely recommend stopping by her Etsy store or gallery site to check out the huge range of items that she has available for purchasing.  You could really make some of your loved ones Christmas’ a little green-er with her amazing pieces or add some fun flair to your own wardrobe or decor.

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Love her or hate her, Barbie is an instantly recognizable pop culture icon — even if it’s just a tiny piece of her!  Artist and designer Margaux Lange has found a way to upcycle various pieces of Barbie’s (and Ken’s) anatomy into a stunning array of jewelery.  This sexy bracelet is just one example of how these pieces of plastic can become eye catching accessories.

This brooch ingeniously uses the profile of Barbie’s face to form a flower shape.  Margaux has found a way to use every imaginable part from the Mattel dolls — yes, even Ken’s bulge is present on some pieces.  She also takes custom orders at her Etsy shop.  Many of her designs are one of a kind pieces that are sure to be conversation starters.  You can tell everyone you run into how important it is to reuse items.  Margaux says:
“I take pleasure in the contradiction of transforming mass-produced objects into unique, and distinctly handmade, wearable artworks. In my Plastic Body Series jewelry work, I am re-purposing salvaged Barbie dolls as the accessory instead of being accessorized.”

These dismembered hands make for a very interesting hinged bracelet.  The rings add a pop of color to this racially harmonious accessory.  And there certainly should be many hands from which to choose.  On the Barbie press page, they proudly proclaim that enough Barbie dolls have been produced since their first one in 1959 to circle the globe 7 times!  Just think of all the wasted plastic, oil and resources that have gone into making these dolls.  I wonder how many of them are just sitting in landfills.

The artist’s pieces range from innocent and cute to downright raunchy so there is sure to be something that appeals to everyone.  Even though Barbie has just turned 50, she still has an impressive following.  90% of American girls aged 3-6 own at least one Barbie with the average number of dolls owned by this group being 12.  The dolls are available in over 150 countries and another two dolls are sold every second.  Every second of every day of every week.  That adds up to 1,209,600 dolls sold every week!  It’s no wonder that that Barbie has made Mattel one of the largest manufacturer’s of apparel in the world.  They’ve used over 105 million yards of fabric to make her tiny outfits.
I’m sure that more than a few of these have ended up in the world’s landfills once the girls who play with them grow older and grow out of them.  Buying and wearing Margaux’s jewelry is a great way to get at least some of the unused plastic out of the trash pile and put it back in the treasure pile.

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