Somewhither's Awesome Shit
In other news, café mom brought me a tub of junk jewelery to upcycle. Obviously I'm going to make her some more earrings.
Café Mom gave me a tub full of junk jewelry to upcycle, so I made some earrings for her.
I had a great day. Got a bunch of unpacking done. Completed a bunch of chores, but they don't feel like chores. They feel like a gift to my future self.
I even got some of my studio unpacked, which wasn't on my agenda for today at all. But I couldn't find my jewelery making tools so I ended up doing a bunch of unpacking just to dig them out.
I feel very satisfied by today. I'll sleep well tonight.
I even got some of my studio unpacked, which wasn't on my agenda for today at all. But I couldn't find my jewelery making tools so I ended up doing a bunch of unpacking just to dig them out.
I feel very satisfied by today. I'll sleep well tonight.
Somewhither's Awesome Shit
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8r3XQ42/
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for wooden bowls.
When I was a child my grandmother had a Sunday tradition. She would serve a big lunch after church, and then because lunch was so dense she wouldn't make dinner.
Instead she would make popcorn on the stove, lightly sprinkled with salt, and we would eat it out of wooden bowls in front of the TV. It was the only time we were allowed to eat in front of the TV at her house.
When I was a child my grandmother had a Sunday tradition. She would serve a big lunch after church, and then because lunch was so dense she wouldn't make dinner.
Instead she would make popcorn on the stove, lightly sprinkled with salt, and we would eat it out of wooden bowls in front of the TV. It was the only time we were allowed to eat in front of the TV at her house.
Somewhither's Awesome Shit
Café Mom gave me a tub full of junk jewelry to upcycle, so I made some earrings for her.
14 karat gold in the tub of junk! Score!
I think café mom said she got the junk jewelry at a thrift store. Probably one of those jewelery jars that's so popular right now. There are whole accounts on TikTok just dedicated to buying the jars and opening them on camera.
I've only ever bought one jar, because it was at a price I could tolerate. The prices on those jars these days is nuts. Sure, you might find some things in it you want to wear or use, but there's also a lot of junk. Occasionally you can find precious metals or designer jewelry that's worth some money, but it's rare, and buying the jars hoping for that outcome is basically gambling as far as I'm concerned.
The jewelry in this tub was filthy, and I pulled the gold bracelet out of a snarl of tangled necklaces, most of which were truly junk. I'm salvaging some beads and things, but a lot of this stuff is just getting thrown away.
Still, super fun to find real gold in this mix.
I've only ever bought one jar, because it was at a price I could tolerate. The prices on those jars these days is nuts. Sure, you might find some things in it you want to wear or use, but there's also a lot of junk. Occasionally you can find precious metals or designer jewelry that's worth some money, but it's rare, and buying the jars hoping for that outcome is basically gambling as far as I'm concerned.
The jewelry in this tub was filthy, and I pulled the gold bracelet out of a snarl of tangled necklaces, most of which were truly junk. I'm salvaging some beads and things, but a lot of this stuff is just getting thrown away.
Still, super fun to find real gold in this mix.
This is an (awful) example of a jewelery jar.
They tend to be full of thrifted (or acquired at garage sales or whatever) jewelry, shoved in a jar, and sold as a kind of grab bag. You can't open them before you buy them, so you have to just kind of guess based on what you can see through the glass.
This particular example is egregious. I can see from the side that most of what's in this jar is essentially Mardi Gras type beads. Cheap plastic on string. And they want $20?!
I can't wait for this trend to die.
They tend to be full of thrifted (or acquired at garage sales or whatever) jewelry, shoved in a jar, and sold as a kind of grab bag. You can't open them before you buy them, so you have to just kind of guess based on what you can see through the glass.
This particular example is egregious. I can see from the side that most of what's in this jar is essentially Mardi Gras type beads. Cheap plastic on string. And they want $20?!
I can't wait for this trend to die.
But you sometimes can find treasures, as evidenced by the gold bracelet I found. You just never know.
Somewhither's Awesome Shit
I have the best luck finding second hand art supplies. I stopped by one of those booth type markets today. I expected it to be vintage and antiques, but it was crafts and imports. In one of the craftier booths I found these bags of beads for $6 apiece.…
The bead bags I bought a couple weeks ago were kind of equivalent to a jewelry jar, I suppose. In fact, I'm fairly certain the beads they contained were probably upcycled from jewelery.
They were $6 apiece, and I got way more than $6 worth of beads out of each of them, compared to what I would have paid at a craft store.
They were $6 apiece, and I got way more than $6 worth of beads out of each of them, compared to what I would have paid at a craft store.
Most of the time when I buy jewelry for the purpose of harvesting the beads, I buy individual pieces. My favorite thrift store in town sells necklaces for $1.50 apiece. I've gotten huge strings of quality (ceramic, glass, metal), unique beads for that price.
This has been a super fun experience. I'm going to give the bracelet back to Café Mom. I'm 100% sure she didn't know either of those were gold. I'm going to keep the ring.