Joden Girl

Baubles, Bling, and A Collector’s Thing

In today’s world, everyone is talking about sustainability in every aspect of our lives.  Whether it be environmental, social or economic… there is always something more we can learn or do to save and stretch our resources.  One of my favorite things to do is to go thrifting.  Because I love to sew and create new things, using vintage textiles is a perfect way to eliminate waste.  The items that can be found at thrift stores never cease to amaze me.  We have a great little shoppe here in Grove City called “All Good Things“.  It is wonderfully organized, impeccably clean and they are a non-profit organization that donates all proceeds back into the Grove City community.  It’s a true treasure to have here in our small town.  I love picking through their craft section – I have thrifted fabric, vintage linens, thread and all kinds of trims.  Vintage textiles are often better quality and available for much less than newly manufactured fabric.  This is true of so many things… furniture, appliances, vehicles and even jewelry.

I think that we are top notch at upcycling jewelry here at Joden.  We actually have an entire case dedicated to this very thing…  we call it the conversion case.  It’s filled from top to bottom with the sweetest stick pin pendants, charm bracelets, cuff link earrings and so much more.  We love combing through our inventory for inspiration.  Conversion jewelry is NOT new by any means – in fact, we don’t even know when it began.  Just a few weeks ago, we purchased a large lot of vintage and antique jewelry – there were a ton of really great brooches.  This one is my personal favorite, and it is indeed, a conversion piece!

During the Art Deco era, it became popular to combine multiple stick pins and brooches into one.  They’re called cluster brooches and they’re simply charming!  A 14-karat gold bar pin serves as the anchor piece for this tiny collection.  A floral pattern is etched onto the rosy surface of the bar pin while white, green and yellow gold inlay adds pops of color to the blossoms and leaves.  Four unique stick pins charms are connected to the base.  From left to right we have a gold-filled blue stone beauty, a 10-karat gold and onyx ring encircling a singular diamond, a 14-karat yellow gold seed-pearl embellished crescent moon and star and finally, a 9-karat gold cluster with an opal center surrounded by ten pearls.  Each miniature masterpiece is sweeter than the last, and the combination is absolutely precious.  This piece is available for just $975.00.  Stop by to see it along with our other conversion creations!

“You can go to a museum and look, or come to us and touch.”

Written by Carrie Martin

Photos by Dana Jerpe