For a collector with creativity, those broken antique and vintage pieces of costume jewelry can be reclaimed, refurbished and upcycled. She can turn her broken and sometimes unrepairable pieces into little works of art. They are still vintage pieces, but with an artful twist, often incorporating several pieces into one that is unique and wearable.
Artful Vintage: Finding Inspiration
There are shops all over the Net offering upcycled vintage costume jewelry. Study the artist's methods and style and be inspired, creating pieces that offer your personal taste. Study magazines like Romantic Homes, Victoria, and Mary Englebreit's Home which are all harbingers of good taste and inspiration. These periodicals are often filled with artful wearable creations made from vintage and antique items.
Finding Vintage Costume Pieces
Jewelry with missing stones, broken clasps and other things that bring down the value of otherwise good pieces, can be found cheaply on eBay as lots. Do a search for "Vintage Lot" under the Jewelry and Watches section. The number of listings is astounding with many lots including hundreds of pieces and others sold by the pound. These vintage bits and bobs are a real treasure to collectors as well as creators.
There are numerous sites online offering tips for the collector and artist on how to upcycle or refurbish vintage jewelry. Libraries are a great source of study. It's also a good idea to learn the basics of jewelry making. An online search may offer classes in your area. Try WigJig Classes which lists numerous classes by state and country. Jewelry Making Instructions is a good site to learn the basics before you begin to use vintage costume jewelry.
Selling Vintage Upcycled Jewelry
The finished pieces can be sold online at places like Etsy, eBay, Makeminepink, and RubyLane, But they can also be sold in brick and mortar locations alongside original vintage and antique costume jewelry. Lovers of vintage costume jewelry will enjoy owning a unique, wearable piece of vintage jewelry.
For antique dealers who want to add these pieces to their jewelry inventory, but creating them themselves is not something they are comfortable with, the creations are easily found online for purchase. Dealers could strike a deal with artists who are willing to use the dealer's junk jewelry to create new pieces.
Artful pieces made with recycled junk jewelry have a place in the antiques market. Those lost bits and bobs can be saved and salvaged, often made more beautiful, wearable and collectible. And the market for this genre has increased steadily since the early 1990s when recycled jewelry began to show itself in craft and antique shows and markets.
To learn about collecting vintage costume jewelry, please read Antique and Vintage Costume Jewelry. Readers might also be interested in Antique Mourning Jewelry: Memento Mori and What is Bakelite?
Permission to reproduce photos within this article only has been graciously granted by the artists.
Lorraine Syratt - Lorraine Syratt is a freelance writer, gardener and part-time antique dealer. Please see her full profile for more information.
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