When my boyfriend saw the title of this blog entry, he laughed. "It sounds like a Lord of the Rings chapter." I didn't know how else to put it. I had one ring that was breaking, so I broke it apart and made two.

This is where we begin:
This was a one piece banded vintage ring that I saw in the display case at Goodwill. When the girl took it out for me I inspected it and saw that the centerpiece was breaking off. No wonder it was so cheap! I thought, gee can I fix that?
So I came home and popped the top off, sanded down all of the jagged edges, cleaned everything using jewelry cleaner and Qtips, and poof! I was ready to make 2 new rings!
Using the band first I thought, what could I put on there where it won't look obvious that this once had been soddered on? I found a tiny clay rose left from my last batch of clay cabs I'd made. It was a lovely fit!


Then I took the golden flower centerpiece the ring originally had and placed it onto a large base adjustable ring! It looks just lovely Here is the finished product:

It really goes to show, you never know what you will find at a thrift shop! Both of these items are available in their refurbished state in my Etsy shop.
http://www.jillianlyonsdesigns.etsy.com

I have been in this ridiculous cycle with my phone company to try and get my phone fixed. While visiting the store I began day dreaming about being in other stores. Enjoying myself, shopping. What did I want to shop for? Ooh, beads. No, old jewelry. Something I can take apart and play with. It dawned on me, Goodwill is just up the road! AND in an effort to get my boyfriend to clean his car and kinda failing, I could donate a big bag of close I had left in the back seat for just such an occasion!
As soon as my phone treachery was over ("Just wait for FedEx to mail you a box, then put your phone in the box and bring it to FedEx and you'll have a new phone in two more weeks!")I was on my way to shopping bliss!

I made out like a bandit! My trash to treasure hunt was everything I hoped it would be! I found a silver frame for my kid sisters picture, a copy of one of my favorite books, and three pieces of vintage jewelry I loved! Lastly and BEST of all, I got a big bag of broken, weird and old jewelry for $5.99! When I got home there was soooo much usable stuff!

My first project became the restoration of these great vintage Christmas clip on earrings. I started by taking the backs off. One of the earrings fell apart, so I had to clean it and put it all back together.



Last I cleaned everything and shined it all up! This is the first time I have ever done any kind of restoration. It was incredibly exciting. I could not believe this was from a junk Goody Bag! Here is the final product.

Stay tuned for Goodwill Part 2: Two Rings from One!

Well hello there you savvy blog reader you! My name is Jillian, I am a bit of a serial blogger. This one in particular has a focus on some of my personal life, but mostly my creative work.
I am a knitter and a jewelry artist. I strongly use the word artist. What I do is create new jewelry from old pieces as well as new jewelry supply. I occasionally will reconstruct an original vintage piece and try and give it new life.
My method of crafting is a process. I will get an idea in my head and start putting shapes together. I'll search online and off for pieces to put together. Etsy.com, flea markets, Goodwill, tag sales, all of these are shopping with purpose. It can take me any where from a few days to a few weeks to get a piece together.
Sometimes I am able to create from what I already have. I sit down and plunk everything in front of me and look for things to come in together.
Below is a sample of some of my work over the past two months.