Thank You, Thief!

Let me begin this post with a little story.

For Christmas, I received a phone. A smartphone. My very first smartphone. I quickly used it from everything from texting and Skyping to organizing, scheduling, and typing. I loved that phone. It was useful for more or less anything, anything at all!

Then one day in P.E., I left it in my backpack unattended while I ran. When I returned, it was stolen. Gone.
My mother said she wouldn't pay for a new one, fairly enough. So I decided to make the money myself. I had $30 saved. It was a $150 phone. I suppose I could have started mowing lawns or babysitting on the weekends or something, but that's just so boring. I decided to instead employ my artistic talents and try crafting and selling jewelry.

In my most recent post, "Industrial Hardware Jewelry", you saw a bit of my work. Is it good? Bad? I'm sure it's bad, since I have zero experience and absolutely no proper supplies. In any case, I have gathered no interest from customers. I've earned no money, but I have gained something else.

Simply put, I have discovered that crafting jewelry is so fucking much fun. I love it! i really love it! Maybe other people don't want my jewelry, but I will sure as fuck wear it! I will wear my funky weird jewelry and be PROUD! I've more or less unlocked a brand-new creative, productive hobby.

It's stimulated my creative thinking in a way nothing yet has. I've found myself looking at everything, everything, and wondering what I could make it into. Because really, anything can poentially be a charm on a bracelet or a stone on a ring or pendant on a necklace. Anything can be sewn or glued or cut into something cool and fucking awesome. I don't even care about making money from it anymore; now, it's just plain fun!
(That's not to say I won't still sell it if I have the chance. I still want a new phone. But that's not my immediate goal anymore).

And I owe everything to the fucktard who stole my phone.

This just goes to show you, there's a bright side to everything. I mean, I'll get the money eventually. When I start babysitting in the summer, it should be easy enough. But in the meantime, who cares? My cheap Tracphone can call and text well enough, and I've found a brand new passion! "There's no great loss without a little gain", someone once said. And it's absolutely the truest thing you can think of. Though, to be honest, i think I got the better end of the deal. The thief ended up with a shitty little phone that had the service cut off long ago. I, on the other hand, gained a lifestyle.

ENJOY THE PHONE, YOU BASTARD. I'VE GOT SOMETHING BETTER.

Industrial Hardware Jewelry

Recently I've taken a bit of an interest in jewelry-making. I really want more jewelry, but it's so expensive and the mall is just so far away. Plus, as long as I'm sitting here at my desk I might as well do something creative. So, I've been making original jewelry.
Since I don't have any actual jewelry supplies (supplies are so expensive and the craft store is just so far away) I've been looking around to house for anything pretty, when I discovered my dad's junk tool box. Any random spare parts or bits of metal, he throws in there. So I picked out a few dusty bolts and screws and random twisty-things I don't know the name of, found a few coils of wire, and set to work.

The first piece I made, and my favorite of the bunch, is a necklace pendant. This was actually made by gluing  but it is shocking secure glue. In the time I've had it, it's been dropped on the floor, tossed around, crushed under stacks of books, and not a single bit has become remotely loose. It was definitely the easiest piece to make, because it was more or less just stacking, stacking stacking pieces of hardware until it looked totally boss. I like how it looks a lot. It seems heavy, but it's really not at all unmanageable:
http://username14523.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Pendant-Bolts-and-Screws-353427477

The second piece I made I'm not quite so fond of. It's a pair of earrings made from screws, secured by wire-wrapping. To be totally honest, it's not my style. I can absolutely see some alternative punk kid wearing it, but it's just not really something I could ever pull off. Ironically, I put a LOT of time and effort into these. You would not believe how sharp wire can be; I ended up with a few pokes and cuts. I probably won't wear them, but perhaps I'll find someone who likes it:
http://username14523.deviantart.com/art/Screwed-353452393?q=gallery%3Ausername14523&qo=2

The third piece is a bracelet, made and secured with wire, screws, bolts, nuts, and wire wrapping. I actually love how it looks, and I will totally wear it sometime unless I can find a customer for it. It was absolutely the hardest piece to make, because I've found that when you wrap wire around wire, the wire you've wrapped will spin around and not stay secure. In addition, I had to cram in a lot of junk so it didn't look bare, and it was difficult to maneuver around all the little pieces. In the end, though, it was totally worth it. It does not fit into my style (typically vintage-classic) in any way whatsoever, but I swear I will find a way to wear it someday:
http://username14523.deviantart.com/art/Industrial-Hardware-Bracelet-353652548

Anyways, thanks for viewing my little gallery. if I can rally any positive support for these pieces I might even make more. I've never made or seen jewelry like this, so please leave your comments letting me know what you think! I'm really curious about how the public will take these pieces.