Tag Archives: jewelry

Environmentally Friendly Ivory Jewelry

Tagua nuts are commonly referred to as “vegetable ivory”.  The hard nut can be carved into various shapes such as these gorgeous blue unity earrings shown in the picture on the left.  These gorgeous earrings are colored with plant based dyes and hand carved.  The artisans in Ecuador are trained to make these high quality products from the sustainable resource of the tagua nuts.  This leads to the people being dependent on the harvesting of the trees.  Suddenly, the preservation of the rainforest is now as financially important to them as it is to worldwide environmentalists.

The earrings are called unity earrings to represent the unity of the people worldwide and the planet on which we live.  These eco-friendly jewelry pieces are available through a website called One World Projects that strives to be more than just fair trade.  They want to develop long term relationships based on mutual respect with artisans in over 80 countries that they work within.  A portion of the proceeds from the sales go directly back into the community to be reinvested with the artisans or through economic development programs within the area.  They promote self determination while marketing products that are both socially and environmentally responsible.

They have a huge range of jewelry made from tagua nuts including the unity necklace to match with the earrings.  It comes in ten different colors so there’s definitely no shortage of options.  My favorite piece of vegetable ivory available on the site though absolutely has to be the tagua nut infinity symbol pendant.  I have a memorial necklace that I wear everyday that is an infinity symbol so that probably explains my endearment for it.

This necklace uses an entire nut carved out with a 3-D infinity symbol.  The artisan has left the natural brown of the skin of the nut on the exterior of the carving that really helps to define the symmetry of the shape.  It really shows off both of the colors of this Amazon rainforest seednut to their true beauty.  I can’t even begin to imagine the skill and patience that a carving such as this would entail.  Absolutely gorgeous!!  And the price of $15 is incredibly low.  In fact for $36USD, you could buy all 3 of the vegetable ivory pieces featured in this post!  This is certainly a budget saving earth saver.  I’m certain that I’ll be revisiting this site in future posts and online shopping trips.

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Recycled Plastic Jewelry by Amy Pfaffman

Amy Pfaffman is an artist and designer who makes gorgeous jewelry pieces from the most unlikely items.  She has a huge range of materials that she works with from resistors to coffee beans and everything you never ever imagined in between.

One line that I found particularly stunning was the assortment of jewelry that she makes from plastic used in architectural applications.  Between the two layers of used plastic, she sandwiches a selection of materials to make graphic and beautiful patterns.  Even the materials between the plastic is made up of 40% post-industrial reclaimed materials.  This is then cut into small pieces to be used in her jewelry.

This line of recycled plastic jewelry includes rings, bracelets, necklaces, bobby pins and earrings.  It’s nearly impossible to tell just what exactly the pieces are made from just by looking at them.  All you see is their beauty shining through in the array of colors and shapes intricately laid out between the recycled plastic.  Absolutely stunning!  Any of these pieces would make a great gift for Valentine’s Day or any other reason…or maybe even no reason at all.

Green Colored Glasses will most definitely be featuring this designer again and again.  I definitely recommend checking out Amy Pfaffman’s site to see some more of her amazing creations.  There is also a list of places where her work can be purchased in person or online.

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Recycled Guitar String Bracelets

Looking for a great eco-friendly gift for a music lover on your list?  Check out the site Wear Your Music.  It’s a really cool project that reuses old guitar strings that would normally be headed for the trash and makes jewelry out of them.  Even better, a lot of the proceeds from these bracelets go to charity!

The fashion bracelets like the one shown above from pink guitar string, come in a huge range of colors.  They’re available for only $10 each or 10 bracelets for $70.  They are made from used guitar strings and a portion of the proceeds go to charities that support music.  These would make great gifts or stocking stuffers for friends (or yourself).  You could buy the 10 pack and give everyone one or two each.  They look great with a couple stacked on top of each other on the wrist and fit all sizes.  This bracelet supports music, charity and the environment.

Even cooler are the artist bracelets.  These bracelets are hand made out of recycled silver and used guitar strings donated by dozens and dozens of different artists of every genre.  100% of the profits of these bracelets are donated to an artist chosen charity and are listed on the site.  There’s some great charities benefiting from these sales though — Unicef, Rock against Cancer, Peta, Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Research Foundation, 1% for the Planet, Rock the Earth and many other great causes.

They have some great artists available in a huge variety of price ranges.  The silver bracelet shown above is one of James Hetfield’s strings.  His charity of choice is Music Cares.  At $250 for each bracelet, it’s a very cool Metallica souvenir that benefits charity and the planet.  Kinda expensive but I do love Metallica!!

There’s lots of other artists like Carrie Underwood, Avril Lavigne, Dolly Parton, Ziggy Marley, Pete Townsend and even the Naked Cowboy!  Many of the artists I’ve heard of before and many I haven’t.  There’s a big price range difference…The least expensive is a $50 string bracelet from Yuto Miyazawa who is the world’s youngest professional guitar player in the Guinness Book of World Records.  The most expensive is Eric Clapton’s silver bracelet at $500.  Very, very cool!  Worth checking this site out.  It’s full of big names, little names and everything in between with the money going to a host of great causes.

 

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Hump Day Etsy Find — From Watch Parts to Jewelry

This week’s Etsy find repurposes and refurbishes watches of all kinds into some very stunning pieces of jewelry.  The seller — A Second Time — has a wide variety of pieces including necklaces, cufflinks, earrings, brooches and tie tacks as well as a selection of watches available for sale.  The pieces of watches that are used in her pieces include the watch face itself, the bezel, the gears and springs inside of the watch.  Pretty much any piece of the watch itself may be found in one of her artistic creations of extremely wearable jewelry for men and women.  I really love how recognizable some of the pieces are as former time pieces.  This kind of repurposing is great because it’s like being a walking ad for eco-friendly living.  Everyone sees what the item used to be — this can lead to a conversation starter or even an inspiration for greener living.

When selecting which pieces of the clock will be used, the artistian ensures that the piece is no longer viable for use as it’s intended purpose.  This ensures that only pieces of watches that are “useless” are used to make the jewelry out of.  If the watch is salvageable, it’s repaired and available for sale at her shop as well!  This kind of fix or use policy really makes sure that the time pieces are kept out of the garbage and reused in one way or another.  There’s a wide variety of styles of pieces available for sale in her shop.  Go and check it out!!

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Hump Day Etsy Find: Upcycled Zippers

This week’s “Hump Day” find is repurposed zippers.  Lots and lots of zippers!  Etsy artisan Amalia Versaci definitely has a love of all things zipper-y and it shows in her work.  She uses every bit of the zipper — the pull, the metal teeth and the banding that holds the metal teeth together.  She finds vintage zippers — sometimes as old as the 1930′s! — and creates unique and fabulous work out of them.  Lucky for us, she also sells it on Etsy!

I’ve never seen jewelry quite like these pieces that are somehow reminiscent of the 80′s to me.  Retro 80′s styling is definitely “in” again.  The bold, bright colors of the zipper pulls on the necklace especially harken back to days of my youth.  I love how these earrings and necklace don’t try to hide their previous use.  Instead, the artist embraces it’s past use and makes that the main feature of the piece itself!  Anyone who looked even remotely closely at the jewelry who recognize it immediately.  One common, everyday item turned into a beautiful accessory.

These pieces are also quite affordable as well with the earrings being $14 plus shipping and the necklaces being $36 plus shipping, both in USD.  She’s got a huge range of other jewelry available for your perusal on her site as well — zipper tape earrings and necklaces, earrings and necklaces of pull tabs of every color and design imaginable as well as a variety of bracelets.  She ships to Canada, the US and everywhere else with really pretty reasonable shipping rates as well.  But if you think that jewelry could be the only use for these upcycled zippers, think again!  She also makes some really fantastic jars that are covered in zippers that require more than a passing glance to realize what it’s made with.

There’s also some fun and colorful magnets which could be used in the office or in the home to hold up the odd bits and pieces of notes, photos or whatever that must be remembered.  I’d definitely recommend stopping by her Etsy store or gallery site to check out the huge range of items that she has available for purchasing.  You could really make some of your loved ones Christmas’ a little green-er with her amazing pieces or add some fun flair to your own wardrobe or decor.

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Provocatively Upcycled Barbie Jewelery

Love her or hate her, Barbie is an instantly recognizable pop culture icon — even if it’s just a tiny piece of her!  Artist and designer Margaux Lange has found a way to upcycle various pieces of Barbie’s (and Ken’s) anatomy into a stunning array of jewelery.  This sexy bracelet is just one example of how these pieces of plastic can become eye catching accessories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brooch ingeniously uses the profile of Barbie’s face to form a flower shape.  Margaux has found a way to use every imaginable part from the Mattel dolls — yes, even Ken’s bulge is present on some pieces.  She also takes custom orders at her Etsy shop.  Many of her designs are one of a kind pieces that are sure to be conversation starters.  You can tell everyone you run into how important it is to reuse items.  Margaux says:
I take pleasure in the contradiction of transforming mass-produced objects into unique, and distinctly handmade, wearable artworks. In my Plastic Body Series jewelry work, I am re-purposing salvaged Barbie dolls as the accessory instead of being accessorized.”

 


These dismembered hands make for a very interesting hinged bracelet.  The rings add a pop of color to this racially harmonious accessory.  And there certainly should be many hands from which to choose.  On the Barbie press page, they proudly proclaim that enough Barbie dolls have been produced since their first one in 1959 to circle the globe 7 times!  Just think of all the wasted plastic, oil and resources that have gone into making these dolls.  I wonder how many of them are just sitting in landfills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The artist’s pieces range from innocent and cute to downright raunchy so there is sure to be something that appeals to everyone.  Even though Barbie has just turned 50, she still has an impressive following.  90% of American girls aged 3-6 own at least one Barbie with the average number of dolls owned by this group being 12.  The dolls are available in over 150 countries and another two dolls are sold every second.  Every second of every day of every week.  That adds up to 1,209,600 dolls sold every week!  It’s no wonder that that Barbie has made Mattel one of the largest manufacturer’s of apparel in the world.  They’ve used over 105 million yards of fabric to make her tiny outfits.
I’m sure that more than a few of these have ended up in the world’s landfills once the girls who play with them grow older and grow out of them.  Buying and wearing Margaux’s jewelry is a great way to get at least some of the unused plastic out of the trash pile and put it back in the treasure pile.

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Conflict Free Diamonds

There’s nothing that a girl likes receiving more than jewellery.  Every woman likes a different style, for sure but jewellery is always a great gift for the special women in your life.  That sounded a little wrong — I didn’t mean the wife and the girlfriend — lol.  More like your wife, daughter, sister, mother, aunt, etc.  Jewellery with heart designs on it especially signify your deepest feelings for the women that you love.  I think that heart jewelry in particular, has a special significance to it. Especially a heart shape filled with diamonds!  I especially love this diamond and pink sapphire heart shaped pendant.  It’s just different than most other designs that you see women wearing which makes it even more special and romantic.  Truly a gift from the heart.

One thing to really watch out for when shopping for jewellery though is to make sure that the diamonds and gemstones that you buy are conflict free.  In 1993, more than 15 years ago, an agreement was reached between various governments and the diamond industry to insure that the flow of the world’s so called blood diamonds was put to a halt.  This agreement is the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, also known as the KPCS.  Before you buy any diamond (or gemstone at all for that matter), insure that the buyer strictly follows this agreement and checks on their suppliers of diamonds.  Jewellers should have a zero tolerance policy in regards to conflict diamonds for the sake of the entire planet.  Diamonds are beautiful and wonderful but not on the blood and war of people.

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Environmentally Responsible Diamonds

Are you shopping for engagement rings?  This might sound really weird but it’s important to ensure that your diamonds come from environmentally responsible, fair trade, conflict free traders.  The diamond mining market has left entire nations and their people scarred from their mining efforts.  Blood diamonds and ecological damage has been the norm when it comes to diamond mining production techniques, especially those operations overseas in countries such as Africa.  Canada has gotten into the diamond production market in a big way in recent years with the Ekati mine.  The Canadian Arctic is definitely a very fragile eco-system but it at least has heavy regulations on how the diamonds are extracted from their surrounding environments.  Tropical eco-systems in more tropical areas have left the land pitted and destroyed.  The shallow topsoil in tropical areas is essential for agriculture and easily destroyed by the diamond mining efforts.  Before buying the ring to pop the big question, ensure that the jewler who you are buying it from answers all of your questions as to the diamond’s origins satisfactorily.  People decide how companies operate by voting with their wallet.  Make sure that you are investing in a product that you can stand behind.  After all, a diamond is forever!!

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Trash to Treasure: Film to Jewelry

Check out these beautiful recycled silver bracelets.  The manufacturer of these was inspired by his firstborn child.  His wife wanted a momento of the baby with an imprint on it.  The new Dad who is a goldsmith and jewelry designer came up with these bracelets.  The charms are made from reclaimed silver taken from the silver nitrate found in cinema and photography film.

I’ve found that parenthood can really bring out the environmentalist living inside of most people.  You begin to realize just how precious the planet is when you think of your children’s and grandchildren’s future on it.  It’s important to remember the legacy that we are leaving the treehuggers of tomorrow!

These bracelets are a great example of turning trash into treasure.  They also help to keep our little one’s close to our hearts at all times.  What could be better than to carry an imprint of their tiny fingers with us?  You can add to your bracelet as your family grows and it really sounds quite simple to take an imprint.  There’s instructions on their website — Dimplesforever.com.

It’s best to capture their imprints early as everyone knows kids grow up way too fast!  This is a new, Canadian, family owned company who is developing a sales team to help buyers make the imprints.  So, whether you’re looking for unique, environmentally friendly jewelry or a way to earn some money, definitely check out this website.

This is not a sponsored ad.  I just love their jewelry and the idea and ideals behind it.

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Funny (Sad) Online Classifieds — Wanna buy a ring?

Okay, I know it’s awful to laugh at this ad but I just can’t help it.  I think it’s horribly sad and I feel awful for the guy but his spelling and the way it’s written just had me giggling.  I thought I’d share…

left at the alter sale







Price $900

Description i have for sale or trade a 3/4 carit engagment ring and maching weding band payed 2500 my lose your gain looking for 900 the pon shops said 800 to 900 so thought i would see if some one out here had a woman who loved them more than mine befor i let the pon shop have it open to trade for just about any thing of value try me i am easy its no good to me but may be to you 
North East
Ad Id: 8342140 This is a for-trade ad.

Counters
Yesterday Browsed: 12 Viewed: 0
To Date Browsed: 1007 Viewed: 97

Phone Please Email
Email Click Here

Category  >  Clothing  >  Accessories  >  Jewelry & Watches
Date Posted February 27, 2009
Date Expiry March 29, 2009
Status NOT SOLD

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