Trash to Treasure...again!

I have a terrible time with lawn equipment! Back during early Spring, (if you recall) I sort of demolished my lawnmower. I literally tore the thing to pieces...it was far beyond any means of repair. I am just that rough on equipment! I figure that if it says it is made to cut grass, then surely that includes small bushes! Well, not only did I mutilate the lawnmower, I sort of caught my weedeater on fire. This was a small, electric weedwacker thingy that should not have been overused, I suppose. Perhaps they are not made to run constantly for about six hours. Maybe these small, electric trimmers are not constructed to do battle with briers and shrubs. Maybe, again, I am just too rough or I expect too much from mechanical devices! Anyway, the weedeater died a fiery death and me, being the saver I am, just knew that there should be some salvageable parts! Son looked at me like I was crazy but still took the thing apart. My eyes lit up when I saw the inside! There was a thing-a-bob that was wrapped with copper wire! I just knew that the shiny wire could be used for something creative! I already had some sort of large copper wire things that an uncle had thrown on the trash pile..that combined with the small wire that was inside of my weedwacker could surely be combined to make something interesting!

Son patiently unwrapped the hundred miles or so of small, copper wire from the inside of the lifeless weedeater. He carefully recoiled it on a spool so that I could reuse it in some project! Perfect! Now if I just knew what I would create! Then a couple of months later...an idea hit! I could make pendants! These would be sort of free-form pendants made wholly from recycled materials! A "Green" pendant..with green in this case not being a color but rather a way of life! Recycled art seems to be a specialty of mine!

I started bending wire this way and that. To be honest, I had no idea just what in the world I was doing! I had never made wire jewelry before but had always admired the spontaneity of the art. So I bent wire and added beads that I recycled from broken pieces of jewelry that had been given to me. When I was finished, the piece did not exactly resemble the finely turned pieces that I had seen in the gift shops. My nearly three inch long piece was a bit more crude but somehow it appealed to me. The unrefined nature of this pendant seemed natural considering its humble beginnings. This piece inspired me to attempt another..this time using wire that was salvaged from the packaging of some tools from the hardware store. This wire was a fine stainless steel wire. I combined it with some glass beads out of my recycled jewelry and a small heart charm. The contrast between the rawness of the wire and the fineness of the beads appealed to me! My two "Green" pendants have inspired me to search for more unlikely materials to use in jewelry-making. Watch your weedwackers! I might just swipe parts to make into a pendant or earrings!