{"id":873,"date":"2011-03-12T12:45:51","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T20:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissaruth.com\/blog\/?p=873"},"modified":"2011-03-12T16:11:35","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T00:11:35","slug":"refashioning-store-bought-jewelry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/melissaruth.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/refashioning-store-bought-jewelry\/","title":{"rendered":"Refashioning Store-Bought Jewelry"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I don’t often buy jewelry (and why would I? I have a room full of supplies for custom awesomeness), I do go out to the stores to see what is trendy or new, and I occasionally buy pieces to take apart and refashion into better pieces. <\/p>\n

Last weekend I was at the mall and stopped into For Love 21, my favorite accessory store. It is an offshoot of the Forever 21 brand, so that means one thing: on trend, and cheap. I found the following earrings I couldn’t resist for the low low price of $3.80. <\/p>\n

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You can see the potential, right? The base metal peacock feather is fantastic. Well made, nice etching, etc. What really irritated me about these earrings are the insanely crappy ear-hooks (only tiny people with tiny ears can wear that kind of ear wire), and the even crappier beads. Plastic! Bad colors! I shudder to think. Yuck. <\/p>\n

Okay, so I took them all apart and refashioned them with high quality gunmetal findings and glass beads in appropriate colors for less than a dollar. So my *new* earrings still<\/i> cost less than $5. And they are magnifique, yo. <\/p>\n

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So don’t discount the mall for finding supplies. You might be surprised at what you find, and how you can improve the pieces to your own standards and taste. <\/p>\n

You can buy (and subsequently upgrade) your own pair of earrings here<\/a>. I think they would also look good with pale pink, like albino peacocks. <\/p>\n