If you're not a jewelry designer, here's something you might not know about us: We cannot read a description of any piece of jewelry and not be compelled to make it or at least mentally pick out the beads and findings to use. It does not matter in the least whether the book is fiction or nonfiction, modern or historical, adult or middle grade.
A couple of weeks ago I finished Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. It's a light, fun read about a widow in small town Maine who meets a baseball pitcher. I'm humming along, enjoying the smart, funny dialogue when I get to this bit from the main character talking about her mom:
"She's remarried to a real estate guy, and she makes jewelry and sells it to tourists. Last I checked, she was doing something with sea glass and old dimes. Don't ask me what aesthetic that is."
Reading that, I immediately designed these earrings:
On Sea Glass and Dimes
To design these earrings, I used faux sea glass instead of the real thing, given that I live in Colorado where beaches are ... not really a thing. Genuine sea glass is beautiful and can be quite pricey. (Think $200 for a pair of earrings.) Sea glass is created by the movement of the ocean's waves and sand over old bottles. Faux sea glass, in contrast, is inexpensive and comes in a wider range of colors and shapes. Ideally, I'd have used shapes that were a bit more irregular and organic looking, but this is what I had readily available.
As for old dimes, I used the oldest ones I had in my current pile of change. The two pictured are from 1999 and 2000. Not really historic, but maybe a bit nostalgic from the viewpoint of 2019. I drilled holes in them to turn them into charms and domed them. I tried darkening them to age them, but couldn't quite get the color right. I decided to tumble them instead, which cleaned and brightened them. I used the back of the coins as the front of the earrings because I think the symbol is prettier than the head side. (No disrespect intended, Franklin D. Roosevelt.)
You might already know that some old dimes are worth more than ten cents. Pre-1965 Roosevelt dimes contain real silver so I can see that combined with the authentic sea glass, a designer would be able to command a higher price at a gallery/gift shop with those. Mercury dimes in particular are viewed by some as lucky, so using those would make the earrings more marketable. (Who wants to buy regular earrings when you can buy lucky ones?)
A Twist Ending
Like any good book, this one has a few surprises. As a jewelry designer, a twist came in the very next sentence of dialogue:
"Maybe she's inspired by those guys at the beach with metal detectors. I saw a lot of that in Miami."
What????
Poof! There went the sedate, symmetrical design I'd imagined. This popped up in its place:
Yes, not a pair of earrings exactly, but I couldn't bear the idea of actually finalizing this design. The netted ribbon symbolizes seaweed and pieces of fishermen's nets. I've added bits of shells, sequins, and cheap metal bits that might have been picked up by a metal detector along with the requisite dimes and green sea glass. Some people love this random style, but it's not my natural aesthetic at all. This does seem more like something that could be sold walking along the beach for a few dollars rather than in a formal art gallery setting.
I'm sure someone could pull off this design (both the making and the wearing) but not me.
Maybe Evvie's mom could. Yes, definitely. I'm sure of it.
And just like that I've gone to being inspired by fictional jewelry to being jealous of a fictional jewelry designer.
For some of us, the game never ends.