Silver spoons
News-Star
Linda Brown and her sister-in-law Anita have discovered a creative use for antique silverware: creating rings, bracelets and other pieces of jewelry
Wearing a plush red fleece, Betty Nolan lingered beside a display of silver jewelry made from unlikely materials — twisted forks, spoons and knives.
Nolan, a repeat customer at Rio Rose Antique Mall in West Monroe, moved down the glass counter, where she glimpsed silver bookmarks chiseled from the tips of antique spoons.
“There are no two pieces alike,” she said, pointing to an array of knife-shaped pens. “You really can’t find it anywhere else.”
Standing to the side of her jewelry case, Farmerville crafter Linda Brown stifled a smile. For 11 years Brown has crafted intricate jewelry — rings, earrings, bracelets — from silverware scoured from auctions, antique malls and estate sales. Sterling silver pieces sell for upwards of $40, but Brown’s reward doesn’t come from the money she makes by selling her work.
“I love to have someone come up to me and say, ‘I bought this stuff for my family and friends and they all love it,'” said Brown, 55.
In a society of disposable napkins, paper plates and plastic utensils, Brown’s jewelry is more than a fashion statement.
It resurrects once-precious family heirlooms and extends the shelf life of silverware relegated to attics and auction blocks.
It all began with a simple ring.
In 1995, Brown sat with her sister-in-law, Anita Brown, and stared at a silver spoon.
They recalled the spoon rings of their teenage years. Then, the rings were as fashionable as leather jackets and trench coats. The fashion craze wore well into the 1970s.
Anita Brown wondered if they could breathe new life into the dead trend.
Her brother Joe, Linda Brown’s husband, got to work. He created tools that would cut the stem of the spoon, smooth it and bend it into a perfect circle.
Linda Brown took over from there.
She crafted her first silver ring that she now keeps in a special box at her home, a reminder of an ordinary beginning.
Thousands of bracelets and necklaces followed. Then came bud vases, pens, pacifier holders, recipe cardholders, bookmarks, lapel pins and earrings.
The Browns craft the majority of pieces from silver-plated utensils, which cost less than sterling, but still contain at least four coats of silver. Silver-plated items cost between $5 and $30.
They took their silver on the road, traveling to Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas. At an annual craft show in Canton, Miss., craft enthusiasts turn up at 5 a.m., bearing flashlights, to pore over new creations.
“Sometimes I lay awake at night, thinking of what else we can make,” said Anita Brown, 60, who sells her silver jewelry in Farmerville.
Customers traipse into the Rio Rose mall daily, where Linda Brown keeps her only booth in Ouachita Parish.
“It’s mostly women, of all ages, wanting to know how they can get the jewelry,” said Bernie Nolan, the mall’s owner.
Not everyone shares the enthusiasm. The jewelry, say the Browns, is “love-it-or-hate-it.”
Silver collectors scoff at the liberty the women take to cut up and retool antique pieces.
Many of the molds for the silverware are more than 100 years old. But most customers appreciate the work.
“We have a lot of grandmothers who call and say, ‘Will you make something out of my silverware?’ because they want to give it to their daughters and granddaughters,” said Anita Brown.
Linda Brown, who works part-time as a nursing home cook, never expected the work to last this long.
It can take her minutes to hours to craft a piece.
Rings come easy now. When she gets stuck, Brown escapes from her workshop to hunt and fish.
She lets herself think about anything but jewelry, then returns to work, her head fresh with new ideas.
“Usually that solves the problem,” she said.
Her ideas come from her own life, often as solutions to domestic problems. Once as Brown sat in her kitchen, she stared at a china cup and saucer.
She didn’t like the way they looked, standing on the counter.
“I thought they needed to hang,” she said.
So she ordered strong wire, bent the base of a fork and soldered the wire to the fork’s top.
The result? An elegant silver stand that displays the china pieces.
Today her most popular items are pacifier holders. She’s recently started adding beads to her silver spoon necklaces. She crafts earrings to match.
Lapel pins that hold fresh flowers remain a popular pick for weddings.
Like Betty Nolan, many customers repeat.
“I’m getting to the point now where it’s hard to come up with ideas because I’ve made so many things,” Brown said, letting her fingers catch the light on a case of silver rings.
Both Browns take comfort in the notion that their craft keeps a piece of history vibrant and viable.
“People will use it everyday,” Anita Brown said. “It’s not just stuck away in a drawer or in the attic.”
