Silver spoons
\nNews-Star<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Linda Brown and her sister-in-law Anita have discovered a creative use for antique silverware: creating rings, bracelets and other pieces of jewelry<\/p>\n
Wearing a plush red fleece, Betty Nolan lingered beside a display of silver jewelry made from unlikely materials \u00e2\u20ac\u201d twisted forks, spoons and knives.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“There are no two pieces alike,” she said, pointing to an array of knife-shaped pens. “You really can’t find it anywhere else.”
\nStanding to the side of her jewelry case, Farmerville crafter Linda Brown stifled a smile. For 11 years Brown has crafted intricate jewelry \u00e2\u20ac\u201d rings, earrings, bracelets \u00e2\u20ac\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
In a society of disposable napkins, paper plates and plastic utensils, Brown’s jewelry is more than a fashion statement.<\/p>\n
It resurrects once-precious family heirlooms and extends the shelf life of silverware relegated to attics and auction blocks.<\/p>\n
It all began with a simple ring.<\/p>\n
In 1995, Brown sat with her sister-in-law, Anita Brown, and stared at a silver spoon.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Anita Brown wondered if they could breathe new life into the dead trend.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Linda Brown took over from there.<\/p>\n
She crafted her first silver ring that she now keeps in a special box at her home, a reminder of an ordinary beginning.<\/p>\n
Thousands of bracelets and necklaces followed. Then came bud vases, pens, pacifier holders, recipe cardholders, bookmarks, lapel pins and earrings.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes I lay awake at night, thinking of what else we can make,” said Anita Brown, 60, who sells her silver jewelry in Farmerville.<\/p>\n
Customers traipse into the Rio Rose mall daily, where Linda Brown keeps her only booth in Ouachita Parish.<\/p>\n
“It’s mostly women, of all ages, wanting to know how they can get the jewelry,” said Bernie Nolan, the mall’s owner.<\/p>\n
Not everyone shares the enthusiasm. The jewelry, say the Browns, is “love-it-or-hate-it.”<\/p>\n
Silver collectors scoff at the liberty the women take to cut up and retool antique pieces.<\/p>\n
Many of the molds for the silverware are more than 100 years old. But most customers appreciate the work.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Linda Brown, who works part-time as a nursing home cook, never expected the work to last this long.<\/p>\n
It can take her minutes to hours to craft a piece.<\/p>\n
Rings come easy now. When she gets stuck, Brown escapes from her workshop to hunt and fish.<\/p>\n
She lets herself think about anything but jewelry, then returns to work, her head fresh with new ideas.<\/p>\n
“Usually that solves the problem,” she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She didn’t like the way they looked, standing on the counter.<\/p>\n
“I thought they needed to hang,” she said.<\/p>\n
So she ordered strong wire, bent the base of a fork and soldered the wire to the fork’s top.<\/p>\n
The result? An elegant silver stand that displays the china pieces.<\/p>\n
Today her most popular items are pacifier holders. She’s recently started adding beads to her silver spoon necklaces. She crafts earrings to match.<\/p>\n
Lapel pins that hold fresh flowers remain a popular pick for weddings.<\/p>\n
Like Betty Nolan, many customers repeat.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Both Browns take comfort in the notion that their craft keeps a piece of history vibrant and viable.<\/p>\n
“People will use it everyday,” Anita Brown said. “It’s not just stuck away in a drawer or in the attic.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d twisted forks, spoons and knives. Nolan, a repeat customer at Rio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[411],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n