Repurposed 1970s Tassel Earrings- Before and After

I found these 1970s gold tassel clip earrings at an estate sale about a month ago.  I love tassel anything.  I knew with just a slight update, I could turn these into something more...resparkable!

1970s Gold Tassel Clip Earrings (before)

It was really quite simple… I just cleaned them up a bit.  Then, I was able to disconnect the tassels from the outdated part of the earring (the clips and that big gold ball!).  The most time consuming part of repurposing these earrings was digging around in my bead collection, to figure out what paired up best with these gold chain tassels.

I experimented with beads that were different shape, sizes, and colors.  As soon as I ran across these beads, I knew they were the perfect fit!  I originally found these beads in a bead store in Ashville, N.C.  It's is one of my favorite places… In fact, I often wish I lived there.  Ashville is just the right size, has four seasons, and is surrounded by mountains, but not too far from the ocean.  AND they have an amazing bead store there!

Anyway, I wire wrapped the beads to attach to a gold tone pierced ear wires, and the tassels.  These earrings are now updated to look so much more stylish.  As a bonus, they’re lightweight!

 Repurposed Vintage Earrings (after)

They're listed in my Resparkable Vintage Etsy store.  Hop over and look at all the items I have for sale, or click directly HERE to see more about these specific earrings.

Repurposed Vintage Earrings- Before and After

I love repurposing vintage jewelry.  Seriously, everything about it.  I love combing estate sales for the vintage jewelry, whether it's in great condition or in need of repair and/or TLC.  I love playing with all the different pieces I've collected over the years and then figuring out how to breathe a little new life into them, if necessary.  I also love buying beads, and other jewelry components.  I go to most of the bead shows that come to town, but what I love more than anything is going to bead shops when I'm traveling.  That way, I always have special little mementos from each trip I take. So, because I spend a lot of time gathering trinkets and supplies, I feel like I'm able to create some really special, one-of-a-kind keepsakes.

Sometimes, when I'm making something- or rather, tearing stuff apart and then putting it back together in a new way, I get so excited that I have to either show Lucy and Ricky...

"Unless you will let us play with it, or eat it, we don't really care about your jewelry. Sorry, not sorry..." - Lucy and Ricky Ricardo

...or I interrupt Fermin's work day by going into his home office to show him my new creation.  But he's probably even slightly less interested in jewelry than my dogs are.

But who cares?  I'm still excited.  Which is why I love posting these Before and After blog posts.  So thank you so much for indulging me!

Today's "Before and After" is one of my favorites in a long while.  I am absolutely in LOVE with these earrings.  But I was only lukewarm about them in their original form.  They were sweet, but they were clip earrings, and there was nothing ultra special about them.

1950s Gold Leaf Clip Earrings (BEFORE)

After sifting through beads for hours to find just the right ones for this project, I decided on these vintage cloisonne beads I found while I was in Hawaii, on the Big Island, a couple of years ago.  I bought 5 beads that were similar that day, but I haven't used any of them until today.  Sometimes, I can love something so much, that I end up hoarding it.  But I know that's not what was meant for these beads!  They weren't meant to sit in a drawer.  They were meant for much bigger and better things.  They want to see the world, and I know the world wants to see them.  So today, they got paired up with these earrings... And I think it's a magical combination.

1950s Repurposed Earrings with Vintage Cloisonne Beads

Vintage Jewelry Repurposing- Before and After

I haven't posted any vintage jewelry repurposing "before and after" projects lately. Now is just as good a time as any, right?!

I was so lucky to be sifting through a jar of vintage jewelry to find these! I'm not sure if they were parts of earrings that had broken off, or charms, or what?! But I thought they would be a perfect component for dangle drop earrings.  They are a gold leaf metal backing, with a pink rose clay enamel.  Very sweet and dainty.

"before" repurposing- not sure exactly what these even were!

I have some beautiful handpainted vintage beads that I just love that I knew would look great with these. I put them between two pale pink faceted beads so their color would really pop. Then they were attacthed to gold tone ear wires. 

"after" repurposing- pink rose drop earrings

Now they are functional and oh-so-pretty in pink.  You can click over to my ResparkableVintage shop at Etsy to find out more about them.

Vintage Earring Repurposing Project- Before and After

One of my neighbor friends was nice enough stop at an estate sale on my behalf while Fermin and I were out of town last weekend.  It was one I had been eagerly awaiting in our neighborhood, but as I was leaving town, I saw that it was going to happen while I was away. Yay for good neighborfriends!

She totally scored and got me a couple of small baggies full of vintage jewelry.  My favorite pair of earrings were these, pictured on the right.

vintage button earrings

As soon as I saw them, I put them on. I forgot to take out my pierced studs I was already wearing. My earring and the clip of these vintage earrings got tangled up and stuck together.  PANIC. I was so afraid that I was going to rip my earring right through my ear while Fermin was assisting my struggle to separate the two earrings.

Finally, I was free.  But my ear was sore and I was just freaked out.  When I tried to put the clip earrings back on, it sort of hurt.  I'm not sure if it was just due to my "incident" with the earring entanglement, or if the clips were just painful (as they so often are), but I decided to repurpose these earrings so that I (or anyone else) never had to deal with those stupid clips again.

First,I snapped off the clips and filed them down.  Then I noticed, either I had knocked the pearls loose, or they were already coming lose on their own. I decided to get out the handy E6000 I so often use for vintage jewelry repair to secure them down.

jewelry repurposing and repair

Then I wire wrapped a vintage pearl bead from my stash and used it as a connector between the button shaped earrings and the pierced ear wires.

adding a pretty little pearl...

 I'm so happy with the final result.  They look so much cuter on the ears now that they are dangle earrings.  As clips, they not only caused me pain, but got lost in my hair and didn't really show up.  Now they still have the charm of vintage, but with an updated look and a more comfortable feel!

repurposing complete!

I just put them up for sale over in the Resparkable Vintage shop- Go check out this link to see them and find out more.

Vintage Daisy Earrings- Before and After

I had listed these cute enamel daisy earrings in my Resparkable Vintage shop over at Etsy.com during the summer, last year. 

1960s Blue Daisy Enamel Clip Earrings

Lots of people "favorited" the earrings, but no one bought them. 

Listings expire on Etsy after 3 months if no one buys the item.  The seller can either choose to relist, or not.

I didn't relist these earrings, but I did end up repurposing them just the other day.  I think clip earrings can be a hard sell, because really, who wears clip earrings these days?  (A few people, I know! My sister is one of them! But most people wear pierced earrings.) So I was able to make this pair of clip earrings into not just one cute new pair of pierced earrings...

Repurposed Vintage Earrings

but two!

Dangle Drop Enamel Flower Earrings

I'm so in love with them that I think I'm keeping the small pair for myself.  The slightly larger pair will be available in my Resparkable Vintage shop later today.

1960s Earrings- Before and After Repurposing

I had these cute vintage pink thermoset and silver clip earrings for sale in my Resparkable Vintage shop for several months.  But as cute as they were, no one bought them. :(

1960s Pink Thermoset Clip Earrings

So, I decided to repurpose, or upcycle them into pierced earrings and see if that makes them a little more appealing.  Not that many people wear clip earrings anymore, so it makes sense to change them up.

First, I removed the clips and filed everything down smoothly at the back of the earring. 

Snipping, clipping and filing down the clips of the earrings...

Next, I was able to pair the earrings up with some vintage beads I ran across recently. The larger beads look like they have candy sprinkles on them. It was hard not to eat them while I was making the earrings!

Laying out my design plan for the upcycling the earrings.

I finished them off with some sterling silver ear wires, and voila!  A brand new pair of vintage earrings have a new life.

The finished product- Updated, repurposed and upcycled.... but their vintage charm remains.

I honestly think they're even prettier than they were originally.  Just a few subtle changes can make a big difference.

They're relisted in the Resparkable Vintage Etsy shop.  You can find them HERE, as well as other repurpursed vintage earrings HERE.

1960s Coro Flower Rhinestone Earrings- Before & After Repurposing

Aren't these earrings cute?  They're vintage Coro screw back earrings, circa 1960s.

Vintage Coro floral gold and rhinestone screw back earrings

But to me, screw backs are very uncomfortable.  Every now and then I can tolerate the pain of a clip, but there's something about a screw back that just never feels right to me. Or probably anyone.

So of course, I decided to do a little repurposing.  I wanted to keep them simple, so I just added a clear crystal bead and pierced ear wires.

"during" my repurposing- cleaning, clipping, filing, wiring

Now they're still just as beautiful, and I think even a little more so, but they can be worn very comfortably.

Repurposed Coro Earrings- from screw packs, to pierced ear wires

 I haven't yet gotten around to listing them in the Resparkable Etsy Shop, but if you'd like them by Christmas, email me and I can ship them out immediately.

Repurposed Vintage Jewelry Before and After

I found these cute vintage flower screw back earrings at an estate sale here in Dallas a few months ago:

VINTAGE off-white flower screw back earrings

Sure, they were super cute, but their screw backs made them painful too.  And who wants that?

I'm not sure what material these earrings are made from... My guess is "fake ivory", after the small bit of online research I did.  Whatever the case, they're very cute and very durable.

I clipped off the screw backs, and then filed things down in the back until things were nice and smooth.  Next, I heavy-duty glued them down to some copper toned filigree drops, attached a tiger eye bead at the bottom and turned them into pierced earrings.

REPURPOSED VINTAGE off-white flower on copper filigree with tiger eye dangle pierced earrings

Just a few subtle changes, and now these earrings have a updated look while still keeping they're little spark of vintage.

These earrings, along with other vintage and vintage repurposed earrings are available in my Etsy shop now!

Repurposing and Redesigning Vintage Jewelry Before and After

I had written a "before and after" post of some vintage jewelry I had repurposed recently, and I got to thinking, "Hey, this could be a regular installment for my blog!"

So here's the 2nd installment of the "Before and After" series.  Hope you enjoy, and hope it inspires you to do some repurposing of things you love, but that need a little redesign to fit into the modern world. (Or, I would be more than happy to do it for you!)

When Fermin and I were in Boerne several months ago visiting our great friends, we made it to a few estate sales.  (Well, of course we did!) Somehow, I glossed over seeing these earrings, but my friend, Kelly, saw them and said, "Kerri, I bet you could do something with these."

vintage clip earrings- BEFORE

They were simple, in that they were just small little clip earrings.  But once I looked a little closer, I saw their exceptional design. They're a silver colored metal base, and underneath some sort of epoxy, there is a deep emerald green, surrounded by waves of gold with some gold rhinestones along the edge. 

I cut and sanded off the clips so the backs were night and smooth.  Then, I just added some beads that I thought complemented the  the earring's design and colors.  Now, they're dangle earrings for pierced ears.

repurposed vintage earrings- AFTER

Just a slight redesign, but now you can quickly see how special they are! These earrings, as well as other repurposed and vintage jewelry are available at my Resparkable Vintage online boutique.

Repurposing Vintage Jewelry Before and After

I buy lots of vintage jewelry.  It's something I just can't stop collecting!  I love it when I find a pair of old earrings, or a necklace in perfect wearable condition.  But I love it probably even more when I find a discarded piece of jewelry someone thought was no longer wearable.  That's when I actually end up having the most fun!

Here's an example:

vintage rubber plastic clip earring  (BEFORE)

I found the above funky little earring in a pile of vintage stuff I bought.  I got the earring for a great deal, because there was only one in the lot.  Wouldn't they have been cool earrings, if only there were two!?  They were made of this funky rubbery plastic material, and had leaves in a vibrant orange, white, accented with a little gold around a white plastic flower and an old rhinestone in the center.

But even with one earring missing, I knew I could breathe a little life into the one I bought and make something I would love!

The first thing I always do is clean the pendant and all vintage parts with a toothbrush, and then I start putting everything together.

I get out tons of stuff before I start narrowing down my choices.  Eventually, I decide what color and sizes of beads and chain to use.  For this necklace, I used little white beads, and orange beads because I just loved those contrasting colors in the earring- now known as the pendant of the necklace.  I also used 3 or 4 different vintage jewelry chains to keep it interesting all the way around.

various vintage chain and pendant combined with modern beads to make something brand new!

various links of vintage chain connected with orange beads

I don't know if while I was working with the pendant the center rhinestone dropped out, or maybe it wasn't there in the first place, but I noticed a missing stone.  But I save old pendants for "harvesting" things like rhinestones that have fallen loose.  I found one just the right size in this old pendant...

Sometimes, I rework something over and over until it's just the right balance, and it looks just like I had envisioned it.  Sometimes I get it right the first time, and other times, I spend hours and hours on a single piece.  Sometimes, it feels a little frustrating, sometimes it flows from beginning to end.
Almost always, it's rewarding by the time I finish it!

a single vintage earring is never trash to me! (AFTER)