My small hiking companions gather natural treasures by the armful. Acorns, feathers, pretty stones, shells, lovely bits of wood, flowers, pinecones, sand– on every single hike!
Even if you don’t happen to hike with magpies, I’m betting that you, too, have collected some natural keepsakes during your time in the wilderness. It seems to be instinct to spy something pretty and take it home to treasure.
Up until recently, I had been keeping all of our natural keepsakes on display in jars and baskets, on shelves and in bookcases. This summer, however, I’ve made it one of my projects to turn some of the prettiest treasures–fossils, shark teeth, pretty pebbles, etc.–into jewelry for myself and my girls.
How fun for my girls to wear as an accessory a favorite item that they, themselves, discovered! How comforting to me to keep a memory of one of my favorite places in a pretty glass vial around my neck.
Take a quick inventory of your own natural treasures, gathering dust on display (or not!) around your house, and then let yourself be inspired by these five projects that will help you turn those treasures into beloved, and well-worn, pieces of jewelry.
If you’re an artist of yarn and thread, perhaps you already know how versatile such materials are, but even if you’re a total novice, you’ll find Lune’s netted stone necklace tutorial, from Lune Vintage, an easy walk-through. The justaposition of soft yarn and hard stone is a lovely effect, and you can make your piece as elaborate as you’d like, since threading on beads and baubles and other decorations is quite simple.
[Image by Lune Vintage, used with attribution]
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Anyone can thread a shell with a hole in it onto a piece of twine and have it look pretty good, but if you’re willing to spend another few minutes to make it look great, check out this boho shell necklace tutorial from SewHappiness, guest posting over at Running with Glitter.
This necklace project is a great choice if you’ve got not just one showcase shell to highlight, but several smaller shells of similar quality to feature all together.
[Image by a title=”SewHappiness blog” href=”http://sewhappiness.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”>SewHappiness, used with attribution]
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Although this wire wrapped shark tooth necklace uses a shark tooth that my daughter uncovered in Florida last Spring, you can use the same method to wire wrap any triangular object and turn it into an instant pendant.
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Even if you live in the middle of a big city, a gorgeous feather or two, just lying there on the sidewalk, is not an uncommon find if you’re the type to keep a look-out.
If you have a small collection of found feathers built up, then check out this feather earrings and necklace tutorial from The Coveted. A fan of black, myself, I love her suggestion to use black crow’s feathers for an edgier and less hippy look.
[Image by The Coveted, used with attribution]
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After I made this necklace, using a tiny glass vial and some even tinier pebbles from my favorite beach, I realized how versatile a simple glass vial can be–sand, soil, salt water, crushed herbs, even a teeny terrarium can live safely around one’s neck inside these little treasure bottles. Check out my glass vial treasure bottle necklace tutorial, and figure out what teeny-tiny treasures YOU want to wear.
That little shark tooth necklace is so sweet and fierce! Love the picture 😀 I’m always picking up little things on my walks, too. Right now there are acorns everywhere!
I think that acorns would make an AMAZING necklace. Or you could sprout one in a teeny little test tube with some dirt, and then wear that around your neck for a while. For some reason there are feathers everywhere around here right now, but the acorns are coming soon!
In reference to the acorn necklace comment–I had the same thought last year as I saw literally thousands of acorn caps lying around my yard. I simply couldn’t let them all go to waste, so I took a handful, drilled wee holes into each one, and strung them onto a necklace, interposed with little wooden beads. I have never had another necklace get so many compliments. Like so many other things in nature that are so often ignored, they really are beautiful when you take a moment to look at them.
There was one just like that hanging around a bird painting in my childhood home. My mother must have made it in her teens. (She was 90 when she died last Feb.) Thanks for reminding me of it.