Today I want to share with you one of my hobbies, Etsy digging. Like with any kind of digging you can either dig for garbage or you can dig for treasures. Since I’m an optimistic I always dig for treasures. I like to spend hours on Etsy.com looking at all the different artistic pieces (although I mainly look at fashion related stuff). You can find some true artistic pieces that are definitely worth talking about. Since I spend a lot of time on Etsy anyways, might as well write a post about what I find so not only I can be amazed but you guys too. These pieces are so amazing that they deserve to be showcased for their artistic quality!

Keep in mind that the pieces I choose are all pieces from my taste and that there are many more recycled accessories that may fit each individual style better. I choose these pieces based on originality and how cute they are. I like recycled jewelry that looks super chic that you would see being sold at a top jewelry store. I  can also see a lot of these pieces being used for outfits on magazines such as Vogue. The way I see it is a bunch of different models using these pieces as their statement piece for their outfit. I don’t know about you but I think that would be a pretty interesting article and a must read.

A bunch of the pieces of jewelry and accessories I see are mostly made of recycled material. I know what you’re thinking, “ewww I don’t want a legitimate trash bag to carry around”, but it’s far from that. I’ve seen a lot of elegant and classy pieces that I wouldn’t mind wearing and that I would enjoy having in my closet. Not only can using recycled items for accessorizing be cute but it’s also great for the environment! We have huge piles of waste lying around hurting the environment so why not reduce the piles by turning some things into wonderful accessories.

Like I mentioned before I usually stay within the fashion area. Some of these pieces I see as statement pieces. Statement pieces have different meanings to different people, but to me it means a piece that will make people look at it twice. These pieces can be a great conversation starter, especially with boys! I mean imagine it! “Yeah, my necklace and bracelet are made of bicycle parts”. What boy can’t relate to a bike?

The Etsy finds that I wanted to talk about are all made of bicycle parts. Some of the parts I’ve seen these artists use a lot are the chains, the gears, inner and outer tire tubes, and the spokes. A lot of these accessories I immediately think steam punk and grunge. Most of the accessories are dark and almost rustic so that’s why I think of it being grunge and steam punk like. I think it’s interesting how you can take something like a bike apart and create awesome accessories to wear. If you have any old bikes that you don’t use anymore then you already have multiple pieces of jewelry that you can use.  You can go to flea markets pick up some old parts that are for sale for a cheap price and make some high-end jewelry yourself. Now, I’m not telling you to go outside and tear up your bike to make accessories but keep your eyes and mind open to the possibilities.

I’ll have to admit that all this talk about bicycles has me eager to go for a ride. 🙂

Anyway, I figured that many of these stores are really small business owners so sharing their info below is my way to support them, share the love, recognize their amazing work and spread the word.

Featured Etsy stores:

ninarossi

DesignbyIsonca

hamburgWEST

RuthlessReuse

JWCManAboutTown

UnchainedSeattle

EdithEnDat

AnnesSierraad

KatiesBike

PartsAndScraps

Willowtreework

BryansRebicycling

LivelyLeafDesigns

UrbanLaceLLC

LINKSbyAnnette

RetiredGeneration

WarbleswithBella

RosePedalsJewelry

upcyclery

Ballestic

RhythmicMetal