I was doing some (improvised) holiday shopping at a pop-up second hand store (furniture and treasures culled from estate and tag sales) when I noticed this fabulous necklace on the shop’s owner.

After I oohed and awed, she explained to me that during her childhood, her mother and she had collected multiple charms during their apparently extensive travels. As a result, each of them had several bracelets FULL of fantastic charms — mostly sterling but also some enamel and so on.

One day she decided to simply link all the separate (and mismatched) bracelets together using their existing fasteners and viola! — she now has two strands of the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen, which by the way, also SOUNDS amazing, clinking and tinkling…

Pamela Hovland
Pamela Hovland

Her improvised necklace is similar to a scrapbook or a travel log or memoir in that it is chock full of personal stories and memories — all awash in a lovely patina from the passed decades. Clearly, this is a woman who loves objects layered with meaning — not only because of her improvised fashion accessory but because she has opened a great little store that celebrates the reuse of beautiful things deserving of another chapter

—Pamela Hovland

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2 replies on “A Necklace of Linked Bracelets (and Charms and Memories)

  1. Stunning! How many bracelets made this necklace… Did you find all or most of it at flea market?

  2. Beautiful! I really love the idea of repurposing those bracelets and turning them into a necklace. My sister and I love to reuse, and we often use vintage jewelry pieces to make new ones. Thank you for sharing 🙂

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