Altered Art Craft Jewelry

A popular trend in jewelry making is to re-purpose small vintage objects into one-of-a-kind jewelry to accent any accessory. These creations have been given the name "Altered Art" or "Repurposed Jewelry" to describe the genre. It just takes a little imagination to fashion unique jewelry tailored to the wearer's interests out of personal items or miniatures. And it's fun to make versatile low cost jewelry that can accessorize your latest trendy outfits.

One example of altered art jewelry is funky charms. These can be attached to bracelets, neck chains, handbags, or any wearable item. Good sources of inspiration are old miniature playing cards, broken china and flatware, old beaded jewelry, watch and clock parts, old photographs, buttons, and old typewriter keys. Flea market finds have never been more appealing to crafters seeking to create unique vintage jewelry charms. These discarded items can be pieced together into personalized trinkets. There is no right or wrong when working in this form of art and creating wearable jewelry out of old relics is considered a "green" activity as it reduces the amount of junk headed for landfills and gives new life to discarded items.