The August 2011 issue of Bead Trends magazine, published by Northridge Publishing, features the theme “Reimagined,” and the call went out for jewelry pieces that repurposed vintage jewelry or found objects upcycled into completely new pieces, so I created “Nina May,” a romantic piece named after my grandmother Nina May Hewett who was born on the ninth of May, 1898. A farmer’s wife and mother of seven boys, many of whom she raised during the Depression, she really knew how to make old things into new creations, that’s for sure! She didn’t have much jewelry, but the pieces she did have looked like a queen’s jewelry to me when I was a little girl playing in her jewelry box.

Because I loved her jewelry, two special pieces were given to me when she passed away. I even used one of her rhinestone necklaces as decoration for the prom dress I made my junior year. “Nina May” features a rhinestone brooch which may date to the 1920s or 1930s. Because I love the brooch so much, I wanted to create a piece that could be completely dismantled so that the brooch could be worn by itself again. This piece can be worn a number of ways: as a complete necklace and pendant, as a brooch with the dangling faceted rose quartz teardrop, or even by removing the brooch completely and connecting the necklace portion directly to the rose quartz pendant using the decorative S hooks.