Finding my Calling as a Jeweler

Many of the regular staff members were out this week, so Maggie and I had to fill in the gaps and work at different stations. Of the five stations (clothing, jewelry, linens, accessories, and household), a total of three of them were unmanned and would be for multiple days. I have become very accustomed to working with clothes, so it was certainly interesting to branch out. 

A stand of necklaces that Maggie and I tagged and priced.

We spent most of our time this week working at the jewelry station, tagging, pricing, and hanging various pieces of jewelry. A couple of pieces needed small repairs, so we fixed what we could using some tools and parts from the broken jewelry bin. As I looked through the broken jewelry bin, I decided to make some completely new pieces of jewelry using parts from various other pieces. I love crafting and was given complete creative control by the staff to make any pieces of jewelry I wanted. I really enjoyed making things that were useful out of parts that were not so useful on their own. Not only does it reduce waste, but it brings more profit to the store and provides customers with beautiful, custom pieces of jewelry.

A pair of earrings that I made with hooks from broken earrings and parts of a broken necklace.

I was also struck by the generosity of many of our donors, specifically when it comes to jewelry. People regularly donate expensive sterling silver or gold jewelry, which gets sold on the floor for a fraction of the initial price. Instead of selling these pieces privately to make a sizable profit for themselves, our donors give them to the store completely for free, simply so that people of all incomes can have access to luxury items. I was pleased to see the number of people who were willing (and able) to share their wealth with the community of Northern Frederick County.