Tin Pan Alley

As well as featuring crafters here at Find, Make, Do, I will be looking at the myriad of recycled materials used by these talented and innovative makers.
Being passionate about giving life and beauty to peoples unwanted and discarded bric-a-brac and saving it from heading to landfill, I will be featuring the wonderful array of recycled, repurposed, reclaimed, and reworked materials that have been utilised by craftspeople, and their finished results!
Today I am looking at three jewellers who use recycled tin.
I found the Michigan based Shixie on etsy one day and was immediately taken with her pieces.
I chose these delicate pair of recycled tin earrings and when I commenced wearing them, immediately dubbed them the conversation stoppers! While chatting to people, their eyes would be slowely drawn to my ears, and then, without fail, all talking would stop and the earring would become the focus of attention!
I love the summery dress shape of them, the bits of wear on the edges, and how the "hangers" are actually ear posts.I now own the red and pink hearts earrings aswell , bought recently from the Hearts for Haiti Etsy shop.Jane Harrison's Fofum jewelery is created from layered and riveted vintage tin. "I use vintage tin which often bears marks showing its past life which I find simply charming .... because I like old things. I use a patina on the finished pieces to further darken edges and bright metals - and also this darkened quality unifies and accents the antiquish aspect of this jewelry. Making these metal collage pieces creates an object rich with pattern, color; and asking the questions…..’What were you? where have you been?, and look at you now!’ "Her work can also be found at Quirk Gallery.
Anna Davern is a Fine jeweller from Melbourne who's CV is as long as your arm. She is represented by a number of major galleries, exhibits around the world, and is practically Jewellery Royalty. Move over Queen Liz!
Among other precious and recycled materials, Anna uses pre-loved biscuit tins and tin trays in her work, skillfully hand cutting the images to create brooches and neckpieces.Anna sources pre-loved materials from opshops, garage sales and fetes, and for a while had a blog dedicated to documenting her scores called "Garage Sailor". I have even been the lucky recipient of one of her finds! Read more about her here.