Get Your Kicks

I hit the jackpot recently when I found these pins and charms.

I love using relics like these in pieces of my jewelry because there is some kind of uniquely personal story attached to each pin or charm. I don't yet know how I will carry on the storylines of these recent finds, but I just finished a necklace that was partly inspired by a small pin found at a thrift store.

I was cutting up segments of an old measuring stick, and the 66 inch mark made me think of Route 66. The hopeful promise of a new and better life that the old highway offered to desperate people in the 1930's is something that resonates with me. I searched through my collection of commemorative pins and found the AAA Service Patrol- perfect! This service pin is a miniature version of the badge that I wore when I was a 6th grade crossing guard at my grammar school. That now strikes me as a very bad idea- putting a kid in charge of other kid's safety as they crossed the street on their way to school.

Anyway........I sanded the cut edge of the measuring stick and gave it a gentle cleaning with a damp cloth. A piece of copper with 6 tabs was cut and riveted to a brass base. The tabs were bent over the '66' segment to fasten it in place after I stamped 'GET YOUR KICKS' on the brass base. The pin back was removed from the AAA pin and a hole was drilled for fastening as a dangle.

The brass base that I used has a beautiful etched pattern on the back. The chain is recycled from old necklaces and incorporates wire wrapped amazonite, sterling spacers and hand forged copper rings.