Arlene's Art

Specializing in Vintage Jewelry Art... Renewing the Old to Shine Again!

* One-of-a-kind, Vintage Jewelry Artwork

* Unique Jewelry and Button Art

* Custom-made Vintage Jewelry Keepsake Art * Repurposed Jewelry Artwork *Upcycled Vintage Jewelry Art *Vintage Jewelry/Fashion Jewelry

Do what you love and you'll never "work" a day in your life.

Meet Arlene

Through my art, I bring old, forgotten jewelry back to life--to shine and be enjoyed again for many years and generations to come, just as they once did many years ago in the past. I once heard a saying, "Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life." That day is here and now for me. I retired from a large automotive company after 35 years of service, and now I have the time to fulfill a passion of mine--creating artwork from beautiful vintage and fashion jewelry. I especially love the hunt, traveling between thrift and resale shops to estate and garage sales. What a thrill it is to find unique pieces that trigger my imagination or find that one last piece, a specific color, shape, stone, or bling, that I've patiently searched for to finish a floral puzzle, a one-of-a-kind creation.
I love repurposing old jewelry, bringing it out of hiding and making it new again by creating a variety of bouquets (my favorite), heritage trees, hearts, crosses and even state/country maps--all embellished with unique vintage and fashion jewelry. I feel happy when I rescue these beautiful old pieces of jewelry from their graveyards--drawers, cases, old jewelry boxes--where they lie buried, collecting dust and forgotten. I can envision them in their heyday, like a rhinestone brooch sparking on a flapper's feathered headpiece in the Roaring Twenties or a pearl necklace tied in a knot, draping down a black fringed dress. In the floral pictures below, I used the sparkly silver shoe clips (labeled Made in France, perhaps from the 1920s or 30s) as the flower pots.
Pictured below is my very first creation which was not only my biggest (3' x 3') jewelry and button piece to date but was also my biggest challenge. After I put out a call for special brooches, earrings, and buttons from family members and friends, I was amazed by the thoughtful contributions I received from their sentimental collection and their late relatives' estates. These extraordinary, special vintage pieces along with hundreds of vintage buttons all fit together like pieces in a puzzle to form my "Vintage Mitten."

A personal favorite of mine is "My Heritage Tree". Buried deep inside a 1930s pine hope chest in my basement storage room, I found a wooden jewelry box--one of those with a tiny ballerina inside that twirls when opened. Inside that were some of my father's cufflinks, tie tacks, bowties, and my mother's chartreuse flower clip-on earrings and matching bangle bracelet--the jewelry she wore at my sister's wedding one month before her passing. I was only seventeen at the time of my mother's passing in 1968, but today these few pieces are invaluable to me--cherished treasures of mine. I display them, along with vintage buttons and sentimental jewelry I was given from the estates of beloved family members and friends on the piece pictured below that I call, "My Heritage Tree". (Additionally, in the upper right-hand corner of my tree, as pictured in the first small picture, is the gold butterfly hair barrette that I wore in my grade school days--the late 1950s.)
After finishing my "Vintage Mitten" and "Heritage Tree", my passion for collecting and creating unique art with vintage jewelry, giving a new shine to the old, grew ten-fold. Thus, Arlene's Art was created, and I haven't "worked" since!

"Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life."