The Etsy Experience

We've been making little jewelry pieces and accessories from recycled materials for years now. It started with incense burners. We took empty wine bottles, drilled holes in them, then painted or decoupaged them with different designs. Then we added a ring at the top to hold the incense stick and attached a braided or beaded rope around the neck to hold the ring. We sold these for $10.00 each at a flea market booth we ran for a while.



The recycling/upcycling aspect of using the discarded glass bottles was very appealing to us and we ventured to create more crafts from used materials.

In March of 2010 we visited Key West with some friends and spent a few hours in Mallory Square waiting for the sun to set. There were so many performing artists and art vendors lined up along the pavement. One vendor had what appeared to be intricate little handmade clock charms and we stopped to investigate. We spoke with the female artist for a while and inspected the merchandise. It was beautifully crafted into little circles with clock hands and numbers. After flipping it around a few times it finally dawned on us- these are inside bottle caps. The artist verified that this was correct although she seemed as if the used bottle cap portion was not a selling point. It was much more about the little detailed sculpture inside. Considering she was selling them for anywhere from $25-$50 each we can understand why she may have been inclined to leave that part out.

But this gave us an idea! A few days after we returned from our Key West vacation we started asking our friends to save their bottle caps. From anything. Beer. Soda. Yerba Mate. We even went to a local bar and they handed us a huge bucket full of used caps. Now we were in business.

After making the first few ourselves, we started having get togethers with friends where we would just sit at the crafting table watching movies or listening to music and creating these little bottle cap charms. It was so interesting to see all the little designs people would come up with from the various materials. Beads, broken mirror pieces, chain, glitter, broken jewelry, hardware, wire, buttons, and lots and lots of glue.

For a while we just told everyone to take whatever they made and then we gave the charms we made ourselves as gifts to friends and family. It wasn't till we had a few dozen just lying around that someone suggested we sell our creations.

 We were very interested in the suggestion but weren't sure where to start. We had sold things at flea markets before but it seemed more and more that the idea of selling handmade art in local venues was a dying medium. We had heard of Etsy before, and upon browsing it realized- this is the place.

We opened our Etsy store about a month and a half ago. It took a little time because we just got married this past November and all production on crafts were halted unless they had to do with the wedding. Our bottle cap nights with friends had turned into a sweat shop of people gluing paper to matchbooks, tying bottles to sticks, braiding yarn, cutting out program paper, and various other ridiculous tasks they must have loved us to actually complete. In the end we were very lucky because the whole ceremomy and reception turned out perfectly and we couldn't have done it without them.

Now, fast forward. We just opened our Etsy store and we were told not to be surprised if it took a few months to sell something. Well we have officially sold one item so far! It went to Sweden 2 weeks ago! The item we sold was actually not one of them bottle caps. We have expanded into making two sided charms. This one was inspired by the movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". Specifically the song "The Origin of Love". If you don't know what we're talking about we highly suggest you check out the below video. It's a beautiful song.

By the way- if you love the above charm necklace and MUST have one- we just recreated it and posted it as a new item. It can be yours for only $6.99!

So now, here we are, with our little Etsy store up. We're making more things everyday and have obviously expanded from bottle cap charms. Some of our charms are molded from clay or made from reclaimed vintage items. They are always sold on a vegan necklace cord and made (to the best of our ability- it's difficult with some upcycled products to verify) with entirely vegan products.

Our shop is called LeoGemDesigns because Brandy is a Leo and Jenna is a Gemini. We will continue to evolve, be inspired, and add new creations onto our store and hopefully continue to get sales! So far it has been quite exciting and we're pretty optimistic that it will keep getting better.

If you would like to check out our shop use the link on the right sidebar and browse away! Follow us, pin our items on Pinterest, help us get out products out there!

LeoGemDesigns is on Facebook! Click here! Like us!

And tell us, what would you like to see on our shop? More Hedwig stuff or other indie movie inspired items? Should we bring back our bottle incense burners? Do you have a theme you would like for your very own unique bottle cap charm? Tell us! We're ready to make your handmade item dreams come true!

With peace, love, and compassion,
The Two Vegan Ladies