OverDressed for Life

It’s Day Six and we’re looking at a watch face brooch that I made.

When I was in college I had a small business making and selling jewelry (I called it Personal Fixtures). I worked with found objects, mostly vintage buttons and as we see here, watch faces. The watch faces came to me from a friend who collected all kinds of strange odds and ends. He gave me boxes of faces and parts and I made brooches out of them. They were popular with customers, but I had a big problem – adhesive. I just couldn’t find anything that would bind the smooth enamel surfaces or even the metal parts. I had the same issue with buttons. So eventually I gave up my jewelry making business, but I hung on to whatever I had left in stock.

I learned a lot running my own little business including the fact that wearing what you make is the best advertisement. I wore these brooches mostly on sweaters and coats. I remember sporting one to a job interview just after I graduated from college. It was a position at a university and the nice woman in HR went crazy for my brooch and ordered one for herself and one for her daughter. Plus, I got the job!