Bonnie Hammond found her heart in San Francisco, leading to a love affair with vintage jewelry.
“It was a total fluke, I bought a key necklace in San Francisco and fell in love with the idea,” says Hammond of her hobby upcycling “little bits and pieces” of things she finds in her travels into conversation-starter jewelry.
A one-time North Vancouver resident, Hammond scours flea markets and antique shops in her quest to find funky pieces she can fashion into jewelry for her venture called Bits and Keys.
“Anything I can fit on a chain, I will make jewelry out of,” she vows.
Hammond will take an old-fashioned pocket watch, frozen in time, and display it as an offbeat pendant on a chain. Other times Hammond will tinker with broken-down watches and pull out their miniature parts.
She then takes the tiny gears and glues them onto tiny tea trays before stringing the intricate creation on a necklace.
“It seems punky, but it’s not,” says Hammond, referring to the steampunk cultural movement. “I don’t feel that I have the right to claim my stuff is steampunk, but I think it’s pretty cool, so I dipped my toe in it.”
Sometimes Hammond will learn the fascinating history behind the antique items. For example, her mom’s best friend was a librarian at the Matsqui prison in the 1970s and gifted Hammond with some skeleton keys from the jail cells.
Or some people, when their loved ones pass away, bring Hammond the contents of a junk drawer for her to sort through and find something she can turn into keepsake jewelry.
For one wedding Hammond was commissioned to make jewelry, the bride had 11 bridesmaids and a thing for dimes. So, Hammond drilled holes into 11 dimes and strung them all on a chain in a whimsical manner – 11 dimes on each string for each of the 11 bridesmaids.
Inspiration can strike anywhere in the world for Hammond, who loves to travel. During a road trip recently, Hammond stopped in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and hit the hipster jackpot.
“It turns out (Coeur d’Alene) is a hipster mecca. There are four main streets of antique shops as far as you can see,” says Hammond.
Her best find that day was a 200-year-old bosun’s whistle, a pipe with a narrow tube typically used on naval vessels to give commands to the ship’s crew.
Another time, Hammond found herself with an hour to kill in Chemainus on Vancouver Island. “So I Yelped shopping and found this amazing antique shop,” says Hammond, who dropped $1,000 in 45 minutes that day.
Hammond held on to a sentimental trinket from her childhood and turned it into some jewelry for herself. Taking a miniature teacup and saucer – Hammond’s first purchase with her own money – she fashioned a necklace and pair of earrings, which have since inspired a tiny porcelain tea cup line.
“For the tiny teacups I get a lot of ‘awws,’ even from big burly dudes,” says Hammond with a laugh.
The miniature teacups come from doll houses, explains Hammond. In the 1930s salesmen would go door to door with 1:3 scale samples of patterned bone china teacups.
Hammond, who has a degree in tourism and a minor in math, has never taken an official metalsmithing or jewelry-making class. Her dad was the president of a local lapidary club, so it could be argued that some of her talent is inherited.
“I know a little bit, like there are different pliers for jewelry than for plumbing,” says Hammond.
This holiday market season, Hammond’s creations can be found at the North Shore Green Markets Christmas Market at the Pipe Shop Venue at The Shipyards from Dec. 14-23 and in Vancouver at Enchant Christmas Light Maze and Market.
The rest of the year Hammond sells her jewelry at North Shore Green Markets retail shop in Lower Lonsdale, which has a curated collection of handmade items from local artists and where Hammond also helps out a couple days a month.
“We have bumblebees in the ceiling and a family of baby raccoons underneath the building,” says Hammond of the quaint shop in the 1908-era building with a vintage feel.
If only Hammond could string it on a necklace chain.
For more information on the Green Christmas Market, visit northshoregreenmarkets.com.
