Trip to Iowa 2014, the Goodies!

One of the things I love to do when visiting a new place is to go junking.  This consists of visiting every single thrift, charity, and antique store I can find, along with spur of the moment flea marketing and town festivals.  This can be especially fruitful in small towns, where dealers are less likely to realize what they have, and can't command big city prices anyway.  So here are my goodies from small town Iowa!

I've been looking for a Ganesh for awhile now - not your normal small altar statue, but something unique.  Who knew he would be hanging on the wall in a small oddity and antique store in Iowa?  And yes, he is a planter too...

I also got this little raku bell at the same shop.  It doesn't sound very nice, but it's so pretty!

Guinea fowl statue anyone?

I found this awesome tumbled slab of tiger iron that will make a great necklace for my boyfriend.

"Greek" brass masks...I'm determined that these are not too big for focals...

Carved serpentine fish focal.

Baggie of large rough cut seed beads...who could pass this up for 99 cents?

This is actually a bolo tie slide...I would love to meet the man that bought this!  I think it'll make a great necklace focal.

All of this was in a baggie for $2...what?  Yes.

Vintage glass necklaces from a variety of shops.

More organic necklaces - 4 strands of bone, cedar ghost berries, cultured pearls, and a necklace of mother of pearl rounds and really nice turquoise.  

Why did I buy this horrible thing?  Well, it was $1, the pendant is weird and interesting (capiz shell, peacock feather and resin), the wood donuts are useful, and the fur inlaid links were just too weird to pass up.

Bits and pieces of broken vintage beadwork.  I love finding stuff like this so I can retrace the threadpath and recreate it in new beads.

All of these crystals and chain (sterling chain I might add) came off of a broken necklace from the Goodwill...for $1...

Vintage glass buttons...I just can't say no.

Look at the texture on these!

When you're out and about, keep your eyes peeled for anything useful!  The trick is to start seeing old, broken, or costume jewelry as more than just it's current state.  It really is situation where the parts might be worth more to you than the whole piece.  Seriously, I buy garments at the thrift store on a regular basis, just because of the buttons.  You never know what you'll find if you keep your eyes peeled!  As always, you can keep track of my daily beadventures on my Facebook page, and in my Etsy shop.