Utilizing everything from Dr. Seuss characters to Bounce fabric softener sheets, University students in the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Program fashioned more than 400 pieces of jewelry in three weeks for the 11th-annual Cheap Jewelry Sale in Lawrence Hall on Tuesday.
By noon, most of the hot items were completely sold out. Best-sellers included brooches constructed of twisted black wire by Beth Greene and kiln and torch fired earrings and pendants that David Wagner created by fusing enamel powder to copper.
“This is my third and most successful sale,” Wagner said. He plans to teach metalsmithing after he graduates.
Visiting assistant professor Anya Kivarkis said the 22 participating students were given three weeks to create 20 to 40 pieces of jewelry each, using alternative materials under price constraints. The idea behind the project was for students to learn the basics of production.
Prices ranged from $5 to $15, inspiring some artists to create jewelry made of recycled materials.
That’s what art major Brian Modrcin did. He made necklaces and other items out of used tire inner tubes.
Varina Smith used pieces of building hardware that she found laying on the ground as the base of her collection.
“I attached gemstones to make them more fashionable,” she said.
Smith said she made 40 pieces in two weeks, but it was easy for her to do because she constructs jewelry to sell at Eugene’s Saturday Market and at concert tailgaters. Like many other students, she had to go outside the box for this particular assignment.
Kristen Konopka made scented brooches and earrings out of Bounce fabric softeners bunched together, and Allison Ullmer used Shrinky Dink shrinkable plastics to make bracelets that sold well.
Dixie King said she felt like a “little factory” when she was forming her “drippy globe earrings,” which she wire-broached, dipped in enamel and then spray-painted. She said she plans to make jewelry professionally after she graduates.
“I want to work with cheaper materials to make them accessible to everyone,” King said. But she also wants to create more expensive, time consuming pieces as well.
King said she learned a lot about production, how to price and how to manage her time from the project.
Fumiyo Whistler put together a collection of “invisible jewelry.” She heated and shaped acrylic dowels into unidentifiable patterns that cannot be duplicated and made them into brooches.
“They’re all by accident,” she said.
Last year, the sale earned about $3,600 for the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Program, and Kirvarkis expects this year to bring in more.
Profits go to guest lecturers and new shop equipment. A portion also goes to the students to reimburse them for the materials they had to buy to make their contributions to the sale.

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