This week’s 'thing person' is Kate, of the delightful blog katiecrackernuts. Kate is a community newspaper journalist and committed op-shopper, who lives on the NSW Central Coast.
I’ve been a regular visitor to Kate's blog, following her adventures in op shopping and gardening. Here she talks about her ‘one small beautiful thing’: a hand-crafted silver and gold ring.
Kate, you scour op shops for objects to add to your wardrobe and home. The objects have often belonged to someone else. How then do you find a home for them?
Funny, when you asked me to do this interview I struggled to name a “thing”. I would have thought it easy to name a "thing" I was attached to, but actually I think I like a particular aesthetic at a particular time. Things come and go in my house. As I buy and give back to op shops I imagine who owned the item before me and who will next use what I’m passing on.
But you've settled on something, and surprisingly it isn't second-hand. Can you tell me a little more about your ring? Why this one?
The ring is silver and etched with the pattern of bare tree branches. The bird is gold. It’s made by Northern NSW jeweller Kylie Gartside and is from her Fly Away Home collection. I’m not even sure how I stumbled across Kylie’s work but I very uncharacteristically bought it based only on photographs.
I paid an amount I’d never spent on jewellery for myself. In fact, it’s the first piece of let's say "fancy-pants" jewellery I’ve ever bought myself. To this day I can’t explain my reaction to it. I sobbed when it arrived and didn’t fit me.
Kylie, whom I'll add was at the time a new mother, graciously allowed me to return it and refitted me – all from a distance – and remade a ring that when I slipped it on my finger felt like it had always been mine.
This is a ring I wear every day. I have other rings, one in particular given to me by my partner and one from my sister that I am fond of but don’t tend to wear daily. I only wear one ring daily, and it’s this one. I feel naked if I haven’t got it on. I only wear it during the day, at night it sits on my dresser among a collection of thrifted jewels.
Given so many of the things we buy (even in op shops) are mass-produced, is it important that this ring is bespoke - made especially for you?
I do happen to know Kylie has made more than 100 of these rings, so it’s not necessarily unique to me – though each one is made by hand, so somewhat different to all those other Fly Away Home rings.
No, it’s not so much that it was made “for me”. Initially it was about supporting Australian designers and jewellers rather than buying from a store that may import from India, or wherever.
Does the story of Kylie's refitting the ring perfectly for you add to its meaning?
It does. There was a lot happening in my house when I bought that ring. It was like a little secret I had with myself, and Kylie. I was feeling very lost. My partner and I were struggling with a difficult teen and the conflict was unrelenting. This was just one small beautiful thing I had coveted and wanted. In a world that felt ugly, I wanted something beautiful and tangible and this was my choice.
When it didn’t fit – it was too small – it felt like the fates delivering another crushing blow. I did literally wail. Kylie, a trooper, just fixed it. In some ways her response restored my faith in good, kind people. It’s a talisman, a reminder of that one small act of kindness, when really it could have gone the other way. Kylie could have washed her hands of the transaction. She’d made the ring I ordered and it not fitting was really my fault, but she was gracious and sweet and kind.
Is it just the look of the ring that matters to you? Does the feel, shape and weight of it matter too?
I knew nothing about the feel of this ring when I bought it, but have rather fondly noted the etching is wearing thin and the silver is always so bright. It never seems to tarnish or dull. My nana said the best way to clean silver was to wear it and seems she’s right.
What would it mean not to have this particular ring? Is it replaceable?
Kylie knows my ring size now and it’s still a piece that can be ordered from her, so yes, it’s replaceable. That said I’m not sure I would replace it. I don’t know if I’d feel the same way about a replacement piece. I would be saddened by its loss, but I guess when it’s gone, it’s gone. I hope I’m not careless enough to lose it because I’d like to think when I’m dead and gone, or when it no longer fits over my knuckles, one of my girls will wear it – or that it will end up in an op shop for someone else to buy and enjoy.
Before she was robbed, my nana had precise succession plans for her rings. Do you think there is something about jewelry that makes us think about lives beyond our own?
My mother, who is still a feisty very much alive woman, gave me her favourite ring when I turned 18. I was scared to death of wearing it initially because I felt it still belonged to her and in my head it does. I am a guardian of it.
I have already handed on a piece of jewellery given to me when I turned 21 to my eldest step-daughter. I gave it to her on her 21st and shared the story of how it was given to me. Being a step-parent, there are dangers in giving precious items. Will they care? Will the story, a story of my family, mean anything? But gave I did. That’s what giving is, isn’t it?
Thank you, Kate.
(Photo supplied by katiecrackernuts)
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