BELLVILLE — Olivia Bluebaugh has had an eye for jewelry since she was 10 years old.
“I really enjoy it,” she said. “My mom has always encouraged us to try artistic things. I’ve tried clay and hand building and making beads.”
BlueBaugh, a Bellville resident, said she began making and selling bracelets and necklaces to family members.
“I was really little,” she said with a laugh. “It wast super fantastic.”
But she kept working. She found a passion for “junk” — finding and working with antiques to create a new piece of jewelry.
“I love making it into something somebody would want to wear or could touch somebody,” Bluebaugh said. “I go to antique stores, flea markets and just get you know, trash — old keys, broken charms, earrings. I just love antiques and I love things that are old. They feel really familiar with me.
“I like to match them with new things.”
She explained her process while holding a pearl-based necklace she found at an antique store. She said she threaded chainlink between each pear and placed an old key, a charm and shell to the middle.
“It just depends on what looks right together. I’ve been using a lot of charms. I don’t know, I like using weird things,” she said. “I’m always somewhere where there are bits of junk I think someone will really care about.”
Bluebaugh, 20, set up a shop at the Belleville Street Mart. She said she’s been selling at the event for the past three years.
“It’s really great. It’s always a really fun and relaxing show, if the weather is nice,” she said. “A lot of people come through and that’s opened up a lot of avenues for people to do more shows.”
Bluebaugh said she and her family will be selling their items at the Oakridge Festival next Saturday and Sunday in Attica and at the Prairie Peddler in Butler in autumn.
“It’s always interesting to meet interesting people and it’s opened up a lot of things,” she said.
