ANTLER JEWELRY HOLDER

Sometimes I just have these brainstorm ideas out of the blue.  Many times, I pursue those ideas.  This is one of those out of the blue ideas!

It started with antler sheds....you see we have lots of these in our household.  My husband has made many things for us and family members with them over the years.....but yet, we still have lots of sheds.  SSSsssoooo, one day I thought about other uses and the idea of a jewelry holder came to mind.  As it turns out, after looking over the internet, other people have had this idea (great minds think alike).  What I didn't see however was the manner in which I thought it should be displayed.

To me it called for a statement piece for a base.  So why not a beautiful piece of granite?  I went to a local granite company and asked if they had any scrap pieces.  As it turned out I had a lovely gal show me around the scrap piles and I picked out three pieces which she gave to me free of charge.  I wasn't expecting that!

Here's where I had my husband help me take my vision and make it into a reality.  I had him break the granite into a reasonable size creating jagged edges along the way.  I wanted something completely irregular.   That he achieved with hammer and chisel.

The next was drilling the hole into the granite to secure the shed.  This took quite some time, and included purchasing a granite drill bit and a water bath during the process.  Granite is extremely hard, and the process needs to be done slowly to avoid burning out the drill bit.

Next up, I added the paint and leather and jute strips for some artistic touches.  And finally, I cut out a piece of leather for protection and we secured it with rubber cement to the underside of the base.
When I had this idea for a jewelry holder,  I was actually thinking of our daughter; as it turned out she loved the idea.  In fact, she has been struggling with ways to organize her jewelry, using all sorts of closet organizer ideas, but never really liking any of them.

I may find as she's putting it together, she may need some tweeks along the way to really make it functional.  I added the jute, and leather to act as break points,  and I also added some flat head beads on the backside of the antler with the same intent.  I knew without something all the necklaces would slide down the antlers....it needed some means of separation along the curves.   So, with the exception of some additional functional improvements, the result is exactly as I pictured it in my mind.

The best part, our daughter has a truly unique jewelry holder that was created and gifted with love!