These 3 Keys

Look what I found! I think they're pretty spectacular.  Not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I definitely want to see them on a leather bag or clutch. 

Keys today are so generic looking; there's nothing special about them.  But the act of opening a door, any door, with a key like this automatically becomes a grand gesture.

What Do You Want, Just For Today?

It's like the Universe blew this opportunity to start the week off right...right into my path!  Like she pressed this grubby thing into my palm and asked, "what do you want, Sugar?"

Well, for starters, I want to be warm! Where is spring??? I want my nose not to be cold! I want to be prepared for what's ahead of me and present enough to enjoy it.  How about you?  Just for today, what do you want this ticket to get you?

"Antique Keys .50¢ ea."

found objects

waiting to become necklaces

I can be curious. I open lids. Sometimes to my detriment, but this time I found fortune and utter delight:  A pile of antique keys aged to perfection!  Too charming. Romantic, mysterious, symbolic and utilitarian all at once--Mine!

They came in a humble, grubby little paper box with a brown water stain and fading label and postmark on its lid, and a slip of linen cardstock stapled to its side, with "Antique Keys  .50¢ ea." carefully handwritten inside a fancy ink-stamped frame.

I don’t remember what I offered for the whole batch—it was only a few dollars—but I thank my mom for having taught me the value of haggling, and I was thanking the seller for being so unattached to the keys and willing to let them go for an insignificant amount. I mostly thank art school where I learned what wonderful pieces of art can be made from found objects.

I hung out with that box of keys for a few years, not knowing what I wanted to do with them. It’s likely that I tied them on a string and hung them in plain view because that’s what I always do with things so cool I don’t want to forget.  Out of sight, out of mind...you know--The Hoarder's Creed?  Eventually I would pair those keys with some leather reclaimed from thrifted vintage coats and make a pretty simple wallet, as quirky and imperfect as you please!

Sometimes I blush a little when I see the very first ones I sold online—not to mention the documented evidence of knowing nothing about photography!  But I also glow with pride a bit when I look at how far I’ve come from that serendipitous day at a neighborhood flea market where I took some things nobody wanted and turned them into some things that quite a few people have cherished.  I call them Urban Heirlooms. 

What’s the neatest thing you ever found? What did you do with it?