Today we’d like to introduce you to Hillary Youngblood
Hillary, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey of turning silverware into jewelry started young, I have collected souvenir spoons for as long as I can remember, something I picked up from my great-grandmother. Sometime as a teenager I discovered spoon rings at a fair and fell in love! As an adult I decided to try making spoons rings and was able to make them very archaically with a mallet and bending them over sockets from socket wrenches. Overtime I gathered more tools and honed the craft of making spoon rings and ended up with quite a few. I started giving them to friends and family then decided I should try selling online to help fund my hobby. I didn’t expect how well my hobby would be loved with online sales, and am so thankful! Also over time I experimented more and now make way more than rings, including earrings, bracelets, necklaces, keychains, ornaments, and money clips. Selling online gave me the confidence to start selling in person and now I do about 10 in person events a year, at festivals and farmers markets as well as online still.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Overall it’s been smooth, everything has happened really organically and slowly over time. I feel like it’s been a slow journey since it started as a child when I started collecting souvenir spoons, so it was no surprise when I developed a love of spoons rings. And my path has been a smooth and easy path into being a jewelry maker because I’ve had such great support from my family, especially my husband and mother, which just keeps driving me further into being successful at my craft. I just keep dreaming bigger and keep being met with enthusiasm from my family and patrons.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make jewelry, and other items, out of vintage and antique silverware. Some of the things I make are rings (my most popular seller), earrings, bracelets, necklaces, money clips, ornaments, and sun catchers. I love creating, I look at all silverware as a blank canvas and see what I can make out of it. I feel like I’m most known for making specialty pieces, I get contacted a lot about making character rings (Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, Mickey, etc) out of vintage spoons. I also regularly make jewelry for people out of their own silverware (or their families) as sentimental jewelry. A big piece of why my jewelry is so loved is because it can be incredibly nostalgic for people. I often hear customers get excited because I have a silverware pattern that was their grandmothers or a character spoon that they used as a child. Almost all of my silverware stock comes from estate sales. I love using estate sales because I’m repurposing existing materials and most of my pieces are one of a kind because I don’t often buy sets of silverware, it’s just one or two random forks or spoons.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I am on lots of social media, Poshmark, Tik Tok, and Instagram. Follow me and you’ll see videos regularly of me making jewelry and my estate sale silverware hauls. I love getting requests for certain items (like a specific character or theme) so reach out to me and I’ll make it happen! And most importantly if you’re in the Kansas City area I am a vendor at the Lenexa Farmers Market and festivals during the year so stop by and say hi!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@hillaryyoungblood?_t=ZT-8sXcJeHLCBi&_r=1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillaryshobby/profilecard/?igsh=MXd2c2NlendkbXR0NQ==
- Other: https://posh.mk/Ps8V0782DPb
Image Credits
Hillary Youngblood
