Our footprints are all over this planet…..but do we have to stomp so hard!?

My name is Laura Bergman, the creator of Bottled Up Designs. I have lived all my life in the beautiful Pennsylvania Amish Country, where as a child we would dig around old foundations pulling old treasures from the ground from a simpler time.

The love of old glass and bottle digging stayed with me, and have always been an avid bottle collector. One thing that has always bothered me, though, is how we take away the pretty whole pieces, but leave all the broken remains behind for the environment and wildlife do deal with.

When I walk through these pretty wooded habitats, the sun slants through the woods and lights these little pieces of history. The ruby glows in the sun, looking like it’s on fire, amber from old medicine, beer, and the countless broken Clorox bottles used and carelessly tossed there so long ago. Another common find is the pretty ice blue glass of broken Mason jars, and always envision them in someone’s pantry full of the summer’s work “put up” for the coming winter. I am always a little sad when I see the broken depression glass, wondering if during those lean times there was the money to replace the pretty dishware that had broken.

To me, this glass still has history and real beauty behind it, and out of love for the pretty glass and the environment, I now bring home the broken pieces and create my jewelry. Each piece is handmade from this reclaimed glass, and wanting to share the history with those that wear it, have created “The Story of the Glass” detailing for each piece what it was originally, and the approx. age of the glass.

Recently, while walking my dog through a peaceful part of the woods, I spotted a baby fawn and her mother laying in the dappled sunlight. Of course, they caught the scent of us and were up and away, and where the fawn was laying was the broken shards of a cobalt Noxzema bottle. Hoping that she was unhurt, I sighed and picked up the glass to bring it home, wondering once again how we ever thought we had the right to treat our environment so carelessly.

To see all of the pretty vintage colors and how they are wonderfully transformed into beautiful artisan jewelry, please visit www.bottledupdesigns.com.

Read GGG editor Henriette’s review of Bottled Up Designs and this beautiful necklace.

So I have had the privilege to review a necklace from Bottled Up Designs.

I would actually claim that the necklace already won my heart over by the packaging it came in, please see the enclosed picture.

You can see a larger picture here of the packaging

I have been wearing it for a couple of days and people thought it was really cool, especially when I told them the story of the glass and the idea behind the jewellery.

Bottled Up Designs is an idea of an avid bottle and glass collector called Laura Bergman from Pennsylvania, bothered by the fact that glass collectors take the “valuable” whole bottles of glass, but leave the broken glass on the ground. You can read more about her story on Bottled Up Designs.

I really encourage people to support stores that are making a difference by recycling stuff and actually make it into something MORE valuable than it were. It’s a turn-around of the whole concept of value – which is great.

We need to make value out of something that could be trash – I mean my great grandmother used to wash her plastic bags because she had lived through a couple of depressions and knew that you shouldn’t waste your money either! So this is a truly great initiative – putting value back into broken glass.

So go check their store out, they have a lot of great stories – and jewellery.

www.bottledupdesigns.com

See Laura Bergman from Bottled Up Designs Guest Editor article.