Saving a Crushed Bag of Beaded…?

Junking from the "Baggie-Wall"at Savers.

On the last junking trip to Savers in Schaumburg, Illinois, E and I had a great time on the 'baggie wall'.

The 'baggie wall' at Savers is where they hang quart size or sometimes gallon bags, full of items that are too annoying to put out on shelves, too tangly, too useless, or too what-the-heck is that.

I found three bags full of crushed, hand-beaded flowers, dirty, wadded into a small football shapes. The crafter in me screamed…NO…just because I am sympathetic with anyone's handiwork that takes umpteen hours and is not appreciated. These poor flowers were just begging to go home with me, even though I'm not a lover of anything particularly glitzy. The bags were discolored and double folded over, it was hard to see what I had purchased.

At home, I opened the bags and was almost disappointed, the contents were filthy. I mean dis-colored and encrusted in years of dusty grime. Though the stems were either satin wrapped, waxed floral wrapped or paper wrapped, I could barely tell and I thought, not really water-safe.

How to clean them, I wasn't sure?

With not much to lose, I took them to the sink, sprayed them thoroughly with Windex, swished them in a sink full of the hottest water, rinsed them under the faucet and then put them immediately onto the drainboard.

Results sparkling! Clean and vibrant, and only a couple began to unwrap. I can easily save those with fresh floral tape. The amazing thing is how heavy these are with the hundreds of tiny glass beads on each wire. The workmanship was amazing. These aren't particularly old, perhaps the 50's to the 70's. 

After researching, many listings of such flowers say French beaded flowers, 

and they are quite pricey, my three bag investment of $10.00 will go far. 

After many years of working in artificial flowers, it only took a few minutes to make all the leaves and petals perfectly arranged in their intended places.  

One of my favorites was this small pot of violets in slightly iridescent seed beads. 

Sweet, adorable and cute from all sides. 

One of the most delicate was this lovely stem of leather leaf or fern 

that was all balled up in a knot.

All the fronds bend exactly the way you wish them to go.

The roses are heavy with multi-layers of solidly-wired petals and many leaves on the stems. The largest rose measures almost five inches round. 

The medium roses have leaves and a bud to make them appear realistic. 

The red beads are a matte finish seed bead, while the green has an iridescent sparkle to them.

One of the prettiest and unusual flowers are two stems of what appear to be hyacinths. Each small lavender blossom is wired with small yellow twisted centers. The yellow is matte while the while the flower petals and leaves have an iridescent sparkle.

One of the most delicate was this lovely stem of leatherleaf or fern that was all balled up in a knot.

All the fronds bend exactly the way you wish them to go. 

There are also yellow pansies, alyssum, mini-orchids, daisies, and several lilies.

Most of these will find their way to my shop on Etsy, 

and into appreciative hands or new crafts.

That's what I love about Etsy, the total re-cycle of New, Old, Green, Redo!

These are mine though!

Daisies were my mom's favorite flower, and blue anything is mine. 

So, this small cluster with a busy little bee landing on them only made it from the drainboard to this tiny bottle on my window sill above my sink. I totally love them and they are worth oodles, as I look at them everyday and smile.

Have a great week!

Sandi

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle