To Brooch or not to Brooch that is the question?

Lets call this an ode to Mah Rana's Meanings and Attachments project.
I am back in the Cherry Capital, Traverse City, Michigan, the home of Rounds Diner.

Last year, I walked into Round's Diner with my jewellery and my mother-in-law. After a delicious omelet, I took advantage of the Midwestern friendliness and walked around talking to other patrons. I wanted to find out how people feel about jewellery, whether they wear it or not, and more importantly, if they wear brooches. I then let them choose a brooch I had made and took a photograph of them wearing the brooch.
I never got around to posting the photos and comments of all of my wonderfully friendly new jewellery mates last year, so here goes.


I was a bit nervous to start with so my mother-in-law, Carol was the guinea pig.


Carol liked this brooch best because of the color. It is hard to see here, but that is an old piece of copper with a rusty patina.


Being the friendly sort, Carol had started chatting to the the four year old a the counter and her mother. They became my next subjects.



Lorena wears jewellery on and off, usually when she goes out. She always wears her wedding rings. She just moved back to the US from Costa Rica and is married to a Costa Rican. In Costa Rica they wear the wedding and engagement rings on the right hand and they aren’t as flamboyant as in the US

Lorena might wear a brooch once or twice a year. The piece she picked is an old key-holder tin with a wooden cutout fixed onto it.




Even the waitress got involved. Amanda likes shiny things, She usually wears earrings and rings. She wears jewellery out of habit. She has an Irish callaghda ring that she wears pointing in when her heart is taken or and out when its free
Amanda doesn’t wear brooches, but she likes the twig brooch (cast, silver twig with pearl) because it kind of looks like a cross.


Feeling adventurous, I wandered into the other room and met a few other ladies

Pat wears jewellery all the time. She loves all kinds of jewellery. Pat is wearing a silver necklace with two flip flops on it, each has the birthstone of her two daughters on it. She just bought a new ankle bracelet and has asked my assistance with the hook. Pat has a cameo brooch but doesn’t wear it, but is currently reconsidering. She chose to wear the twig brooch.

Evelyn wearing Obama button, Breast Cancer Pin, Freedom pin, and my ‘copper assemblage’

Evelyn wears earrings and rings and her Obama pins. She likes to sign people up to vote and make sure the local government stays on the straight and narrow. She has a mother/grandmother ring (with birthstones of her kids and grand kids) that she loves. Evelyn’s daughter gives her brooches for Christmas and she wears them then. Her friend gave her a freedom heart pin when her husband died. One of her other pins was given to her for surviving breast cancer. Evelyn doesn’t consider her bouquet of pins brooches.

Many thanks to the friendly folks of Traverse City for sharing their thoughts.