Wicca’s Originals @ SL Holiday Shop & Hop // December 8th – January 2nd
Pandoras Box
Pandora’s Box There is something seriously wrong with me!
Normal people do not spend hours upon hours every weekend shifting through flea markets and antique stores looking for jewelry to re-purpose. But me? It’s a compulsion. An obsession.
Not only is it my passion, but its how I make a living. Because God only knows, waiting tables 10 hours a day doesn’t keep a girl in the essentials like food and heat. So I need to supplement my income.
When other girls my age are out partying or glued to their boyfriend-of-the-week, I am hunched over trays and boxes of discarded jewelry, looking for buried treasure. Rather than get wasted every night at the clubs, I create unique designs from other people’s rejects.
Over time, when the seller’s see me coming, they pull out boxes and containers they have set aside just for me. At one booth they even scribbled ‘Pandora’s Box’ on the carton. It was meant as a joke, a nod to the Greek mythology of the infamous box that contained all of mankind’s evils and temptations. Thanks again Mom for the name. I may be a joke to them, and, yes, I know that’s how they see me, but where they see junk, I see beauty. I deconstruct earrings here, a necklace there. Rings, pendants bracelets – all become fodder for my imagination. Shoe boxes are filled chains, gems, lumps of gold and silver. All waiting for a new life.
So every free moment I can spare is spent at my work table in my tiny apartment, with my tools and soldering gun, repurposing what everyone refers to as ‘junk’ jewelry. When I am finished, a one-of-a-kind piece is born.
They must look pretty good, because a customer at the restaurant raved over the craftsmanship when I told her I made the ear piercings I had on that day. She gave me her business card and told me if I can provide one hundred quality pieces by the end of the month, she will sell them in her boutique.
That was on the 19th of the month. No pressure there. So for the passed eleven days I have worked my fingers to the bone, literally. Cuts, nicks and burns decorate my hands, but I am finished. Today’s the day I take everything to the boutique and set up the special display case she cleared out just for my jewelry.
With each piece carefully wrapped and packed in a plastic container, I take the subway downtown. For a few minutes I stand across the street just staring at the upscale shop, wondering what the hell I have gotten myself into now. There is something seriously wrong with me.
Tina sees me through the window and waves me in with a smile. She oohs and aahs as I unwrap each necklace, bracelet, broach and earring set I created. We spend the next hour arranging each piece onto velvet trays and display mannequins. Finished, I step back and cannot help the smile on my face, despite the butterflies’ dive bombing my stomach.
I thought this day would never come, but there it is. My creations, all my hard work, on display for all to see and purchase. No way could this day get any better. Until …
The bell over the door rings to life and two very stylishly dressed women enter, chatting endlessly about some exclusive party in two days. Tina greets them warmly, so I assume they are returning customers. I panic when one woman stops, freezes before the newly stocked display case and falls silent. Worried, her companion turns and she, too, is stunned to silence.
My heart lodges in my throat and I am ready to run for my life, but I am a deer caught in headlights. I wait for the laughter, the scorn, the inevitable dissection of my soul. But in the next heartbeat chaos fills the silence as the two women explode in a shopping frenzy.
Soon they were selecting clothing to go with the jewelry – MY jewelry. I look like a cartoon character with my jaw hanging open and my eyes bugging out. These cultured, sophisticated women are shopping to showcase MY jewelry. I sneak a peek at Tina and she gives me a knowing smile as she helps makes suggestions from the high end clothing she sells.
Soon, nearly a third of the inventory I brought to the boutique is purchased and the women are happily chatting about how everyone will be green with envy when they show off their new jewelry. No way could this day get any better. Until …
Tina brings out dark red tissue to carefully wrap the jewelry, along with several white boxes. On the lid of each box, beautifully scripted in the same dark red, are two words.
Pandora’s Box.
Sizes: Rigged: LeLutka EvoX Female/Human + Unrigged Version
HUD: 10 Metals
Event Location: SL Holiday Shop & Hop 2021
