Much of my jewelry chest is full of pins which are organized by themes. In the 80s and 90s
when pins were highly popular, I acquired them for every unit I taught at
school. I have everything from clowns to fish. On top of that, I have many seasonal pins (some from my childhood).
Then there are teacher pins. I possess a variety of school houses, bells, buses
and apples. All of them were student gifts which were lovingly given and
proudly worn. As pins lost popularity, they spent more time in the jewelry drawers and
less time on lapels and sweaters. (Seasonal pins have their own drawers which are not shown here.)
In this close-up, you can see the pile of teacher pins in their half of the drawer.
About the time I retired, I thought it would
be neat to do something with them to
represent the good times and memories. Years ago, I made this jewelry tree with family pins (some of which are my mother's from her teacher days).
That didn't seem quite right for these more whimsical pieces, though. Then it hit me. What not a teacher pin wreath?
When I first assembled it, I attached the pins to a 10 inch styrofoam wreath which I had lightly spray-painted gold. While I was OK with the way it looked, it lacked dimension and needed something along the edges. So, I tried again. This time I went to the dollar store and bought a few spools of tulle and tied it on the same wreath. Then I attached the pins again. I am going to tweak a few things, but then I need to add spots of glue to secure them. Until then I can't actually hang it yet, but you get the idea.
This was fun! I fondly thought of the children who had given me the pins as I created. It seemed a timely project, too. It's completed just in time because had I not retired, I'd already be working in my room and would be preparing for six days of contracted work sessions, meetings and professional development beginning next Monday. Instead, I will reflect upon the past and admire my wreath. All of my pins are costume jewelry and while not a one has a high dollar value, they and the memories are priceless...