Confessions of a beadaholic

My dad has a work area in the basement of our family cabin in the mountains.  It's a place to tinker with things and to store his tools.  He has screws and bolts and washers organized in old baby food jars nailed through the lids to the under side of the stairway.  I wish I had a photo, it's really quite clever.  Anyway, my post today was not about how to store tiny things like beads so they are visible, but to confess that I recently raided his stash for some rusty old pieces to use as jewelry components. 

The locking washer was actually split on one side, so I wired it together with sterling and it now serves as part of the clasp.  I tumbled the components and sealed them so I don't have to worry about rust stains on clothing.  There's nothing like real patina on metal.