Dana Starvaggi uses a multi-colored assortment of beads to brighten a dreary day.
Starvaggi, an Ohio University sophomore, could be found the past couple days on South Court Street selling handmade wire jewelry and printed patches.
Though Starvaggi, 19, started making jewelry with hemp, she changed to wire when a friend gave her some wire and a pair of plyers. She said the hemp was too limiting for the variety of jewelry she wanted to make.
You can have so many different styles with the same supplies
Sarvaggi said. It's a very open art form.
Using wire and beads to make brightly colored earrings, bracelets and necklaces, Starvaggi, who spent last summer in Oregon, said she is selling the jewelry to earn money to travel again next summer.
All the jewelry Starvaggi sells is $20 or less, with the bracelets -the best selling item -being the most expensive and the earrings being the least expensive.
Because of the many different types of people in Athens, Sarvaggi said she there is not just one type of person who stops to check out her jewelry.
Each piece has a different style and flare to it, she said, and she enjoys watching people's personalities come out in what they pick.
Starvaggi said she has fun guessing what piece people who stop by will be interested in, and she gets excited when she is right.
Starvaggi said some people who stop by to look at her jewelry give her suggestions because they too fashion accessories.
It's cool to know there are little closet jewelers everywhere Starvaggi said.
Other people who stop by just take a little time to look over her items, read some of the patches and say they will stop by again later to make a purchase. Most people who say the will come back actually do, Sarvaggi said.
Many people also stop by and request custom made jewelry, for which Sarvaggi said she takes orders.
Keeping Starvaggi company on the street is her friend Nate Cole, 21, of Akron. Starvaggi and Cole screen print an assortment of logos and phrases on fabric patches, which they sell alongside the jewelry for $1.
Everybody's spending $90 on jeans with holes in them so now they can buy patches too
Starvaggi said jokingly.
The patches, Cole said, are a fun way to present an art form with a political aspect attached.
Cole said patches similar to the ones he and Starvaggi sell can be bought from street vendors across the country, and people who travel often buy them and trade with friends they meet along their journeys.
It's like stamp collecting -patch collecting
Cole said.
With the return of warmer weather in the near future, Starvaggi said she plans to be outside selling jewelry and patches as often as possible.
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Dana Starvaggi, an OU sophomore, and Athens Resident Stephen Rounthwaite look over Dana's handmade jewelry that she sells to fellow students and area residents. Dana finds inspiration for her craft all around her and can be found selling her goods on nice
