GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Julie Brotherton looks at making jewelry from recycled pieces of broken, unwanted or partial sets — like earrings without its mate — as preserving people's memories.

Brotherton created jewelry this way for 10 years before considering it as a way to earn money.

“Everybody kept telling me I should turn it into a business,” Brotherton said. “I really resisted until the economy went sour.”

She turned to the Internet, the Business Incubator Center and word-of-mouth to begin selling her earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

Brotherton, 58, is a walking billboard for her art.

Last Friday she wore a bracelet made from rayon beads from a 1950s dress, woven together with white acrylic oval-shaped beads from the 1960s. Her earrings comprised of rhinestone bead caps with a white dangle bead were created from an earring that had lost its mate.

Brotherton used to work for Heirlooms for Hospice where she'd buy donated broken pieces of jewelry, or partial sets. Then she started going to flea markets to find jewelry to take apart.

She also collects material to work with by trading people's broken or unwanted jewelry for a finished piece of equivalent value.

“They're one of a kind pieces guaranteed to never be duplicated,” Brotherton said.

Brotherton's eclectic collection of jewelry include a lovely topaz-colored crystal necklace strung with aurora borealis 1950s vintage beads plus fresh water rice pearls.

She combined sterling silver and turquoise beads from two mismatched earrings to create another necklace.

Brotherton embellished a ceramic pin with beads then strung it on chocolate fresh water pearls and gold seed beads to make one of her pendants.

“It's more than recycling. It's preserving the memories of people who came before us. I like creating heirlooms,” she said.

Brotherton's “One Design at a Time” jewelry can be found at “Wild Child Clothing Company” at 205 Colorado Ave., and on Etsy.com, an online handmade marketplace. She also brings her wares to private parties, and special showings.

Brotherton brought her jewelry and artworks to a quilters' seminar in Gateway in June where John and Maureen Hendricks bought three items.

Brotherton learned to turn her hobby into a business with the help of the Grand Junction Business Incubator Center. There she received advice on marketing, how to start a business, creating a business plan and how to price merchandise.

“They will share whatever they know, and try and help you succeed,” Brotherton said. “They've been a godsend.

“I'm on a shoestring budget. There's a lot of wisdom and experience you can pull on from the Business Incubator Center.”

Brotherton is also mining the Incubator for help navigating social media for marketing purposes.

She's written her first blog and posted a video blog to YouTube.

At blogger.com, type in One Design at a Time, or recycled jewelry and you can read Brotherton's blog about a particular piece of jewelry.

“I sit and talk and run through what I do and how I got there and why it's important to me,” Brotherton said.

Before starting her business Brotherton framed pictures and managed properties.

“I love this more than anything I've done before,” she said.