Spinning reCycled Bike Parts into Gold

Not everyone would see beauty in spare bike parts. But greasy cassette spacers and disembodied spoke nipples speak to Jean Rubin's inner artisan.

After quitting her full-time window treatment job a few years ago, Rubin took a part-time job at Souhegan Cycleworks in Milford.

"I think the idea first occurred to me after looking at a clock on the wall in the backroom there, made out of bicycle cassette rings," said Rubin, who started playing around with the bits and pieces of spare metal parts in the work shop. That shift in her everyday routine led her directly to the next big thing: her own business venture – reCycled Jewelry.

It will be a year in August since Rubin launched her online "store" on Etsy, Winterwoman Designs, and she is fast approaching her 100th sale. She's also branched out beyond earrings, bracelets, pendants and necklaces, adding bike and gear racks, mobiles and Christmas ornaments to her arsenal of wares, also made from recycled bike parts and repurposed wood.

She's also been selling some items through small bricks-and-mortar retailers, and craft fairs.

Inheriting her mother's love of craft and sewing, Rubin has always dabbled in the art of creation, but never found her muse. Years ago she took a woodworking class, and while she never developed that hobby beyond the basics, it's now serving her well.

"I used some slats from my daughter's bed to make the racks," said Rubin, holding up a sleek and stylized looking object meant to hold a helmet, water bottle and riding gloves. "My husband checks the beds once a week to make sure they're still in one piece."

Salvaging small bike parts like spokes and valve nuts, or going Dumpster diving for larger parts to make the racks, is a contributing factor to the overall empowerment Rubin feels from spinning obsolete junk into marketable jewelry.

It also reinforces another of her passions: bicycling.

"I was never athletic, but once I sat on a bike I knew it was my sport," said Rubin, who enjoys mountain biking and road biking, and even commutes to Milford when the weather – and time – permits.

Etsy features more than 875,000 merchants like Rubin who run shops selling upwards of 12.3 million mostly handmade products to online shoppers, ranking among the top 5 such sites, according to this PC World story. Rubin is among the more than 3,400 listed Etsy vendors with New Hampshire ties who are capitalizing on the online e-commerce boutique, primarily crafters and artisans who sell homemade or vintage items.

A true cottage industry, Rubin's workspace is her daughter's old bedroom. Her inventory is stashed in a box in a wall nook. She uses simple hand tools and colorful beads to enhance the raw materials. She relies on her inner engineer to deconstruct the complex bike components in her mind, and her inner artist to recreate the tiny pieces into eye-catching, one-of-a-kind objets d'art.

When she's not riding her bike, or working her 30 hours at the bike shop, she's bending spokes and repurposing valve nuts.

"I can't add or spell to save my life. But I can look at something and figure out how it goes together, and how to take it apart," Rubin said.