My Copper Seeking Adventure

You may not know it, but the official "modern" material for the 22nd wedding anniversary is copper. So, I decided to go out in search of something appropriate for my wife--while she's out of town. It turned out to be more difficult than I expected--but also amusing.

I started at the big mall not too far from home, at Nordstrom. Earrings perhaps? None, but I chatted with two saleswomen for awhile. Then, off to Williams Sonoma. Would they have a little copper tool or cooking item? They did--but I decided against the $255 pasta-cooking pot. My wife doesn't really need or want it (I think). It was a bit over what I was seeking.

On through the mall, to Macy's. Nothing there in the jewelry department either, and there were no little jewelry merchants in the center courtyards offering anything cute. The Hawaiian jewelers had red gold items (they told me the red came from containing some copper). Nah--not quite. Hot Topic had lots of metal jewelry, but it was all piercing supplies--not copper there.

I decided to try Cost Plus World Market--they should have SOMETHING from some exotic place, right? Well, I enjoyed my time with the three young sales clerks who took me to the wind chimes section, where I found one items that looked like copper but was really copper-colored tin. I even scanned the wine department there for a winemaker with "copper" in their name. Zilch.

Undaunted, I headed over to Pier One Imports. The friendly clerk showed me metal items here and there, but we found nothing of copper there either. I began joking with people as this search got more difficult about buying some copper wire at the hardware store or perhaps some plumbing supplies.

I went to Barnes and Noble, and with the help of a willing clerk found a book called, "Easy and Elegant Beaded Copper Jewelry." Well, I guess I could buy it and make her something. Where would I get the copper wire for this project? The person at Pier One had referred me to Bed, Bath and Beyond, where I hit paydirt--sort of. Lela, the friendly sales associate (seeing a pattern here?) went online and found lots of vases, pots, etc. available to order. We did find three copper tea kettles available in another BB&B store 20 miles away and I considered going there. But I wasn't sure I really wanted to buy a tea kettle when we already have an electric one that works fine.

I considered visiting some street craftsmen on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

I tried going online. http://www.ilovecopper.com/ has a huge selection of great earrings. But where could I find these in person? Now? I found a bunch on etsy.com, too, so I decided I'd offer that to my wife when she returns. That--and the 1972 penny I got in my change at Starbucks. That's the only copper I brought home, but I did think about my wife all day--a good thing.