“When I first made them, I was not very good at it,” she said. “The longer you work at something, the better you get.”

Zimmerman began making the trees while she and her husband James owned a craft store, Craft Land, in Cedar Rapids.

“We had it for two and a half years, and there was an old book that showed what you can do with these trees,” she said. “That’s when I got into it.”

The biggest lesson is that organization is a key factor. Tucked into the craft area in her home are dozens of labeled checkbook boxes, filled with pieces of jewelry and sorted by color or type of piece, such as “odds.”

Rosemary Zimmerman attaches some jewelry to a new Christmas tree she is making at home. She has made the trees for almost 50 years.

“Say one of my black pieces has a stone missing, I go into my ‘odds,'” Zimmerman said. “I take a stone from something else that will fit. If [nothing fits], I go to ‘crystal.’ I always keep the broken jewelry in that, because you never know what you’re going to need.”

Zimmerman said if she did not sort according to color, she would spend a lot of time looking for pieces to fit. It already takes a month for her to start and finish a tree. Most of the time, the color of the tree is determined by what she has the most of — currently that is black, silver and gold.

Exactly which pieces will be used is not something she determines, as she works as she goes. But there are plenty of jewelry for her to choose from — pieces of art decor from the 1920s, pins, pendants, various earrings from studs to hoops, rings, pearls, shoe clips, bracelets and even buttons.

“It’s a play-around-with thing,” Zimmerman said. “You have to figure out what will look good. Sometimes you have to walk away, and see if it looks good when you come back.”

Through the years, she has largely moved away from buying pieces at garage sales, as there is no guarantee there will be desired pieces. Zimmerman said a lot of people are looking for jewelry right now. She finds a lot of materials at Hobby Lobby, such as rhinestone trims in the bridal department or buttons in the fabrics. However, Zimmerman has noticed the prices of trims have certainly increased to more than $12 per yard.

Each of Rosemary Zimmerman’s 100-plus jeweled trees bears her signature on the back of the frame. She includes the number of the tree, and the date it was finished.

As a volunteer at Goodwill, she runs across things she is able to utilize. For example, whenever an 11×14 picture frame comes in, Zimmerman buys it. If the frame needs some repairs, sanding or painting, she can take care of that and manipulate it to fit what she needs.

One material Zimmerman will not use are Christmas lights, which are something she has seen in many other jeweled trees.

“The lights poke out,” she said. “It looks cheap to me, because the jewelry is so beautiful.”

Besides, when Zimmerman is finished, her trees do not need lights to shine. The jewelry she incorporates and the way she puts them together results in eye-catching and sparkling artwork.

Assembling the tree

The work of assembling one of the jeweled trees goes beyond finding the right pieces and gluing them down. With some pieces, she has to make alterations. With pins or earrings, Zimmerman has to break the backs off first. She might have to paint a piece to make it fit the color scheme, or bend or cut jewelry to make it fit.

“Since my husband got me a dremel and taught me how to use it, it really made cutting a lot easier,” Zimmerman said. “I love that tool. I’m so glad he got that for me.”

Putting 110 trees together through the years, she knows which velvet to use for the background, which glue will hold the pieces to the material and which tools are necessary to make the process as efficient as possible. In addition to her dremel, Zimmerman has a magnifying glass to better see her work and a pair of side cutters.

“You have to be real close when you cut something,” she said about the side cutters.

Zimmerman begins by cutting the Christmas tree shape out of cardboard and then attaches the black velvet background.

Rosemary Zimmerman points out how she manipulates pieces of jewelry to create the desired effects.

“I used to use colors a lot,” she said. “They used to have beautiful colors, but now they are so dark and dead looking, so I only use black, pretty much.”

Zimmerman said velvet has formaldehyde in it, so glue will make the material pucker. Instead she uses double tack, which is like contact paper. Attaching the paper to the cardboard is slow as she wants to ensure all of the bubbles are gone. Then Zimmerman is ready to attach the velvet.

“I have tried every glue I could find and it all crinkled up funny and got really weird looking,” she said. “That’s why I went to double tack and they use this a lot with needlepoint. It holds the picture down on their frame. That has really jumped in price, and I don’t know why.”

After she attaches the velvet, Zimmerman is ready to attach the jewelry. She always starts with a large piece in the center. From there, Zimmerman branches out, manipulating jewelry to fit.

“Sometimes you can bend these to make it look neater and be more eye-catching,” she said.

Rosemary Zimmerman constructs each jeweled tree with the jewelry supplies she has on hand, sticking with a color scheme.

Valuing symmetry, she might break off bits of a brooch or a pair of earrings to ensure everything is even. Zimmerman takes the bracelets apart as the smaller pieces make it easier to obtain the symmetry and to fill in gaps.

“I fill in to try to match,” she said.

Zimmerman takes pride in the back of the artwork, ensuring there are no creases or bubbles on the backside of the board. She then attaches a sticker bearing her name, the number of the tree and the date it was completed.

Most of the time, Zimmerman makes the trees for family and friends, and they last. She has a tree she gave to her grandmother, and while it is not her favorite work, she said it highlights how she has grown.

“I didn’t know about color coordinating,” Zimmerman said. “I just glued. I’ve come a long way in getting the jewelry close together and filling in.”

She has also sold a few of her trees. Zimmerman recalled a woman who asked for a tree to give as a gift. To determine the cost of the finished artwork, Zimmerman counted the incorporated pieces.

“There were 26 pairs of earrings at $3 [each,]” she said. “That is averaging. Sometimes they are $5. The pearls also cost, because I don’t use old pearls – they are yellow. I wrote it all down, with a minimum frame which was $4.99 at Goodwill. It came to $143.”

Since the woman helped Zimmerman when she had a broken arm, she only charged $100.

“A lot of people think they’re going to give these away, but they’re worth at least $300,” she said. “I just sold one for $150. It was on cranberry velvet and the brooch in the center was a big iridescent that cost $30 from an antique mall.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.