Merry Mushroom Necklace and Earrings

Somewhere between 1970 and 1987, a very specific kind of kitchen existed. It had harvest gold somewhere in it, probably an avocado green appliance or two, and sitting on the counter were the canisters. Brown and orange mushrooms clustered together on cream colored ceramic, cheerful and completely unbothered by whatever decade came next. You knew those canisters. Maybe they were your grandmother's. Maybe they showed up in the background of every holiday photo taken in a relative's kitchen for fifteen years. Maybe you have been hunting for them at every thrift store and estate sale for longer than you would like to admit. These earrings and this necklace were made for you.

The Merry Mushroom

The Sears Merry Mushroom collection is one of those things that people either know immediately and deeply, or have never heard of at all. There is almost no in between. From 1970 to 1987, Sears Roebuck sold the collection exclusively through their mail order catalog, and over the course of those seventeen years they produced more than 250 matching pieces. Before the internet, before online shopping, before you could look something up in thirty seconds, you waited for that catalog to arrive. You found things you did not know you needed. And then you ordered them and waited for them to show up at your door.

The ceramic pieces were all imported from Japan, kiln-fired and hand-decorated with a glaze so durable that the colors are still as vivid today as they were the day they left the factory. The canisters have become the most coveted pieces in the collection, turning up in the backgrounds of cottagecore photographs, displayed on open kitchen shelves, and showing up at estate sales where people recognize them immediately and feel something they cannot quite explain.

That feeling is what these pieces are about.

The Piece

Each piece in this set is shaped exactly like one of those beloved canisters, a gently rounded body topped with a domed mushroom cap, the gills etched by hand underneath the rim. Inside the body of each one, a cluster of hand carved mushrooms grows surrounded by tiny leaves, every spot on every cap placed individually with tweezers. The pendant hangs on an 18 inch sterling silver rope chain. The earrings hang on French wire ear wires. Every layer of silver was cut by hand, carved, fused together, and finished entirely from scratch. Nothing was cast. Nothing was molded. These are tiny wearable pieces of a very specific and beloved moment in American kitchen history.

This listing is for the necklace, the earrings, or the complete set. Please select your preference from the options above.

The Craftsmanship

• Necklace pendant: sterling silver, approximately 1.5 inches tall
• Earrings: sterling silver, approximately 1.25 inches tall
• 18 inch sterling silver rope chain
• French wire ear wires
  
• One of a kind, only one complete set will ever be made

One of a Kind

There is only one necklace and one pair of earrings. Whether you take one piece or both of them home, they will never be made again exactly like this. This particular cluster of mushrooms, these particular spots, this exact little world inside a canister shaped frame exists once and only once.

A Note from Tamara

I did not grow up with Merry Mushroom in my own kitchen but I have spent enough time in other people's kitchens and enough time at estate sales to understand completely why people love it the way they do. There is something about objects from that era that carries the specific warmth of a time when a kitchen was the center of everything and the things on the counter were chosen with genuine joy. I made these because I wanted to carry that same warmth into something you could wear every day. A little piece of that kitchen. A little piece of that feeling. Right there with you wherever you go.

Shipping

Your Merry Mushroom piece is finished, packaged safely, and will be on its way to you within 3 to 5 business days.