Showing posts with label Jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewelry. Show all posts

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Vintage Necklace from a Buckle & Button & Beads

I LOVE jewelry.
Nothing expresses one's personality the way that jewelry does.  
Don't you agree?  
Have you ever looked at a pair of earrings and thought, 
"Those are me"
or
"Those look just like (fill in the blank)?"

From time to time I get a bee in my bonnet, and I just have to make a new piece of jewelry.
I had these pieces just waiting in my treasure box:

I took a little inspiration from this book, Rejuvenated Jewels,
 New Designs from Vintage Treasures, by Amy Hanna:
 

I had a few false starts, including this charm style necklace with crowns and 
a vintage rhinestone watch piece. I wore it once, and it just didn't feel quite right.

So I remade it, and yes, it felt very, very right:

I wire wrapped sterling beads with sterling wire and linked them with some sterling and 
marcasite pieces that I salvaged from an old necklace. I glued a garnet piece to a mother-of-pearl-button, and glued that onto the rhinestone buckle.  I wire wrapped a pearl and attached it to a vintage rhinestone piece that got attached to the buckle. I also added a sterling toggle to the buckle to 
attach it to the beaded section.

Here's a view on a lace background:

Another view:

 I HAD to have earrings to go with it, so I came up with these:
Garnet pieces on MOP buttons, sterling ear wires, and freshwater pearls, sterling bead caps, and garnet beads wire-wrapped and dangling from the buttons.


I even let my new friend wear it!  (Looks SO Victorian here.)

And a bit more modern here:

Yes, she has a name.  I had a hard time choosing between so many wonderful suggestions, Sephora, Rosalie, Lacey...  Everyone seemed to agree that a French name suited her best.
And guess who had the winning name?
My dear husband!
When he suggested, "Cosette," (from Les Miserables), how could I refuse?
Any man who indulges such girlish silliness in his wife of almost thirty years
deserves to be heard.   :-)
Yep, he's a keeper.

 So there you have it.

And I have another little group of goodies just waiting for a new idea!

See the transformation of Cosette from store-bought dress form to vintage dress form diva!



Linking up with




Posted by at 15 comments:
Labels:

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Making Vintage Jewelry

Such a random kinda week for me.  Got my hair colored for the first time to cover a few grays
sprouting up in the front. I love it!  A demi-glaze (I think that's what it's called)
that makes it look a lot richer and shinier.  And then instead of making cards for friends,
doing laundry, putting away my Easter decorations (or taking down my Christmas tree!!!!!!!
Yikes!!!!! Can't believe I admitted that) I started making jewelry--and a really big mess!



With a vintage pendant and various vintage chains that I picked up at thrift shops and
 a yard sale, I put together this necklace:


I wire wrapped freshwater pearls and linked them with gold chain pieces to 
layer with this and other necklaces.

(Do you like my model?  It's a French guy, so I decided he is Joan of Arc for this shoot!)  :-)

And then I had to have earrings to go with it:


The pair on the right was made with leftover parts of the necklace chain.
The pair on the left was actually two pairs of vintage earrings that I combined.
 I added the pearl and bead cap on the crystal piece, and it looks like I'll have to replace a pearl that somehow came out during my trek from the powder room to the photo area!  :-(

While I was at it, I decided to add some additional charms to my sterling and topaz pendant
to bring it more into fashion with the bigger necklaces we're all wearing.
(Lucky that I had blue topaz and sterling charms in my drawer!)


With a medallion from Michael's, I upcycled an off-the-rack necklace from a local store:


and made earrings to go with it:


I wire-wrapped these Austrian crystal beads and added a heavy sterling clasp to make this bracelet:


I've made and redone quite a few other pieces--
I've probably taken apart half of my jewelry so far, which I do about every 10 years or so
--and I'm just dying to take the wire cutters, Dremel, and jewelry pliers to the rest!
Hubby made me promise to clean up before doing anymore.

So off to vacuum and put things away!


I'm linking up with
Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Metamorphosis Monday
Tweak it Tuesdays at Cozy Little House
Knick of Time Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sweet and Simple Fridays
Open House Party

Weekend Showoff Party
Time Travel Thursday

Laura

Posted by at 21 comments:
Labels: ,

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Wine Cork Key Chain

Do you lose your keys?
Everyone in my household loses theirs--just about every day!

My husband's head is always on his next orchestra piece, big band chart, theme song...
My son's head is always in his next optical laser computer something-or-other and 
how to solve injustice in this world...
And my head, well... between art projects and work, is on the typical things we women have to be concerned with, like cooking and shopping and laundry and dust and Weight Watchers and vitamins and exercise--you know the sort of stuff...

So "somewhy," -- the term my son coined at 3-yrs-old--
we ALWAYS lose our keys!!!!

So one day this week, I just got sick and tired of it, and decided at least I would know where MY keys were if I made a really big key chain.  Here's what I came up with:


The pieces of this key chain actually have a lot of meaning to me
(besides, the cork feels great in my hand).



I had saved the cork from a special bottle of French wine
that was brought over recently by a famous person in Hollywood with whom my
husband was working--a very nice guy and a very good bottle of French wine--a heck of
a lot better than the "Two-buck Chuck" we drink from Trader Joe's.  :-)

The top button is a vintage one from my mother's collection that I played with as a little girl. 

The bottom button that attaches the charm is bone that I got on a trip to
Indiana with my friend, Jean and my cousin, Cathy.

The French glass charm was from an outing at the Topanga 
Vintage market-- a nice Sunday out with my husband.



And the metal tag that says "Inspire" 
just reminds me that I do and need to continue to inspire
 those around me to tap into and explore their own creativity. 

I am loving this new creation, and plan to make quite a few more. 

And now at last, I can find my keys!

                                                                                                                                         Laura


Posted by at 11 comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)