Happy Easter!!

 

 

Happy Easter!  Tomorrow is Easter and I will be celebrating it with my family as always.  Above is my small Easter display with some of my favorite vintage rabbit things.  There is a Steiff stuffed rabbit, a white chalkware rabbit, and my favorite vintage tin - a rare old Brer Rabbit Sugar Cane Syrup can.

 

Do you remember in my previous post, I shared with you my two purchases from Country Roads?  Well, one of them is featured in the photo above.  As you can see I've already put it to good use.  My vintage parts cabinet is now full of "parts" and properly labeled.  I love vintage objects that help me organize!  It was hard to decide what to put in this cabinet.  When it comes to most of my jewelry-making materials, a small cabinet like this will not do.  For things like gemstone beads, vintage brass stampings, and old glass cabochons, I have giant sections of the garage dedicated to their storage....such amounts would never fit in a small cabinet like this one.  So I knew that this particular cabinet would have to hold things very special things that I have only a small amount of.  I decided to make this cabinet my "antique focal piece cabinet".  It's mainly for unique things that I have picked up at the flea markets that are very old and very inspiring. 

 

(Below)  Top four drawers - cameos, charms, dress clips/buckles, and watches/lockets

 Click on the photo to enlarge

 

(Below) Middle four drawers - religious items, French items, animals, and hearts/crowns
Click on the photo to enlarge

(Below) Bottom four drawers - buttons, bracelets, plastic/celluloid, and miscellaneous
Click on the photo to enlarge

Each of these old pieces is patiently waiting its turn to become the center of attention in one of my jewelry designs.  Vintage pieces certainly are inspiring and yet, very challenging to work with. Each one of my designs can certainly be called a labor of love. If I didn't love the process, I wouldn't put in so much of the time and effort that is required when working with old things. But I have to admit....it has become very addictive!

Country Roads

Yesterday I went to my favorite local antique store, "Country Roads" in Orange, California.  This shop never disappoints....I always find at least one or two items that are must-haves.  In my studio are many items that have come from this shop over the years, including my favorite workshop cabinet.

 

Below are lots of photos of interesting things I saw yesterday.  I thought I would share them with you.  I did come home with two very unique items, a vintage French champagne crate and a shabby small parts cabinet (perfect for my jewelry-making components).  They are in the last two photos of today's post.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Cameo & Freshwater Pearl Necklace

In my previous post, I uploaded photos of my purchases from last weekend's trip to the Old Town Tustin flea market.  In one of the photos was a group of cameo items that I found.  Today I finished making a necklace using one of the cameo brooches I purchased at the Tustin flea market.

 

Take a look at it below -

 

 

 

Here's how I made it-

 

 (Above)  My starting point was the vintage porcelain cameo brooch from the flea market.  I knew when I purchased it that it would become a focal piece in a necklace design.  I began rummaging through my materials for things that complemented the brooch, including genuine freshwater pearl beads (in the form of a broken necklace I had purchased), large vintage faceted crystal beads, floral bead caps, vintage glass seed beads, and clasp findings. 
(Note:  For a more detailed & complete list of all the materials and tools needed for this project, scroll to the bottom of today's post)

 

 

 (Above) I flipped over the brooch, grabbed my metal cutters, and clipped off most of the pinback.  I used a jeweler's file to smooth the rough edges on the metal that remained.

 

 

 (Above)  I cut two 22" pieces of 7-strand Beadalon stringing wire.  I began stringing the freshwater pearls, alternating with the vintage glass seed beads.

 

 

 (Above)  I stopped when I had about 8" of beads strung on each wire.

 

 

 (Above) I then took the two wires on the right hand side and put them both through a floral bead cap.  Then I added the large faceted crystal bead, and another bead cap.

 

 

 (Above)  I did the same thing on the left hand side.

 

 

 (Above)  Separating the wires again, I continued stringing the freshwater pearls with alternating seed beads, about another 4" on each side.

 

 

 (Above) I strung a clamshell bead tip onto both of the wires on the right hand side.  I slid on a crimp bead, and flattened the crimp bead with my pliers.  I trimmed off the excess wire and used my pliers to close the clamshell over the crimp bead.  I did the same thing on the left hand side, but before I flattened the crimp bead, I made sure that all the beads layed exactly how I wanted them and that there was no slack (no visible wire).  

 

 

 (Above)  I then added a jump ring and lobster clasp to one side, and about 3-1/4" of extending chain to the other side.

 

 

 (Above)  I slid a pearl on to a headpin, and trimmed the headpin shorter, leaving about 1/2" of  wire past the end of the pearl.  I took my round nose pliers and made a loop with the remaining 1/2" of wire.  I slipped the loop through the end of the extender chain and then closed the loop.

 

 

 (Above)  Now to attach the cameo to the necklace.  Find the center of the necklace, and position the cameo where you want it to hang. 

 

 

(Above)  Using beading thread, I began sewing the necklace to one side of my brooch.  I was lucky that this brooch has small holes in the metal, all around the perimeter, which allow me places to weave the thread through.  I kept weaving and knotting until I felt that it was strong enough to hold the heavy cameo in place.  On my final knots I added glue (G-S Hypo Cement) over the knots to secure them and then trimmed the thread.  Adding a strong glue is essential so that the knots don't unravel.

 

 



(Above) The brooch was sewn to the necklace on both sides. 

 

 



 

(Above) ...and voila!! The finished product!  If you are interested in making a similar necklace, below is a detailed list of the materials and tools needed.

 

Materials needed:

• Vintage porcelain cameo brooch (I used a 1-3/4" brooch), or other cameo focal
• 7 to 8mm freshwater pearl beads (about 85 to 90 beads)
• Vintage clear glass seed beads (about 85 to 90 beads)
• 20 to 22mm vintage faceted oblong clear crystal beads (2)
• 11 to 12mm antiqued brass bead caps (4)
• Antiqued brass clamshell bead tips (2)
• 12mm antiqued brass lobster clasp (1)
• 5mm antiqued brass jump rings (2)
• Antiqued brass cable chain (a piece about 3-1/4" long)
• Antiqued brass head pin (1)
• Crimp beads (2)
• Beadalon 7 strand nylon coated stainless steel beading wire, (2 pieces about 22" long)
• White nylon beading thread
• G-S Hypo Cement

 

Tools needed:

• Chain nose pliers
• Round nose pliers
• Wire cutters
• Jeweler's file
• Scissors
• Ruler or tape measure

Flea Market Sunday

At least three weekends out of the month (and sometimes four), you will find me treasure hunting at one of my local flea markets.  There are plenty of great flea markets in Orange County, and among them, there are about 5 different markets that have become my favorite hot spots for finding vintage components for my jewelry designs.  Today I went to the Old Town Tustin flea market. 

 

I was excited about one vendor in particular (see photo above)......a man I have come to be friends with who has tables filled with hundreds and hundreds of assorted pieces of vintage jewelry. While there are plenty of vendors at this flea market who have beautiful jewelry to choose from, I get more excited about this particular vendor. Not only is there impressive volume, but it is all very reasonably priced. Most of his pieces are around $3 to $5 each. Now many people won't shop at his space because a lot of his jewelry is "as is".....meaning broken, missing rhinestones, missing a mate (lots of single earrings) etc.... But for someone like me who can (1) either repair the jewelry myself or (2) repurpose the "as is" piece in one of my jewelry designs, I get most excited about bargain hunting at this space.

Now to show you what pieces I came home with.  I have to admit, I bought more today than I ususally do.  And I didn't even visit every vendor, so I'm sure that there is much that I missed.  But when you've spent all your money, it's time to go home.  Above you will see three sterling silver pieces that I found which will each become the focal piece of one of my designs.  The two pieces on the left are lockets.   No, I didn't find these at the bargain tables....they were quite expensive to buy.   But sterling silver is my favorite metal to work with, and sometimes I pay good money for a nice focal piece. 

Above are some cameo pieces I found.  I can't resist a beautiful cameo!  Brooches I usually repurpose.  They become focal pieces in my necklace designs.  With earrings I will sometimes remove the clips or screws on the backs, and then with jump rings or wire, turn them in to a connector piece in my necklace "chain". 

Above are the plastic/celluloid pieces I found today.  The top piece is a belt buckle, the yellow flower was at one time an earring, the pink leaf was probably originally from a necklace, the turquoise blue flower circle is a brooch, and so is the piece on the bottom right.

Above are some faux pearl pieces.  Pearls have always been very popular with customers and I always try to snatch up pearl pieces when I find them reasonably.  All of these pieces I envisioned
being repurposed in different ways.

 Above are some fantastic metal bracelets.  I love bracelets that are "linked" together because that means you can easily take them apart.  One bracelet can break down into 5, 6, 7, or sometimes more pieces that you can potentially incorporate in to many of your designs.

 Above are the clear rhinestone pieces I found today.  The three teardrop pieces have loops at the top and bottom, so there are lots of possibilities there.  The suspended watch brooch was inexpensive for me to get because the watch is not working.  But I have plans to gut the watch (remove the mechanisms) and put something else very special in its place.  Then it will probably become the focal piece for a necklace.  The two pieces on the bottom are broken, but if you have great vision, you can find wonderful ways to incorporate them into your designs!

 

 Above are two souvenir pieces I bought.  The brooch/pendant combo on the left is a souvenir from Jerusalem.  The piece on the right is a souvenir from The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.  Both are going to become focals for necklace designs.

 Above is some novelty jewelry that I couldn't pass up.  My jewelry designs are not always elegant and glamorous.....they can sometimes be very kitschy and fun! 

Above are a couple of pieces that I bought purely for the vintage chain.  The top piece I will disassemble and have lots of great chain for many different designs.  The bottom piece is wonderful old brass chain that seems to get harder and harder to find nowadays.



 Above are some remaining random pieces from today's treasure hunting.  The hair comb I will repair and sell.  The other pieces will all get repurposed. 

Above are things that I never pass up!!  Broken vintage necklaces that have amazing glass beads!  I know how expensive it is to buy loose vintage glass beads on Etsy or eBay.  So when I see broken necklaces with killer beads (at a reasonable price) at the flea markets, I always snatch them up.  The beads here are from the 1920's to the 1950's.  All of these beads I would say are quite special....no ordinary beads here.  Finding so many wonderful vintage glass beads in one place just made my day!

Now to get to the "drawing board" and do some designing!  In future posts, I will show you how I take some of these vintage pieces and give them new life.   Sometimes I feel a bit like Dr. Frankenstein.  ;-)