Terpsichorean

 Yay, I made something! I've been sick for a while and I wasn't up to beading, but now I am better and overflowing with creative energy! I have so many cool new and old beads to play with. I started by making a birthday present for my teacher Jolie, who likes black and brown and grey all together. The necklace is built around a banded agate focal, and features sardonyx, pyrite, Swarovski crystals, and a few Afghani coins.

Oh, and this lady! How cool is she? Beads Galore had bunches of these vintage Japanese stamped glass charms and I HAD to have them! I loved them so much that I also HAD to put one in Jolie's necklace, and I thought it would be cool to silhouette her against an old coin. The necklace is called Terpsichorean, because Terpsichore is the Greek muse of dance and she has a really fun name to say.

As requested...

So apparently when you show the internet a photo of several bags full of vintage costume jewelry, people want to know what's inside! Here's the first of what will probably be many photos.

There's a large abalone shell set into a custom-made silver ring. I suspect I will wear this one for a lot of dance gigs! Tribal girls love big rings and this one fits me and doesn't have any protrusions to snag my costumes!

There's a cameo set. The setting and the flip down pendant bail are very similar to the unusual cameo that my mother-in-law gave me, so I suspect they have similar origins as well! I love that I'll be able to wear the earrings with either pendant/brooch.

And there's also a pair of dolphin and flower earrings! These look like vermeil set with onyx. I'm offering them to my Mom because she and my Dad are SCUBA divers and they love dolphins. I suspect she'd wear these beautiful earrings more often than I will.

Wowza!

I was wondering what to blog about today, and it's a good thing I waited instead of posting something boring, because look what the nice UPS man just brought for me! My husband's godmother cleaned out her jewelry box and sent everything she didn't want anymore to me! There's glass, crystals, metal, plastic, and even a set of cameos! And that's just what I noticed from digging around a little bit. Sorting through these treasures is going to take a while, and it's going to be fun :)

This is one of the awesome things about being a jewelry designer... My house is where old jewelry goes to be reborn! Will I leave the pieces as-is? Dismantle them and make them into new jewelry? Use them to decorate tribal bras, belts, and headgear? Only time will tell.

The most wonderful cameo ever

 One night while I was visiting my in-laws in New York last month, my mother-in-law said to me "You like cameos, right?" and she gave me this beautiful convertible brooch pendant. There are a few things that are very special about this piece of jewelry -- the most important is that it belonged to her mother, who sadly passed away when my husband Chris was very young. The other is that it's actually carved from shell, not molded from glass. The last is that unlike most cameos, it has a very raised, straight-on view of the woman's face instead of the usual slightly raised profile image. It's so unusual!

 (Don't mind the bit of red, I used a handy six-sided die to prop it up). Look how much the image is raised from the background. And how pretty it is!

 My mother-in-law had no idea how old it was or where her mother got it. I'm tempted to take it to an antique or jewelry store for an appraisal, not so much for the value (because the sentimental value is all that matters to me), but just to get an idea of its origins. The geek in me hates unanswered questions.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other cool part... the hanging loop is a tiny hinge that folds under to stay out of the way when it's worn as a brooch. How clever is that? The little flat part says "14K" and is the only mark I could find.

I probably won't work this into a piece of beaded jewelry, although I might make something to coordinate with it... maybe a choker, and I could wear the cameo on a chain below it or pinned on my blouse. In fact, with Autumn just around the corner, it seems like the perfect time to go out shopping for an outfit that begs for a vintage cameo accent.

PS: Thank you Marlyn, for the cameo, for the wonderful man I married, and for everything you do for the both of us and all of your family. You're the best! <3

My Muse, on Different Backgrounds

So. I think this was my second embroidered piece ever. It's so old that it's done on awful cheap fabric store suede cloth instead of real Ultrasuede. I embroidered it, but then never finished it, however I did decide that when it was finished, it would be called "A Portrait of My Muse." So during gem show, I stitched on a quick bail so that I would have something "new" and shiny to wear for the Swarovski party. I also wore it to Wild Wild West Con this weekend.

The vintage matte black glass cameo is surrounded by embroidery and peyote stitch done in Delicas, hex-cut Delicas, size 15 seed beads, and of course a border of lots and lots of jet Swarovski crystals. I wear it on my basic black herringbone cord.

I photographed it on all three of my wooden necklace displays (I bought two new ones during gem show!) to see how I liked them. Above is the basic natural color, a nice, clean neutral that seems to work well with all colors.
This is more of a dark ebony color. I bought it primarily to use with lighter-colored jewelry. I think this image is nicely dramatic, with the black backdrop and the ebony display and the black necklace, but it would make a pretty muddy thumbnail.
This cherry color is very rich and the black pops nicely against it! I think I like it better than the natural color for black jewelry.

The new necklace displays, as well as some teak earring displays, will start to make their way into the listing pictures over at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs soon. You know, once I actually make some new jewelry!

By the way, Wild Wild West Con was a lot of fun! At some point this week I'll post photos of my costumes, complete with links to some of the vendors who I buy costume components from!