spring pendants

With collars being worn open again, here are some dainty pendants to wear for Spring. I love anything with a monogram so the letter L always attracts me. The middle pendant is plated with that pink gold that is so popular right now and so even though it's vintage it looks very current. The last pendant is so pretty. It's ceramic with a hand painted rose on it. It is so dainty and Spring inspired with pink and the lightest blue coloring. It's my favorite, but I think I'll give it to my mom when I can part with it. It would make a great Easter present!

Happy Easter Everyone

Happy Easter!

Roman

Overlooking the obvious inappropriateness of putting up a Roman on Good Friday, this is a look that was popular in the '90's and is still seen today. I like it as a way to wear all my old gold chains as well. I added the drop pear to give the whole thing a richer look. Coins have been used in jewelry for thousands years so wearing a Roman is a very classic look. I have some Roman coin cuff links as well. White French cuff shirt and black pants, bedecked with Romans, and I'm ready for any job.

Easter

Sweet pin and necklace from Easters past. I love the nostalgia that comes from items dating from my childhood. These are things that for the most part have been thrown away years ago. That somebody saved them is touching in itself. These are not common finds. They surface only rarely like certain happy childhood memories. I also collect old diaper pins. When your child grows up you realize how quickly the whole thing happens. There is a deep mystery: where has my baby gone? So when you find these old for the most part throw away items they seem like clues and you cling to them.

planets

In May and June of 2001 (with no thought of 911 ahead) I attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop. While in Iowa City I visited a lovely Artists' Cooperative and bought the lampworked beads that were called "Planets." I wish I could dig up my diary from those days and tell you the exact name of the artist who made them. I wear them with an old version of the Greek Evil Eye or God's Eye or whatever because these blue beads remind me of the swirling galaxies out beyond the planets. This whole set reminds me of those lovely peaceful spring days in Iowa before any of us knew the world was about to explode. What do you remember from right before 911?

little pins

It's really nice to collect little pins (with a spring theme) all year and then put them in plastic Easter eggs as gifts. If you have enough of them you can have an egg hunt and everyone will win a prize. Easter is my favorite holiday, and if I am going to throw a party it will typically be on Easter. Unfortunately my kids can't come up this year so I guess I have 52 more weeks to find little pins for next Easter.

emerald-trine

Glass stones with an emerald green and brownish citrine washed together are what these two stones have in common. I think the ring is much older than the pendant just based on the style of the settings. I've gotten a lot of use out of the ring but have never worn the pendant. I don't know why not except for the fact that I don't go to work everyday now so I don't frequently change my outfits. When you live in jeans, you don't feel especially called to change your jewelry in order to integrate a new piece. And this pendant is a recent acquisition based on the fact that it matched the ring which I've had for years. I'm sure that when I go back to work I will find the perfect thing to wear with this set.

small blue pearls

As I've said before, I'm always satisfied with what I order from China. Here I ordered two strands of blue pearls. To one I added a sea shell pearl drop. The other I left plain. Then I re-strung some old cloisonne beads that I got from My Sister's Closet here in Quincy interspersed with white freshwater pearls from China and added that to the combination. This is a subtle combination but really beautiful when worn with a solid silk shirt of almost any color. The blue pearls pick up any color you may be wearing and the enameled beads highlight white, red, pink, royal blue and green as well as silver. This has been a week of rather subtle jewelry altogether. I've been focusing on pieces that would work well for the office.

more black

These are some other black pieces that I have. Rather than being mourning jewelry they seem to me to be Art Deco. A couple of pairs of earrings are obviously '80's. I get a lot of use out of my black jewelry and wear at least one black ring most of the time. Black has a contemporary feel right now even though today is the first day of spring! As soon as the weather catches up, it will be time to take out the pastels and flowers. But for today with the rain, I'll stick with black.

green vine

Here are two of those beaded chokers that are strung on a curving wire so that they clasp around your neck like a python giving you a neat (non-sagging) necklace. I added a sweet flowering vine that I got from my friend, Barb. That vine looks soooo good on; you can't believe it. The vine and the silver choker are from the '60's. But I made the green glass beaded one from some old beads from a broken necklace and a wire that had lost most of its original beads. I'm a little afraid to wear it since I'm not so certain how well my infrastructure will hold up. How awful to have a wardrobe failure and beads rolling everywhere at say the mall. Plus the beads are really nice, and I will probably reuse them in another way once an inspiration lands in the ol' knocker.

roses

These roses were really big in the late '70's. They had a tendency to chip which is why you don't see them much anymore. But I still like them and have managed to find this small collection over the years at various thrift shops. I used to have a dusty rose dress that I wore with all these pieces, but that was over the top and I felt just plain silly. So I gave the dress to a thrift store but kept the jewelry. Now I don't have anything to wear these with. I think I should have kept the dress. Someday, somewhere there must be an occasion for such a get up. The next time I'm at the Junkee  Exchange, a great vintage store in Reno, I'll try to find a dusty rose dress. But what about my shrink's order to get rid of all the stuff I don't use?

suns and moons

I love the way this picture turned out with the right hand side awash in sunshine. I've collected all the little moon faces at the humblest of thrift stores and the sun pendant my sister Anne made for me (not to be confused with sister Cary). Anne is a wiz with ceramics. She just holds clay in her hands and the most astonishing figures and faces emerge. She's too busy now running a family and working two jobs for ceramics, but someday, someday, she'll get back to it. I painted the large man-in-the-moon and gave him a red jeweled eye. Before that he was very plain. I love making little improvements on thrift store pieces. It's kind of a hobby of mine and a great source of Christmas presents.

some bracelets

Well the plain wooded bracelet is masquerading as an ivory bracelet, the textured red plastic bracelet is masquerading as a true wooden cinnabar bracelet and the plaid bracelet on top is masquerading as a Highland Scot when its just a good ol' work-a-day Scotch Irish. Only the Buddha (right) is truly what he seems (hardwood lacquered with cinnabar). Jewelry is a means of casting forth an image, one that you want people to admire. With a few key pieces of jewelry people can never really look down on you again. The big diamond ring, the heavy gold chain, or a good facsimile with the right attitude.

silly broaches

A large broach can make an outfit. The big owl above goes perfectly with a blouse I have when I use it in its pendant mode. When I worked everyday in an office I liked to wear the smiley face just because people could get so grouchy. The big bird is just fun at the neck of a button up. I generally find cool stuff like this right here in Quincy, CA. Some of my best finds have been right around where I live at yard sales (which I don't do anymore--too much stuff already) and local stores. I want to give a shout out to My Sister's Closet which is always filled with beautiful merchandise and friendly people.

green glass

I took apart somebody's idea of beaded art just to get this one square of green glass. I felt the rest of the necklace was distracting at best (Don't worry I used the other parts of the necklace for something else). I like the starkness of the square and wear it with the thick silver chain above. Glass is such beautiful stuff, I'm sorry we don't see it set more often in precious metals. This piece is set in sterling which is what helps to make it feel so desirable. As with ceramics, glass is flax spun into gold. I love its humble origins and its royal beauty.

jet

I have some jet beads that I wear with two different looks. The first I like best although I've worn it only in Hawaii. I you have seen pictures of the ancient Hawaiian Royalty you will often see them wearing a large carved whale bone hook or tongue on a necklace of tiny braids of human
hair.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Hawaiian+whale+tooth+necklace&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS512US512&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Dj0-UY-rGuPRyAHvuoGQDw&ved=0CD4QsAQ (This will send you to an incredible Hawaiian jewelry gallery!)
My jet beads remind me of the look of human hair, and I have this bone hook which I got at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, and the two together remind me of that ancient look.

I also wear these beads with a French jet (glass) necklace with a giant real jet drop. This is pretty too.

Chinese pink

I wear a lot of pink hence I get a lot of use out of these Chinese pink lampworked beads. Here I'm showing them with that string of turquoise I've mentioned before, the one that goes with everything. Together these make a beautiful choker. I love the pink beads especially because of the flecks of red in them. When I was a child my mom told me that red and pink don't match, and yet they were always my favorite combination. Growing up in Hawaii, I had a different aesthetic than my mom who grew up on the East Coast. Now I get to indulge it all I want and could wear pink and red everyday if I felt like it! Certainly when you get to my age you have to tone down your black clothes with some pastel or you end up looking too severe. Pink is the perfect choice.

white bone

This is a lovely little choker where a single horn of a small ungulate has been sliced in half and polished to make perfect matched sides of a necklace centered by a white bone bead. I'm of two  minds about having this piece since so many small deer have gone extinct. I got it from the famous Sutro St. Salvation Army and love its elegant simplicity, but I'm not sure I'd buy it today because of the environmental implications. However since I have it, I try to treasure and take care of it. I like to wear it with the carved faced earring above because those faces are so gentle and seem like guardian spirits to the little endangered creature below. I love white bone. It is such a soft organic material. I just wish I could know that my bone pieces are from domesticated sources. Bone is one of the most ancient materials for human ornamentation. I like to wear bone because of that connection to the ancient past. Everything in the world is so speeded up and modern that bone seems like a way to imagine our ancestors and live a little more gently on the earth.

fancy birds: for your eyes only

This is Betsy Johnson on eBay.

This is also on eBay.

This is from my collection.

Also eBay.

 

Ever since I was old enough to go to the zoo, I remember trying to find peacock feathers. Finding one was like finding a jewel. So it's only natural that peacocks should inspire jewels galore. Here is another one, this time a broach, inspired by the Meiji Period in Japan (1868-1912):

What I got on eBay

I was looking for snake rings and this one is as good as two. It was $3.99 with free shipping. The oval rings below were a total of $20.00 including shipping. So I splurged for under $25.00. I usually like round rings but bought these ovals because they were as close as I could get to navette shaped rings which are  my new obsession. Navettes are modified ovals. Instead of being round at the ends, they come to a point. I already have several, but I was looking for one in black or gold. And the rings below were as close as I could get.

Ebay

This past weekend I went on eBay and looked at some 45 pages of estate rings. It was an enjoyable pastime even though most of the offerings were really ugly. I picked these rings pictured here as my dream purchase list but the cost was upwards of $1,800! So I had to be satisfied with taking these picture and putting them on this dream page so I can enjoy without purchasing. And by the way that figure did not include shipping costs. Tomorrow I'll show you what I did buy on eBay.

trade beads

I bought these lovely trade beads from a lovely lady who had been in the Peace Corps in Africa during the '60's in Upper Volta now known as Burkina-Faso. I love their turquoise color as so many of the trade beads you see are earth tones, browns and burnt sienna. I wear these beads with an extra string of turquoise because for me turquoise is a neutral. I wear turquoise with everything. In fact in another blog I'll show you the one string of beads that I wear with everything, from gold to pink lampworked beads to coral. The effect of wearing these trade beads is that of a large collar. I usually wear them with a very plain brown dress to give them center stage so to speak. A pair of red heels and the whole look comes together (red being my other neutral!)