02.22.10
Who’s got the button? Well… I know, but I’m not telling. Suffice to say that over the weekend I was granted entrance to the inner sanctum of one of the most prominent and experienced importers of Czech bohemian glass buttons in the USA. Folks, I’m not a religious woman, but I thought I had died and awoken in heaven. When my kind and generous host invited me to open any of the dozens and dozens of drawers and boxes in the collection room, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t having one of my recurring thrifting/collecting/hunting/gathering dreams.
The photo above captures the full haul of the day, which would have been 10x that amount had I not been on a pauper’s budget. Along with the buttons is a delicious 1/2 pound bag of glass beads in an incredible and irresistible palette. My plan is to craft one or two super duper long rosary beaded necklaces out of these. A good busy-hands activity while watching my new favorite shows (RuPaul’s Drag Race, Pawn Stars, etc.).
The Czech Republic has a long history of some of the finest glass work in the world, dating back to the Renaissance. Vintage beads and buttons are very collectible and currently commanding ultra high prices. Each button was/is handcrafted, including painting on the fronts or reverse painting, as shown above.
Today, some of the antique molds are being used again, and new techniques are adding to the amazing beauty of these miniature works of art.
Colors and styles range from baroque, to psychedelic, to mid-century modern with abstraction and patterns, as well as cats, dogs, magic mushroom men, puddings, fleur de lys, fairytales and rhinestone embellishments. I am deeply fond of some of the new figurals including the cicadas and moths (bats?). The white swan on pink glass with blue water could be my number one favorite. It’s an older button and getting difficult to come by.
Using the glass buttons in jewelry-making is a challenge; most have glass self-shanks that can not be removed without damaging the piece. I’ve seen people wrap fancy brass filigrees around the buttons but I find that to be visually noisy and distracting. So I’m working with my own techniques of incorporating these into my work… as a good friend says, a big part of jewelry-making (especially assemblage without formal “smithing”) is the solving of engineering problems.
Subject: I Heart Shopping, Modern Art, They Call It Work
01.06.10
It’s getting near that time of year again, where hearts are beating louder than usual, expressing their love on St. Valentine’s Day. Hearts have been an icon of choice at So Charmed since the beginning; you can find them in every collection on the site. Some hearts are a bit macabre… pictured above, Bring Me the Heart of Marie Antoinette.
While some hearts are blue, possessing a web of Stress Fractures, as pictured above. This found object necklace resides in the personal collection of one of my favorite hearts, Ms Stephanie of Beverly Hills, CA.
Some hearts are sugary sweet and look good enough to eat, like these delicious Birthday Cake earrings created by the talented Madame Eclore for So Charmed.
Here and there, a heart has recieved more violent damage than a mere stress fracture, but always can be patched up again to get back in the game. My Mended Heart was sold long ago, a one-0f-a-kind necklace made from a hand-dyed lace wedding dress embellishment that I appropriately tortured with my nice and then fixed with stitches, safety pins and duct tape… because I am a very caring person and do not want to see any heart suffer.
But to leave you on a sweeter note (if ironically so), there are even Happy Puffy Hearts at So Charmed, like the little hair baubles pictured above. And, if you’ve read this far, you deserve some special sweetness! Please take 15% off of any piece of jewelry that features a heart, with the exception of sterling charm bracelets. Mention this blog post with your paypal payment and I will refund you promptly! Offer good through the end of January. xoxoxox, my loves!
Subject: They Call It Work
03.11.09
This is the second time that cool chick Sahar Vahidi, ed-in-chief of the above-named magazine, has contacted me for jewelry to include in one of her fabulous fashion shoots. And of course, what could I say but Shut Up! Yes!
Jewelry can turn itty bitty in a magazine spread so I’m including the piece pictured for you to have a better look. Lovely badge above available at So Charmed in the CircusDolls collection.
From the Rockstars collection, one of my Telecaster pins. Yes, Courtney Love owns a few of these! No, they don’t go up to eleven.
Aren’t the models pretty?! This one-of-a-kind altered vintage pin is still available in the Pirates collection; get it while you can.
You can purchase the magazine at Books-a-Million, or at ShutUp!’s site. Enjoy!
Subject: They Call It Work
02.12.09
Some of you may already know that Courtney Love Cobain has been shopping at So Charmed lately… shopping quite a bit in fact. You’ve asked just what she’s purchased and I don’t think she’ll mind me sharing some of that with you. Pictured above is my answer to the punk princess’ obsession with Marie Antoinette, a yummy rosary style necklace complete with vanilla birthday cake and of course, a Hole lyric.
The very first of these super special Robert Johnson (Me & the Devil Blues) pins was given to a good friend of mine as a gift. Courtney snapped one up shortly after I posted it. She later bought another in the series, Billie Holiday (Good Morning Heartache) pictured below. These are made with the most gorgeous patina’d frames you’ve ever seen. I love the colors and the little rusted safety pins.
Also from the Rockstars collection (natch!), yet another tragic figure immortalized. The Johnny Thunders pin, below, is a tiny dictaphone tape covered in layers and layers of the glammiest purple glitter, the tape yanked out to spill in tendrils down the front of your dress or jacket. Gold chains and a lightening bolt keep the campiness coming on for.ev.ah.
Probably the most subversive of her purchases, the Redaction Series: Top Secret necklace features an actual redacted government document sealed forever under glassy resin. Scary.
There were too many other purchases (including TWO of the pairs of cuffs pictured in the post prior to this one) to list them all here… and suffice to say, I was completely blown away by the support of one of my truest fashion icons. I sent her a few little gifts, including some of the MyRight2Write notebooks for her and Frances to scribble in. Frances is 16 now. Can you believe that?? I’m looking forward to the (allegedly soon) release of Courtney’s new record, and based on the songs I’ve heard on her myspace page, you should be too.
Subject: They Call It Work
01.17.09
You fashion grls out there know: Cuffs are the new black. Or whatever. But the truth is, this is a great, flexible format within which to create. I did some fun knitted ones awhile back and here is a new batch. These are being offered as assymetrical one-of-a-kind pairs. FUN!
This pair features a lovely rhinestone button/badge and sweet creamy lace.
I named this oxford pair the Wall Street Cuffs. They have amazing Venitian lace attached and pretty chains.
This is how they look on; the lace drapes so nicely over your hand. Molly’s chipped black nails were a perfect complement to the punkified look.
Love the tartan flannel and pleated gothy black lace! Maybe this is my favorite pair…
Really adorable sterling silver rhinestoned bejeweled Union Jack charm on this one. These are very fun to wear, cozy, sexy and as they say “on trend.” ICK!
Cuffs are now on my Etsy site and will soon be uploaded to So Charmed proper; these will be found in the Punks collection.
And as I’ve been reminding everyone lately: PLEASE practice CRAFTS INTEGRITY. Don’t copy the work of others. Take influence perhaps, but make it your own. Copying isn’t nice, invokes bad karma, and may mean you’ll get a punch in the nose as well as awful curses rained down upon you. I’m NOT kidding!!!
Subject: They Call It Work
12.17.08
I’ve gone completely earring crazy of late, creating an entire collection at the So Charmed site, cleverly titled For Your Ears Only and priced right at under $50, many under $25. Most pairs are one of a kind and ready to ship now, so if you are behind the eightball for the holidays, here’s a good option for ya.
You’ll see the usual (unusual) gorgeous beads and baubles from my vintage collection, such as the chandelier crystals above, and I’ve been experimenting with new materials, including gold vermeil.
You’ll also note that I’m having fun photographing these goodies with teeny tiny vintage doll furnishings that I’ve begun collecting. Sorry, these are not included with purchase!
The furnishings–mostly metal and plastic from the 1950’s or earlier–will eventually make it into very cool mid-century tin-litho dollhouses. I have two bonafide ranch houses and the split-level pictured above. In which a trio of tiny skeletons is now residing… you can see them dancing in the living room if you look closely.
Subject: They Call It Work
10.29.08
I don’t know just how many custom charm bracelets I’ve designed and created to date… lots though. Dozens, maybe 50, maybe more. And each time one of these delightful opportunities comes into my life, I suffer a moment of doubt at first (the typical facing-the-blank-white-page fear)… Have I found all of the possible solutions? Can this one be as perfectly unique and stunning as all the others so as not to disappoint my dear customer?
The custom bracelet is a very important thing I’ve been entrusted with, and these are investment pieces, not inexpensive. I take it all extremely seriously. (Really. For once, I’m not joking around). Seriously, but joyfully, if that makes sense.
So I fret a little, but as the process unfolds, a remarkable thing happens. The emails start flying, maybe a few photos too. I read and reread, and sometimes I even read between the lines (just a little!). I ask questions and I let the project (the person really) live in some place I imagine to be a special room deep in my creative heart.
Occasionally, I wake up in the middle of the night, or first thing in the morning… and the bracelet has begun to materialize visually, in my mind’s eye. One of the first elements to show up might be color. And yet, the color is really the last thing to be finalized during the process… I don’t pull beads from my (80 and counting) fishing tackle boxes until the last charm ordered has arrived.
Usually, the colors I’ve thought of initially will become the foundational palette. Occasionally though, I am surprised by something that happens during the design process. The bits of red in Cathy’s Lovely Garden was one such surprise. And it really worked with all of the gorgeous ambers, coppers and greens as just the right tiny hit of bright color. The neons in Lee Anne’s Carpe Diem were tricky and I wasn’t sure I could pull that off. The result was unexpected even though I’d had a rough plan.
The two bracelets pictured through this post were in my studio during a recent overlapping period. Lee Anne, a super creative and beautiful young American girlie is a riot of celebratory charm and color. Cathy, a gorgeous artistic woman living in the UK with her young son is a lovely garden of wise warmth and cherished memories. If you look closely, they both have a charm in common, a vintage rhinestone studded butterfly from a pair of earrings I had found months prior. I love that and hadn’t realized I’d done it!
Like snowflakes, no two are ever alike. And it is always a privilige, an honor, and just plain fun getting to know each of you and creating art in the form of keepsake jewelry to charm and delight you! To learn more about the custom process and some idea of costs, scroll down to the bottom of the custom page at So Charmed. Think it over a bit, and then get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.
Subject: They Call It Work
10.25.08
I’m just so obsessed with the circus lately, it’s bordering on (or has become) a weird sickness in its own right. I am old enough to have been to many many circus’s and carnivals as a young child. Suffice to say, I found almost nothing to enjoy, and everything to fear and loathe. Some say I was a “sensitive” child. Ok, yeah… well, that’s true in retrospect. 40+ years later, I find these paralyzing nightmares to be worth revisiting as content for art. And so we have a family of performing bears (grouping of pins).
Scary ladies in exotic costumes and requisite evil clowns (series of badges/necklaces).
Sideshow freaks: half something, half something else (series of pins).
First, I love finding the materials, many of them vintage and handcrafted, and sometimes collected and catalogued over several years before coming together into a final product. Also I enjoy the image-making as much as the jewelry-making; I studied photograhpy in school and at one time had designs on practicing photography as a fine art fulltime. Taking pictures remains a deep passion.
I am frankly unsure if these items will ever find audience but you know, I am not really thinking about that so much in this particular series. There are places in my creative life where the client matters most of all, and a few where it is all about a certain perfection of expression, more purely so.
Subject: Modern Art, They Call It Work
06.13.08
Live in or near the DC Metro Area? Then this will be of interest…
I’m very excited to announce that my company designfarm’s little sister enterprise, the wonderful not-just-for-profit, MyRight2Write.com, will be joining 80 other fabulous vendors at the first annual Washington City Paper sponsored Crafty Bastards Silver Spring crafts show!
For some reason, I had it in my mind that this show was going to be the younger, smaller, more bastardier bastard child of Crafty Bastards The Adams Morgan (DC) Show… truly one of the best-known and most highly regarded shows in the country… but NOOOOOOO. Folks, after attending a vendor orientation meeting earlier this week, I am happy to report that this absolutely will NOT be the case!
Check out the Vendor Gallery to see the best of the best DIY crafters in the Metro Area, very close to the same number that set up at the fall show downtown. Jewelers, clothing designers, monster makers, toy creators, stationers… a veritable plethora of talent. In addition, there will be a Supply Swap booth; bring supplies to donate and take some supplies home, free! There will also be bands, food… a whole day’s worth of stuff to do, see, and buy (including of course our fabulous journals and one of a kind handprinted clothing). We are working hard on having our most fun products ever, including tons of clothing for kids and grown ups and new mini-journals that are just $3 each! They are super cute.
The show is bing held at Pyramid Atlantic (directions), 8230 Georgia Avenue, just a block or two south of the main Silver Spring downtown area. Very Metro accessible, Red Line, Silver Spring stop.
Last year’s downtown Bastards event reportedly had an attendance of 20,000 people! Yes, you read that correctly. Wanna get the goods? Come early and come often.
Subject: I Heart Shopping, They Call It Work
