The Hunt

The hunt for cool vintage findings has started for the jewelry line I hope to create one day.  I scoured several yard/garage sales this past weekend, and man....do I have a lot to learn.  Has it really been that long since I bargained for anything?  I found myself taking at face value the price either written or offered, and honestly did not even think to negotiate a lower price.  That, my friends, is the result of too many years of retail shopping!  I found one very cool item that I really loved.....a very old and very large silver framed charm.  The price was originally $300 (at a yard sale folks....really??) and the seller said I could have it for $100.  Still too rich for my blood.  My husband asked why I didn't offer her $25.  I have no idea why!  Because that was the price she told me it was, I guess. Then for the rest of the day I kicked myself for not at least trying to get a lower price.  And you can see that close to a week later, that piece is still haunting me.  Because the family was selling just about everything in preparation to move to Hawaii, they just might be out there again next weekend.  I think I will try to find them one more time to see if their prices are lower and if I can muster up the courage to offer a lower price. Wish me luck!

I did find a few lovelies though.  It is a start for what I hope will turn out to be a great collection of treasures and then incredible one-of-a-kind, wearable pieces of art.

Here is what I found...

I am not crazy about these porcelain beads, but I love the little
brass caps.  I'll be taking this completely apart so I can
look at it from a new standpoint.

I was thrilled to find these older rhinestone pieces.
Love the disco ball beads!!

While visiting my mother over the holidays and sharing this new venture with her, she was off to her bedroom to gather some old pieces.  Some of this stuff I haven't seen in years.  We had a great time reliving some of the treasures we found in her jewelry box.  I don't think she had even been in it in years.  But from that trip, she and my grandmother shared these items with me.  Yippee!!

What a great collection!  I'm so excited to add these
pieces.  Some will just be pieces of chain, while others
will be for their baubles.

I'll have to take some time to see if this awesome necklace
can be dismantled a bit so I can just use sections at a time.
I'm new at this, so the only way to see if it works is
just to try it....right??

I am so in love with this set!  However, it's days as a "set"
are over, baby!!

I have noticed that religious metals, rosaries, and crucifixes play a major role in many of the jewelry pieces I am loving these days.  I have my own collection of rosaries from growing up Catholic, and have acquired a few metals and such over the years as well.  I am really struggling with the taking apart of rosaries to use in my future pieces.  I know it is being done by others and honestly, I love the look.  I have asked a few people who know what a rosary is supposed to represent and mean, and I am getting a mixed bag of feedback.  Because I am using them in what I hope will be cherished pieces that ladies will hopefully wear in pride, I don't feel that I am being blasphemis.  One friend suggested I never take apart the ten bead section where one prays ten Hail Mary's, but otherwise did not feel it wrong to take apart the rest.  I think I can live with that.  I would love to have your input.  What is your opinion??  Please, please share it with me.  I really love the look these pieces add, but want to feel good in my heart about doing it.  I'm going to need your help though.

Here is my collection of rosaries and metals....



I love the back of this Virgin Mary piece. 
A little dap of "terra" from Jerusulem.
I've never seen that in a rosary before.

 And finally, here are a few of my own personal pieces that I've had on hand for awhile.

This pin is truly one of my favorite vintage pieces that I am hoping to include in a repurposed piece soon.  In fact, I love it so...I think I'll wear it to work tomorrow!!



 This old Paris souvenir bracelet is so very cool.  I picked it up at a local antique store a few years ago, but the clasp sticks so I don't really wear it.  However, it will really be beautiful taken apart and used in several pieces or a few in one Paris-themed piece.  Can't wait!!  Also included here are some of my Brownie and Girl Scout pins.  Not sure if I will use them, but thought their truly vintage look is great.  Did any of you feel what just happened????  I said something from my childhood is now considered "vintage."  Uh....how did that happen?  Also included here are two older cameos....will look lovely combined with some pearls I thinks. (Sorry for the sideways view here.)

As the weekend is fast approaching, I am already thinking of the neighborhoods I want to scour for new finds.  Then it is time to get my workspace organized.  I'll share that process with you also.  I feel I am ready to try a piece or two.  We'll see....

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the week.....
Carol

P.S.  I forgot to mention....Adorn Me 2012 in Houston, TX at the end of February has been cancelled.  I am more than disappointed, but hope to go wherever it is in November.  Maybe I can find something similar to enjoy before then.

Where Oh Where Have I Been??

That is a very good question.  Where do I start?  Job frustration....I think that is where I left you all.  Talking about being moved from a position I liked (not loved, but I liked it a lot).  Well, much has happened on that front, but I no longer want to focus on that. 

Then the ever popular technical issues.  Blogging was cut from my work computer and my little home netbook was a challenge.  We just got a handle on that so I feel like I am creeping my way back into the blogosphere.  I have SO much catching up to do!!  Can't wait to visit all my favs again.

And then there was my decorating work.  I recently finished work on a 64 foot Hargrave yacht.  A total redo of furniture, accents, and softgoods.  I am very proud of the entire process....had a couple of firsts for me as a decorator as well.  I will share more on that soon (with pictures!).

So, I'm considering this a blog do-over!  Yay!  Don't you wish we could "do" that more often....a "do-over?"

What I am hoping to do from this point forward is some new things...a new focus.  I had lost interest in my artful self for a while.  I guess disappointments can allow that to happen.  However, I attended the Country Living Fair this past October in Stone Mountain Park, Georgia again and started to feel the flicker of the flame start again.  I didn't even take any pictures.  Remember all the posts and pics from the 2010 show?  I almost felt guilty that I was strickly indulging my own personal whims and fancies, and not taking pictures or getting business cards or talking to the artists.  That is, except for Shari Replogle.  I knew where she was situated last year and held out that she would be there again.  I was not disappointed.  Plus I got a beautiful treasure from her as well.

I found I had a common interest throughout the show.  It is not completely surprising that I love jewelry.  I know my taste is not right for everyone. I love the funky, the chunky, the vintage, the unusual.  I am often told "Only you could wear that."  I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I tell you, I'm starting to wonder if I am surrounded by really boring people (and I don't mean that in an ugly sense) or if I am just really strange!  I like to say different.  Some use the word artsy.  I don't know.  When I was walking around the Fair, these words popped into my brain more than once that day...."These are MY people!!"  I felt like I was with my true kin (and I was figuratively as well), but I felt it spiritually too.  My experiences over the past eight months or so keep driving home the message to me that I must stay true to myself, to my style, and to be who I am.  So that is going to be my focus.  Doing what feels right to me. I know you know what I am talking about.  It feels right to be in your own skin when you are following the right path for yourself, be it artistically or otherwise.

So since that show I have been consumed with finding a purpose and the creation of my kind of jewelry keeps floating to the surface.  Remember the Magic 8 Ball of our youth??  When I shake it and turn it over it says.....Make Some Awesome Jewelry!  I have been studying the works of Shari Replogle, Diana Frey, Amy Hannah, Christine Wallace (oh my!) and my extreme favorite:  Deryn Mentock.  I am truly enamoured.  I am hoping to attend Adorn Me! 2012 in late February in Houston, Texas to take an all day workshop entitled The Alchemy of Objects with Deryn Mentock.  That will truly be an awesome experience! I have some money to save, some equipment to gather (how does one fly with all one's tools?), some vintage goodies to gather.  I am so psyched!!  This is where I want to start leaning....with my work and with my life.  It feels good in my skin and in my head to even think it.  I long for the quiet creativity that I anticipate it will bring.  I must make time to do this....for my sanity, if for nothing else. 

So I hope you will like the subtle changes my blog will bring.  I hope you will still want to follow along with me through my little transformation.  I am praying it will be interesting for you and that I will still feel as strongly about the choices that I feel are forthcoming as I do right now.

For this upcoming Thanksgiving holiday I am most thankful to live in a country where I can actually undergo this metamorphosis.  I am thankful for the family I will see and spend time with this coming holiday, and I truly wish you all the most incredible blessings a holiday can bring.  I have so much more to share....the ideas are really starting to go from a mere simmer to a low boil.  I think they are going to keep growing.  Hope you to find you there along the way....

Wishing you a peaceful Thanksgiving...
Carol

P.S.  I just ordered this great book and sprung for the overnight shipping so I would have it for the long holiday weekend.  Can't wait to get it tomorrow!!  I will read every word and study every picture.  Plus I couldn't have a totally pictureless post!!!

Order it HERE.