All Done, a Downton Abbey Inspired Necklace

I finished it off with two spliced chains and a beaded necklace, made with more of the antique seed beads interspersed with darker, matte finish purple beads, in an Edwardian-inspired manner. The hook clasp is finished with one antique carved bone rose bud bead.  All the parts are old or odd or salvaged, or all of that, and you wouldn't think it could be as elegant as it is.  I am thinking of calling it "Below Stairs," or something that refers to those lives spent in service, so close to wealth and elegance and yet so far away.  Soon to be listed in my Etsy shop, maybe even today.

Work In Further Progress

I have begun splicing chain fragments and beading after finishing the assembly of the pendant and attaching it to a beautiful orphaned buckle half of old cut steel.  Look closely and see the bee!

Work In Progress

The foundation ingredients are laid out here:  an eucalyptus pod found in California, a silver plated salt shaker lid, antique French seed beads, a criffle from Kimberly Rogers, vintage frosted and luminous beads of a darker purple, a long copper head pin, a kuchi spacer, and early 1900s magazine ad with beautiful font and line drawings.  It will be a pendant, and that's all I know for sure just now.  Stay tuned!

It's Official! I Have Changed My (Etsy Shop) Name!

It is "yesdearsister."  Reasons of my own; let's just say it's words I want to hear and this is one way to be sure I get my wish in this lifetime.  And it will help you know how to respond to any of my advice, as well.  The irony of it all:  I tried all kinds of variations on simply my name and surname, but none were available.  Hah!

So, it's still the same mix and style as old readbetweenlines, but I think the name is a lot more fun (surely is for me) and not as irrelevant (at least not for me).

My dear, you must try wearing more interesting and unique, nay, statement, jewelry.  Yes dear sister.

You see?  Works for me!

This is it, no more changes! I'm calling it done. A mojo bottle.

I added half a teaspon of anise seeds because, I'm not sure why; the scent and color seems right and a quick search for magic uses turns up Lucky Mojo saying they have hoodoo value for psychic powers. Besides that, they sweeten the breath. So this reliquary bottle has become a mojo bottle. The chain is spliced together salvage, the hook I fabricated myself, and the fob on the hook is a Kaiser Wilhelm birthday commemorative coin and a Victorian cameo button jumped together, suspending a green freshwater pearl. One thing that tickles me about using old text is the way lines of text taken out of the page can generate poetical considerations, as your brain attempts to deal with fragments, helplessly assigning some meaning. In this case, the text is from an antique book of the essays, poetry and hymns of Cowper, an index page. It generated the title of the piece; but wait, there's more, if you read the back of the bottle. "Love of the voice of the fat oyster," how marvelous. Soon to be listed in my Etsy shop.

A Plague of Possibilities Strikes Virtuous Marcia

 

The other stopper, with the mirrored chandelier part, just didn't work out; for one thing, just not sturdy enough, and for another, it didn't "click." When you have a pile of hoarded found things and parts to use, too many possibilities can weaken your focus -- it's endemic!  So I dismantled the stopper and made another with a crazy weird old Bakelite button that seems to work better. Then, when I attached the chain for suspension and it draped across the front, I rather liked the effect, which lead to another layer of quanderies selecting a fob, or no fob.  I settled on a pretty lampworked bead after picking through my box of keys, milagros, charms and such.  It seems to like cozying up to the illustration and the button, with dots echoing form and color.  I am putting Marcia away for the day now, to let her cook slowly overnight, and maybe in the morning the matter will be settled.  We'll see.

Hello 2014

Have you noticed people have started saying "twenty fourteen," instead of "two thousand fourteen"?

Now, go visit this artist:  http://www.guylaramee.com/  Guy Laramee is doing fantastic things with old books and you can explore them just as you would mountains.  Just go look right now, you'll see!

And I have another project on my bench to begin the new year -- a second bottle reliquary.  Here's a sneak peek at the bottle and some parts.

Enjoy this first day of twenty fourteen, make it happy and keep it that way, and if that gets to be boring, try Universal Peace and Freedom!