THE PROCESS: New Designs with Vintage Jewelry Findings

Here are a locket necklace and dangly earrings I designed, created and photographed during this past week. I want to tell you a bit about the process.

 

 

The fabulous locket with Aurora Borealis (AB) rhinestones inspired this piece. I removed the locket from its plain-Jane-chain and browsed through my stash to find harmonious pieces.

 

The vintage flower finding with clear rhinestones appealed to me because each petal had a pierced section, making it perfect for multiple connections. I completed the design with an AB crystal-studded chain I removed from a flashy Monet necklace.

 

Photographing the piece was challenging because I just started working with a fabric light box and I am learning how to set up displays. I used fabric and lace from my stash and a pink vintage hat that happened to be sitting on my sewing machine.

 

 

 

My collection of vintage dangles and connectors inspires me to create designs. Lately I am entranced by this color of aqua blue, so I started with the aqua dangles.

 

My studio shelves are loaded with beads in little bottles, organized by color on small glass trays. I pulled out the blue and gold beads and perused them for possible components to go with the dangles.

 

For a week or so I played with the aqua blue and gold combination when I went into the studio.  I kept several pairs of possible components for these beads in a little porcelain tray and recombined them every once in a while until the design came together. Once I decided to use the large aqua and gold beads, I could choose the accent beads and findings to complete the design.

 

In the photograph, the earrings hang from a vintage necklace. The base of the display is a couple of small lidded oval basket stacked on top of each other. To allow dangle space for the earrings, I placed the top basket so that it overlapped the edge of the bottom one. 

 

After covering the baskets with lace fabric from my stash. I fastened the catch of the "hanger" necklace and draped it around the top basket. I then hung the earrings on the necklace, allowing the earrings to lay against the fabric to keep the dangles still for their closeup.     

 

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~ NEWS FLASH ! ~

My husband taught me how to use tripods today! I look forward to much more productive photography sessions, with a lower number of shots required, a higher percentage of usable photos and a lower level of hand and back pain after the sessions.

Cheers!