New Necklaces-Altered Jewelry

Putting together unique altered jewelry necklaces is very satisfying.  Found some great bird tin and put it together with bits and pieces of costume jewelry, a vintage watch fob holder, vintage brass stampings, mother of pearl buttons and a brass label holder.

Private Classes

I spent the last two afternoons with two sixteen-year-old girls working on different jewelry techniques using recycled materials.  The first afternoon was devoted to filling bottle cap with miniature objects and pouring resin on the top to capture the objects.  

During the second afternoon I showed the girls how to take jewelry apart and put it back together using looped wire and jump rings.  They sorted through piles of junk and broken jewelry to find just the right pieces to work with.  Their homework the night before was to look through the book  Rejuvenated Jewels  by Amy Hanna to get an idea of how one can take pieces from many sources to create a new and unique wearable art.  They also brought along some silver charms from a family member to incorporate in the work.  Both came up with stunning designs.

Found Object Necklaces

Been having so much fun putting these together....many sources, many objects and many themes!

Found Object Necklaces

I have been busy on the series of found object necklaces for the upcoming show at Gandee Gallery.  These necklaces are assemblages of many different things. Can you find the brass name plates, tin molds, costume jewelry, printed tin, chains from a lot of different sources, metal from hair ornaments, buttons, a trilobite, belt buckles, and a small lapel pin.  I hope you like them as much as a I do.

Found Object Necklace 3

More fun with bit and pieces.....

Found Object Necklace Series

I love the winter in that it gives me some time to experiment and play with collected objects.  I found some little tin tart or candy molds recently and they have become the basis for a new series of found object necklaces.

In the first necklace, I  added a bottle cap to the tin tart dish, a brass flower cut from a hair ornament, tin from a vintage box and brass pull chain.

In the second necklace, I stated with another tin tart dish, added an image of a bird from a vintage tin, 

two small brass flower pieces,  the loose circles from another hair ornament, a super brass button, brass chain and steel links.  

I assembled them into a side closing necklace as opposed to one with the clasp on the back of the neck.

Had to share.  Back to the studio.

Lovely Gifts

Paula from LuckDuck sent me this great tin and it just screamed Valentine's Day to me.  So the Queen of Hearts became the focal point and joined other tin and 2 paintbrush beads in this necklace.

Found Object Necklace

This necklace is comprised of tin from a vintage recipe card holder, paint brush sections made into beads, and handmade steel chain.  A fun asymmetrical design!