Vintage Adornments Renewed

Standing on tiptoe, breath fogging the glass of the multi-shelved vitrines filled with vintage trinkets, craning my neck to see the price on the tiny paper tag tied with a bit of maroon thread, I can’t remember a time when I haven’t loved old jewelry. As a young girl I looked forward to the times my mother would sit on her bed, unzip a silk lined pouch and reach inside to reveal what was to me, treasure. A string of petite pearls she had worn at her graduation from college; already too short to fit around my neck; a bracelet with a tiny gold basket filled with pearls hanging from the gold loops. One of my best memories is of her charm bracelet jingling as she leaned over to kiss me, returning from a night out with my father. One of her charms was a small glass receptacle with a picture of my sister on one side and me on the other. There was also a key to the city of New Orleans, not much bigger than my thumb nail.

The photo of the gold lockets includes one I received on my 11^th birthday, one from my mother’s charm bracelet, and several from vintage shops in Boerne, Galveston, and as far away as Portabello Road in London!

Truly, I am drawn to old jewelry, often wondering about the provenance of the piece. I collected these rhinestone pins and then covered a stryrofoam ball with griege silk ribbon and stuck the pins in to cover the ball. I left the bottom of the ball uncovered and rested it in an old silver footed candy dish. To me, it looked as if it were an unusual bridal bouquet.

Fortunately, my husband likes to work on his computer in coffee shops and doesn’t mind whiling away a bit of time while I go on a hunt in a local vintage shop. I am still discovering the best shops for this type of thing in the Hill Country and will likely devote a post to this when I have more to write about. For now, let’s take a look at some of the things I have made and or renewed to date!

This is a journal I got in a shop at the Pearl in the city of San Antonio. I use it to sketch out ideas I have for renewing adornments. This is a sketch of a necklace I am thinking about made of a broken multi-strand woven garnet bead necklace and an antique hatpin. On top of the journal is one of my great grandmother’s cameos, strung on an “old gold” colored ribbon to be worn as a choker.

Here is a silver metal chain that was labeled a “flapper chain”. I couldn’t think of what to hang on it until one day it came to me – a watch fob I had already purchased. I love this fob because the piece dangling down is engraved with a letter “M”. I like the look of the gold and silver together.

I am fascinated by watch fobs. It’s interesting to find them made of a simple chain, or the gold colored mesh. Sometimes, as with these fobs, they have a gold fastener with ribbon. I remember my Grandfather having a watch chain that dangled from a pant belt loop to the watch safe inside his pocket. I wear these pieces on my jackets as decorative pins. They are created from several objects and fitted with fresh ribbons as the old ribbon rots quickly with handling. From left to right; the first fob has a small black mourning pin to fasten it onto my jacket. The gold key is the key to the City of New Orleans from my mother’s charm bracelet. The middle fob has a tiny gold chrysanthemum pin at the top. Hanging from the watch chain at the bottom is the photo charm from my mother’s bracelet with a tiny bird feather inside. The third fob has a pretty oval clasp and I have topped it with an enamel pin with a gold leaf mounted on the enamel.

When I look into the vitrines at the vintage shops I have learned to buy what I like and can afford without any particular purpose in mind. I keep the pieces in a couple of vintage boxes and when I want to play at renewing I can spread the treasures out on a table and see what I might do with them, draw a picture of what it might look like, and work at fastening things together in new ways.

One day I found some tarnished and somewhat rusted gold metal fobs and took them home, hoping to clean them up. I used some 0000 steel wool and gently rubbed until they shone again.  I fastened them together and used the opener that would have gone on a man’s pants loop as the opening in the back. I left the dangling charm at the end of one and partnered it with a photo charm containing a tiny photo booth picture of my husband taken when he was a young man overseas serving in the Navy. I put a piece of black paper on the other side of the charm so it looks interesting whichever way it lands.

Chandelier crystals and glass chandelier chains also make great “jewels”! I learned to bead from a man who owned a bead shop in Houston and have loved doing it ever since. I got these coral rice beads at a store called Originals in San Antonio when my sister-in-law took me to the Alley on Bitters. I kept them for a while until I saw a large crystal from a chandelier I thought would be the perfect drop for the beads.

In fact, I was at an architectural salvage/vintage store in Galveston with my sister when I found some long strands of chandelier crystal beads. I took them right home, unwired them into several pieces, and fastened them to a three-strand clasp to make a crisp, modern riviere necklace. The American Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour is well known for her riviere necklace. Riviere is French for “the river” and means a river of gems flowing around the neck. (Wikipedia)

At the same store I purchased what I was told was Venetian glass chandelier chain. I thought the mauve-taupe color was beautiful and was able to fasten the two pieces together using the glass hook at one end and hooking them together the same way in back. Surprisingly, the “necklace” is stable and has never fallen off my neck. I like the twisted strand look of the glass and the coolness against my skin!

This three-strand necklace of different sizes of black faceted beads is the result of deconstructing several strands of old costume jewelry beads and restringing them in graduated lengths and sizes. I had fun collecting the beads at different shops and was inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry.

This necklace is made of an engraved silver watch fob and a silver bracelet.

This is a vintage cut stone pin on a silk cord. I love the filigree sides of the pin and the rose gold tips. To soften the stick end of the pin and keep it clasped I glued a garnet bead on the end.

Here are some silver “forget-me-not” charms re-strung on a blue-gray ribbon to be used as a wrapped bracelet. I sent this to my sister who may wear it in her yoga class. Blue-gray is her favorite color and these charms belonged to our mother and have the names of her childhood friends engraved on them.

Finally, here is a rhinestone pin fastened to a bit of heirloom ribbon taken from a Victorian blouse purchased at Somewhere in Time in Galveston, Texas!  I think it will lend a dashing air to my wool jacket this winter!

I hope you are inspired to take a second look at what you have in the back of your drawers or jewelry box; to renew artifacts from the past and bring joy to the present.