Bead Trends Magazine - January 2011

 

The highlight designer for the January Bead Trends Magazine is Lorelei Eurto.  Lorelei has a beautiful 11 page spread of her wonderful jewelry designs.  Be sure to pick up a copy.

My design for January is called "Ice".  It was created with vintage crystals, Sari silk and sterling silver.  

 

If you would like to submit to Bead Trends here is the August 2011 call for artwork!

 

 You never know unless you try!

 

Antique Tuesday - Victorian

A touch of history ... Victorian parure in Classical style with ancient Roman coins, wire works and lotus.

Fashion in the last quarter of the 19th century was strongly inspired by Etruscan archaeological finds and the Pompeii excavations. Combine this with the impact on the fashion of Egyptian motives caused by opening of the Suez channel in 1870 and then take a good look at this magnificent parure. We see original antique coins, skilfully elaborated filigree work, big red stones and stylized lotus flowers.

circa 1880 - Retail Value $5,768 for the set

It then becomes obvious that the jeweler who made this was not only an excellent craftsman but also very creative in combining the distinctive styles into a typical 19th Century Western European interpretation of different styles of ancient jewelry. To have the piece look even more authentic the good man in his enthusiasm incorporated no less then nine original ancient silver coins.

The age of the coins is around a stunning 2,000 years! It would be too much to describe them all but on the one hanging down in the center we recognize an elephant and the word CAESAR. Gaius Julius Caesar (July 13, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He also issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favoured this interpretation of his name.

To the Adin experts, who are used to see a lot of jewelry, it was the thrill of the month to find a silver parure from the Victorian era that has such a strong historical and classical expression. Although Adin hardly ever offer silver jewelry, they are gladly making an exception for this parure. This "piece unique" and looks even more magnificent when being worn. 

Once again, I would like to thank Adin Fine Antique Jewelry.  To see more incredible antique jewelry, please visit their site.

And the winner is............

Shannon C.

For My Sweet Daughter

Congratulations on winning the bracelet.

Earthenwood Design Team - Bracelet Give-a-way

Earthenwood Design Team

 

 

Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio has formed her own design team and I am proud to be apart of this fabulous group of designers.

 

Andrew ThorntonGaea Cannaday Erin Prais-Hintz Erin Siegel Heather PowersLorelei Eurto Lori AndersonJean Yates Marie Dodd  Lauren from Laurel MoonKristie from Colliebug and Company 

 

This months theme is "Cabin Fever".  Melanie sent us lumber components.  I decided to make a bracelet and I am giving it away on my blog.  

 To win the bracelet all you need to do is leave a comment with your email address.  I will announce the winner on Monday, January 23. Good Luck! 

Antique Tuesday - Victorian

Victorian 

Combo Jewelry

This week for Antique Tuesday I am featuring Victorian combination pendant/brooch jewelry.   

Circa 1880 - Retail Value $5,058

The 1880 Griffin brooch/pendant above shows how the clasp actually unscrews to transform into a pendant.  

 

 

Circa 1890 - Retail Value $2,862

  

In this Victorian diamond rose cut piece the bale folds up to be worn as a pendant or down for a brooch.

Circa 1850 - Retail Value $7,920

Thanks to a discreet placed system in the back, the parts that enable this jewel to be worn as a brooch or pendant can be easily switched.

Once again, I would like to thank Adin Fine Antique Jewelry for use of their photos and information.  Please visit their site for more examples. 

Free Projects at Michaels.Com

 

 

Bead Gallery Beads

Michaels Craft Store

 

 I wanted to share with you a few free projects I designed that are now listed on Michaels.com.  All materials for these necklaces can be purchased at Michaels.  The fabulous beads used in these designs are Bead Gallery beads manufactured by Halcraft U.S.A.  Please click the link for free project instructions.

 

 River Stone Necklace 

 

 Amethyst Art Necklace 

 

Night and Stars Silk Cord Necklace 

 

 Royal Iris Necklace 

 

 Aqua Dream Necklace 

 

Antique Tuesday - Victorian

A touch of history ... Victorian gold archaeological-revival necklace attributed to Fontenay.

Circa 1870 - Retail Price $33,548

The continuous uniform fringe decorated with beads, wirework and florettes of this necklace is typical for the work of Eugène Fontenay. A demi-parure of very similar design is illustrated in French Jewelry of the Nineteenth Century, Henri Vever, translated by Katherine Purcell, p. 643. and a similar necklace plus matching earrings were sold at Sotheby's for $52,000 (Important Jewels auction, New York, February 2008 sale N08410, lot 110).

 

Eugène Fontenay (1823-87) was one of the foremost goldsmiths in France during the second half of the nineteenth century. He was a great admirer of the ancient techniques of granulation and filigree, and became best known for his outstanding work in the 'archaeological' style. Fontenay was no doubt inspired by the Campana collection of ancient jewelery, acquired by Napoleon III in 1860, and his firm produced much work in the antique style based on Greek, Roman and Etruscan examples.

Back of Necklace

Eugène Fontenay, son of goldsmith Prosper Fontenay, founded his own workshop on the rue Favart, Paris, in 1847. By the 1850s he had achieved considerable success, culminating in the execution of a tiara for the Empress Eugènie in 1858. However, it is his work of the 1860s for which he is most renowned. Called the "archaeological style," Fontenay's pieces were influenced by ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan examples, and were certainly inspired by the 1860 arrival in Paris of the Campana Collection, ancient jewelry purchased by Napoleon III. In addition to exquisite gold work, Fontenay collaborated with the enamelist Eugène Richet on a series of jewelry containing enameled plaques which employed antique themes and an antique style. He received a gold medal at the 1867 Paris World Exhibition for his work in this style, and counted among his many prominent clients the Viceroy of Egypt, the Shah of Persia and the King of Siam.

I would like to thank Adin Fine Antique Jewelry for providing the information and photos.

I hope you enjoy today's "Antique Tuesday".

A Jewelry Accord

Please head over to the "A Jewelry Accord" blog to check out my interview and some of my new designs.  While you are there please click the follow button!  The book is due out in spring 2012.

Here is a sneak peak at one of my designs.

All of these new designs are listed in my Etsy Shop.

Antique Tuesday - Art Deco

Please note this bracelet is Art Deco STYLE - Circa 1955 - Retail Value $30,733

 
The Art Deco style is a very famous and popular art movement that had a lot influence in the world of jewelry. Art Deco was introduced in the 1920s as protest against the Art Nouveau style. Art Deco ended in the 1930s. The style emphasized a very abstract design with geometric patterns and as most favorite colors: black (onyx), blue (sapphire), green (emerald), white (diamond) and red (coral). The baguette and emerald-cuts, which had been developed in the nineteenth century, where very popular in the 1920s because they blended so much with the geometrical lines of the Art Deco style. 

Circa 1930 - Retail Value $2,606

Most of the Art Deco jewelry has a very luxury design. This is because of the large amount of money that was made in the war of 1914. All this money gave the opportunity to buy the best fashionable materials like: diamonds, platinum, red gold and yellow gold for the design of the jewels. Of course there are a lot of beautiful but less priced jewels in the Art Deco movement. Years later in the 1960s and 1970s Art Deco came back as a very popular decorative art. Even nowadays you can see that Art Deco style has great influence on our designing in all kind of branches. 

Circa 1925 - Retail Value $26,056

The initial movement was called Style Moderne. The term Art Deco was derived from the Exposition of 1925, though it was not until the late 1960s that this term was coined by art historian Bevis Hillier, and popularized by his 1968 book Art Deco of the 20s and 30s. In the summer of 1969, Hillier conceived organizing an exhibition called Art Deco at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which took place from July to September 1971. After this event, interest in Art Deco peaked with the publication of Hillier's 1971 book The World of Art Deco, a record of the exhibition.  

Circa 1930 - Retail Value $10,623

I hope you enjoyed today's blog post.  What do you think of the Art Deco Style?

To see additional Art Deco Jewelry please visit Adin Fine Antique Jewelry