In the early 18th century, a roman glass kiln owner named Alessio Mattioli experimented on colored glass paste and developed a high percentage of coloring agents. He made what were called ” Smalti Filati”. Depending on the shade of color to be obtained, bits of different his master tints were mixed together and then melted over an open flame. The molten mass was then “spun” or drawn by means of tweezers into threads of the desired thickness. The “smalti filati” technique made it possible for artisans to fashion pieces on very small scale, and eventually even to produce actual “miniature mosaics”, with glass tiles called “tesserae”, which were less than 1 mm thick, and which gained widespread popularity in the first half of 18th century.

As the Industrial Age dawned and intensive hand labor became much more expensive, the pieces with larger tiles became much more common. The later pieces with larger tesserae should rightfully be called Mosaics, since the term Micro refers to the very early examples with miniature tiles. These later pieces have their own beauty in the high contrasting bright colors that were used. All types have been referred to as Micro Mosaic Vintage jewelry by jewelry shops and resellers online. 

A very simple solution for cleaning vintage micro mosaic jewelry is warm water with a drop or two of dish-washing detergent. Dip an old soft toothbrush, or make up brush, into the cleaning solution. Be sure to give it a good shake to get rid of any excess water and scrub the tiles vigorously for about 10 seconds. The object can then be rinsed for a few seconds with warm water to remove the suds. After cleaning, wipe the tiles dry with a soft cloth, such as a piece of a cotton T shirt.

The cement used to make micro mosaic vintage jewelry should make the piece impervious to moisture, but care must be used, since the cement can be softened with water in some cases, which will result in some of the tiles coming loose. For this reason, the piece should never be soaked in water. Be sure not to allow the water to stay in contact for too long and don’t allow it to settle into the old cement or putty used to hold the tiles.

Over the past few years I have come across several interesting examples of cut glass Art Deco beads. I found the Art Deco movement fascinating in my art history classes. The shift from the flowery, nature driven Art Nouveau style to the architectural appearance of Art Deco. Big bold  gemstones being cut in bold geometric shapes such as the emerald cut, pentagon, trapezoid, or triangle. Another characteristic of the Art Deco movement was to combine bold, contrasting tones like black and white.  Art Deco was an industrial movement that influenced all aspects of life especially in the jewelry world.

Diamonds, along with colorful emeralds, rubies and sapphires, were common in fine jewelry; costume jewelry mimicked the same looks, but with faux “stones.” Some jewelry of the time depicted animals, vegetation and other live subjects, either realistically or in a very stylized way. Bows and other similar ornaments were reproduced as jewelry.Bakelite was a popular component for many types of costume jewelry.

Pearls and long earrings were popular, along with diamond watches, beads, and cocktail rings. Women cut their long locks and began wearing their hair short and boyish during the Art Deco jewelry period. This was the era of Jazz and flappers and Art Deco jewelry complimented the flamboyant and playful attitude of the day. Egyptian influences were strong and motifs like the falcon, sphinx and falcon were popular. New geometric cuts for gems went hand-in-hand with the symmetry and streamlined look of Art Deco jewelry. Emeralds, sapphires and rubies became the gems of choice in Art Deco jewelry. Synthetic gemstones were popular and were often used instead of the more expensive natural gems.

Here are some example from my collection.  This necklace features an interesting oriental lantern style bead with 35 facets on each bead. it is hand knotted on silk  with a silver filigree box clasp. These beads aer leaded crystal and refract light beautifully. This strand measures 16 inches and has 41 graduated beads.

This next piece has the most interesting beads. The larger beads have 32 facets in them and the smaller ones have 12. This strand has been restrung on a waxed cotton braided cord- it has been hand knotted and I am not sure it’s the original clasp. Basing it on the other necklaces I have of the same quality and age I am guessing it should be a filigree box clasp and not a silver plate over brass C clasp. This necklace with it’s condensed bi-cone shape. This necklace has a more delicate feel to it than the other two and the laergest  beads have flea bites .

The necklace below is one of my favorite shaped beads. Again these are leaded crystal- like wearing a chandelier around your neck they sparkle brilliantly in the light!

This is a concave faceted round bead in graduated sizes hand knotted on silk with the original silver filigreebox clasp. This necklace measures 17 inches in length.  This necklace has some weight to it!

And finally- I found this beauty in two separate bags of broken jewelry at the thrift store. This lovely measures 45 inches in length with no clasp. it is hand knotted on silk cord. The large faceted  beads are in the shape of a very boxy octagon. The three small spacer beads are all faceted roundels. I do not believe the large beads are leaded crystal I think they are polished glass which leads me to believe they are Bohemian or Czechglass glass beads. The roundels, however, really capture and reflect the light.

What I like best about this strand of beads is the orange color. 

This beauty recently landed on my work bench. It’s a MiriamHaskell of course.  The owner of the necklace wanted all of the pearls replaced. Most of them had lost their lustre and looked tired next to the beautiful center piece. Finding over 250 glass pearl beads of the same size and patina as this vintage Miriam Haskell piece was not easy. It took three months of searching but we finally found the right beads.

And here it is.  Can’t you just see this piece on the neck of a willowy brunette at the opening of the opera season a few decades ago….ahh the history in these vintage pieces.

I am a frequent thrift store shopper. I love looking for treasures! The thrill of the hunt and the excitement when you find something. It makes me very sad when I stumble across one of those icons of 1970′s crafty – the Jewelry Christmas Tree. YIKES! I will admit my mother had not one but three of these lovelies in our house when I was a kid. Taken out each November and dusted off with the rest of the holiday decorations. We had a large one with a string of tree lights worked into the design and two smaller companion pieces. I would sit on the love seat and look over every square inch of the large tree.It hung in a place of honor over the love seat and this gave me an up close view of it. The two smaller ones hung on another wall further out of reach. I tried to imagine what each broken, mutilated piece of jewelry looked like when it was new and shiny and whole. How could someone do that to all those wonderfully sparkly treasures???? 

 

I tried to dismantle one once. Who knew Elmer’s Glue could be hard as a rock and practically impossible to remove? Now whenever I see one I say a little prayer of forgivenessto the Rhinestone Jewelry Goddess and walk quickly by.  A few years ago I had someone come to me with a box of grandmother’s old jewelry, three gilded picture frames and red velvet. She wanted me to make one for each of the granddaughters. I tried to talk her out of it. I even quoted a price I thought she would balk at. Nope- she insisted on three and that I was the perfect person to assemble these tress after all- I was sooooo creative! I am grateful they were only 8 x 10′s and even then it was painful.

My apologies to Coro, Haskel, Eisenberg,Lisner, Weiss and all those other wonderfully talented costume jewelry designers. Please know that I am doing my part to rescue as many pieces as I can. To restore them to their former glory and find new and deserving homes for them.

Oh and by the way…I prefer my jeweled Christmas trees to be small enough to wear. On my person not on the wall.

What do these Swarovski pearls and this vintage rhodium plated rhinestone necklace and earring set have in common? Green. 

This year my youngest daughter wanted to do something different for prom. We found this wonderful designer on  Etsy. The name of her shop is  PriscillaDawn and her dresses are tea party dream dresses.  I found this strand of Swarovski pearls on Etsytoo! If you have not looked into Etsy is a handmade person’s dream!

Back to Biz’s jewelry- I am going to remove the chain from the vintage necklace and put a double strand of pearls on it instead. Then I am going to take these two pair of earrings and combine them into something a bit more contemporary and less painful than screw back earrings. I will remove the screw backs and file away any rough places. This will leave me with a pendant that I will attach to the ball post earring to create a new earring.

As soon as I can get Biz to sit down for 5 minutes I will have her model them for you and get a picture! Prom is April 28th!

I had a young lady set up an appointment with me today for jewelry for her attendants. She showed me a picture of the dress and a fabric swatch of the accent color.

The dress is a very basic black lace strapless cocktail dress with a satin sash at the waist  that ends off to the side with about three inches of sash hanging down. Simple and elegant. The bodice has a ruffle of lace along it to soften the line. She is accenting the dress with a bouquet of silk flowers with the main color olivine green.  At first she was thinking strand of pearls in olivine green for each attendant. BORING! But I would do it. But after we started talking and really looking at the BM’s dress I threw out a few suggestions:

What if: instead of the pearls we found vintage brooches that reflected the personality of each bridesmaid and pinned them at the waist where the sash ends?

What if: we made each BM a pendant of a single Swarovski crystal pendent in an inverted tear drop with a simple sterling silver ice pick bail?

Hmmm……she loved the idea! And after that was settled her Mom fell in love with my Lisner pearl necklace and took it home to see if it would work with her dress.

This absolutely gorgeous rhinestone bracelet needs your help! I have been searching all over to web to find a replacement clasp for this beauty. Signed B. David on the box clasp. This is my first B. David piece and I will admit I fell instantly in love with his work. Goodness the photo doesn’t even come close to the sparkle and shine of this bracelet. I can find only sparse information about this designer and this Rhinestone Goddess is keeping this lovely piece for herself!

B David Jewelry was made from 1945 to 1993 by a small company in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company made both costume and fine jewelry.

Their jewelry was smaller and elegant with a lot of rhinestones – their rhinestone bracelets and necklace sets are usually the most sought after and valuable pieces.
The company is also well known for its Crown Pins and is very popular with vintage jewelry collectors today. They are available in a variety of different color rhinestones.

The pieces are signed with either B. David in an oval, b. David in a divided square or bd printed diagonally. The signatures were all used interchangeably throughout the years, so the signature style cannot be used to date the piece. The older earrings have screw-backs. Some of the earrings have a swirled etched design in the metal of the clip. Much of the jewelry was made in sets of matching pieces.

If you know where I can find a reaplcement tounge clasp for this bracelet I will be forever in your debt!

Pearls are organic gems, created when an oyster covers a foreign object with beautiful layers of nacre. Long ago, pearls were important financial assets, comparable in price to real estate, as thousands of oysters had to be searched for just one pearl. They were rare because they were created only by chance.

Because pearls are so rare, people have for thousands of years created substitutes for the real thing. Records indicate that the ancient Romans made imitation pearls. And Queen Elizabeth I of England, whose passion for pearls is apparent in every portrait of her, is said to have established an artificial pearl industry to supply what nature could not. The techniques for manufacturing imitation pearls have varied over the centuries and today include coating glass beads with a mixture of varnish and fish scales or flakes of the mineral mica.

Today pearls are cultured by Man. Shell beads are placed inside an oyster and the oyster is returned to the water. When the pearls are later harvested, the oyster has covered the bead with layers of nacre. Most cultured pearls are produced in Japan. In the warmer waters of the South Pacific, larger oysters produce South Sea cultured pearls and Tahitian black cultured pearls, which are larger in size. Freshwater pearls are cultured in mussels, mostly in China.

Pearls have always been a symbol of taste and refinement. However, new designers have turned to the pearl and have tossed out the perfectly matched strand idea and created wonderful collages of pearls, crystals, chains, charms, and other beads. The New York Times refers to it as Punk meets Park Avenue.                                                   

This piece was created using a Lisner brooch, costume glass pearls and vintage hand cut Czech glass spacers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Miriam Haskell is one costume jewelry designer who used “pearls” in all shapes and sizes in many of her designs that were produced after World War Two. She particularly favored “pearls” that were Baroque. Haskell’s costume pearls were imported from Japan.

Baroque pearls are simply pearls that have an irregular shape. The crown worn by Empress Farah of Iran for her coronation in 1967 is studded with multiple baroque pearls as seen in this photograph.

 

 

 

 

This pearl necklace with shell pendant was created by me for a client using cultured fresh water coin, potato and nugget pearls in shades of bronze, gold and brown.

I am going to climb on a soap box here. There are too many people who come into the studio telling me that they have a drawer or box full of costume jewelry that belonged to this or that relative and they NEVER. WEAR. IT. Never. Why? I always ask. The most common answer is ” I just don’t have anyplace to wear it” How about around your neck or on your wrist or finger or lapel? Oh please! Maybe I should start a Vintage Jewelry Liberation Movement.

I wear my vintage pieces all the time. I have a wonderful rhinestone tiara that I wear during play practice just to let all my actors know that I am the director and I am in charge! I wear brooches on sweaters with jeans and I load my wrist up with sparkly beauties when I head out for the evening – even if it’s just to the local dive for chicken and fries.

I have been shopping on Etsy lately. My daughter and I are looking for the perfect dress for senior prom. We found this one byPriscillaDawn. We are having it made in a mint green color with watermelon pink lace. It so reminds me of a Barbie dress the lady down the street made for me when I was young. So Retro yet today! As soon as it arrives you can bet that my daughter Biz and I will be looking over all my vintage jewelry for just the right pieces to finish it off. From evening bag to jewelry. We are even talking about painting a pair of shoes too.  

 

Please- don’t let your vintage treasures collect dust. Wear them or give them to someone who will.

Don’t wait for that “right” occasion either- it may never present itself.

OK- that’s it for my soap box- now go home and enjoy your rhinestones!

Cameos have enjoyed a special place in the history of jewelry.

This cameo necklace was found at a thrift store in pieces. It consists of 5 shell carved cameos set in brass filigree.

It is said that Cleopatra had cameos with her image carved out of precious gems such as emeralds and Queen Elizabeth I had her portrait cut into semi-precious stones and turquoise. Catherin the great of Russia had a very impressive collection of cameos.  During Queen Victoria’s reign the cameo enjoyed wide spread popularity that is still evident today.

Cameos can be made from a variety of materials including shell, precious and semi-precious gemstones, agate. The variety of materials used to make a carving is amazingly large.

There are two different styles of carving–relief and intaglio.

1. Relief—carved from the front with only the front profile showing or one side as opposed to a sculpture that can be seen from all sides.

2. Intaglio—-carved from the rear of the profile or picture. Intaglio came before the cameo. In ancient times, the intaglio was used to seal papers or to mark property. Later on, it became a jewelry item worn by women.  The cameo is the opposite of the intaglio.

This ring belonged to my great grandmother who brought it with her from southern Italy. It is an intaglio of a man with a laurel wreath on his head and carved into carnelian. The stone is set in Italian rose gold and is my most prized possession.

Classically the designs carved onto cameo stones were either scenes of Greek or Roman mythology or portraits of rulers or important dignitaries. In history, agate portrait cameos were often gifts from royalty to their subjects. These antique cameos, some more than 2000 years old, are either displayed in museums or are in private collections.