Tuesday trinkets 16...

Some diamante loveliness to share with you all today. Diamante's are difficult to photograph well so I apologise for some of the less than perfect photos.

Pretty in pink! This brooch is probably 1950s vintage, note the aurora borealis finish to some of the diamantes. (Aurora Borealis coating was not invented until the early 1950s and was hugely popular as a finish to jewellery in this era)

1950s brooch

 I love the green in this 1950s beauty. This one is smaller than most of the time measuring approx one inch across.

 This is one of many 'star' brooches I have in my collection. It is marked Danecraft. Danecraft was founded in the 1934 . The company was known for it's quality sterling silver and vermeil jewellery. (vermeil is gold metal over sterling) This star brooch has aurora borealis stones which dates it to at least the early 1950s. Danecraft jewellery was sold in finer department stores. You can visit the official Danecraft website here.

This little bar brooch is just a bit more than an inch across and looks vaguely art deco in design to me. Vintage 1930s?

Pastel blue 'snowflake' brooch. Probably 1950s vintage.

Star or snowflake? You decide. The aurora borealis coating dates this to at least 1950s vintage. It's a tiny brooch barely an inch across. It is beautifully finished front and back and I'm pretty sure it's an unmarked designer piece. You can't see detail in the photo but the dogtooth claw setting of the diamantes makes me wonder if it's a Weiss design.

This brooch is set with plain blue glass and is smallish, a bit more than an inch wide. It is set in what appears to be a cheap metal. I'd guess it's vintage to be from the 1930s or even before then. Cheap and cheerful! Apologies for the reflection of my camera in the centre stone!

This brooch is unmarked. I believe it is possibly a knock off of a designer piece. It has 'shades' of Weiss design but does not have the high quality finish on the back of a genuine piece.
Vintage 1940s?

This is a beautifully finished little brooch. It features emerald green diamantes and what appear to me to be lustre glass beads. I'm unsure of when lustre glass came into usage in jewellery making so am hesitant to guess the vintage of this piece. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say late 1940s or early 1950s but I could be quite wrong! Ann can you shed any light for me?

This is the second time I have tried to get a good photograph of this adorable brooch. It is unmarked but beautifully made. the large centre stone is foil backed. Vintage unknown but I would guess 1930s or early 1940s perhaps.

This brooch is also a bit of a puzzle. It looks well made on the back, is unmarked but the stones have lost their sparkle and are quite dull with age.It is made in layers suggesting it is a designer piece. If I had to hazard  a guess I'd say 1940s vintage or earlier.

This pretty pastel brooch looks like it might be 1950s BUT it has a clasp of a much earlier era on it suggesting it is much older. Early 1900s perhaps? The stones appear to be faceted glass.

A lovely large snowflake brooch this piece measures just slightly more than 2 inches across! The finish on the back suggests it is a Made in Czechoslovakia piece. It looks cheap and cheerful and the aurora borealis finish on the teardrop stones dates it to at least early 1950s.

This little red snowflake brooch is just lovely. Note the beautifully detailed pressed metal pointy bits. The stones are plain glass, sadly I have just noticed one is missing since I took the photograph. Vintage 1930s or earlier.

More cheap and cheerful. I'm not sure what vintage this silvertone snowflake is. It is unmarked and such a classic design could be 5 years old or 50! It is quite large measuring approx an inch and half wide.

More 1950s aurora borealis sparkle.

Star or snowflake loveliness. 1940s?

This one is tricky to date. It looks in great condition and is beautifully layered. The stones are very plain. I can't even venture to guess what vintage it is. It may be quite modern or it may be older and just have been very well looked after.I have seen some vintage pieces that look like they have never been worn.

Another glamorous brooch. 1940s

Another cheap and cheerful piece for last today. This one is pretty tacky but I went a little mad on snowflakes and stars for a time and bought everything in sight LOL! I'm unsure of the vintage but suspect this one is more modern. I hope you've enjoyed the sparklies I've shared today. If anyone can help with dating any of the jewellery I am always happy to have input.

wishing you sunshine in your shadows (it's beautifully sunny here today)
Helen

Shhhhh artist in training...

I'm really getting into this zendoodling thing! I think it will be some time before I could call myself an artist without laughing but I am having fun and I can see with practice I will get better at this. This is my second effort. I didn't stick to the official zentangle size for this. I just began and let it grow.

I do need to buy myself a thicker nibbed pen for colouring in those larger areas. I have also discovered I prefer the softer lines of curvy lines and patterns as opposed to straight lines and geometric patterns.

I must look into trying to copy and print some of my old snowflakes from popular front's snowdays website. I think I could make some fabulous art in this style based on my snowflakes. If you would like to view some of my snowflakes go to the 'find a flake' feature at snowdays, type in ladychiara, Australia and put peace and healing in the message area. That should bring up a few of my flakes. I haven't made any since about 2007. Sadly at the time I was most creative on snowdays I did not have the computer skills to save my art work for myself. They have made many changes over there since and I am not even sure if all the flakes ever made are still online for viewing.
If you would like to see what some other very talented artists have done with their snowflake images please take a look here.

When I first joined snowdays there were many experienced flakers doing amazing things with the program. Many of them have extended their creative talents in the realm of fractals and digital art using programs like Apophysis, Photoshop Pro etc. Many of these wonderful artists were featured on this website.
misterX website offered instructions and assistance to new flakers and old alike. I visited often and to my delight discovered I could make much more artistic snowflakes than I thought possible. It has been some time since I have visited misterX website so I am not sure if the forums are still active, however if you are interested in having a go at flake making on snowdays it is very worthwhile visiting and learning how to do all kinds of things with your flakes. 

After that little side trip down memory lane .......
This is my latest effort at this doodling business. I'm not sure if it's finished yet. Doodling these reminds me of free embroidery. Sometimes it's hard to know when to STOP!

wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

Quilled snowflakes

I love trying different crafts but I'm a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none!
A few weeks ago I finally decided to try quilling. Whilst my efforts are not perfect enough to satisfy an expert in the craft I was quite pleased with my results.
I used scrapbooking paper which is a little on the heavy side but I found it easy to work with.
I experimented with 1/4 inch strips and 1/8 inch strips and although I liked the effects of both the 1/8th inch strips gave a finer more delicate look.
My first efforts were pretty terrible but it only took me a few hours to master basic skills.
If you decide to have a go at this I suggest buying a metal quilling tool. I started out with a plastic one but changed to a metal one and found it gave much better results.
There are a number of quilling tutorials on utube or you can take a look at one of these:
http://www.giddygreetings.com/

http://foldingtrees.com/category/quilling/

http://craftiblog.wordpress.com/

Here are a couple of photos of my snowflakes.
I sprayed them with adhesive and sprinkled them with fine white glitter to finish. Unfortunately the glitter does not show up well in the photos.
Wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen