Flea Market for Life!

I know I've talked before about all the fun places you can find beads.  Bead stores, craft stores, and bead shows are great and all...but what I really love is the thrill of the hunt.  Digging through a pile of somebody's broken cast off jewelry is one of main ways I find new beads.  Once a month, Nashville has a HUGE flea market at the fairgrounds.  Vendors inside and out, selling anything from shabby chic reclaimed furniture, to coins and collectibles, to any bit of household kitsch you could possibly imagine...and then some.  Last month I drug my PiB Kelly for an exhausting day of rummaging, hunting, scouring for beads.  Join our adventure!

A few of my favorite flea market views.

I always try to arrive early, because shopping the outdoor vendors is no fun with heat exhaustion.  Housed in the fairground animal barns, these vendors often have large bins or sections of the table marked at $1.00...I always dig through these because you never know if you'll find a piece of broken jewelry you can salvage for parts.

Kelly shopping - check out all those skeleton keys!

I always bring a bag full of food and drinks - nothing puts a crimp in flea market shopping like low blood sugar or dehydration.  This trip we decided to pack a small rolling bag to share the load - we took turns pulling it around, and poking our finds inside.

Me, shopping away...definitely going for comfort over fashion...

As soon as the day starts to heat up, it's time to cruise through the exhibit halls.  These are full of more established vendors, higher priced antiques, and ready made goods.  I like to make a pass through the antique vendors in particular...again, because they will often clear out broken jewelry for really low prices.  If you can see past the grime, plastic baggies, and costume jewelry, you will find vintage treasures waiting to be ingredients in your next project.

???

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to the flea market without spotting a few things you never thought you'd see.  A box of rusting springs, 5 for $1.00...somehow I managed to resist.  I'm still kind of sad the wood sculpture of a lion munching on an antelope was way outside of my budget...  See all those little baggies?  Those were half off the marked price...I found a broken strand of OLD coral in there, the real thing that can't be harvested from the Mediterranean any more...for $1.00.

Dismantling with our feline assistant.

After arriving home, we scrambled around to find grungy tools, empty baggies, and a piece of fabric, went out on to the porch (great way to keep shards of wire out of the carpet), and started taking everything apart.  Rotten threads, corroded wires, and grungy broken clasps go in the trash bag.  I like to sort everything by how difficult it is to take apart, then get to cutting the useful beads and components out.  Want to see the whole hoard?

My loot on the left, Kelly's on the right!

We both ended up with a TON of vintage glass beads to repurpose.  Kelly got some interesting metal pieces, and some fossils she had been hoping to find as well.  I ended up with quite a few partial strands of trade beads, and some loose wedding beads in really unusual patterns and textures.  

My non-bead finds...

I just can't leave the flea market without a few weird items.  This trip it was a small wood animal mask for the wall, a large bronze strike bell, two miniature pottery jugs, and a plaster doll bust.  Maybe she was a mold test in the past?  There's still clay embedded in the creases of her face...and I just love how the vendor tried to make her more appealing by giving her a hankie kerchief.

Even if you don't have a local flea market, there may be neighbor hood garage sales, charity rummage sales, thrift stores, or antique malls you haven't checked out lately.  I hope this inspires you to the possibility of finding beads in unexpected places.  Happy hunting!

New leather for jewelry making… or not…

You've probably noticed that one of my most favorite themes for my bead making and jewelry designing is horses. I'll just go ahead and admit it—I'm a horse nut. I love practically everything horse related!

Just recently I started riding again after taking a break most of last year and through this summer. I've been making some repairs and adjustments to my riding tack and dug out my super dirty, old western saddles. These poor saddles haven't seen the light of day in several years.

I have no clue exactly how old they are, but I would guess at least twenty-some and judging by all the wear on them, they've really been through a lot… and sitting in the garage all this time really hasn't done them any good. They came to me already very worn and uncared for and after a brief cleaning I put them away and haven't touched them since.

Now you're probably wondering how I've been riding when these saddles haven't been touched in years, right? With a simple bareback pad. That's it. I learned to ride totally bareback (just me sitting on a horse… and sometimes falling off) and can't stand at all using stirrups… not to mention the chore of lugging that heavy saddle around! I think my horses prefer bareback pads too.

My noble steeds—beautiful not-so-white Lady and handsome Strider. They were not at all keen on the idea of photos before breakfast, so you'll have to be satisfied with a photo of them eating. On a little side note: notice all those walnuts? This year has been the most plentiful year I've ever seen… it's really too bad I don't like black walnuts!! Want some?

Okay, and if you're still wondering why exactly I'm showing you old saddles on an art bead and jewelry making blog… just take a close look at the leather…

Very cracked and dry, yes! But wonderfully tooled too! I'm thinking textures for new polymer beads. And also copying the pattern into smaller designs for stamp making. 

And then, it occurred to me that as worn as the saddles are and as much as I dislike riding with a "real" saddle… maybe, just maybe, I should repurpose them!

Thoughts of using the leather for cuff bracelets and maybe some large focals or even collar pieces are floating around in my mind. But, do I really want to cut my saddles into pieces?! Almost seems like a crime. I can't decide!

This little piece is already destined for a bracelet since the back is totally torn up and can't be repaired. And then I'll have to finish cleaning the saddles before I decide which way to go for sure.

What about you? What would you do—repair or repurpose? Have you ever had a hard time deciding to repurpose something for your jewelry making or crafting? Do share!

Rebekah Payne

Tree Wings Studio

Book review: "Create Three Dimensional Jewelry"

For this freeform Friday - I bring you my first ever book review.
"Create Three Dimensional Jewelry" by Heather DeSimone

Front cover, and my dutiful ever present notebook. 

back cover description

Many of you may recognize the name Heather DeSimone as she and her mother Jan Parker are the women behind "The Beadin' Path". (The retail store has closed but there is an active Facebook page with sales and destash. Heather can also be found on Pinterest and Etsy  although the shop is currently empty.) I mention  this - because I knew of the Beadin' Path as THE place to go for vintage pieces, especially Lucite. It makes great sense to me that Heather's book focuses on utilizing many vintage and costume pieces in new designs. 

Miriam Haskell jewelry

She is greatly inspired by Miriam Haskell, a "costume" jewelry designer. Her work, from the 20's on was known for its hand wired seed pearls hand set Austrian crystals... and helped define the genre of "Costume jewelry". 

The  book is a must for someone who is interested in repurposing vintage pieces. There is good information on preparing a piece, removing old settings... 

I was especially intrigued by "lashing" - stitching/wrapping seed beads over an existing structure.

Many of the projects in the book employ the riveting tool.

Let me share a few thoughts, and opinions:

• Good for someone starting out in mixed media and/or cold connections. Also - great for someone interested in repurposing vintage pieces. 
• Many projects layer and stack elements. ( This isn't my style per se. I prefer to integrate and juxtapose in more elaborate ways. ) 
• Projects use fine gauge wire and use hybrid methods - part wire wrap and part stitching. ( I hesitate to use such fine wire as I do not trust its strength and longevity over time.)
• A few sets of instructions seemed a bit too sparse for me. Specifically peyote stitch and drilling shell. I do not think a first timer could comfortably achieve either with the directions given. 
• Overall design/layout of the book was a bit chaotic. The first sections regarding techniques were hectic visually and not always clear. The projects portion was much more cohesive. 
• I personally am not a fan of the riveting tool. I have one, but find it more fuss than its worth. I prefer to rivet by hand, to me its faster and i have more control. 

All in all - it was informative and creative, if not really my style. I was happy to learn more about Miriam Haskell as Heather's book sparked my interest. And I definitely could see adapting vintage pieces to use... I have a stash that belonged to my Grandma, and my lawyer sister always wants a funky statement piece. Holidays are coming... 

Thanks for reading. Would love to hear what you have to say if you have read this book, or think its for you! 

Resources: 

Vintage Jewelry Online

AJK Editorial

Winners of the October Component of the Month Challenge!

Lindsay Starr

Staci Smith

Sherii Stokey

I'm very excited that you will be participating. 

I will message / email you images to select a color from.

I can't wait to see what you create!

Repurposing: anguish and anticipation

( Warning: the contents of this post may be shocking to some. Beader discretion is advised. Please note: no beads were harmed in preparation for this post.) 

Last week in the ceramic studio a friend and colleague uttered the fateful words:"Jenny, I have something for you..." I was at once intrigued and cautiously optimistic. She described a necklace, large, a multi-strand that had fallen out of favor in her jewelry hierarchy. It never gets worn, she confessed. And she would hate to donate it to a charity... Perhaps you could use it, repurpose it somehow. My interest grows. She tells me its filled with little carved animals... Oh! Can it be? Carved fetish* beads? YES! I, no exaggeration, had a little prickle up my spine.

Before. In all its beauty..

A close up of the critters, the multi-strand component and the sterling cones/clasp. 

I offered to remake it for her, or to make her something in keeping with her current more casual style.  ( Because then I could adopt the left overs...) No, she said. Its all yours. I knew from her first mention that I was going to cut it apart. And yet. 

It was a lovely piece. 5 strands of fetish animal beads strung with horn heishi, I believe. Turquoise animals served as connectors, and a turquoise hawk focal. And there was NOTHING wrong with it. No loose threads, no broken clasp... I did have a moments pause. As if I was doing the unthinkable. Someone was going to catch me... But the anxiety was quickly over... 

 Oh heavens! The carnage... 

Stampede! No seriously - there are many foxes. Average length is 1". 

The materials sorted. One purple animal! Random... 

That'a a plentiful pile of animals, a plethora, a pack, a herd, a sloth (bears), a skulk (foxes), a rout (wolves)... Sorry. I digress. (Sidetracked at Oxford, with coffee.)

I look forward to using these pieces in mixed media necklaces, in bead embroidery... their small size inspires me to use them in combination with other diverse materials. To take them far from their original context. And I think I am compelled to make a piece for my friend. She may not even wear it, but its good karma, you know? 

I asked my team mates for a few "After" pix - things they had repurposed as I am still pondering and planning.

Lesley shares this necklace from a former Bead Soup Blog Party. The pendant is from a brooch that was her mother's. The clasp is a vintage piece, repurposed as well. 

Melissa loved this pearl, but not its original setting. So when the bezel broke... she was thrilled to design this piece. She wears it often!

Linda pulled this chain of a handbag! The bag - still in use as a clutch. It has a great patina.

Kristen did bead weaving ( bead wove?) these pearls from her mother into a bracelet. 

Keirsten took apart an imported metal necklace and showcased the pendant with pearls.  Adds the luscious pearl luster, and makes the pendant really a focal. 

Thanks to my team mates for the eye candy! I Know I am in good company repurposing a piece of jewelry. I would love to hear your tales, and I wonder - did anyone else feel a twinge of anxiety? Or just the beading anticipation? 

Until later! 

Jenny
www.jdaviesreazor.com

* Zuni fetishes are small animals carved from gemstones. They are associated with Zuni Pueblo in NM. Here are a few links if you are interested in more information: 

Overview article 

How they are made. 

Types of fetishes

Animal symbolism