Alice in Mushroom Land?

With the resurgence of Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp, I thought my mushroom pendants would make a great Alice themed pendant I love encasing things in resin and the mushroom pendants have an outer lip perfect for pouring resin.

Here's a poured resin necklace I made with a pretty Victorian lady print and porcelain flowers added for a lovely double sided necklace.

Three Repurposed Bracelets

I'm having fun with repurposing recently acquired junk jewelry. These are 3 stretch bracelets that were missing stones and falling apart. I tore them apart, got rid of the old decaying stones and gave them new life. Its amazing how the new designs came out. Hope you like!

Repurposed Fire Opal Stretch Bracelet

This stretch bracelet was missing stones and the elastic too was decaying.

I separated the pieces and knew I had the perfect Japanese vintage glass fire opals that would fit perfectly where the missing stones once sat. I soaked the pieces in acetone to loosen the old glue. Some of the stones were pretty stubborn but I got them out with the help of a dental pic. If you are on good terms with your dentist he/she might give you some of their old instruments which are great for glue in jewelry work.

I glued my fire opals with E-6000 and than accented with Zircon Swarovski flat backs. I ththen restrung the components with Precosia crystal beads connecting each piece.

Elegant Egg Bracelet

This stretch bracelet started out in a state of disrepair, missing stones, and decaying elastic.

I separated all of the pieces which by then reminded me of eggs and the elegant designs of Faberge. I added gold tone findings to the front and accented with rhinestones and restrung all of the components for a bold but elegant piece.

Pretty in Pink

I just got a box of good old jewelry junk and repurposed 3 bracelets with new life. The first one had pretty but plain enameling with beautiful spring colors of pink, purple, slate and yellow.


I also acquired a lot of old thermoset moonglow pieces in wonderful colors that I thought would work well with this bracelet building on the enamel base pieces. Coro and Trifari used thermoset a lot back in the 50's and 60's in their jewelry designs. I just love the rich colors and spread the pieces around the bracelet like a paint box and started building the design. I applied E-6000 glue with a craft stick. Use the glue sparingly because we don't want it to show in the design.







I finished off the design by accenting with beautiful fuscia flat back Swarovski crystals.

Garden Trellis Necklace

I found a wonderful old casting that I repurposed into a new design. Here is how it looked before I started:










I painted the flowers with alcohol inks and then sprayed a sealer to hold the colors. I then got busy gluing lots of rhinestones and added more porcelain flowers. Pink and purple were my focus colors. I layered the trellis piece onto a filigree finding. I then created a multistrand necklace with rosary and base metal chain. Here's my new design:

Another Brimfield Treasure

Here is the Hollycraft 1958 brooch and bracelet set I got at Brimfield. The epitome of 50's glam.

My Brimfield Creative Treasures

There was not a lot of affordable vintage findings but I did find a few things I can work with. I purchased a lot of wonderful old Pakastani Kuchi pendants that I've started to repurpose (see the pendant on the right) by removing the original cloudy rhinestones and replacing with new stones. It takes a lot of soaking in acetone and scraping of old glue with a dental instrument but the end results are terrific.





I also found Art 1200 Dentelles in a few vibrant colors that will fit beautifully in my jewelry designs.

My Brimfield Treasures

I found two lovely Heidi Daus necklaces for under $100. These will go nicely with my Heid Daus ring. Her pieces are so vintage looking and elegant.

Recycled Jewelry Artist

I met a fabulous jewelry artist at Brimfield. Her name is Roberta Enhus from W. Boylston, MA and she goes by Black Rose Creations. Her jewelry was all made from recycled materials and she too likes to give life to old jewelry in new designs. This is a sample of her creative designs.