Confessions of a Crystal Hoarder Blog

The April box was much like the spring weather here in the Carolinas…stormy and grey one moment, and all sunshine the next. To celebrate that shift, this month I stuck to a palette of silver and yellow.

When this metal crescent arrived in my box it was tarnished and looked a little sad. I attacked it with my hammer to flatten it a bit, and then with my metal punch so I could add swags to the bottom. I’m usually pretty patina friendly, but this time I really wanted to bring out some shine. I didn’t however, want to go through a stream of fine grit sandpaper to get the look.

I’ve been turning to good old Comet for my first round of metal cleaning lately. I dump the bits in the sink, make a slurry, and clean my stampings while I scrub the sink. Makes me feel like I’m not really ignoring my chores to go bead. My next step to really make it gleam is to turn to automotive rubbing compound. Just like for the car, you rub it on, wait for it to dry, then buff. I followed that application up with some Turtle Wax so that the shine will linger longer.

Next I took on the yellow disks in the box. You may recall that I used blue ones last summer for a hinge bracelet, but this time I really wanted to express them as lightweight petals. I hope the dahlias I planted will survive long enough to give me yellow blooms like this.

I used a two strand screen finding clasp as the base for the bloom, and sewed the petals on, starting with the outermost round with my strongest Fireline, which at the moment happens to be 14lb.

I’ve been stalking a lot of vintage jewelry on-line lately, hunting for original items that used our parts, and I’ve become slightly obsessed with two categories of costume jewelry: Egyptian Revival, and thermoset pieces.

Thermoset jewelry is teaching me to look at plastic components in a new light. Thermoset plastics are heat cured (often by chemical reaction) to take their final form. Lucite is a thermoset plastic. Celluloid, Catalin, and Bakelite are also thermoset plastics. Acrylic and polyester on the other hand…are not. Here’s an example of a Coro thermoset necklace and bracelet. See how I got engrossed? Go on the hunt, and you’ll be looking differently at plastic too!

The form of this necklace honors the shape of many Egyptian revival style necklaces, with multiple beads cascading from a chain, while being executed in plastic. What you get is a statement piece that’s ultra-lightweight. If this necklace was all glass, you’d feel its weight every time you move. But in plastic, it weighs about the same as a pair of glass chandelier earrings.

The springs made perfect earrings for Spring…and are perfect for me because of their weightlessness. I think I was scarred by the “Do your ears hang low?” song in school, because whenever I wear heavy earrings and turn my head the song runs through my mind.

I found a whole bag of the springs at the show in Winston-Salem a few weeks ago, and with my newly expanded supply I intend to stretch what I can do with them.

I hope you get to stretch the possibilities of your work as well! And may your work be all sunshine, and no storms…unlike our weather