Month: September 2016

I had a random plate covered in sprigs of roses.  It didn’t have any kind of stamp to identify it – but was clearly ‘vintage’ from its condition.  I think I bought it on eBay – someone had attempted to make it into a cake stand (these seem to be hugely popular right now) but had drilled the centre hole (for the stand attachment) off-centre.  Ooops.  Their loss was my gain!

I was able to use most of the rose sprigs and made two different kinds of studs.  The cheaper ones at £15 have a sterling silver back and post (see the front of the picture) and the slightly more expensive ones at £20 which are set into sterling silver (the back three in the picture).

I decided that my last suitcase display needed an overhaul.

 The idea (I have Pinterest to thank for that once again) was a good one – it combines display with transport and storage.

My plan was to make the lining padded so that I could use pins to attach the china.  All of this worked – to some degree at least.  But I felt that the ‘look’ was a bit messy and the hessian a bit ‘earthy’ to show off my jewellery well.  I figured it deserved something a bit smarter and cleaner.  So back to the drawing board.

It wasn’t easy stripping out the hessian and wadding – the PVA glue had done a first rate job of attaching it – but after scraping it out, it was replaced with wallpaper.  I wondered what colour to use – I found a nice green and a cream as well, but in the end felt that the green was more eye-catching from a distance.

If you compare the photos, I think the freshly lined suitcase looks much better.

 

I was preparing for a fair and needed a convenient way to display (and transport) my earrings.  Pinterest to the rescue!  I found the idea there for a wooden pencil box with pencils wrapped in fabric – the earrings sit neatly between the pencils.  Clever huh?!

I found the pencil box on eBay, found pencils that hadn’t been sharpened and used white brushed cotton (winceyette) to wrap them.  It did take a little trial and error to work out how fat to make the pencils for best results.

This was how it turned out – all of the earrings displayed together made quite a statement.

I wasn’t particularly familiar with Alfred Meakin china – it wasn’t one of the big names I knew.  But, no doubt about it, the company are well known amongst lovers of fine vintage china and have a huge range of designs.

Their “Tonquin” pattern is available in several colours – but since I had recently worked with blue and white Willow Pattern, I was happy to have Tonquin in red.

Here I’m showing a couple of pendants and some drop earrings, but I’ve since made some studs and cufflinks as well.