Christmas and the art of jewelry, or why I've been distracted for two days!

In my experience the Christmas season begins as early as October for jewelry designers. It's certainly true for me. In my previous post I mentioned my philosophy about my work, taking vintage jewelry and giving it new life. I search for vintage jewelry pieces, especially those that may be broken or have missing stones and would ordinarily end up in someone's trash. One type of jewelry I seem to have an eye for and certainly enjoy creating is assemblage, which is also sometimes called collage work. How does this relate to Christmas, you may ask. I was fortunate to find quite a few of these misfit pieces and created two Christmas assemblage necklaces with them. These are statement pieces, they will grab people's attention. 

Here's what I'm describing:

Each piece on this necklace, including the crystals have been repurposed. The Santas and the angel in the middle were screwback earrings with broken parts. The holy and ivy were scatter pins, and so on. The challenge with this type of jewelry is finding the right buyer, someone who isn't intimidated to wear such a large piece. When I figure out the answer to that problem, I'll let you know.

I haven't made anything in the past two days since my daughter and I have been getting the house decorated for Christmas.  Now that the tree is up, filled with ornaments I've been giving my kids since they were born, as well as my own treasures, my attention returns to jewelry making. I'm focusing on smaller pieces that would make affordable and unique gifts. 

I'm forever grateful to the B'sue Design Team members who created Work Table Wednesday and Follow Up Friday. We show what we're working on for Work Table Wednesday, and are challenged to have something from our table finished by Friday. This has provided much incentive to me to create and complete each week. 

Here's my WTW (Work Table Wednesday) for today:

The bracelet blank at the bottom of the picture will become a unique piece of jewelry with orphan earrings adhered to each circle. The purple brooch in the middle will be attached to the brass stamping it's on to create a gorgeous, but simple necklace. I've had these butterflies on my table for two weeks, trying to decide what to do with them. This may be the week I figure it out, at least I have an idea percolating :)