Playing around with Spoons: Antique Silver Spoon Earrings

These used to be spoons!

Earrings I made from antique spoon handles

I'll admit it, I have a hard time throwing pretty things away, even if it is something that is considered "scrap." 

After making a spoon bracelet out of a pair of orphaned antique silver plated spoons I found myself left with the cut off bowl-ends of the spoons - and they had such a pretty filigree design on the neck (the thin part of the spoon that connects the handle to the bowl) that I just had to make something out of them...

...so I removed the bowl of the spoon and kept the thin, ornate necks and transformed them into these one of a kind earrings! (click photos for larger images)

(total measurement 1/4" wide by 2 & 1/4" long including sterling ear-wires and Swarovksi crystal drops)



I added sterling wires and pearls to this pair



Antique silver spoon earrings with pearl drops

What do you think of them?

Silver or Black Jewelry Finish? Which Do You Prefer?

Silver or Black jewelry finish? Which do you prefer? 

I recently posted this question on my Facebook page. 

So far, silver is in the lead...

Shiny silver finish?

When I first began making jewelry from broken china (and we're talking nearly 20 years now - yikes!) I would occasionally dabble with the black/vintage/antiqued finishes, but for some reason I always seemed to come back to silver.

Silver is traditional, it's easy to wear, it's shiny....as for the darker, vintage finishes - I believe they tend to be more trendy, coming into style right along with the whole "new vintage" era that you see everywhere you turn - in clothes, home furnishings, fabrics...what's old is new again, and so it goes.

I like the way a dark finish against a bright floral china pattern makes the colors pop, and how it lends to the "old" feeling of a piece of china. I equally like the feeling of luxury a shiny, silver finish affords. For me personally, I guess it all comes down to what kind of mood I'm in.

Which do you prefer?

Silver that has been given a black finish

What do you think?

Love This Etsy Treasury!

Pin Brooch crafted from vintage English scenic transferware, antique silver finish

I'm always happy to wake up to find that a kind artist has featured my work in their treasury. I found the colors of this one to be quite attractive!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bf617ddafe66d9169686bdb/sunset-over-butterfly-gardens

Update: Happy to find this treasury on the front page of Etsy on 5/22/10!

I'm On Etsy's Front Page!

I was thrilled to find my items included in five different Etsy treasuries last week, and even more thrilled to find that one of the treasuries was featured on Etsy's front page...

...of course I'm never home when these things happen, but got a capture of the screen shot :-)

Refreshed

So glad to be back to my little blog and working again - this winter I made like a bear and hibernated most of the season...but am back with lots of new pretty things and a refreshed Etsy store with tons of new stock! (Check it out below!)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Note the new Etsy store name - missing the letter "a" in Dishfunctional - but alas, Etsy only allows so many character spaces for shop names....so I am without the a, but still dishfunctional if even now more so...

I actually had one of the very first shops on Etsy way way back when they first began. At the time, I had been a steady eBay seller for many years (I started selling my broken china jewelry on eBay in 1999) Since then, I've amassed over 5,000 positive eBay feedback - the number they show is 3,788 give or take a few, as ebay no longer counts additional feedback from returning customers - a bummer for sellers, but what can you do?

In any case, I closed my Etsy store after the first year, as I found I was spreading myself too thin, trying to supply both eBay and Etsy with new stock on a constant basis. Now times have changed. I've found the handcrafted market on eBay to be too ...well, too complicated. Fees and rules are always changing, I get phone messages on my answering machine from eBay associates trying to sell me new features, etc etc... I figure it this way, life is hard enough, why complicate things? I'm still a registered eBay seller - I haven't cut the cord completely, but am definitely shying away from the eBay marketplace. My new items will now be listed on etsy on a regular basis!

Wire Wrapped Pendant

This is my first attempt at wire wrapping - I thought it turned out pretty well! 

I used all sterling silver wire with a coin pearl center and two freshwater pearl dangles. I oxidized the silver to give it an antique finish. Measures approx. 1" wide and 1 & 3/4" tall.

The wire wrapping was definitely fun to do - and more tiring on the hands than I expected! But now I'm inspired to try out some more wire projects.

For this piece I used:

 24g sterling silver wire 
two sterling silver headpins
coin pearls

  small freshwater pearl beads 
misc small silver beads

  

What do you think?

Ukrainian Easter Eggs: Happy Easter!

My father first taught me the craft of making pysanka - Ukrainian Easter eggs - when I was very young. 

Over the years and with lots of practice, I think I've finally got to the point where they are presentable! 

I made the eggs in this photo with regular extra large chicken eggs. I work on four or five eggs at a time, each being in a different stage of completion. 

The eggs are created with a wax-relief method, similar to batik. 

Beginning with a white egg, the designs are drawn on in hot beeswax with a tool called a kistka. Then the eggs are dipped into a dye bath. More wax is applied and the process is repeated until the design is complete and all desired dye colors have been used. When the egg is finished, the wax is removed and the inside of the egg is emptied.

If you're interested in learning how to make your own Ukrainian Easter eggs, check out my other blog post: 

How To Make Ukrainian Easter Eggs

There are also a few good books on the subject, which are great resources for designs and tips and techniques!


What do you think?

Limited Edition Designs

I'm Kind Of A Big Deal...

artwork and photo copyright Laura Beth Love

I'm excited to offer a new  category for Limited Edition Art Jewelry on my website. This category encompasses those one of a kind creations that don't quite fit in any of my other categories and in a nutshell can be described as a little bit of this and a little bit of that! 

Here is where you will find unique and unusual jewelry designs that incorporate vintage photos as well as some vintage advertising art, plus some mixed media and altered art jewelry. Some of the items included in this section are early designs that I made a while back but never had the time to photograph until now! Be sure to stop in and take a peek!

China Mosaic Skulls

I spent most of yesterday working on my china mosaic skulls...

These are so relaxing to make, and I think they're pretty cute too!

Dishfunctional Designs on Great Green Goods

If you are looking for a recycled or green gift, be sure to check out Great Green Goods. I was thrilled to recently have my broken china jewelry featured by them on their site, which features eco-friendly products that are made by creative minds with recycled materials. You can read their review of my jewelry here:

Dishfunctional Designs - Makes you want to Break your Plates

From Pennsylvania artist, Laura Love, gorgeous pendants, bracelets, charms and earrings created from recycled broken dishware. The necklaces with the added accent of recycled vintage flatware are my favorite. If you’re the type who can’t bear to toss Great Aunt Mabel’s cracked and chipped tea cup, you can send it to Laura since custom work is available.
Priced around $50.00 for necklace and $60.00 for bracelet at Dishfunctional Designs.

Cupcake!

Boy do I have lots of sweet new goodies for spring! This winter I took some time away from my regular line of broken china jewelry to create some exciting new designs with some fabulous vintage materials...I dove into my collection of vintage photos, reproduced some of them, then had a ball adding some fun text to them and incorporating them into some fresh new designs. (I knew I was collecting those vintage photos for a reason!)

How cute is she?!

artwork & photos copyright 2009

Happy March

I was hoping for some spring-like weather come March, but in lieu of sunshine a full-blown snow day will always suffice! There's nothing like a blizzardy day to stir up my creative juices. Seeing that going outside was not an option, I opted to work on some new, (and kinda silly) designs for spring. I love the way this necklace turned out! What a vixen! ~ This was made from a vintage photo that I reproduced. I added some original fun text, placed her behind glass, soldered her up with silver solder, and topped her off with a hand-carved onyx bead. (available Spring '09)

all designs & images copyright 2009

Springtime Inspiration

Vintage Lace Pendants by Laura Beth Love

all arwork & images copyright Laura Beth Love 2009


Thank goodness springtime is right around the corner! The change of seasons always seems to offer just the right gentle push I need to leave behind the old and begin some new projects. I look forward to the refreshing & soft palette of spring - and to the longer days it affords! I created these pendants with pieces of antique lace & glass. Enjoy!
Laura

Learn how to make jewelry from old broken china and

other unique salvaged materials in my new book! 

Happy Presidents Day

What better way to celebrate Presidents Day than with this dashing vintage photo pendant of Abraham Lincoln?

artwork & image copyright 2009

Be My Valentine

If ever there was a day for chocolate and goodies, today's that day! Today we celebrate love ~ some with kisses and hugs, others with cards and candy. What's not to love about the heart itself? Here are some mosaic hearts I designed and created using shards of vintage broken china and vintage images. Like each one of us, these mosaic hearts each have their own unique personalities. Happy Valentine's Day to you! Enjoy, and remember to tell someone that you love them!

~ Find Peace ~

~ Hot Stuff! ~

~ Dream Big ~

all designs & artwork copyright 2009

The Valentine Box

What fun it's been this week at our house, making Valentine's Day boxes with my daughters. Finding just the right shoe box and then gathering the pretty papers, ribbons and glitter (and paper doilies of course!) to help them create their masterpieces. I'll admit it, I think my excitement matched theirs when the note was brought home from school with instructions for this project! Children are such a phenomenal inspiration...