I got in a *mood* today and made some accessories.
This started out as a broken vintage enamel-and-rhinestone earring that I’ve had since I was about 8. My childhood best friend gave it to me. We gave each other oddball little gifts frequently. Usually it was stuff we made or some neat-o little found thing. One time I gave her a cluster of tiny clamshells I found in the river. We were like medieval Japanese courtiers in the bodies of 1980s children. Anyway, I’ve had this cool vintage earring for like 23 years, and suddenly it dawned on me that it would make a stunning barrette.
I took a small, unadorned spring-clasp barrette and wired opalescent seed beads to the top of it (rows and rows that make it look a little like some kind of bizarre, opalescent, miniature ear of corn), then wired on two sequin “leaves.” I’d prepared the flower by running two wires through a pearl bead, then doubling them over and running the ends of the wires through a hole in the center of the flower. You can see better what I mean if you click on the following image and see the super-large version:
At that resolution you can also see that it was a little dusty and lint-ridden. That has since been taken care of.
There’s the back of it with the wires run through.
I twisted the wires around the barrette, snipped and tucked under the ends, and ta-daa, fresh and pretty hair clip created from an old, broken bit of costume jewelry.
Then, since I was obviously on a hair ornament kick, I took this adorable, tiny, fabric lily that had been the adornment on a present my mom had given me, and made it into a new hair clip, too.
There’s how it came to me, now here’s how I’ve re-purposed it:
Mini lily, opalescent ribbon, faceted seed beads, spring clip, and wire. The flower and the ribbon are both recycled from gift wrapping. Actually, the ribbon was also scrap from the next project I’ll be talking about. For this barrette, I wrapped the top of a 1″ spring-clasp barrette with silvery-prismatic faceted seed beads, then I made a slightly gathered “X” of ribbon, stitched it down, then stitched the flower over the center of the “X” and stitched the whole shebang together. I may re-do this one with super-fine brass wire in place of the buttonhole thread I used initially.
My last project was one of those doofy flower brooches popularized by Carrie Bradshaw. Only instead of a combination of tweed and chiffon, mine is made of loops of iridescent ribbon, a home-made pompon of iridescent embroidery floss that sucks to embroider with, and a stray Austrian crystal bead that I wasn’t sure what to do with.
So, there it is in its natural habitat – my “Church Lady” jacket.
Artsy view spoiled by looming iron in the background.
The tufty bit and the bead.
So, that’s what I’ve been up to…makin’ stuff. I’ve been on quite a tear. I think being out of work combined with two months of forced abstinence from makin’ stuff has wound me up into a mad crafting maniac.