First design from the Nippon china pitcher

Remember the Nippon china pitcher that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago? That was the broken china given to me by another vendor at the Manasquan Craft Show. Here's the photo again of the broken pieces.



And here's the first jewelry piece I designed from those broken shards.



The actual pendant itself is 1" x 1-1/4" and is wrapped with gold artist wire. The chain is hand crocheted with gold artist wire and measures 17" long.As I mentioned before, Nippon china was manufactured between 1865 and 1921. The china pitcher that broke was a valuable antique and I'm so pleased that I've been able to recycle those pieces into something that can be worn for many years to come. This piece will be available at the Ocean Grove Craft Show this Saturday, August 30, 2008. If someone doesn't grab this piece there, I'll be posting it to my website. In the meantime, it can be purchased right here for $45 by clicking the link below. Hurry because I think this one may go quickly!

Ocean Grove Giant Craft Show

Another craft show is coming up! This one's in historic Ocean Grove. What a beautiful seaside resort Ocean Grove is. So many lovely gingerbread houses and bed and breakfasts. And the amazing Auditorium with the huge organ and the American Flag that lights up where so many fabulous concerts are held (my mom and I will be there tomorrow night to see The Irish Tenors). I have so many wonderful memories of Ocean Grove. My high school graduation took place in the Auditorium. I even lived there for a short while when I was a child. I remember my friends and I dancing and singing down the middle of the streets on Sundays. Years ago, Ocean Grove didn't allow cars to be driven on its streets on Sundays. You had to park in Asbury Park and walk into the Grove. Oh, it was so peaceful and beautiful!

And now this enormous craft show! It will be held on Ocean Pathway (between the Auditorium and the Boardwalk Pavilion) running from Ocean Avenue to Central Avenue. I'll be there with my broken china and sea glass jewelry.

And my cousin Frederica Castle will be sharing the booth with me. She is a very talented artist who lives in Ocean Grove whose works can be found at the Main Avenue Galleria in, of course, Ocean Grove! (We just love everything about this town!) Freddi's a member of the Guild of Creative Art in Shrewsbury, NJ, and the Manasquan River Group of Artists in Manasquan, NJ. Here's the link to the art gallery webpage where you can see just how talented Freddi is.

Frederica Castle at The Main Avenue Galleria

So if you're anywhere near Ocean Grove on August 30th, don't miss this opportunity to check out one of the largest craft shows in the area. And I hope you'll stop by and say hi to me and Freddi. Please forgive me, friends, if I'm not online much for the next week. I have a lot to do to get ready for the big day! Hope to see some of you there.

Ocean Grove Giant Craft Show
Ocean Pathway
Ocean Grove, NJ
Sat., August 30, 2008
Rain or Shine
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Link to more info

My jewelry feature on the Athena Magazine Weblog!

It seems to be my week for web features! Athena Magazine, the fashion lifestyle magazine, has a new weblog. And Amber of Athena Magazine was kind enough to allow me to post the following article about my jewelry there:

Athena Magazine Weblog

It's wonderful to be able to network with so many fascinating women in the fashion field. Meeting one leads to an introduction to another and on and on - other jewelry designers, web designers, fashion critics, magazine editors. And all so wonderfully helpful and gracious. The world of fashion and jewelry is a very nice world indeed!

My jewelry feature on "Wickedly Chic"!

Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry is being featured all this week on Wickedly Chic in their "Fresh and Chic" section!! Click on this link to check it out!

Wickedly Chic Feature

Liz Nonnemacher, the editor of Wickedly Chic, has written for publications such as canvas, Self in the City, Fabulously 40, My Beauty Berry & Vintage Indie. Liz writes the Fresh and Chic and Indie of the Week columns. She is also a co-founder & member of the popular Marmalade Pink. I'm so very pleased that she has chosen my jewelry to write about in her column. These are not paid advertisements. Liz chooses from independent businesses that she learns of only those that she wishes to recommend to her readers. I'm very proud that she has chosen mine.

Featured Artist of the Month

One of the nicest things about entering the world of jewelry design is meeting so many wonderful artists. Learning from them and being inspired by them has been invaluable to me. I would like to feature a different artist each month here on my blog in appreciation for all they've given me.

The first artist I've chosen to feature is Jamee Jones of Maui, Hawaii. Jamee is a wonderfully talented jewelry artist specializing in beach wedding jewelry. She's gaining quite a reputation for creating jewelry of exceptional quality and beauty. Here's one elegant example of her work.



Together with her sister, Kimberlee Aihara, Jamee is the owner of Jonara Blu Maui, with two online stores - one at Ruby Lane and one at Etsy.

In addition to her lovely beach wedding jewelry, Jamee is known for her "fresh and funky beaded jewelry with an island twist". Look at the glorious colors of the beads she uses in this one.



And of course, being in Maui, she creates jewelry that's inspired by the ocean, like this fabulous necklace.



Jamee is also a moderator of the Beadingaholics Yahoo Group where she gives advice and encouragement to other jewelry designers on a daily basis. I know I'm not the only one who benefits from her help and example.

Thank you, Jamee, for being the inspiration that you are.

Hand Painted Nippon China Treasure!!

When I was at the Manasquan Craft/Antique Show on the 3rd of August, I met quite a few of the other vendors, who took breaks from their spots and walked around to see what everyone else was selling. One of the ladies showed quite a bit of interest in my broken china jewelry. Towards the end of the day, she came over to me holding something wrapped up in newspaper and said "Here's a donation for you". I had such mixed feelings when I saw what she was carrying. It was a small pitcher that she had brought to the show to sell that had somehow been broken during the day. It was in quite a few pieces. I was so sorry to see such a beautiful little pitcher lying in pieces and so sorry for the woman who had lost such a valuable item. But I was so happy to know that I was being given the broken pieces!

The little pitcher was hand painted Nippon china, rimmed in gold and such a beautiful pattern. Nippon (which means simply "Japan") china was manufactured from 1865 to 1921 and is one of the most highly collectible antique china. Now this little pitcher, that made it through so many years only to break into pieces in Manasquan, will now be transformed into some very unique pieces of jewelry.

I broke the pieces into some smaller sections yesterday and now I'll start filing and lacquering them. Here's a photo of the best of the broken pieces that I'll be using.


I see several pendants. I see a brooche. And earrings. And a small piece for a wire crochet bracelet. And a couple that would look lovely at the end of a wire crochet necklace. Some of the pieces are in unique shapes since the pattern wrapped around the square edges of the pitcher. The flower piece with the gold trim on top that is in the middle of the photograph is actually the spout of the pitcher. I may not start on these right away. I want to wait until I'm feeling particularly creative because these are indeed special shards of broken china.

My garden

One of my favorite pleasures in life is gardening. It's so rewarding and I have a real passion for digging in the dirt. All winter long I wait for that moment when the ground is warm enough to start planting. I'd like to share a few of the photos of my garden, though it's been very hard to pick just a few photos.

When I first bought my house back in 1974, one of the few flowers that were already planted on the side of the house were Oriental poppies. They've been one of my favorites ever since. Here's a poppy with a Gerbera daisy.

I don't like to buy annuals because I hate to see them die off in the winter. But I couldn't resist this Mandevilla last year. And luckily I was able to winter it in the crawlspace. It survived the winter beautifully so I'll do the same with it this winter.











Cone flowers have spread like crazy in my yard and I have quite a large section of them now. Here's a little bee enjoying them. I let the flowers dry and in the fall, the seeds attract gold finches. They have quite a feast on them!












These day lilies are such a delight. While the blooms only last a day, they are such beauties. And this year the blooms just keep coming and coming, more each day. Such a pretty sight.













I love an English garden look with scattered flowers everywhere. Such a peaceful place to sit and relax. If I can ever find time to do that!

Just added to site

I've just added this wire crochet necklace to my website at www.marjoriescracked.com. Designed from a Bella Lux plate, it features a lovely yellow rose in a unique shape. The pendant itself measures 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" and is wrapped with gold artist wire. The necklace is hand crocheted with 26-gauge gold artist wire, resulting in a sturdy yet lovely chain. The necklace measures 15" (16" including the handcrafted clasp).

This necklace can be purchased on my site or right here in my blog by clicking on the link below. The price is $44.99. Thanks for looking!

SORRY - ITEM HAS BEEN SOLD

Latest broken china necklace

My latest broken china necklace was designed from a lovely antique bowl. The china is very thin and makes a lovely light pendant. The pendant measures 1-1/4" x 1-1/4". The necklace is hand crocheted with copper artist wire which beautifully sets off the orange, yellow and blue colors on the china. The necklace measures 17". This piece is sure to get a lot of attention with its striking colors.










The price of this unique necklace is $45.00 and can be purchased by clicking the link below. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Manasquan Craft/Antique Show

The Manasquan Craft/Antique Show in Manasquan, NJ couldn't have taken place on a more beautiful day! Sunny skies and a nice cool breeze. Sometimes too much of a nice cool breeze though! The vendors spent most of the day holding on to their displays. I thought at one point my umbrella and I were going to end up in Kansas!

It was a very small show but lots of fun. I like to take any opportunity I can to talk about my jewelry to those who are interested! Here are a few photos taken before the show opened to the public.



Here's me holding onto my hat!

And here are some of my displays. I tried to make unique type of displays that would be eye catching. Here's my birdcage display. I just found a larger birdcage to use for the next show that will hold more jewelry.






I also included some dolls as models.
























And some shells to display my sea glass pieces.


This was my first appearance at a craft show. They're a lot of work but a lot of fun too! I'm looking forward to the next one on August 31 in Ocean Grove, NJ.

6 Things About Me

I've been tagged - not once but twice - thanks to Jamee and Sarah

Here are the rules:
1) Link to the person who tagged you
2) Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading)
3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below)
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

6 Random Things About Me:

1. I'm an only child and my daughter is an only child.

2. I love to garden and worked all last summer putting in two rather large gardens, which I never seem to find time to blog about. Soon.

3. I've lived in the same house since 1974.

4. I play the piano.

5. My favorite time of the day is my lunch hour when I go to the park to read a book - so peaceful.

6. My favorite poets are Rod McKuen and Anne Morrow Lindbergh - they couldn't be more different from each other!

There - I did my part. :-)

I am tagging:
Muddy at Muddy Stuff
Miriam at A Daily Decision
Pam at Pam's Jools & Gems
Corra at deCors Handmades
Elizabeth at Invite The Party
Kristin at Aquariann's Abyss

Please know that there's no pressure to do this but it does give your blog readers a few facts about you that they didn't know before and gets your link on other blogs. Have some fun with it. :-)

New Sea Glass Video

I just set up a video for my sea glass jewelry last night. I don't have video equipment so used One True Media to make it. I've been wanting to do one for my sea glass jewelry for some time now. I put my broken china one up on YouTube about 3 months ago and it's had almost 600 views which pleases me no end! The videos aren't too professional but it's kind of neat to be able to showcase my jewelry on YouTube.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here's the YouTube link if you'd like to give it a rating. :-)

YouTube Sea Glass Jewelry Video

The History of Pique Assiette

I've found two definitions of Pique Assiette online - "stolen from plate" and "one who eats from other plates". Pique Assiette is the art of taking broken shards of china, ceramic and pottery to recreate a beautiful useful object. It's mostly associated with the art of mosaics. Broken china jewelry is a form of Pique Assiette.

This type of art dates back to ancient times. It was quite popular in Cleopatra's time and the Victorians were great fans of the art. Raymond Edward Isidore of France is known as "The Father of Pique Assiette". He was a grave digger who collected all the beautiful pieces of broken china and pottery that he came across and use them throughout his home. By the time he died in 1964, he had covered every surface inside and outside of his house and even a small chapel that was located on his property.

I believe the link below is to photos of his work, though the captions are in French so I'm not positive. Even so, they are amazing photos of the art.

MAISON PICASSIETTE

I'd love to learn more about the history of Pique Assiette so if you can add to what I have here, please post in the comment section.