Tale of Blue Willow China

One thing I love about working with broken china is finding out the history of the china piece that I'm working on. I recently received a request for information about a custom order and hopefully I'll soon be receiving this customer's broken Blue Willow platter. It's such a popular pattern but I've yet to have a chance to design anything from it so I'm looking forward to it. Plus this customer is also interested in men's jewelry which I also have wanted to do for some time now so I'm especially excited about getting started.

In talking about the china pattern, the customer sent along the story behind Blue Willow china. It's such a lovely story, I had to share it with you.

Once there lived a very wealthy mandarin who had a daughter named Hong Shee, who fell in love with her father's secretary, a man named Chang. To keep them apart, the father imprisoned his daughter in the palace. One day she escaped & the two lovers raced over the bridge to a waiting boat. They escaped, reached the boat & sailed away. A storm developed; the boat foundered; and the couple were lost at sea. It is said that two love birds appeared immediately thereafter - the spirits of Hong Shee & Chang, and live onto this day.

You can see the palace and the boat and the two love birds flying in the sky. I'll always think of this story now when I see this china pattern.

To see the final jewelry pieces designed from Blue Willow china, please click on this link.

Oceano Seaglass - Jewelry from naturally recycled gems

Today's featured merchant interview is with Christine Gable Epstein of Oceano Seaglass Jewelry. Christine's jewelry is available at www.oceanoseaglass.1000markets.com.

Genuine sea glass started out as broken bottles and glass and is naturally recycled by the movement of the sea and sand. It has a natural frosted beauty of its own. Christine, who lives in Puerto Rico, uses those beautiful sea gems to create lovely one-of-a-kind, handcrafted jewelry.  

I asked Christine how she found inspiration for her jewelry. 

"When my sisters and I were little, our grandmother used to make clothes for our dolls. Together we would comb through fabric scraps, lace, rick-rack and odd buttons, out of which would come marvelous little dresses. The magic of "from nothing into something" really made an impression on me, and instilled a life-long lust for art supplies! Is there a better day than when your supply order comes? That little carton, so full of possibilities!

Here in Puerto Rico, I get to hunt and gather seaglass. I love every part of the process: the excitement of finding a perfect piece, washing the salt and sand away, laying it in the sun to dry, sorting the shapes, and matching the colors. This handling of the seaglass IS the design process for me, when each found piece presents its gemlike qualities and I develop ideas about the type of finished piece it will become.

I live 500 yards from the ocean, and every free minute is spent there---in the water, watching my daughter surf, beach combing and walking our dogs. I also tend a little organic veggie patch with tomatoes, squash, herbs, and sugar cane. And since I'm not a native speaker, I'm always working to improve my Spanish-language skills."

When you stop by her shop, you'll see what a fabulous photographer she is, which makes her shop all the more attractive. Christine shares some photography advice for other merchants.

"Photographing seaglass is a bit of a puzzle. Capturing that magical translucence, but not washing out the delicate coloration and subtle texture is very important. Having been a stylist in New York, I really love shooting the photos, almost as much as making the jewelry! My advice to anyone who sells online is to take loads and loads of photos so you are assured of a few great shots---that’s what the pros do. A fabulous picture is really the most powerful selling tool we all have."

Being a part of the Reclaimed to Fame Market, Christine is a strong believer in recycling, as are her neighbors in Puerto Rico.

"We live off the beaten path in a small fishing village. In our neighborhood, nothing goes to waste. If you prop up anything marginally useful next to your garbage can at 6am, it will always be gone by 9am. Very little gets 'trashed'.

A lot of things in our daily life get reused for other purposes. All of our newspaper is shredded for mulch or laid down thickly as a weed blocker in the garden. Any plastic container not used for collecting my beach-finds is cut to make protective collars for vegetable seedlings. I really admire the recycling I see all around us here. It’s borne from a spirit of resourcefulness and inventive reuse."



All artists have a creative process and here is Christine's.

"It seems natural that I would wind up designing and making jewelry. I’ve always been interested in fashion, and my art school training serves me well in terms of working with color and design. Coming from a family of seamstresses also means that I have a love of anything tactile and a yen to do something useful with my hands. These things all contribute to the way that I think about and handle my materials.

Part of my process is built around awareness for the safeguarding of the environment. Oceano jewelry is handmade from recycled material because I want to unite my need to create with my views and beliefs. While I’m creating jewelry, I also keep in mind the notion that I am making tiny pieces of kinetic sculpture that interact with and respond to the wearer.

Adornment has been around since the beginning of human existence and it’s a reflection of the customs and societies in which it is worn. Choosing to wear something artisan-made and ecologically responsible helps you look good and feel good. And don't we all need a dash of sparkle now and again?"

Stop by Oceano Seaglass to see what Christine has available there. And also check out her blog at http://www.oceanoseaglass.blogspot.com.

New Valentine's Day Jewelry

In addition to the new broken Waterford crystal jewelry that I just wrote about, which would make wonderful Valentine's Day gifts, I also just added these new pieces to my website.

First, there is this white sea glass pendant. This is authentic sea glass, not tumbled glass, and was found on the Jersey Shore many years ago. It's a flawless piece of sea glass, not a blemish anywhere. And it's in the shape of a heart! All naturally formed by the motion of the sand and ocean. The piece of sea glass itself is worth the price I'm asking for this pendant. The pendant measures 1-1/4" x 2-1/4" counting the bail and is wrapped with silver artist wire.



Next is a pendant designed from a broken shard of Richard Ginori china from Italy. This is a gorgeous pattern of china. This particular piece has a vibrant yellow and a blue flower and has been shaped into a heart. Wrapped with silver artist wire, the piece measures 1" x 1-3/4" counting the bail. It would make someone a lovely Valentine's Day gift.

Designed from Spring Garden Royal Domino china, this piece shows a lovely spring garden and don't we all need a touch a spring in the winter time!? It's wrapped with gold artist wire and measures 1" x 2".

 

Last is a fun piece designed from a mug with a Valentine's conversation heart that says "Sweet Heart". This heart is wrapped with black artist wire and measures 1" x 1-3/4".

All of these pendants comes with an 18-inch black velvet cord with a 2-inch extension chain. Though the bails are large enough to use with almost any of your own favorite cords or chains.

So give that special someone a unique handcrafted-with-care gift this Valentine's Day. You'll know for a certainty that they won't already own such a piece of jewelry since each is a one-of-a-kind item. These pieces can all be found at Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry website.

Happy shopping to you!

Andrew's Reclaimed - Reclaimed Wood & Garden Accessories

I'll be posting some interviews with the merchants at the Reclaimed to Fame Market at 1000 Markets as soon as I get caught up on a few things, hopefully sometime next week. Here's a blog posting submitted by Andrew of Andrew's Reclaimed. Andrew has a delightful shop at 1000 Markets and he talks here about how he began working with reclaimed wood.




I have always had a fascination with woodworking. One of our most ancient crafts, it is simply amazing to me how far it's come.

Let me tell you how I started on this journey into woodworking, and how a little resourcefulness and a bit of luck has brought my eco-friendly craft into our gardens.

It started several years back, when I had dabbled a little in woodworking. A little framing here, a bit of decking and fencing there. One sunny weekend I was helping out a friend of mine. He had recently purchased his first home, and was remodeling it. Where to begin? Well, he had decided that the outside would be the best start. He had already dismantled the deck in the back of the house, and was building a new one. All of the new framing and much of the decking he had already purchased, so there we began. Come dusk, when we were close to the end, we realized that we were going to be short on supplies, as the height of the deck was tall enough that it required a railing and balusters.


It wouldn't have been such a challenge, except the project was on a tight budget. What to do now? That night it came to me. Months ago, I had helped a neighbor friend of mine take down his old barn. The neighbor had not had any use for this decades-old mossy weathered wood, but frankly, I would have hated to see it taken to the landfill. I think even then, in the back of my mind, I knew I would bring this precious wood to good use. I had de-nailed it, and stored it for later use.

Could I re-mill this old gray heap into useful material?

The next morning I told my friend about my plans for this lumber pile. "Couldn't hurt, Andy". This is where discovery began. We went back to the house, collected the lumber, and off we went to the table saw. Hours of sawing led to the unveiling of the beauty and durability of this old gray stack of boards. It was beautiful old-growth western red cedar. It looked and smelled wonderful. With the railing parts ready to go, we completed his deck, and he was so happy with it. It was just lovely. A better quality wood by far. Stiffer, stronger, finer grain, and full of color, from cocoa brown to fiery reds and orange. It looked just lovely against his stone gray composite deck boards. It was so rewarding, as I knew this railing was built without having to fell a single tree.

Soon after that, I started my research into the usefulness of cedar. I had no idea that there were so many different species and grades. The year previous I had built my own deck of ironwood, and as beautiful and carefully crafted as it was, I imagined how it would have looked, had I used reclaimed cedar. If a deck could be built from reclaimed cedar, what other possibilities were there?

I had always loved the beauty and strength of an arbor, and decided to plan and build one from reclaimed cedar for next spring, for our own garden. I had always admired the craftsmanship of the European garden arbors and pergolas and their history. I began collecting reclaimed cedar wood beams and boards that autumn. From old decks and fences to large demolition projects, I collected, sorted, planed, and stacked. Every time I planed, I was never disappointed. The color and sweet aroma of this fine decades-old wood has never failed to amaze me, and I just knew that there was real potential for this reclaimed wood.

Once my first arbor was built, I had a drive. Over the winter, I continued learning, and after having built planter boxes, trellises, and other items from the same gorgeous material, I wanted other people to see the beauty of this reclaimed wood, and how useful it could be. I wanted people to see that there are many ways to use reclaimed lumber, and that there was no need to throw it away or burn it. And that there's another way to minimize our effect on our natural resources.

I remember the conversation my wife, Melissa and I had one day about how we could show people the beauty of this recycled material and how it can be "born again" into our gardens. Where could we possibly start? "How about a farmers market?!" By this time, I had completed several breathtaking garden arbors for neighbors, and I had also started dabbling in different designs, and had completed several custom orders. We applied for the local farmers market, and were accepted. As luck would have it, our first farmers market was a hit. It was so rewarding, the number of people who were fascinated with the beauty and eco-friendliness of reclaimed cedar.



During that spring and summer, between market days, I researched and designed, and began building a variety of useful items, such as the bat houses, Flutterbye Houses, and the A.R. Bee Keep. My goal was not just to build quality into eco-friendly garden structures, but to help others with their desire to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. One of my most important goals, one that I always strive for, is to always provide my customers with a high quality eco-friendly product.

Since my spring and summer of crafting for the farmer's markets, I have had the pleasure of being a part of Etsy.com, arguably the very best hand-crafted venue. I will tell you, the very fact that I have been part of the eco-friendly crafts movement has been such a pleasure. Having satisfied customers is for certain one of the most important things to me in my craft, but more than that, bringing more knowledge of eco-friendly material, and eco-friendly ways of being, is rewarding beyond what I can put into words.

I am really excited to see where the new year will take my craft, and look forward to bringing new styles out of the old barn beams and into our little corner of the world, and becoming a greater part of the solution for our increasingly eco-friendly lives.

Visit Andrew's Reclaimed at http://andrewsreclaimed.1000markets.com

Just in time for Valentine's Day - new broken Waterford crystal pendants!

Here they are! My new broken Waterford crystal pendants! What a perfect way to start off 2009 with such an exciting new product. These pendants were designed from shards of a Waterford Glandore crystal pitcher. The pitcher had a deep open diamond cut with a band of laurel leaf around the rim and a 16-point starburst on the bottom.

Anyone familiar with Waterford crystal knows of its exquisite beauty. These photographs don't truly depict the colorful sparkle and shine of these crystal pieces. Whatever color is worn behind the pendant will reflect beautifully in it.

Crystal turned out to be a bit more difficult to work with than china. My fingers had more than their share of cuts by the time I was through! While china usually breaks into chunks, the crystal slivered. And unfortunately there were more wasted pieces with the crystal which is a shame because I only have the one broken pitcher to use. These are limited item since I won't be able to get too many pieces from this pitcher. I promised Ginny, the kind woman who gave me the broken pitcher, that I would design a pendant for her before her birthday. I couldn't be more grateful to her for giving me the opportunity to try something as unique as this.

I hope you like these as much as I do! There are all available on my website at Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry Store.

New Reclaimed to Fame Market!

I'm very pleased and proud to announce the newly formed Reclaimed to Fame Market on 1000 Markets. I joined 1000 Markets a couple of months ago and set up a shop there. I loved the look and concept of this new online marketplace. The idea behind 1000 Markets is to create a marketplace that is more than just a collection of products. They want to connect the artisan merchants with the people who love their products.



To visit 1000 Markets is like strolling through your favorite marketplace, only you don't need to leave your home to do it. In each shop, there is a place where you can post comments to the merchants. Some of the merchants also have blogs in their shops where you can read about them and their work and get to know them better. The shops are organized into different markets specializing in unique products.

I approached the owner of 1000 Markets, Matt Trifiro, with the idea of creating a market exclusively for recycled products. He told me what he needed to put it all together and I've been working with him on setting up the criteria for admission, finding appropriate merchants and working up a slogan and market policies. Christine Epstein of Oceano Sea Glass designed our beautiful banner. And yesterday it all went live!

At this time, we have 16 merchants in the market. We have outside art such as fire pits and birdhouses, clothing, jewelry, greeting cards and some fabulously inventive artwork. Each of the merchants was hand picked by me to ensure that shoppers in our market will find only unique, handcrafted recycled arts and crafts. If you're a shopper looking for something special that you won't find at your local mall, I know you'll be pleased with the assortment of products our market offers. Not only will you be buying something unique, but you'll be helping to contribute to the health of our world by buying recycled. If you're a merchant at 1000 Markets and sell only recycled products and would liked to be included in our market, please contact me.



Happy shopping, everyone!

Reclaimed to Fame Market

W-Women Globally feature

I'm very pleased that W-Women Globally has chosen my jewelry to feature on their brand new website!

http://www.wwomenglobally.com/main/?p=209

I know you're going to love this new site.  Here's a little excerpt from their site that tells what they're all about:

Who are the W'Women?

In short:  they are Wonderful and Wise Women - and they are placed Worldwide.

At the same time, they are creative, active and successful in what they do.

In the age of the neverending hunt of (always the same) celebrities, we would like to focus on all Wonderful Women and their amazing achievements that can serve as examples and inspiration to the others.  We would like to present their stories on this site, hoping that you will enjoy them and invite your friends to read them.  

Sounds like a great concept, doesn't it?

A lovely Christmas story

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a custom order that I had finished for a customer and posted the photo of the wire crochet necklace and pendant that I made for her. I mentioned that there was more to the story but it had to wait until after Christmas so no surprises would be ruined.

                                              

This customer had written to me a couple of months ago telling me that her grandmother had passed away in August and she wanted me to design some jewelry from her grandmom's china. She had previously purchased a couple of my pieces from a local store, "World's Images".

  

                                             

                                                        

Since she was local, we made arrangements for her to come to my house to work out exactly what she wanted. The night we met, her mom came with her. They ordered 7 pendants for their relatives whom they would see on Christmas Eve. Her mom also bought a crochet necklace with a yellow rose pendant.  6 of the pendants were to be wrapped in silver wire and one in gold because the one lady never wore silver. They left it up to me as to the designs of the pendants.

I designed each pendant differently so they would each have something unique. The mother and daughter came to pick them up and were thrilled with the results. They couldn't wait until Christmas to give their special gifts to their relatives. They felt that they were giving something truly special and close to their hearts. And I was just as excited as they were. Shortly after they left, the mom called me asking if she could come right back - she wanted one more pendant for another relative they didn't want to leave out, even though she never wore costume jewelry. 

That's the one that I created in the shape of a heart



 

I heard from the daughter today and here's what she wrote:

"The pendants were absolutely perfect!

As you can imagine, this Christmas was difficult without my grandmother. On Christmas Eve, my mom and aunt brought some of my grandmother's old photos to share with their cousins before dessert. After everyone was done looking at and talking about the pictures, my mom told them that she had a special gift that she wanted to give to them early. Everyone was really amazed by the pendants and by how they were made! And the cousin who my mom thought was least likely to wear the pendant was the most moved by it! She and everyone else put them on immediately!  

I can't thank you enough!"

It was such a pleasure to be able to make something that meant so much to this family for a holiday that was bound to be difficult for them. As much as I enjoy designing the pieces that I put on my website, custom orders that have special meaning to people like these is what I truly love to do.

Marjorie
www.marjoriescracked.com