Witches & brooms & bats - oh, my!!

Here's some fun Halloween jewelry - designed from broken china. Available at my website. Buy pendant & earring sets and SAVE!

19th Century shard of china - now pendant!

I received a lovely call from Sherrie Ruhl in Maryland a couple of weeks ago. She had a shard of 19th Century china that she wanted me to make into a pendant for her. She was full of compliments about my work and wanted to leave the design up to me. I found the story of how she found this piece of china fascinating and wanted to share it with you and Sherrie has kindly given me permission to do that.

"I dug that shard up out of my tiny backyard when I was homesteading in Ridgely's Delight in Baltimore City, now known as Camden Yards because Ridgely's Delight is next to the Orioles stadium. My house was built in the early 1800s and the whole broken bowl would have been buried in the yard - though I found only that small piece when I was renovating the property.

"I think the bowl is simply transfer ware - a common kind of pottery used in the early 1800s, probably exported to the USA from China.

"The shard has tremendous sentimental value to me - I remember the hot day my neighbor and I dug up the back yard and turned it into a beautiful courtyard with trees and roses and lots and lots of flowers. We also found old medicine bottles and an old gold ring."

And here's the finished pendant!



I sent a photo to Sherrie and she was very pleased with the finished result. She said she now can wear it instead of burying away her memories in a dusty box. It truly does make me happy to be able to transform a shard of china like this into something people can treasure for many years to come. I'll be sending this pendant off to Sherrie first thing in the morning and will be smiling all day. :)

Set the Table - Vintage Tableware & Linens

I've met many wonderful people since I started my adventure as a jewelry designer. One of the nicest is Del Hylton of Set the Table. I had designed some jewelry from a beautiful Richard Ginori plate that I had found. The name was written on the back



of the china but to me it looked like Richard Ginon china, so that's what I had on my website and my blog. I couldn't understand why I couldn't find any reference to Richard Ginon china on the internet. It was such beautiful china. Then I received an email from Del Hylton who very kindly told me that the correct name of the china was Richard Ginori. I was truly grateful to Del for setting me straight and saving me from some embarrassment.




Now I have another reason to be grateful to Del. I just received the most delightful box of china from her today. She sent me a Richard Ginori plate, a lovely pink plate with beautiful flowers on it, a Woods & Son plate from England with vibrant flowers all over it, three lovely bowls and a set of six Stafford napkins rings. I'm thrilled - she couldn't have sent me anything nicer. Diving into that box of china goodies made it feel just like Christmas morning as I pulled out one treasure after another.



I took photos of the china that Del sent me and was going to post it to this blog. But I'd rather post some photos of the lovely things that Del has available in her shop - Set the Table - Vintage Tableware & Linens. Del has a lovely shop in Orlando, Florida and has such beautiful vintage china tableware available, along with gorgeous vintage linens. I've added a few photos here but she has lots more on her MySpace page at www.myspace.com/setthetable.



So stop by Del's page at MySpace and say hi and check out all of her beautiful items. You can't possibly go wrong doing business with someone like Del who has shown such kindness to me, a complete stranger.

I'll be posting more about the china Del sent me and posting some photos of it and the jewelry designed from it.

Thank you so much, Del - you're the best!

Today's Pick on Wickedly Chic!

I'm blown away! Liz of Wickedly Chic has chosen my sea glass ankle bracelet to be Today's Pick over on Wickedly Chic! For those of you who may not be familiar with Wickedly Chic, it's one of the hottest spots on the internet for independent shopping. Liz chooses several of her shopping finds each day and posts them as Today's Picks. However, she only chooses one of those for the pick of the day which is posted on the front page of Wickedly Chic. I'm truly honored that she chose my ankle bracelet.

Thank you, Liz Nonnemacher!! You're the best! :)

Wickedly Chic

"Jewels of Fall" - An Artisan Jewelry Show

I'm very proud to be part of "Jewels of Fall" - An Artisan Jewelry Show that is taking place this Sunday, September 6, 2009. The show is being hosted by Mona Hair of The Jewelry Connection. I did a live interview on The Jewelry Connection internet show last year and Mona invited me to join her in this upcoming event. You can tune into the show at the following link:

The Jewelry Connection

Three of my Fall-themed jewelry pieces will be displayed during the broadcast of this show. I hope you'll join us. Here's what Mona has to say about the show:

"You're Cordially Invited to Attend: Jewels of Fall - A online internet jewelry show of one of a kind designs of wearable art in an exhibition.

"Designers from many places are converging and collaborating to bring together their impressions of the Season of Fall in wearable art. All submissions are one of a kind designs by independent jewelry artists!
Show Time in the USA is 12pm PST, 2pm CST, 3pm EST
Show Time in Europe is 9pm
Show Time in the UK is 8pm

"Please join us to applaud these designers for their expressions of creative inspiration and share with us in the glory of the colors, textures, and shapes of Fall!

"Their works will be displayed as we share biographies on each designer!

"May the Season of Fall bring you a sense of romance, expectation, and a renewed reverence of life.
Warmest Regards,
Mona Hair
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection"