"The Father of a Thousand Girls"

Happy early birthday to me!  Ali and I went to a local antiques store in search of old tidbits for her archaeology summer camp session, and while there, she bought me a vintage print that I coveted the last time I visited the shop.  Yay!

The vintage print is a cover of the American Sunday Monthly Magazine illustrated by Harrison Fisher (to whom the title of this post refers) in the early 20th century.  I love the woman's one-shouldered blue dress and her gauzy wrap.  I love the couple's downcast eyes toward whatever might be in her hand as if they share a secret.  And I love that someone who lived 100 years ago loved this picture enough to save it.

Ali also let me pick out some stuff from the jewelry grab-bags she bought.  I now have a bitchin' long, dangly necklace of green beads and gold chain, as well as some adorable mini-cameo earrings (even if they are screw backs).

Emily's Charms

Two of my friends share today as their birthday, so I'm unlikely to forget the date.  I found the cutest charms by Rustic River Designs for them at one of my favorite local jewelry stores.  At the time of purchase I had no idea these charms are made in Emily, Minnesota.  Hell, I didn't even know there was an Emily, MN.  Awesome! :)

Knit Jewelry Frame

Another belated Christmas gift for my friend Rachel was a knit jewelry frame and initial hooks. With two shades of blue acrylic paint (Caribbean and Paradise), a metallic gold paint pen, and spray-on acrylic sealer, I transformed these boring white initial hooks with the idea that they'd be perfect for displaying necklaces.

The Quilted Lattice Knit Jewelry Frame pattern is available for free at the Lion Brand Yarn website (after registration). In addition to the knit piece, I needed an 8x10 frame, low loft quilt batting, card stock, fabric, and buttons (optional). It's amazing how difficult it is to find an affordable and attractive 8x10 frame! Thankfully, my search for buttons only took me as far as my Mamaw's sewing box. Yay, upcycling! The key to this project is stapling, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I cursed like a sailor.

Success! Here's the frame with some of my jewelry, including my Christmas present from Rachel, a butterfly wing necklace for my collection (worthy of another post). She also got me those squirrel earrings for my birthday. Girl knows what I like.

And for presentation purposes, I used the cartoon effect on some jewelry pictures printed on and cut from card stock.

Book Chain

Possibly the only thing I love more than finding old family photographs is finding old family jewelry. When my grandmother moved from her home in the early 1990s, she was forced to downsize and my dad volunteered to store some of her belongings in our shed. Little did we know, there were valuable (sentimentally) pictures in there! The picture below is of the Ottemiller children: Walter, Anna Mary, and Rebecca. Anna Mary was my paternal grandmother's mother. She was born in 1886, and since she appears to be at least 1-year-old, I would guess this picture was taken in approximately 1887. Most exciting though, in another box (this one inside the house), I found Rebecca's necklace!

The necklace is a gold Victorian book chain necklace with cameo pendant from the 1880s. The name derives from the chain of book-shaped links.

Cameos are one of my antique jewelry weaknesses. Love them! I like the angular look of this cameo and the elaborate engraving on the pendant.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the tassels shown in the picture. Perhaps I'll have to do another extensive search of my grandmother's belongings. Love you, Grandma. :)

Victorian Hair Jewelry

Ah, the Victorian period -- creepy, and yet, fascinating. Perfect for me and my "tendency to cheery morbidity" (the protagonist's self-description in Gregory Maguire's Lost). I've spent many hours with the dead: in the research facility, in skeletal collections, in cemeteries, in family history. Respect and remembrance are important.

Victorians popularized mourning jewelry in memory of the dead in the 19th century. Hair jewelry was sometimes made as mourning pieces or reminders of mortality, but could also be made as tokens of love. One of our family heirlooms just so happens to be a piece of hair jewelry. Not just a lock of a dead loved-one's hair, but a necklace of intricately woven human hair with a locket. I'm generally not a fan of other people's hair (when not attached to a head), but the artistry of hairwork can't be denied.

Inside the locket is a photo of a woman who I am fairly certain belongs to the Webel family. Below is a photograph of my great great grandmother, Annie Webel Miller. That nose and jaw-line are unmistakable. Perhaps it's her mother (my great great great grandmother), Elizabeth Thiess Webel, who died in 1894?

Surprisingly, hairwork is not an entirely lost art. Just visit the Victorian Hairwork Society or the Victorian Hair Artists Guild. Or, for some beautiful mourning jewelry browsing, visit the Art of Mourning. Personally, if this piece of hair jewelry did not belong to one of my ancestors, I'm not sure I would want it because it kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Librarian chic

I meant to post this ages ago -- you know, like right after I bought it and before I gave it to its intended recipient -- but my camera phone wasn't cooperating. (Emily would say it was a user problem). Randomly stumbled upon this in the gift shop of the York County Heritage Trust, and it just screamed "RACHEL, RACHEL, RACHEL!" A little late for Banned Books Week, way early for Christmas (well, not NOW), but there you have it.

carolyn forsman : banned books bracelet on carolynforsman.com

P.S. Typing in wristlets is a new and interesting experience.

Lady Skeleton Cameo

As a student of biological anthropology and an appreciator of antique jewelry, I was delighted to find this skeletal cameo pin at this year's Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge Bust. I was even more delighted when Ali discovered that you can purchase the mold on Etsy. Imagine the potential...