FROZEN CHARLOTTES, JEWELRY,VINTAGE FINDS

FLEA MARKET FINDS: Cool tin types...real tin! Blue steel head pins with black glass heads...if you look just right into the light the steel reflects a midnight blue tint. Rhinestone jewels, vintage valentines, old ledgers with recipes in English and German! OMG such finds. Karen and I go to our monthly flea market and have a hand full of merchants that we just love. Karen found two vintage ledgers for $5!!!! She was gracious enough to let me buy one and she kept one.

WHATS ON MY JEWELRY BENCH: Oh I just love those frozen charlottes and old medicine and perfume viles!!! When I put a sample together for my Soldered glass charm Treasure Necklace class I wanted to incorporate different types of charms. I had an old medicine bottle with no lid so I took an old snuff spoon that fit perfectly as a lid, added glitter and a phrase and soldered it to the top. Now I am reeling with other ideas to incorporate tiny ephemera into these bottles of time. Frozen charlottes are a perfect addition. One of my students traded me a frozen charlotte with no hands or legs for some of my Afghani metal. She is now "safe" inside one of these time capsules. I felt she needed a tiara, but how? Figured that out too: using 26g wire and silver glass glitter and rhinestones I twisted a tiny tiara to fit perfectly on her head. Mind you that her head is only 1/4 inch in circumference at the most! She is no bigger than a match! The first frozen charlotte I ever came across was at the flea market all by itself in a box of other treasures. This was before I knew they were popular. I went nuts and have been looking for more ever since. Ebay has two vendors from Germany that put out thousands at a time every couple months but they are so expensive that I get out bid.

So...these tiny time capsules will eventually be made into jewelry and placed in my etsy store. I am taking special orders for any of the soldered glass pieces, so let me know your thoughts...I love hearing from y'all. In fact I CRAVE it!!! CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR A CLOSE UP!
Enjoy!

P.S Click here to see what classes Gilding the Lily has to offer. Along with all the cool classes she is promoting, my Pretty Punched Portfolio class is Nov.15 and I think there are two spots left. I am teaching how to make the portfolio that is my blog banner. I will also be teaching a beg. jewelry making class Dec.6 called Ritual Adornment..repurposing jewelry into new wearable art.