Saving lace

I acquired several yards of antique lace carefully wrapped and preserved..it had a note attached about the lace. It was purchased at ZCMI (Utah store) in 1900  by the Manti town dressmaker.  It is an interesting black cotton lace with silver metallic threads. I tried beading a bit of lace but pretty  brittle.  So I backed the lace with black satin ribbon for support and pulled out my MOP ring beads.  I used a head pin and some beads to turn the rings into "buckles" and this allowed me to gently weave the ribbon/lace through the "buckles" for decoration.   I added a couple large hole crystal beads to decorate the bottom "tails" a bit . 

Button find of the week

As I was working on yet another necklace, I ran across a few beautiful buttons in my button stash and wanted to share their beauty...

The little flower button in the center seems innocent enough...but it is polished almost to a glass finish...so shiny for such a small button.
 
The bottom middle button is glass, but has a gold Masonic? imprint.

Middle right button is carved glass..again lots of detail for such a tiny button...

The "cat's eye" green button simply wowed  me with color.

The top left is a small mother- of- pearl, hand carved, self shanking button..very old.

The other buttons, well just gorgeous. (MOP) mother-of pearl-buttons always grab my attention.

B/W

Request for a B/W  necklace..Christmas gift...two more to go.  Vintage and newer buttons/bead mix.  These necklaces are shiny and jingly..my granddaughters loved them.

Keep it simple....

I reworked a former piece... The original one was just too complicated.
Keep it simple....a lesson from many events in life...also applies to making jewelry.  Sometimes simple is plenty enough.

My first vintage button necklace

This was my very first attempt at repurposing old vintage buttons into something "re- new".  I've been hooked on re-using vintage buttons and lace ever since. I love the jingle, clinky sound of the old buttons in a  necklace.   Every button tells a story too... ..I would like to believe that the two gold "c" buttons belonged to my grandmother Nora Caroline Keller. She liked nice clothing...so did my grandfather who worked in a nice men's clothing store for many years.  Maybe that's where I get my appreciation of neat old buttons and beautiful vintage lace...I don't know--but I'm getting a unique chance to showcase shiny buttons and vintage lace of times long ago. I still think my grandmother is smiling about the "c" buttons though!!

Groovey black onyx

I love the silky smooth texture and heaviness of vintage black onyx buttons and beads. I like the clinky noise they make in necklaces.  Many vintage buttons were made of polished black onyx..often nicknamed "hammered nail" buttons?  Black onyx sparkles depending on the facets cut & polished into the stone.. and there are many facet patterns.   My favorite Pattern cut in onyx: checkerboard. see #2 picture.

Beads and buttons

A recent creation for a dear friend!

I used a chain for the necklace but strung beads over the chain as well.
Added vintage buttons, large hole wood & stone beads. The pendant was a wood looking vintage Bakelite button layered with two pretty blue vintage buttons on top. The aqua blue colors and wood beads really worked well together!!