The best part of happiness is the pines

I found this picture of an amazing 1940's pine cone necklace and was instantly inspired! How gorgeous yet simple it is!

(picture from here)

I started wondering how could I make this or something similar happen. The pine cones especially I thought were hard to execute. By a stroke of good luck I happened to stumble upon a piece of maybe 70's hippie jewelry. It had two processed pine cones stringed with a bunch of beads and pieces of bone and made into a necklace. Before going ahead with a larger project like that 40's necklace above I decided to try out a smaller one: a brooch! 

Here´s what I used:

green paper string

70's necklace taken apart

a brooch back pin
glue

First I made the green paper string into a bunch and tied it up to keep it together. I used paper string as it goes well with the 1940's and depression era theme. One could also use for example leather string like is used in the original necklace.

I also measured the length of the string that is needed to hold the cones. the length of course depends how low you want them to hang.

Second step was to attach the brooch back pin to the bunch by wrapping the paper string around them.

Finally I glued the pine cones to the ends of the string and cut the paper "pine needles" into a proper length.

More on Fimo madness

I´ve got a Fimo madness. Here are some of the results made by using the same technique as in the last post:

Nuff said.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. -Albert Camus

This post is all about flowers, which in this case really are late bloomers as summer has turned into autumn a while ago. 

Flowers have been a popular accessory since who knows how long, so it´s no wonder that flowers were everywhere in the 1940's also. They were attached to hair and hats, made into brooches and used to accessorize every outfit from literally tip to toe. Flower accessories were made of any material posibble: different fabrics like felt and velvet, wood, palstic, seashells and metals both precious and scrap. And of course you could use real flowers too. I didn´t find any specific info why the flowers were a big hit back then, but I assume it had something to do with the cheerful nature and beautiful colors of the flowers. Also you could find both inspiration and material for your flower accessories everywhere.

(From here)

 

(from here)

(from here)

 (sold here)

As a dedicated 40's girl I wanted something flowery myself. To make the accessory I needed the idea of a flower necklace and a huge portion of good luck. In a flea market I came across with this big plastic bag full of white plastic flower parts. These kind of flowers can be also detached from artificial flower bouquets or other similar decorational pieces.

To make the plastic flowers into a necklace, here´s everything else I needed:
- stick pins
- jump rings
- tiny stopper beads
-yellow wooden beads
- plastic chain
- a clasp
- pliers

First slide a stopper bead and a yellow wooden bead to a stick pin.

Then add the petals.

Twist the end of the stick pin into a loop with pliers..

..and add the jump ring to the loop.

Attach the flowers (I made nine flowers in total) to the plastic chain with the rings.

And tadaa! You´re done!

Or if you want to proceed you can do several with different colors!

Fringed tongue

The summer has been pretty lazy in here as well in my personal life. But that´s how summers should be, right? But now I think I will carry on revamping my shoes. The revamping in the last post was a lot work. Now I´m going to keep things simple and quick.

First, as an introduction, I must say that I absolutely love the 40's contrast colors, color blocking and two tone elegance, especially in shoes.

(From here)

 (from here)

  (from here)

(from here)

I have these lovable 1930's brown shoes that I bought in near mint condition. I have treasured them and worn them only in a few special occasions.

I adore them as they are but I needed a pair of simple shoes in solid color to test this easy way of modifying your shoes. I got an idea from this picture:

(from here)

On the shoe second from the top there is a fringed tongue. Fringed tongue is often associated with loafers that were also a popular look in the 40's. I thought the mix and match of rougher and sporty loafers and sophisticated heels looked kind of cool. So I went with the idea!

First I  dug through my supply of leather scraps to find a suitable piece and color. I ended up with forest green. Then I measured the front of the shoe and made a paper pattern. You can make the pattern in any size you want to, but I wanted to cover the lacing. Here are the measurements I used:

top: 4 cm/1,6"
side: 7,5 cm/3"
bottom: 5,5 cm/2,2"

I folded a paper in half and drew the pattern on the other side. The top of the pattern I drew on the fold so when I cut it out the pattern was duplicated and the duplicates attached from the top. I needed to make the pattern double so the leather would cope with piercing and wear. I shortened the back piece a bit. Then I drew the pattern on the leather and cut it out.

When the leather piece was cut I made some detailing to the bottom with croppers.

Next it was time to cut the fringes.

And the last step: punching the holes for shoe laces that keep the tongue in the right position. I used a leather punch too for piercing the holes. (Okay, okay. My boyfriend used it. I couldn´t press hard enough..) I folded the duplicate piece back to make even holes.

Then I pulled the laces through the holes. The duplicate is again folded back so it will strenghten the tongue.

I also found this Etsy-shop where you can buy these tongues ready made and another blog post with a DIY instructions for a bit different fringed tongue. Those findings were helpful in this project!

From the other side of the world

Flea markets are great places for finding something useful for craft projects. It´s amazing what you can find by simply digging through boxes full of miscellaneous knick knacks. Knick knacks like these pretties:

I really don´t know what is the purpose of these trinkets, but I´m guessing they are some sort of a souvenir. Maybe from Spain? I love vintage souvenier accessories. I have scarfs and jewelry from around the world. One thing I am certain about is that these lovelies are old, perhaps from the 40´s, 50´s or at most from the 60´s. The material is painted (only from another side) wood and the figurines hang from peculiar hooks. Here´s the whole bunch of them:

I took the hooks off and attached an extra jump ring to each one of the figurines. The figurines I attached to the plastic chain (that I use a lot) with my trusty pliers. I like the kitschy look of the chain and figurines together.

And here´s the finished product:

 I have already worn this to work. I work as an elementary school teacher and especially the smaller kids tend to like big and colorful jewelry. As the day goes by, there is always someone who comes up and turns these figurines around, as they often turn the wrong side up.

Leave no Pin Standing

I will start this post with a bowling related inspiration:

Some more vintage campus and saddle shoes images here.

First when I saw the picture above I didn´t think much of it. But something made me return to it. Then I realised what it was! This 40's campus girl is wearing a bowling pin necklace! I had never seen or paid attention to such jewelry, but as I wandered about in the magical world of Ebay and Etsy I found all kinds of gorgeous and funny bowling related jewelry:

sold here

sold here

sold here

sold here

Those pieces above are all clearly made of wood except the first one. In my inspiration picture though the girl has white pins on her necklace. I wanted to copy that look and make my own striking (ha!) bowling pin necklace. To make it I used these items:

   

1. Bowling pin beads. (I ordered mine from here.)

2. Some plastic chain. (Mine came from Treasuretrovebeads.)

3. As many headpin needles as there are pin beads.

4. A clasp.

(5. If the hole of the pin bead is so big that a headpin needle slides right through, you need some buffer beads (the silver ones).)

Slide first a headpin needle through a buffer bead (if you need one) and then the pin bead.

Use some crafting pliers to make a hook at the end of the headpin needle.

Then slide the hook through a link of the plastic chain. Press with the pliers to make the hook into a loop. I chose to use this plastic chain as same kind of chain was much used in jewelry in the 40's.

Attach as many pin beads as you like. I used eleven beads and attached them to every fourth link. The length of the plastic chain depends on how low you want the necklace to hang.

Add the clasp and..

..you´re done!

Ring a Ring o' Roses

The 1940's jewelry I usually find from flea markets and vintage or antiquity events, are the ordinary and humble ones that are manufactured from different metals. 

From my own collection.

Don´t get me wrong, they are cute, but I´m longing for some bright colors, kitschiness, chunky bakelites and quirky shapes! Jewelry that fullfills my criteria is either hard to find or expensive to buy.. Or both. But nout to worry! The problem is solved by making the desired jewelry by hand. As I said on the first post, I know it is not the same thing as having the authentic pieces, but as a defence I can say many women crafted their own accessories especially in the war time. First I want to show you some necklaces that inspired me and then give out some insructions how I made my own 40's inspired necklace.

Here´s something big, plastic and pretensious for you to enjoy:

 Sold here.

Sold here.

It doesen´t always have to be about plastics! Wood, leather or knittings are also the way to go:

Sold here.

 

Pattern sold here.

I wound up trying the wood, because it is the most simple to find in different shapes (and I´m not such a great knitter). 

 To make this necklace I bought seven unfinished circular and seven unfinished round wooden beads and painted them with bright red craft paint. The amount of beads depends on the length of the necklace. To join the circle and the round bead I needed headpin needles.

When joining the two beads make sure the hole of the round bead is small enough so the headpin doesen´t slide through. I didin´t so I had to use an electicians socket (the silver one in the picture above) inside the round bead to make the hole smaller.

Then I made a loop at the end of the headpin needle with some crafting  pliers.

The last phase is to tie the beads to a string from the hook that was made in the last picture. I used this nylon beading cord I have seen beeing used in the 40's necklaces. The beads are tied about 1.6 inches/4 cm apart from each other. At the ends of the cord I tied some nude colored beads.