I love jewelry findings and find myself pawing through them frequently looking for possible new combinations and uses. This process may serve the same kind of purpose as all that grooming monkeys do for each other. Have you ever noticed the glazed look in the eyes of both the groomer and groomee?
All that sorting and re-categorizing is a means of relaxation; a way to acceptably zone out and let my creative side of the brain get to work. Or so I tell myself as I stare at my little trays and drawers full of findings that I am sorting for the umpteenth time. lol
Is this a great pin or what? I found it at a Dollar Tree. I can see it as a chair back for a fairy perhaps, or as a headboard, or ....
I'm not sure what-all these could be used for. So far, I used one for a hoop skirt ....
This lucky find was at a local dollar store. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the shade for a floor lamp. I can't wait to see how it looks in my clock scene.
These lockets all came from my jewelry box. They have possibilities as picture frames in special settings.
The little rose locket has pictures of Dawn dolls. My goodness, my daughter used this locket as a double picture frame in her dollhouse in the 70's.
And here she is as she looked then in a locket that came along with her school pictures. She wasn't much older than her daughter Jenna is now. Unfortunately, there was something lacking in the color film used in those days. It hasn't held up well.
See what I mean? This was my son Jeff along about then and he's almost gone in a red blur!
Among my purchases at a local Dollar
Store were some "silver" bracelets.
I wanted to cover up the "silver" to get a better idea of how I might use some of them, so began painting the findings off-white as a primer for "tooth" that
latex paints would stick to.
This look comes from applying a stain. The cross might look okay (after removing the silver hanging loop) as part of a wall grouping with art work, etc. It also might make a good base for a small shelf.
The hollow finding on the right is
tapered slightly at the ends. Since it doesn't stand
up straight, it can't really be used upright. However,
it reminds me of an interesting carved box that I saw
in a Mexican import shop. I think I will fill it with
Sculpey so that it looks like solid wood, add a knob
on top, paint the box brown iron oxide and apply a stain
that will emphasize the "carving."
With a coat of paint, the knobby circle finding, which is about a quarter of an inch or less wide, reminded me of Easter eggs. So, I decided to experiment.
My first efforts involved using paint pens, but I wasn't satisfied with the look and went back over the eggs with acrylics. Then I painted the other areas green to suggest grass. It was very tedious getting the green in between all the eggs, and if I were to do this again, I would try painting all the bases solid green first, then paint the eggs. On the other hand, the colors might not show up as well over the green.
Here is the cake plate and some of the candleholders; I think there were 12. The candles were made of white bugle beads (I'm thinking about adding a black thread as a wick), and the plate was made of a plastic disc with a hole in the middle. I don't recall where it came from; wish I had more.
I will keep two of the candleholders to go with the cake plate and use the others as gifts. (I'll probably keep that crooked one for myself.)
I found these earrings in a basket at the Goodwill Store. I can see the two parrots as mirror frames in either a garden or tropical setting, or even in a child's room with a jungle theme. I can also see the elephant one as a picture frame in a child's room.
This inexpensive locket on a chain came from Big Lots, I think. The fine chain has many uses, and I plan to use the locket as a double picture frame on a dressing table I am working on for my daughter.
I bought this card of earrings at the dollar store because I thought the dangly ones looked like miniature lanterns.
Here is the miniature lantern, painted green, which I was thinking about using in my fairy nursery. There were six of these, so that should be enough to suggest that the fairies can see the babies in the nursery at night. They are probably powered by magical fireflies.
I was intrigued with the fasteners, as well. Hmm, now what do these remind me of?
So, as usual, I got sidetracked from working on the rest of my lanterns, and started experimenting. Painted gold, the one on the left looks like a miniature bell. Painted black, the one on the right will make a good witch's hat in quarter scale, I'll bet. And who knows what else they could be? Mini vases, wastebaskets, ....
For a dollar, I have six
fairy lanterns and twelve bells/witch's hats. Not bad!
As yet, I haven't figured out what to do with the "precious stone" earrings,
but something will probably come to mind. If nothing
else, they could become jewels in a pirate's chest, or
some fabled Sapphires so large that kingdoms crumbled
and lives and fortunes were destroyed when it was in
someone's possession!
These earrings came in marvelous little boxes, which I will show you in a future quarter scale project. Notice, though, the nice foam backing. Lots of possibilities there; upholstery cushions, pillows, mattresses and other uses in quarter scale ...
Here are the earrings broken into their elements. I will save them all in my findings drawers for future projects.
The catch, along with another earring catch, and this little finding together should make a nifty little flower container.
Notice that the stem,
once the two parts are stuck together, is a bit short,
which means the "vase" will wobble. So, a bit
of Kleenex glued inside will help anchor it. I used white
glue along with a drop of super glue to attach the vase
to the stem. When it dried, I put more glue in the vase
and inserted a piece of brown floral foam to serve as
the base for my arrangement.
Here is the completed vase with a rose arrangement. (This was supposed to reproduce a Tropicana rose, which was my mother's favorite.)
These are the remaining pieces of jewelry that I bought that day - not because I wanted them, necessarily, but because I wanted the boxes they came in! However, they have possibilities, too. Of course, we've already seen the clasps at upper left in use as the base for a flower vase. They can also work upside down, stacked with other findings to form candlesticks, epergnes, etc.
Notice the silver cone shapes; I can just see those as elegant trees in a quarter scale setting; can't you? They could also serve as finials in an Art Deco window treatment .... Ah, the possibilities.
Here are some earrings and pins from the dollar store. With their centers removed, I could see them as jewelry or food trays; the two on the right as bases for floor lamps, etc.
When I removed the center on this one, I noticed how much it looked like a round loaf of bread! Didn't even have to repaint it!
I found several of these little stickpins at the dollar store and bought them for possible Harry Potter scenes, as well as accessory items for my upcoming Super Market for Super Heroes.
NOTE: Do you notice how some of these pictures have a yellow cast? I was beside myself, trying to figure out what was wrong with my trusty digital camera that I love. What I didn't know was that my husband had replaced the regular lightbulb in my worktable lamp with one of those cost-saver fluourescent bulbs with the weird shape. It might save some money but it sure distorted colors on my worktable. So I now have my old lightbulb back.
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