Not too long ago, I was at a flea market in Park Slope (Brooklyn), and a vendor had a big cardboard box filled with jewelry. I rooted through it, bought a few pieces and came back the next day to root around some more for potential jewelry buys. The vendor then offered to sell me the ENTIRE box for one price, and I couldn’t resist purchasing it. It was a treasure trove of old and broken costume jewelry that itched my crafting scratch, and this ratty purple necklace was one of them.
A good friend of the family gave me some jewelry that she didn’t want anymore and this lovely metal pendant with an Art Nouveau inspired floral design was among them. I couldn’t find out who made it or when it came form, but I thought this was a real find that needed a little elbow grease to make it a brand new piece of jewelry once again.
OK, so since I had a great time gilding my costume jewelry, I decided to do another project out of necessity. I needed some containers for my make-up brushes and any long-container make-up (liners, mascara, etc.) to pull out when I need it. On top of that, I had an abundance of glass jars due to my new-found love for Claussen Sweet Bread ‘N Butter Sandwich Sliced pickles. Everything came together for a new gilding challenge. 🙂
This expedition began with one of my beloved cuff bracelets and my Lion Pendant necklace tarnishing to an ugly state. Sure, they are just inexpensive costume jewelry, but I have genuine love for these pieces and I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away. On that note, I decided to look into restoration options and gilding seemed to be a cost-effective solution.
Hello to the first day of September!
I just wanted to say that I now can publish to my Facebook page automatically. So to all my Facebook friends out there, come and check out my thoughts and artistic endeavors at my blog, The AP Gallery.