My story starts out easy enough. You start with an empty-nester with a lot of time on her hands and no 9-5 to keep her occupied, who also has a compulsion for spending money on pretty things that most would consider "eye candy". Add to this mix a hidden need for artistic self- expression, a checkbook, and the internet and you may have the makings of a disaster!

Or, perhaps you have the discovery of a new adventure creating art from art, sharing your talents and joy with others, and discovering a way to expand your horizons. Step out of your comfort zone and do something you love just for the sake of doing it.

Much of what I will express here will be my personal beliefs, although I hope, in reading this, you may learn something about my passion or be inspired to realize your own!

I have thought a lot about why I like designing and making jewelry so much and have decided it must be for a few distinct reasons. In my lifetime, I have been drawn to certain specific things that I have collected...my husband and others may call them girly things. I love dolls, the finely detailed porcelain faces and fancy yet small ornate clothing, fiber and embellishments. Like many, I enjoy all sorts of plates, cups and saucers of porcelain and glass. Fancy art glass, bottles, stained glass, lead crystal...I could go on and on. What about things from nature like shells, uniquely carved art pieces in Wood, Clay, Ivory, marble, precious metals like silver and gold...well, you get the idea. Some people are just addicted to beautiful things that most would consider artistic in nature.

While I may have the deepest appreciation for all of these art forms, I cannot just sit down and paint a masterpiece in wonderful colors that can transform and transfix a viewer into an emotional response, or throw a lump of clay into a beautiful design, blow a beautiful piece of glass or craft a piece of metal into an intricate design. But...I can sure appreciate it!! So, I have surmised that my love of making and designing jewelry is quite simple. The artisan’s beautiful crafts are already there in a single format that is a craft unto itself. Mother Nature and Father GOD have already given their treasures from the earth, artisans have honed and contrived their works of art from it and I get the simple, delicious and wonderful pleasure of putting them all together to make a bigger piece of art. How neat is that? You can make art...from art!! Incidentally, you really can’t go wrong in too many ways, and why? You already have beautiful little pieces of art to work with!! How great is that? It might just be me, but somehow I doubt it. When you start out with something as well made as say Cloisonné in all it’s colors and designs, put it with masterfully cut sparkling Swarovski crystals, add some beautiful semi-precious stones that come in the most awesome colors and shapes, add wonderful artisan crafted silver from Bali with lots of tiny details throughout and, well...Hmmm...Like I said, this one is in the bag. To me, it would be like being a museum curator. All the beautiful art is right there before you, all you have to do is hang it in an eye-pleasing manner and BAM! You’re the hero! But, oddly enough, YOU feel like the one that is the ultimate winner because the love of art and very little effort got you there. Seriously, and in all humility, I must say that when I put together a design that others enjoy and comment on, for whatever reason, I am quite uncomfortable in accepting a compliment about the piece because I think the true beauty, craftsmanship or artisan skills that went into the materials I used are what made it beautiful. All I did was put them together, like the museum curator. Another great thing about this art is, you can take it with you and wear it. You don’t have to leave it at home to collect dust where only a select few can see its beauty. You’re not limited in any way by color or design, by media or special considerations and it is quite compact. It is universal, as every civilization in the world has its own form and function for jewelry. This medium is not limited to any class or economy, age or material. Every single person on this planet can enjoy this art in some way or another on some level or to some degree.

One of the things I love best about this medium is the virtually limitless ways of expression given the abundance of materials. The most intriguing thought of all, is that in designing a piece of jewelry, you are expressing an art form from a compilation of several art forms. In a sense, each piece of jewelry is not only a work of art; the wearer becomes a "walking museum" of sorts. Yes, I did say "walking museum". Think about it, in one piece of jewelry you may have hand blown glass, sculpted clay, semi-precious metal, ancient volcanic rock, carved wood, bone or delicate hand painted ceramic, and porcelain pieces of "mini art". In some upcoming articles I plan to discuss some of my favorite "art forms" and review several artisan techniques that I believe you will find interesting and informative. My hope is that you will gain a new perspective and appreciation for some of the talents that go into making some of the most beautiful components in jewelry. I will also try to speak about other important factors that play a part in jewelry design such as color or the metaphysical properties some believe are in certain semi-precious stones. Some of the artisan skills I may discuss are lampwork, bead making, the ancient skill of cloisonné, intarsia, raku, ceramic and porcelain, Bali and Hill Tribe silver, and perhaps even Swarovski Crystal.

While I have a great passion for all of these techniques or materials, my plan is to share my appreciation of these and hopefully a bit of enlightenment. For this gal, personally, I am very limited in experience as I have just recently begun making jewelry to sell, however I have crafted for myself and friends for years as a hobby born out of eccentric color tastes and the need for unique designs that were also affordable. I am a novice, at best, so I hope that others who share the same passion will offer their practical knowledge and expertise so that we all may learn from each other.

A final thing I’d like to add to encourage you to find and explore your passion; if you haven’t already...it’s never too late. The artist in all of us will spill out if we allow him or her to come out and just play. Not with rules or restrictions, guidelines, mandates, expectations or timelines...just let them play. A very meaningful thought that I can only paraphrase, has become almost a motto for me. It reads something like this... "Do what you Enjoy...and do it In Joy."

I look forward to sharing more about my passion and hope that you too will want to add your own thoughts, experiences or knowledge to this effort. I look forward to learning more, so please, let me encourage you to add to this body of work!

RESEARCHING COSTUME JEWELRY
"RCJ"

BEST OF THE NET
according to Pam Wiggins, Antiques guide for about.com
Costume jewelry history is facinating! Fashion jewelry styles reflected the societies and eras in which they were worn, and often depicted events that were newsworthy during that time. "Researching Costume Jewelry" attempts to bring some of that jewelry history to you with pictures of jewelry signatures, jewelry marks designers used and trademarks companies used on their jewelry and in their advertising. On RCJ you'll find galleries of special jewelry collections, jewelry patents, original articles and vintage jewelry ads.

In early in 1998, I published on my website a list of costume jewelry designers and companies, including the jewelry marks and jewelry signatures they used. Pat Seal and I combined our research efforts in January of 1999, and "Researching Costume Jewelry" is the result. RCJ has been garnered from many books on jewelry history (see bibliography) , information shared by fellow costume jewelry enthusiasts, from untold hours of research Pat has done in periodical libraries, many hours of online research Dotty has done in following leads on companies and dialogs with people in the jewelry industry.

This costume jewelry research is not comprehensive, and new jewelry information is added when discovered and confirmed. As jewelry historians, we try to publish accurate information on jewelry history to the best of our knowledge; however, inaccuracies will occur due to possibly faulty memories of the people in this industry, lack of historical records from the jewelry companies and our own honest mistakes. Dates given are for when a mark was first used, or when it was first seen in ads or articles.

If you have verifiable jewelry information or pictures of jewelry marks that you would like to see included, please contact Dotty Stringfield. Credit will be given to all contributors.