Monday, October 27, 2014

Specimen Necklaces


Like many, I've been really feeling the natural history vibes as of late. Part of that must come from residing in Providence, Rhode Island, a place where I can visit 2 Victorian-style natural history collections with just a few phone calls or I could hook up with The Jenks Society and view their Lost Museum installation in Brown University. Add to this a couple of trips across the country this year, my liking of plants, and my desire to pick up and bring home anything on the ground that looks interesting and the result is quite a burgeoning collection of shells, moss, feathers, rocks, and the odd California succulent.
To lighten the load, I've begun divvying up little bits these delights and packaging them as a wearable wunderkammer! Each piece will be different so keep your eyes peeled for pressed lichens in lockets great and small as well as some wonderfully (somberly?) Catholic-looking ossuaries filled with varmint bones.

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The holiday work is already in full swing here at WCHQ. Expect more flora and fauna at our holiday sales this year and enjoy the coming "natural selections".

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Midnight Lock-In at the Radio Museum

 A few weeks back (er, actually, last month. yeesh.), my friend and I ran down to our homeland of New Jersey to complete/attempt to complete an errand. We spent the night at her parents' house, among her step-dad's incredible collection of antique radios and radio-related paraphernalia.

Ships EVERYWHERE. What's with old radio speakers and tall ship motifs?  Do you know?



So many classic details! I went into full-frontal-creep-mode and snapped many, many reference shots of the details, colors and surface designs. ABC: Always Be Creepin'.


This large and amazing oval speaker was the clear winner of "Wind Beneath My Wings." Block printed? Screen printed? I don't know. But the colors, the subject, the form, the incredible thinness of the veneer, the lightness of the whole piece... just wow.



 Okay, okay. This one is a clock. But diversification in important so I added it in. Again, ships.


In the end, we didn't get to complete our errand of moving an antique armoire from my cousin's house to mine but I did get to drive very slowly past an ex-boyfriend's house at 2 a.m. and whisper in his (probably still, according to census information obtained online (!!!ABC!!!)) bedroom window "I Hate You".
So, yes, for that, radios and lunch at White Manna Hamburgers: pretty worthwhile trip.

White Manna also has some really lovely flooring. Flowers and crosses, that palette- ¡me gusta!


Thursday, May 15, 2014

Fordite: Straight Out of Detriot Rock City.

via Curbsideclassic.com

Somehow, after all these years of picking up rusty metal scraps and dusting up glass chunks, I managed to miss learning about the creme dela creme of garbage-as-fetishistic-object/urban relic-cum-talisman: Fordite.

via Ebay.com


Also known as "Detroit/motor agate", Fordite was birthed from layers and layers of oversprayed enamel dripping and pooling in automobile factories. Enamel dribbled racks would build up layer after layer of hot coupe colors as they were painted and cured, painted and cured - until paint piles became so large that they had to be scraped off. And then, ah!, the process would begin anew. Yes, they aren't too fetching on the outside but cut one of those nuggets open and wow!

From Craft_Habit via Flickr



via Flickr.com

via simplyblueweddings.com


Fordite is a beautiful and rare piece of Americana. Rough cut chunks can still be bought but pre-cut cabochons will run quite a few dollars. Assuming that I become rich and or famous (and I do!), my plan is to buy a chunk and have it carved into a 6inch sphere that I will spend hours gazing into. Mark my words, world.

You may join in with the enthusiasts at Fordite.com.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Welcome, World.


Take a dictation! Hello, world. Hello, blog!

I decided to cap my old blog, located at royalnonesuch.wordpress.com, in favor of something a little more new. The old one was neither a personal blog nor a business-announcement blog. It was just kind of a heap? So, I have chosen to begin again, free from the tyranny of the past! Consider this a virtual box of miscellany.

I have a business. It is called With Care Jewelry. There's a lot of beauty in the world. Let's try not to take it too seriously.


This is me. I look like this. Yes.