Vintage Necklace from a Buckle & Button & Beads

I LOVE jewelry.

Nothing expresses one's personality the way that jewelry does.  

Don't you agree?  

Have you ever looked at a pair of earrings and thought, 

"Those are me"

or

"Those look just like (fill in the blank)?"

From time to time I get a bee in my bonnet, and I just have to make a new piece of jewelry.

I had these pieces just waiting in my treasure box:

I took a little inspiration from this book, Rejuvenated Jewels,

 New Designs from Vintage Treasures, by Amy Hanna:

 

I had a few false starts, including this charm style necklace with crowns and 

a vintage rhinestone watch piece. I wore it once, and it just didn't feel quite right.

So I remade it, and yes, it felt very, very right:

I wire wrapped sterling beads with sterling wire and linked them with some sterling and 

marcasite pieces that I salvaged from an old necklace. I glued a garnet piece to a mother-of-pearl-button, and glued that onto the rhinestone buckle.  I wire wrapped a pearl and attached it to a vintage rhinestone piece that got attached to the buckle. I also added a sterling toggle to the buckle to 

attach it to the beaded section.

Here's a view on a lace background:

Another view:

 I HAD to have earrings to go with it, so I came up with these:

Garnet pieces on MOP buttons, sterling ear wires, and freshwater pearls, sterling bead caps, and garnet beads wire-wrapped and dangling from the buttons.


I even let my new friend wear it!  (Looks SO Victorian here.)

And a bit more modern here:

Yes, she has a name.  I had a hard time choosing between so many wonderful suggestions, Sephora, Rosalie, Lacey...  Everyone seemed to agree that a French name suited her best.
And guess who had the winning name?
My dear husband!
When he suggested, "Cosette," (from Les Miserables), how could I refuse?
Any man who indulges such girlish silliness in his wife of almost thirty years
deserves to be heard.   :-)
Yep, he's a keeper.

 So there you have it.

And I have another little group of goodies just waiting for a new idea!

See the transformation of Cosette from store-bought dress form to vintage dress form diva!



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