Cameo appearance
The Shop jeweller and accessories maker here: Okay. I could not resist purchasing some miniature cameos on Etsy. They were a great bargain from a great seller and it was worth the time spent searching through pages and pages of offerings to find them.
Many hours were also spent on web research and Youtube videos about dating and collecting cameos. I am still searching for more period portraits of ladies wearing cameos though. Brooches and pendants seem to be the way to go. The boss and designer agreed.
Many cameos from Italy migrated to England when the wealthy brought them back as souvenirs from their Grand Tours of Europe. Made of lava, coral, stone or shell, hand carved cameos were popular with both men and women. Tourists visiting Italy now days collect them as souvenirs too.
With my new found knowledge, pics of my eagerly awaited purchases, and my button stash on hand, I worked on designing appropriate brooches and pendants.
The same day my cameo collection hit the mailbox I set to work making small treasures.
I used buttons to create different colour and setting effects and because I do not want to purchase new settings. Somewhere in my sewing cupboard is a box of beading supplies with lots of repurposing bits and bobs. I will have to do some serious digging to find it. Pretty sure there are more buttons in there too.
The challenge is to keep the pieces to scale. Thankfully my research revealed that cameos can come in seriously big sizes. And the bigger and flashier 18th century jewellery was, the better. Whew.
Working with my sweet little cameos was a juggling show. Note: Tweezers are required when fast drying glue is used! Cameos are easy to drop, are hard to centre, slide off the button, and stick to the table. Ruined my manicure!
The next puzzle was how to attach fasteners to the button backs. I was clever enough to do this first, so some of the wire work is hidden by the cameo on the front. The holes for stitching the buttons were perfectly placed for hooking on the loops or gluing a bent applique pin in place. One of the buttons has a low shank, and that cameo will be the highlight of a bracelet. When I find my beading supplies.
My jewellery experiments proved successful and I created four pieces for the ladies.
The large tulip piece can be worn as a pendant or pinned as a brooch. The smaller is the cameo destined to be on a bracelet. The top coral coloured floral piece is a pendant and bottom piece is a stick pin.
Small chain or narrow ribbon will do for hanging the pendants, I think. Still researching that.
But for the moment, I am pleased with the results. And the designer is over the moon. The process didn't take long once the glue situation was under control. I am letting ideas percolate on how to tidy up the back of the buttons. Might be some rhinestones involved. With the boss's permission of course.
Here is Arabella with the stickpin holding her fichu in place. Coral was a favourite material to use for cameos, necklaces, earrings, baby teething soothers and beads of all sorts. Though made of molded resin, the colour of Arabella's treasure looks right for the period.
