Showing posts with label Vintage Jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vintage Jewelry. Show all posts

Sunday, December 2, 2018

JEWELRY TRENDS AND HOW THEY GOT HERE.

Anyone who knows me and the jewelry I design and make, knows that I create without paying attention to what is the current trend. Funny enough, several times my designs were ahead of the coming trends. Nothing to brag about, as I create whatever comes out of my hands, I see it more as a happy coincidence.

But being a lover of all that is jewelry, I do read about up and coming trends and colors, mostly because it is interesting, like, during a recession, jewelry tends to become very prominent, with large pieces and lots of sparkle. Just the opposite of what you would think would happen.

So I peeked here and there and to my surprise, two of my favorite styles will be all the trend in 2019. One of them is an all time favorite of mine, the choker. A choker is a close-fitting necklace worn around the neck. Chokers can be made of a variety of materials, including velvet, plastic, beads, latex, leather, 
metal, such as silver, gold or platinum, etc. They can be adorned in a variety of ways, including with sequins, crystals, studs, or a pendant. 

Looking at the gorgeous pieces, I started to wonder where this cool piece of jewelry came from. What is it's history?
Fine pearl and diamond chokers, like this Edwardian era one, were popularized in the late 19th century by Alexandra of Denmark during her time as part of the British nobility. It is currently the property of Dallas estate jeweler William Noble Rare Jewels. Price upon request.

The history of the choker dates back thousands of years, to the world’s earliest civilizations, the Sumer empire in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. It was associated with high fashion, but could take on different meanings under different circumstances. Markowitz said women in both these ancient worlds wore chokers, often pairing them with other necklaces, for the same reason they wore all jewelry--to protect them and give them power. They put jewelry on parts of the body they felt needed protection--the throat, head, arms and ankles--and believed it infused them with special powers. 
Arsimus Cleopatra Beaded Necklace Collar
Choker Ancient Egyptian Queen Costume.


This was especially true of gold jewelry, which ancient people associated with the sun, and lapis lazuli which people in Egypt connected with the life-giving powers of the Nile River.


In 1798, during the French Revolution, women wore red ribbons around their necks to pay homage to those who met their death at the guillotine. The ribbon could be worn around the neck, or another fashion came in the form of an X around the shoulders and back.
Included in the collection of the Victoria & Albert museum in London is a Kropfkette (goiter chain) made in Austria sometime between 1840 and 1870. 

Kropfkettes were chokers consisting of multiple rows of chains with a large clasp at the front. Women in south Germany and Austria wore them to hide the lumps on their necks caused by goiter, a disease caused by iodine deficiency common among those who lived high in the Alps.


The 19th century fashion for broad chokers reached its peak around 1900 in part due to Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom wearing one to hide a small scar. Chokers were popular into the 1920s, then, as the Art Deco era faded in the 1930s, chokers went out, in a major way.

Black Beauty Choker,
© House Of Joris Jewelry.
Made entirely of Swarovski
Crystals and Pearls.

But again in the '40s, chokers came back as colliers de chien. In particular, the term dog collars (or colliers de chien) catches on, and these designs – incorporating luxe diamonds, pearls, lace, and velvet – could be seen as objects of the elite because the best kinds were custom-made to fit one's neck perfectly. In 1944 Life magazine stated that "a dowager fashion of 40 years ago" was being revived by young women, illustrating the trend with photos of models wearing the now vaguely rebellious "dog collars".


In recent years chokers have been popular with a number of celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow who wore one to the 1999 Academy Awards. Paris Hilton wore three inches of Swarovski around her neck in 2002. Rihanna has also been featured wearing chokers.


“Choker” does not mean “choke-her,” because that fashionable and malleable material stretched thin across our necks does not insinuate anything, 
assuming that wearing a choker meant she wanted rough-sex. A woman does NOT wear a choker or any other kind of seemingly “provocatively insinuating” 
garment to show anything other than it's something SHE wants to wear. It's a necklace. An accessory.


As I was researching, I found many more stories about this interesting and beautiful piece of jewelry. It truly is interesting what such a little necklace can
do over the last few thousands of years.
  
Paris Noir Earrings, © House Of Jewelry
Swarovski various crystals, brass drops
gold, brass and copper chains.
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned there were 2 trends that excited me, the second one are shoulder dusting earrings. Earrings so long and incredibly
beautiful, they graze your shoulders as you move your head. I have been making these for a few years now. One of my best customers has quite a few and they look just fabulous. No history for you on this one, as the post is getting long already. Just thought I mention it, hope to see y'all walking around with these original jewelry pieces, you sure will be right on trend.






Blue Ice Earrings, ©House Of Joris
Jewelry, vintage Swarovski set in
brass.








Danita Earrings, Swarovski rivoli's set in
brass, Swarovski crystals, gold chains,
brass stampings.© House Of Joris Jewelry.

Brigit Earrings, © House Of Joris Jewelry. Sterling
silver earwires and chains, grade AA amethyst,
south sea pearls, violet chalcedony and prehnite.


Friday, November 30, 2018

THE MAGIC OF SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL.

When I design and make jewelry for my company House Of Joris Jewelry, I use many different supplies available. My favorite are vintage supplies, they seem to be much more durable then modern supplies. Also, vintage supplies and jewelry are just gorgeous. And there is one staple supply I always go to and always will, and that is the crystal jewels, beads, drops, crystal pearls and whatever else I can find, vintage or new, made by Swarovski.

Pink Cockatoos, Swarovski crystal figurine.
I use some Swarovski jewels that were made in the 1920's. There is no scratch, no scrap off the jewel and it sparkles like it was just made yesterday. This is no lie, Swarovski's secret ways of cutting crystal glass is the best around and can't be imitated. The crystal pearls are beautiful too. And there are ways to see whether you are dealing with the real thing or an imitation. 

The Swarovski Company is huge these days, famous allover the world, but it started from very humble beginnings.

Daniel Swarovski (24 October 1862 – 23 January 1956) was a Czech-born Austrian. He was born in Georgenthal bei Gablonz. His father, Franz Anton Swarovski, was a glass cutter and Swarovski first learned the art in his father's small factory. Later he was educated in Paris and Vienna, where he met Frantisek Krizik, and became interested in electricity at the 1883 Electricity Exhibition in Vienna.
Daniel Swarovski.

In 1887, Daniel Swarovski married Marie Weis, the sister of his business partner Franz Weis, and they had three sons: Fritz, Alfred and Wilhelm.

In 1892, he patented an electric cutting machine that facilitated the production of lead crystal glass jewelry, which until then had to be cut by hand. 
In 1895, he immigrated to Austria and partnered with Armand Kosman and Franz Weis to form "A. Kosmann, D. Swarovski & Co." They built a crystal-cutting factory in Wattens, Tyrol, to take advantage of local hydroelectricity for the energy-intensive grinding processes.

Daniel's vision was to use crystal to create "a diamond for everyone", and his pioneering spirit brought his beautifully cut crystal to Hollywood in the 1950's. His spirit and innovations help the Swarovski Company continue their mission today.

She may have sung 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend', but those show-stopping jewels worn by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film's iconic cabaret scene are none other than Swarovski crystals. 
Swarovski crystals also adorn many of the other opulent costumes and jewelry for Marilyn's character, Lorelei. In one of her most iconic moments, 
Marilyn Monroe serenades President JFK with a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" at Madison Square Garden, wearing a Jean Louis-designed sheer,
flesh-colored dress that she was literally sewn into.

                        
                    
In 1956, Manfred, son of founder Daniel Swarovski, began working with Christian Dior on a new crystal that encapsulated Dior's creative vision. Aurora Borealis (AB) became its name, and the rest was history. He came up with a micro-thin layer of vaporized blue metal, with which he coated crystals' lower facets. This coating of the crystals was so popular, there are still many jewelry sets from the 1950's around and almost all of them are Aurora Borealis crystals. Light blue crystal with the AB coating was especially popular. It was named Ice Blue.

The Swarovski Company is headquartered in Wattens, Austria. The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal Business, that primarily  produces crystal jewelry and accessories; Swarovski Optik, which produces optical instruments such as telescopes, telescopic sights for rifles, and binoculars; and Tyrolit, a manufacturer of grinding, sawing, drilling, and dressing tools, as well as a supplier of tools and machines.
Sara Necklace, © House Of Joris Jewelry. Made with Swarovski AB crystals (bicones, round beads and a baroque pendant), Swarovski pearls, brass chain and a freshwater flat bronze pearl set in a brass vintage stamping.

Today, Swarovski Crystal Business is the highest grossing business unit with a global reach of approximately 2,800 stores in around 176 countries, more than 27,000 employees and a revenue of about 2.6 billion Euros.

Friday, December 2, 2016

My Shop HOUSE OF JORIS JEWELRY Has A 15% Discount On All Items!

Ophelia Cuff, ©2016 House Of Joris Jewelry
it has been a while and I hope everyone is doing ok! I have been updating my House Of Joris Jewelry shop on Etsy and to continue Cyber Week, I am running a 15% discount code on all items in my store (including the Ophelia Cuff here above)! Use code XMAS16 at the check-out page and the discount will automatically deducted from the total of your order. Come to think of it, I haven't reversed the free shipping for all items yet, I better make my way over there quickly because right now not only do you get 15% discount, you also get free shipping for a few hours! What a steal! We'll talk soon, I promise!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Who writes this blog? What's on her mind?

If I can make a comfortable living with my art, this being music and jewelry at this point in my life, I will be the happiest person around. I have done it before, I made a very comfortable living for a while, but I was too young, I didn't invest in anything, just blew it. So it is my goal this year to make a comfortable living again, with my own business, House Of Joris Jewelry.

It really took a long time, and tons of people trying to convince me, before I finally believed that I am indeed blessed with talent. And so I should use this gift. Creating, Art, it is my coffee, my joy, my life force, it is what gets me up in the morning, and can make me stay up all night, because I am so excited about my latest design.

I play music too, this is how I made a good living in the 90's, and got to see quite a bit of the world.... I still do music, the bass guitar is my main instrument. But you can find me playing guitar and sing as well. Look, I even add a picture of me playing (I am not so fond of pictures of myself, either having them taken or posting them, for no good reason I might add, I even modeled in my twenties...).

At the Saxon Pub, 06/2012, Austin TX
with Mike Dubose & The Dissidents
There was a break from music, followed by a dysfunctional relationship, involving 3 step daughters, they were 7, 9 and 14 at the time, and so my life became caring for them, I had no life of my own. This relationship, with a complete control freak, brought enough drama to last a life time.

This all is now past, and I found a new passion, making the finest fashion jewelry money can buy! I closed my shop on Etsy, but you will be able to purchase my jewelry again online, real soon!  I even have a blog, and as I lay in bed, in my brand new home, so tired, I can not sleep and have things on my mind....

Living this life, well, it didn't turn out at all what I imagined it would be, back when I was a child. I thought I would be married by 20 and have kids.....
And contrary to what I thought, I love getting older, I gladly trade in a few wrinkles for wisdom, and peace of mind, that is now being given to me, like a super cool present (or did I earn it?).

I never feel the outside wrinkles on the inside though, I can still be as naïve and impulsive as when I was a child (although I have a real love affair with logic, it can be the most comforting thing I can think of).
But I do get the reality check, like when I see my skin do things that it used to not do.... just a few years ago.

Though I tend to over-think and analyze to much since I can remember. I love doing research, I have many interests and am naturally very curious. And I am convinced that we should never stop improving ourselves. I know I can always do things better (next time around), and I push myself hard, especially when it comes to my art, lately this counts for my handmade jewelry.

Though pushing myself can be frustrating and tedious, I do love to be challenged and do this to myself on a regular basis:

Tuesday Bracelet, OOAK
©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry
The conviction to keep growing, and do better every time, is my personal opinion, and it is not set in stone, it is just my way, it is what I believe in, and so it works for me.
It is not always pleasant, it can be kind of heavy... Suffering is most definitely a very real part of life, just as beauty is a real part of life.

Everyone should believe and do what works for them, whatever it might be. And I would not, never could not judge people for what they do, or their beliefs.

Unless your way of life includes: using, manipulating, and hurting other people, and especially children and animals.

Even then I will not waste my breath on judging you. I will skip that part, and shall go straight to seriously kicking your ass, until you are begging for mercy, or are crying for your mommy.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Up-Cycled Vintage Jewelry.... What does this mean exactly?

The term Up-Cycled (Vintage) Jewelry is found in many jewelry stores online. If you go to Etsy.com and type this term in their search engine, you will find many jewelry shops, with handmade jewelry for sale. But what exactly does this mean?

I was fortunate enough to participate in a local fashion photo-shoot, last April. It was low-key local shoot, with the lovely photographer Laura Morales, from Blushing Mulberry Photography in Austin TX. It was there that I met one of the models, Aleta, from Austin Tx. Aleta (aka Stephanie Oliver) came to my house to drop off vintage jewelry in need of repair, and also gave me a pair of vitrail colored, vintage ear-clips, asking me if I could make another jewelry piece with them.

We decided on a bracelet. I truly had no idea how I would do this, but I didn't show this insecurity, I told her I was excited and would make something beautiful. And I did, eventually... I waited until I had the repairs done, as I did not have an idea yet, but it did come to me, as you can see here in the picture below:

©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry, Elvira Bracelet
Up-Cycled Vintage Earrings
This is a great example of 'up-cycled vintage jewelry'. You can see the earrings on this  picture clearly, the 3 prong vitrail navettes, with 3 vitrail chatons, a very common style of earrings in the 1950's. I am sure most of you are familiar with this style of earrings. For this bracelet, I added Swarovski, clear crystal vintage chatons in the middle, as to resemble a flower.

I started with a basic silver, rhodium plated (non-tarnish), clamp bracelet, with a flat base on both sides.  I took the clips off the earrings, and mounted them on these flat bases. The sides of this bracelet, were 2 single wires, about 10mm apart from each other, leading to the flat base. I carefully mounted about a foot of vintage silver Swarovski chain, with tiny clear crystals, on top of these wires, and in between the wires, I added Swarovski tanzanite octagon jewels (10 x 8 mm) in silver setting, as well as Swarovski vitrail vintage, octagon jewels in silver setting (10 x 8 m), and I had beautiful, smaller, vintage Swarovski aqua jewels (8 x 6 mm), and these matched the color scheme of vitrail beautifully, as you can see on this picture:
©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry, Elvira Bracelet
Up-Cycled Vintage Earrings
Alternating these three colors makes the result more interesting, then if I would have chosen just one color. The final step was to bend both sides, so that they would overlap, rather then meet each other exactly.

This bracelet shimmers and shines like no other, it is absolutely gorgeous! Even though the pictures represent this bracelet well, the beauty of it has to be seen in person. I use only Swarovski or the best Czech (vintage) jewels, as the quality can not be matched by any other. The price is definitely higher then other jewels, but they will last a few life-times, without losing any clarity or shine, and there is very little chance you will find scratches or chips off the jewels, even after 75 years!

I am very pleased with the result of this bracelet. The assembly took about 4 to 5 hours of work, labored with LOVE. I can not wait to hear what Aleta thinks of this bracelet, I truly hope she likes it as much as I do. And by sharing this with you, I was able to explain to you exactly what the term 'Up-Cycled Vintage Jewelry' actually means.

I love making custom jewelry. With this post I also want to let you know that I will be happy to take your custom order! Just leave me a comment under this post, and I will contact you asap!