More Fun With Charms....Thinking Outside the Box Again!

A charm does not have to be a charm, per se, y'know.

You could make it into a little tack pin, or brooch!

Back in my vintage days, one of my big joys was collecting up a whole bunch of cute little novelty pins, and then!  just coating a whole lapel on my jacket with them!

pins like these (belonging to Joan Williams of Lil Ruby at Etsy)

Or maybe, something like this:

 

These are old molded celluloid.....I've always loved this sort of thing.   Maybe you could do something like this with polymer clay, make your own mold, etc!

Here is a very collectable old Walter Lampl guilloche/dresden handpainted heart, from the Vintage Heart:

There are a lot more vintage examples at the B'sue Boutiques Creative Group  and many thanks to all who have been sharing photos of their vintage pieces.  So much design inspiration springs from them!

What could you do with charms, etc, to re-vamp them, make them into an art charm, pin, or focal?

I always loved this example from Deb Beechy at Beetique:

She took a fave charm from B'sue Boutiques and turned it into a brooch.  You can find it here:

I Lock My Heart to All But You   and many others here:

Vintage Style Novelty Heart Charms

I was tickled to see what Robin Delargy did with this charm:

You will find the heart, here:

Lace Edged, Paintable Heart Charm

And LOOK!  At what Robin did:

She simply added to them, mixed the metals and made them her own, in her own LooLoo's Box style.

I really had to smile as great minds run alike, as they say!   Back in the mid 90's when I had my store line, we had a whole series that revolved around this heart charm.  I would even engrave on them.  You would get the heart as a tac pin (you can easily nip the hanging hole off the top and file it a little---actually, I believe the piece can be made without the hanger, too--I will need to look into that again!) and then two other little dangle pins made of charms in a set of three, all in theme:  teacher, nurse, cats, cooking, eeeek......we had so many.

If anyone wants a copy of that old catalog, I do have a few left and could send it with an order, request it in the memo next time you visit us at B'sue Boutiques     You won't want to do the same thing I did, but give it your own personal twist, just as Robin makes everything she touches a LooLoo's Box piece---she has an identifiable style, just as I did, when I had my line.

That's your goal, y'know.

But just sayin', this is a really versatile piece.  Sometimes we tend to go for the stuff that jumps out at us, but the sleeper pieces are the ones that can really take what we do to the next level.

It's all about thinking outside of the jewelry box!

Comments

[Lori Anderson]

Neato speedo stuff!

[kate]

Always love this newsletter! I read every one.

[Rochel Faltus]

The very first time I saw those two heart pins, they certainly captured my attention. They look SO elegant, and I'm pretty sure if someone wears those in a party, they will look like a celebrity or VIP. :D Love those two!

[Kimmy Barnes]

More fun with charms! ;) “Sometimes we tend to go for the stuff that jumps out at us, but the sleeper pieces are the ones that can really take what we do to the next level.” I truly believe this! You just have to be imaginative with things. Here, you simply show that you can unleash your creative side with jewelries! AWESOME!!