Vintage Jewelry Making Supplies: The Romantic Rose Montee

Rose Montees are that little something extra that makes a vintage style wire assemblage pop. 

 

Originally used in the clothing industry much like one would use sequins or other trims, rose montees were often found sewn onto dress collars or decorated sweaters of the 40's and 50's.    Then someone out there found that HEY, they were a great addition to a wire collage, or a caged piece.

 

You will often find them in Miriam Haskell vintage jewelry pieces.

 

They don't look like much, but they really make a design sparkle.  Below you see 4mm Czech Preciosa machine cut rose montees, prong-set in little tin mounts.   On the back of the mount, you will observe that there is a little cross hatch pass-through.    This is where you will wire them into your design.

 

I use 28 gauge gold plated wire....or whatever color wire matches the filigree I am using.  You don't HAVE to do your caging on Russian Gold Plated brass....that's just the typical, true-to-vintage plating shade for this type of work.   Think outside the box!   Might look GREAT on matte black....chocolate brass....or even brass ox.   OR:   think about the possibilities of doing this sort of work with raw brass pieces you have colorized with Lumiere Paints by Jacquard,  or even patina'd with Swellegant.

 

 

 

The trick is the wiring in.

 

With some filigree that has nice-sized openings, it will be fairly simple once you've got the hang of it.   For little pieces like flower sprigs, it takes a bit of fiddly-fussing!

 

 

If you would like a demonstration, you have only to 'tune in' to this video:

 

 

 

I will show you a number of things you can do with them, as well as wiring on small pearls.

 

The big trick is to get as little wire as possible showing, and keep the work good and tight.

 

On the piece above where I did the pearls,  you can only hope for so much where not showing wire is concerned.  You're  passing through a hole on a dimensional object!

 

That is where fill will come in.   More pearls, seed beads looping around and over, a nice central focal and maybe some wired in sprigs will hide that.   

 

I did get the piece at the beginning of the video finished:

 

 

Something else you might want to know is how I mounted the Art Nouveau lady medallion.   Follow the series of photos, below:

 

 

Both pieces are found in the Russian Gold Plated Brass section at B'sue Boutiques    When you are short a piece in Russian Gold Plate, sometimes a piece of unplated raw brass will work okay.

 

 

 

 

 

You would just place that and wire through the back to attach to your 'builder' filigree.

 

Here is the back of my finished piece:

 

 

Still a little more wire showing than I would like, but all in all....it's coming along nicely.

 

If you would like to have some fun with Russian Gold Plated Brass, I have a little muse package on my website for you:

 

Russian Gold Plated Muse      It's a bit discounted and you have builder and backer pieces, as well as pieces to use your imagination.

All you need is some 28 gauge gold plated wire....we have some if you don't!

 

And here is where you will find those rose montees:

 

Rose Montees at B'sue Boutiques

Comments

[Beth Trubman]

Thanks for the 'up close and personal' look. You are sooooo creative Brenda!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mocki]

Love the caging, so pretty! Thank you kindly for sharing this with us!

[Lori Beekman]

I'm so intrigued by this style, and how easy you make it seem.