In my pre-Christmas stress and misery I made a bunch of necklaces in the same style as Green Lady featured in a previous post. It’s funny how good things rise out of low spirits, since my mood has elevated along with the jewellery. All the new necklaces (including Green Lady)were sold almost immediately as they appealed to a few young men who were on a lookout for Christmas gifts. At the same time all the Baroque earrings have also found new homes. It’s heart-stopping to see someone wear a piece of your jewellery! And a huge confidence boost.

This necklace was named after Incognito’s uplifting song Nights over Egypt because my boyfriend said it had an Egyptian feel about it. I like this frame of thought. And the song brings back memories of a certain period in my life. (I haven’t been to Egypt but I listened to a lot of Incognito! He!)

Petal recently became a surprise present to a girl I have never met. I’m told she liked it very much and that it was a perfect date!

For some reason I rarely wear necklaces myself these days. In the end I always go for the bracelets, rings and earrings. I need to change that! It will be easy as this Christmas I received a gift that has become my new “amulet”. The necklace combines the art of Leonardo Da Vinci, Greek mythology and my star sign! I’ll blog about it once I get the chance to photograph it…

In the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Oh, to have a time machine and visit the Paris World Exhibition in 1900… This picture has originally come from Agence Eureca.

…to every one of you readers of Fine van Brooklyn! Thanks for all the lovely support and encouragement! Wishing You a relaxing Christmas weekend and an exciting New Year,

Lea

Baroque in Ruby photographed with an image from “Parisian Fashion, La Gazette du Bon Ton”. Swarovski props and red garnets make a perfect match.

I apologise in advance for the negativity in this post. That’s just the way I feel, so I hope that you won’t abandon me for it. Because seriously, if I don’t write something now I feel like I’ll never write again, so blocked with blogging I feel. I feel stuck in every other way too, and I can’t think of another reason except quite simple light-deprivation. I wish I hadn’t complained about the snow in my last post. It just caught me off guard then. Now I’d give anything to get it back. This damp darkness is miserable, it’s like walking through days and weeks inside black nothingness, eventually not even knowing what day it is. I’m not kidding.

If I need to get up early for work it’s pitch dark when the alarm goes off and pitch dark when I return home, so I haven’t seen a glimpse of daylight all day. So whatever. If it’s my day off I’m so tired and under the weather that I sleep too late and catch maybe an hour of not having to turn on the lights. Yeah, whatever. The other day when I got up I saw that there was just about enough light next to the window so I might attempt to take pictures of my latest jewellery, because despite the misery and stress, I’ve been unusually productive. I rushed to get my camera and was freaking out, trying to quickly find something to use as background, as I knew the light could disappear any minute. This is all I could come up with in those few moments.

Green Lady. Made this almost a month ago already. I like the unusual shape of this clear glass bead and the irregularity of these opaque green beads. I’ve noticed that I can only work with clear, bright, summery colours now. I cannot touch the black, brown and dark green beads that I thought I’d use this season. They depress me. Bright shades make me happier. A girl has to try and grab the cheery thoughts wherever she can. The background comes from a wonderful book that I have, “Parisian Fashion, La Gazette du Bon Ton”. It’s full of images by Barbier and the like that have been published in La Gazette du Bon Ton, the fashion magazine that was very influential in the Art Nouveau & Art Deco era that I love so much. I return to this book whenever I need inspiration and it has rarely failed to deliver.

This is the other photo I managed to take. Then the light faded away and I felt like throwing the camera out on the street out of sheer frustration. I’m being ridiculous, of course. But anyhow, I made this bracelet also several weeks ago and have since been wearing it almost every day. I thought I’d make another one later with moonstones. The amethyst is my mother’s birthstone and has always been her favourite gemstone. Maybe I need to wear this now because I really, really miss my family. To be in the know that I’ll see them at Christmas is a lifesaver, although it’ll be a very short visit to my hometown.

Where’s my Christmas spirit? I hope I’ll find it tomorrow when we go and get our tree. That usually does the trick, because I LOVE christmas trees. Maybe I’ll even blog about it. Thanks to everyone who still drop by my place and have a lovely Sunday!