My Lady is back this time in aqua/goldstone. I’m clearing my bead stash so here we see the last of these chunky, faceted amazonites.

My Lady earrings in aqua/goldstone

My Lady bracelet in aqua/goldstone

June is a summer month although you wouldn’t know it by looking out the window. My summer holiday starts mid July so thankfully there’s still time for things to get better. I seriously need flip-flop weather!

I’ve been a lazy bugger and created mainly earrings lately. I’ve prevented myself from purchasing new materials because I have such a huge amount of beads especially in summery colours. Here’s a few cheerful danglies and even one bracelet as well, made from beads that have been sitting and waiting for quite some time…

Junius earrings

As long as it’s Green earrings

Pirate romance earrings

Pirate romance bracelet

A few weeks ago Liinelot, one of my favourite shops in our neighbourhood of Kruununhaka in Helsinki, sadly closed its’ doors for the last time.  This adorable store was a true gem among the vintage stores in Helsinki especially if you were on the lookout for textiles such as old, embroidered tablecloths, napkins or hankerchiefs, vintage lace and sewing materials or accessories like beaded purses, jewellery, scarves etc.

I just love those pins and laces!

There were also quite a few gorgeous but terribly high priced vintage dresses and coats, some beautiful old tins and trinket boxes and fun old underclothes and nightgowns. And just about everything and anything else you could imagine!

The powder case is actually full of powder! And it says “poison” on the corner of the snuff box.

Liinelot had recently been open less and less regularly so I’d had reason to suspect that the elderly shop-owner was starting to get too tired to keep it up much longer. However, it still came as a slight shock to me to stumble upon a “Fleamarket/Everything must go!” sign on the window one Sunday afternoon. It felt senseless to think that suddenly, after all those years, Liinelot would be no more.

An adorable photograph from 1925.

Quite a few people had stumbled upon the same sign before I did since the shelves were starting to look quite empty by the time  I walked in. Almost all the clothes were gone and what I noticed first that there was no sign of the 1920’s black, beaded dress I had tried on last year but couldn’t afford to splurge on. So, after I had picked up and set aside some vintage laces, a couple of scarves, hankies and a silk camisole, a beautiful aqua blue bottle, a black tin snuff box, a set of pearl-headed needles and a small table (!), I went to dig through the bowls and drawers of trinkets in the hope of finding some potential jewellery materials…

Trinkets and things after a good scrub and polish.

Had I been an early worm, my loot could have been quite marvellous. I remember that among many other things the shop-owner had an amazing stash of vintage glass beads that she had refused to sell the last time I had asked (she was planning to do a bit of beading herself…). But late as I was I didn’t come up with anything virtually heart-stopping but mainly little things that just somehow intrigued me in a certain sense.

Among those strange little things was an about 35cm piece of gold-coloured chain with a set of “golden” feathes hanging from it. I picked it up and thought to myself “Horribly kitch or beautiful? Or perhaps both?” As it turned out, this string of feathers later turned into a very surprising and enjoyable recycling project, “Golden wings”.

Golden wings earrings

I’m not that much of a fan of gold as a colour and have hardly ever used it in my jewellery. But like I said, these feathers inrigued me so I decided to do something different. I wanted to break a pattern. I would not only use gold, but also mix it with silver (which I also usually dislike) and some pale, powdery pinkish keshi pearls. Three colours that in my head would make nothing but a slightly yucky combination!

Golden wings necklace. Detail views here and here.

But what ever happened? All of a sudden the materials started looking surprisingly cool together! I ended up using all of the old chain and all the feathers and came up with a whole set. Even if I say it myself, I’m particularly pleased with the necklace. Despite it being quite long and having stuff asymmetrically hang from it, at the same time it looked very floaty and light, modern even. (I say looked because I don’t have this jewellery anymore. The whole set was sold almost immediately to someone who was quite destined to wear it…)

Golden wings charmed bangle bracelet

I’m not quite satisfied with the pictures though. For some reason I had difficulty finding a suitable background and photographing these pieces and getting the colours right. But then the jewellery was gone and I couldn’t retake the pictures anymore so I’ll just have to settle with these…But this was a fun project indeed!

And thanks a million, Liinelot! I’ll always remember you.