April 18, 2008

  • Playful, Whimsical ..... Russian Nesting Dolls and Asymmetry

    These came together almost instantly after I opened the little package with the Russian dolls inside.  They were  originally 5 of  them hanging from a kilt pin.  I chose them to work with because they already had a way to hang them from a loop in place, having been drilled and a hanging wire, or head pin, put into place.  Wgen looking for some dolls to work with, I found I was taken by the colors, the half-daisy painted on the gowns, and the expression on their faces.  (lots of the dolls used for rhe pins are not as well painted as the matryoskha dolls themselves.   

    I had a  60's necklace made up of bracelet-like links of white thermoset flowers, as you see in the earring on the left.  The little gold circle with the green bead wired into it is one of the links connecting to the next flower.  I used it as a design element, wiring the little green handmade vintage glass bead from Venice into it crosswise, saving the link below to use as a jump ring from which to hang and hang the doll, flowers and crystals.

    I went into my glass flower box and found the little yellow flowers, found the right color Swarovski crystals, old, familiar emerald and a  "new" chalk white (until the 50's all white glass was milk glass, a slight blue tinge from cobalt, a little translucent.  The new formula for chalk white glass was put into production in the 50's, resulting in the production of a large amount of white glass jewelry -  the color fell out of favor; no one used it for years.  It's cycling back into designs, hence Swarovski's making it again and calling it "new.")

    From a  box  I reserve for enamel flowers, I plucked the daisy and the enamel leaf, reached for the E-7600 glue and added the daisy to the leaf.  Later I glued a little filigree piece on the back of the leaf so that I could  use the openings around its edges for hanging things from. Add the doll and little yellow flowers, white crystals....

    and here is what you get -


                                 

    hugs to you all,

    pearlbamboo.