glam.spoon: fashion blog

make a statement

The Melanie Necklace by Samantha House via Luxist

The bib necklace trend has been going strong since early 2009 as reported by Who What Wear. I'm not one to jump on a trend at the beginning - I like to see it play out and watch how it refines over time. Then of course, all you have to do is look to history to determine that it's not an original idea afterall. Cleopatra was sporting a golden bib necklace in ancient Egypt, and the bibs Liz Taylor wore in the movie were a bit more modern.

Designers have been recycling ideas for centuries. The true mark of an artist is someone who takes the historical or commonplace and reinvents it with a modern sensibility. Thankfully, the bib necklace morphed into the statement piece and you can find dozens of options out there. The first time I fell in love with statement jewelry was when I discovered Kelly Framel, the fashion blogger known as The Glamourai.

What I like about her necklace designs are the bold choices: a tight collar shape, chunky feel, and the mixed texture of chain and beads. This gorgeous chunky choker-style Moroccan cascade necklace (below, sold out) has a bold mix of stones, pearls of different sizes, chain, etc. It's a real inspiration.

via Kelly Framel

Here are a few other recent inspirations...

 

Luckily, this Ranjana Khan Lapis Bead Bib Necklace from Saks Fifth Avenue is no longer available (originally $1100) otherwise I'd have to pawn something to buy it. I love the bold color, the seemingly fused gems and the collar shape.

 

The use of ribbon is a really romantic element that gives a statement piece that vintage feel. The above champagne necklace is also no longer available (I'm kind of good at finding those) but it was lovingly handmade by an Etsy Seller in Canada, and is a great inspiration for DIY'ing your own. I have boxes of broken vintage jewelry just waiting for a job like this.

The Olympia Necklace via History and Industry

And then there is this little gem from Irene Wood. I first discovered her many talents a few years ago through a coworker. She's also a painter (check out my favorite piece; I'd like to put it on fabric), but she has so much creativity bursting out of her she has to channel it somewhere, and luckily for us, she channels it into jewelry. The Olympia is made of three strands of painted gold, beige, silver and mauve wooden beads that create this thick bib necklace. It sits high like a collar. Big, bold, regal, lightweight. $175 and worth every penny. I'm currently selling shoes on eBay in order to buy one of Irene's necklaces. 

So after absorbing all this inspiration and while waiting for my eBay items to sell, I decided to take a tip from the hordes of DIY sites out there and make my own.  There are dozens of sites that will show you how to copy an item you see in a magazine (P.S. I Made This, Thanks I Made it, Copycat Crafts... you can read about the make it don't buy it trend here). Although I totally respect the skills and appreciate the resourcefulness, I've always had a problem with the whole "knock off" aspect. In my DIY practice, I prefer to use an item as inspiration to fuel my own creativity, and then make something totally unique with a nod to the original. 

First I pinpoint the different qualities of the item I like, then I gather up my materials and start playing. I buy most of my materials at thrift stores, preferring to use recycled bits whenever I can, but I do go to Fusion Beads for stringing wire, toggle clasps and crimpers in order to put it all together.

I found these funky brown wooden beads at the Everett Goodwill and decided to incorporate them into a chunky statement necklace. I also snagged these amazing semi-precious turquoise burnished agate beads at 40% off during Fusion's end of year sale. The chain is recycled and I used small silver discs as spacers on the ends of each strand. 

 

I like how it turned out so I made another using the same wooden beads, a recycled necklace of faux pearls as an accent, and a recycled oversized toggle clasp.

Finally, I wanted a statement piece using only chain, so I dug through my stash and came up with this. It came together from 9 different recycled necklaces and a recycled metal chain belt for the clasp. What will you make today?

 

holiday giveaway {winner announced}

Thank you to all who entered the holiday giveaway! The randomly generated winning number is the 28th comment, left by S. Carter!

Have a wonderful holiday, and check back in the new year for another giveaway...

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The holiday season is full of giving and cheer and it's all packed into 3 weeks! I have so many sales and events on my calendar right now, I just hope I make it to the end of the year...

In honor of the holdiays, I'm giving away one of my 2011 recycled necklaces! Made from 100% repurposed materials, this heavy linked chain necklace features a romantic black heart pendant. There were originally 6 of them in the collection made to coincide with last year's couture cotton holiday dress photo shoot. Below is a picture of Sabine wearing all 6 necklaces at once.

Please leave a comment below with your favorite holiday tradition to be entered to win this one of a kind handmade recycled necklace. I'll pick a winner on Monday, December 12th in order to ship it out by Christmas. Happy Holidays!

hipstamatic fun

I took these images with my hipstamatic camera at our cotton + cashmere sale...

flutterbudget at crave green

Flutterbudget is one of my favorite local, independent jewelers. Shannon and I have the same taste in recycled, vintage hardware parts and she puts them together so nicely. I had some fun photographing her display at CRAVEgreen last week. 

 

february giveaway {winner announced}

Thank you so much for all your kind words and supportive comments! I truly appreciate it... and now, by random.org number generation, the winner is...

Alicia C!

Check back next month for another glam.spoon giveaway!

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This little bohemian necklace was part of my first collection of refashioned jewelry for Tasty when the shop opened last March, and it never found its owner. Coming up on the one year anniversary for Tasty, I thought I would give it a nice home. If you would like to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below explaining how this necklace would complement your style. I'll pick a winner next Wednesday, February 23rd!

Keep your fingers crossed for spring, and check out the remaining clearance items in the glam.spoon Etsy shop... I'll be tweeting a discount code later this week for half off anything! Follow me @glamspoon or Like the Facebook page for details!

tickled pink trunk show at tasty

Last Wednesday Shari threw another of her fabulous trunk sales at Tasty, and the pink champagne was flowing... Walking through Tasty is a little overwhelming - there's so much to see!

The hostess with the mostess always has a smile for customers and artists alike...

One of my weaknesses are hair accessories... I tried on a few.

I love the displays in the store... here is the tree under glass holding my latest collection comprised of recycled gold chains and black plastic hearts.

And what would a trunk show be without a new piece for myself? My new Shay-D-Designs earrings!

 

december giveaway {winners announced}

Thank you all for your participation and lovely comments!  And the winners are...

rusty red velvet with mesh necklace - Liz!

vintage lace with toggle clasp - Jacqueline V!

green drop earrings - Deborah!

blue velvet necklace - Melissa R!

Check back in January for another giveaway... Happy Holidays!

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Happy Holidays!

This month I thought I'd post a DIY how-to along with a giveaway.  I bought these Christmas balls at Michael's and thought they'd make a festive adornment for holiday parties.  [I apologize in advance for the inordinate number of times I will use the word balls, but it is absolutely unavoidable].

The package I bought contained twelve balls wrapped together in a single stem, in red, green and two types of gold glittery coatings (cost about a dollar).  It's a bit tricky to unwrap them (you can certainly find individual small decorative balls if you prefer), but the beauty of the stem-wrapped balls is that once you carefully unwrap them, each ball has a long wire stem of its own to use as a fastener.  I then grabbed some random textiles from my scrap bin and recycled jewelry parts and started to put things together.

For the rust velvet ribbon necklace, I stitched a wide piece of mesh ruffle to the center so that the ends could be used as a tie in back, then wrapped the holiday balls around the ribbon with the thin wire attachments.

For the vintage lace necklace, I stitched the satin ribbon into a loop, then threaded it onto the lace. I tied another short piece of satin around the glittery ball, and then hand sewed it to the loop to keep it in place. (I used button craft thread because it's really strong). For this necklace I also added a recycled metal toggle clasp to the back.

With the blue velvet ribbon I tied a bow in the center, then wrapped the holiday balls around the ribbon with the thin wire attachments.

I had this old pair of earrings in black and gold that I thought would go well with the green balls.  I took the dangly parts off the bottom and attached the holiday balls with a small joiner and that was that!

The result? 3 necklaces and one pair of earrings to give away!  That's right, I'm giving them all away for the holiday! If you would like to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below indicating which one is your favorite.  (don't forget to include your contact information.)  I will draw 4 names on the 21st to get them out to you before Christmas! 

 

 

holiday necklaces at Tasty

Just dropped off a collection of holiday necklaces at Tasty! 

Handmade from 100% recycled mixed metals and vintage found objects, $88 each.  

They're the same necklaces I used in styling the photo shoot for the holiday dress collection (but she's wearing five at once).

 

glam.spoon TV debut

I officially met the vibrant and hilarious Nancy Guppy at a trunk show hosted by Tasty back in July.  I was there representing my line of refashioned necklaces, and she dropped in to check out the wares.  We each fell under the spell of Cleo Wolfus and her transformative hair extensions!  Don't we look like rock stars?

But I've been following Nancy's career for years.  I was a regular viewer of Almost Live in the 90's and have bumped into her in social situations and at art events here and there in the years since.  The meeting at Tasty, however, was kismet.  We discovered that we had both purchased nearly identical necklaces from another local designer, K. D'Angelo when Bouncing Wall was still open, and here she was trying on one of my recycled designs.  The piece looked great on her, and after I removed a couple of links to shorten the chain, it was basically custom designed.

In another "small world" moment, my BFF's at True Colors Events just happened to be planning a wedding for one of her dear friends!  Fate was certainly intervening here.

Then last week I got a call from Nancy who wanted to feature my clothing designs on her weekly show, Art Zone with Nancy Guppy.  I was thrilled!  Nancy is truly a supporter of the arts and the local Seattle talent in particular.  What can I say?  She's a mover and a shaker.  I whole-heartedly accepted the offer, but I had to confess to her that although I had recently downloaded a dozen episodes of Art Zone in iTunes, I hadn't actually watched them yet.  I sat down last Monday to take a look and 3 hours later I had watched 5 episodes back to back!  If you have ever thought to yourself "why don't I know about all the great artistic things going on in this city?" well, the answer is "YOU haven't started watching Art Zone!"  In every episode I watched, there was something I knew about that was cool and I wanted more information about, and something I had no idea about that was cool and I wanted more information about.  It's straight-forward and hip and Nancy's energy just can't be denied.  

I was so inspired by this opportunity that the night before taping I created a new glam.spoon item, which Nancy's producer, Sheila, affectionately named "the bullet jacket."  Look for these chic recycled shrugs in local boutiques and online at Etsy very soon!

Please take a look at this week's episode of Art Zone, whether you watch it when it first airs on TV tonight (8:00 p.m. on Seattle Channel 21) or you tape it for later, or you decide to download the Podcast, or maybe you watch it sometime when it repeats over the next 2 weeks, perhaps while eating Thanksgiving leftovers?  You'll be thrilled to find a great resource for all things creative and cool in Seattle.

Me, Nancy and Clarisse in the middle.

 

street party & tasty art opening

Are you suspicious of Friday the 13th?  Me neither.  And if you're looking for a great time with an artistic bent, you should head to Greenwood for the Celebrate Summer Street Party!  While you're there, stop in at Tasty: Delectable Collectibles for the latest art installation and take a peek at my new collection of refashioned jewelry. 

 

This collection continues the mixed metals theme, incorporating fabric and vintage buttons along the way.  I'm already working on the next collection, which will be available at Seattle Square on September 18th which has a black gold theme.