cakeeater

I've been experimenting with making jewelry lately. There are a hell of a lot of trinkets out there, and the possibilities for pretty adornments are endless.

I buy a lot of stuff on ebay. It's almost a problem; I have established systems and everything. Oh well, I'll just write a book on my strategies someday, and my habit will be legitimized. But seriously people, ebay is legit. You can find literally anything you want if you know how to look.

Take the spy camera, for example. I'm obsessed with spies, and so naturally I really wanted a tiny camera to play with. I think you can get mini digital cameras shaped like those espionage staples of yore, but no, I wanted a REAL one that used film and belonged in the gloved hands and trench coat pockets of an old-school spy. Yep, I'm insane. But ebay doesn't discriminate; it yields its varied bounty to the sound and unsound of mind alike. I found a genuine toy spy camera from the 1950s, which was in working condition if one could find the archaic toy film that it requires to produce pictures of indeterminate blobs. I wasn't one who could find it. But I didn't mind much, because ebay also coughed up a great, bunchy chain to string the camera on, and one of my favorite necklaces was born. If you can't use it, wear it!

Painting the inside of a chunky, filagreed locket seemed natural, so I did it. Plus, hearts are so boring, I always feel like they need to be dressed up somehow. Some sciencey how.

I'm a big fan of charms, so my talisman design gets a lot of use in repetition. It strings charms and jewels together on braided leathers and natural cords. You can variate almost endlessly within this idea, but I've only made three so far.

antique carved-bone rose and lion: