girl scout beads

found in an antique barn in vermont: a big bag of 1940's wooden girl scout beads. i restrung them as the original lanyard was falling apart, hoping to achieve a marni look. love their jewelry.

diy #5

first seen in a martha stewart article: braiding fabric strips to turn them into necklaces. ripping the strips gives a raw, fraying braid, thicker strips make for really chunky stiff braids and thin satin ribbon makes a really skinny braid. this last one took forever to make... i tied on some off beat charms & figurines as well. looks best when several braids are layered together.

doll heads

slightly weird, these doll head beads that were meant to be turned into full-fledged dolls. i turned them into a necklace instead, tying loose bits of ribbon randomly between the beads, for extra texture.

shells

a new way to look at accessories: wearing belts as necklaces. just wrap them around your neck twice, works best with decorative or skinny belts.

deer

last weekend's score from a trip to sullivan county (happy 40th allison!). not only did we see lots of deer (and 2 bald eagles), i bought these 2 awesome candle sticks, they made me start planning thanksgiving dinner already.

green rabbit

louise and i spotted this green rabbit fur scarf at the same time at a yard sale, so we decided to buy it "together" and share it. i have a feeling this will happen more and more. meanwhile ozzy proves that fur is not just for girls.

hands

a favorite find from olive's vintage on court street in brooklyn: a belt buckle in the shape of 2 clasping hands. i have always had a soft spot for the surreal fashion accessories of elsa schiaparelli, and this is very much in the same vein.

sequins

a $2 purchase at the elephant's trunk flea: a sequin collar/bib that I wear as a necklace. the nice thing about is that the sequins have acquired a gorgeous dusty oxidized patina. priceless.

toilet seats?

i was very excited with this $4 yard sale purchase; an extra long costume necklace with oversize oval ivory resin links with rhinestone details. that is, until louise pointed out it made her think of toilet seats...

fred

fred was born on august 28, 2011 while we were sitting out hurricane irene on block island. he is made from fabric scraps, wire, sequins & beads. he is filled with rice which gives him a nice weight - and it was the only thing i had in the kitchen that would serve the purpose. fred is inspired by the book "an inordinate fondness for beetles" by evans & bellamy (henry holt), i highly recommend it.

birds

more prints that i like: found this wonderful wrap skirt from the 1940's/1950's at the elephant's trunk flea in connecticut for $5.

gladiator

just purchased at the annual summer sale of LF stores (i am probably about 30 years over their target audience's age). a very cool leather bib necklace with coins. i have yet to figure out how to wear this and not look like an extra from spartacus.

trim

i can't stop hoarding sewing notions: ribbons, thread, buttons, trim.... this particular example is a very heavy metal trim. i used some of it in a burlap-backed bracelet, no firm plans for the rest of it yet.

dead stock in rosendale

we had a great trip to the catskills a few weeks ago. aside from a bear encounter (no joke) the highlight was a visit to a thrift store in rosendale. the owner just purchased a large lot of dead stock items from the 1970's. she let me dig through a few (very dusty) boxes that hadn't seen daylight since 1973. most of the sizes were extra small so louise has a whole new wardrobe for fall.

wayne

a brand new wayne dress with sequins, bought at yard sale for $15! sadly, I am really bad at eyeballing sizes, so the dress now belongs to louise. it will be her las vegas holiday dress.

more yellow

the reflection of our plexi kitchen shelves against the hallway door, late on a summer afternoon. yellow makes me so happy.

floral

i have never been into florals, or even prints for that matter. but this 1940's shirt with its patriotic red-white-blue pattern is fantastic. now I started looking at flea markets for more small scale florals, even laura ashley is starting to look good again.

diy #4

a leather sample book was being thrown out at work, so I brought it home. inspired by allison's leather bangles, i came up with this variation. no sewing required: the "stuffing" is a thick nylon cord (from home depot) around which the leather is glued with a glue gun and tied with waxed jute string. i tried one variation with fluorescent nylon string (again from home depot, who knew they were such a great source for craft supplies), a little trickier as nylon is slippery, but a cool contrast with the leather.

rainbow

my colleague jen qian brought this home-made rainbow cake to work, the perfect way to brighten up a gloomy friday. can't wait to try this myself, just need to stock up on some food coloring. apparently the trick is to color each batch of dough separately and then very carefully spoon each separate color into the baking pan.

wooden cat

a favorite flea market find of my favorite animal. the pose says it all: cats have it figured out.

bracelets

inspired by a picture of nancy cunard - early 20th century heiress, activist & provocateur - who, it seems, never wore less than a dozen bracelets on one arm.

rosetta tie

totally random but kinda cool: a tie from the british museum with a woven pattern of the rosetta stone. i will wear this with a navy button down shirt for an early kraftwerk look.

leaves

i know the brooch trend was hot a few years ago, but i'm still very much into it. especially when we're talking about a cluster of leaf brooches from the flea market. makes me look forward to fall...

cats

ok, cards on the table: i am a cat person, one hundred percent. so this brass victorian cat-themed charm brooch is pure gold to me....

pink

louise wanted pink hair. we jointly decided a pink dip-dye effect would be less of a commitment. with the help & advice of my hairdresser (anthony thomas in brooklyn, the best) this was actually rather easy to do. after experimenting with a few brands, atomic hair dye turned out to be the best, this picture was taken 8 weeks into our project and the color is still super bright.

diy #3

a great way to "hide" moth holes, stains and other flaws on vintage cardigans & sweaters. create a cluster of fabric rosettes in matching/coordinating colors. for each rosette, cut a fabric circle that is about twice as large as you want the final rosette to be. fold over the edges slightly and do a running stitch all around the edge (make sure there is a thick knot at the beginning). gather the stitched thread (and fabric) together and flatten the rosette in place. use a few more stitches to make sure the rosette stays in place & to secure it to the sweater. done!

diy #2

men's ties are one of the cheapest things you can pick up in thrift & vintage stores and their materials & colors are usually great (leave the polyester 70's ones and go for the silk stripes). take them apart gently using a seam ripper and steam flat. then comes the fun part: patch them together in a coordinating color palette. i used some quilt interlining for this stole & backed the whole thing with a plain stripe.

buttoned up

in 1991, I was graduating from the fashion department of the royal academy of fine arts in antwerp, belgium. my graduating collection was inspired by the work and aesthetic of man ray and his fellow dadaists. i was particularly intrigued by the concept of elevating the “objet trouve” to work of art, often with minimal intervention. being a student of limited means, my medium was buttons. i made quite a few button-covered pieces, but this one is my favorite: monochrome, simple and most of all: i have the best memories making this. i spent quite a few late summer nights, usually in front of the tv by myself catching up on obscure old movies, sewing on buttons and dreaming of my future fashion career. now that I am a mom of 2 and have been introduced to the pedagogical concept of process art (i.e. the process is much more important than the ultimate result) i understand why this piece means so much to me, even though I have never worn it (it weighs a ton....).

binnspiration

first posted on the hand/eye blog.
credit where credit is due: i am deeply inspired by the work of jewelry designer tom binns. he has turned the world of costume jewelry upside down, or right-side-up if you ask me. he makes no qualms about the fact that he does not work with precious materials in the traditional sense of the word. his necklaces are tangles of chains , such as the ones you may find on the bottom of the less desirable jewelry drawer, large clusters of obviously fake pearls and crazy assemblages of multicolored rhinestone brooches. like him, i find traditional “real jewelry” boring and underwhelming. i love semi-precious and even downright humble materials. this is what brought me to the necklace pictured here. its components were found in the trash outside of an east village apartment building several years ago. the building housed a retirement center and whenever one of the residents passed away, most of their belongings ended up rather unceremoniously on the street. one night i found there & brought home a small box filled with crosses, rosary beads and medallions depicting various saints. i attached them all onto an existing necklace - this one from a flea I believe – and ended up with this piece. i used to think it was “bad juju”, using items someone else attached great emotional/religious significance to, and this for my own vanity.  i think so no longer, though technically worthless, it is one of my most treasured possessions. 

AAA tie

had to have this (and it cost a whopping 10 cents), a tie with a map of route 95, all the way down to florida. best of all, it is made by AAA. i have to find ways to incorporate ties into my wardrobe, without looking too annie hall.

yellow!

no big surprise for those who know me: yellow is my favorite color (even though blonds are not supposed to wear yellow, and even though someone once pointed out to me that yellow is the color of the insane... i don't believe that). a necklace "assemblage" of flea market finds, none cost more than $8.

hmong jacket

another brooklyn yard sale find, this summer has been good so far. a thai hmong jacket with amazing colors. haven't worn it yet, but I'm thinking paired with dark indigo denim and a plain white t, maybe some sky high heels to offset the hippie vibe.

diy #1

fabric-and-bead necklace: pick 2 coordinating fabric scraps to go with your beads, contrasting textures (such as linen & velvet) & coordinating colors work well. cut them into squares or circles that are about twice as big as your beads. take needle and thread and start assembly: i folded each of the linen pieces over a bead and stuck the needle through all (fabric - bead - fabric). the velvet bits were folded double before adding. no need to follow a specific pattern. improvise!

grosgrain

last week's yard sale score: 3 rolls of grosgrain ribbon, marked "us hat band mills". $2 each, 50 yards per roll. no idea what i will do with this but i will let you know....

repurpose

finding new uses for stuff is so rewarding. this necklace is really a curtain tie-back. people have asked me if I got this from alexis bittar or philip crangi. while i love both jewelry designers, it gives me great joy to reply "no, $8 at the elephant's trunk flea"....