Faux Bling

 

The sun happened to shine on my "fake" jewellery on display on the side of a bookcase next to my wardrobes, and tempted me to snap a couple of photos. 

The word that first sprang to mind for me was "bling". But when checking up on it, "bling" seems to actually denote "expensive, ostentatious clothing and jewellery" - rather than cheap imitations that never in their life pretended to be anything else but just that...

I searched on, and found some more definitions:

• Costume Jewelry / Fashion Jewelry: The standard terms for items designed to complement outfits rather than serve as investment pieces.
• Trinkets: Small, inexpensive jewelry items or baubles.
• Faux Jewelry: Jewelry that mimics real, high-end pieces.
• Junk Jewelry: A derogatory term for very low-quality items.
• Base Metal Jewelry: Jewelry made from metals like brass, copper, or aluminum.

I give up. The items on display above are probably a mix of all that - unless perhaps some of them are so old now that they've become some sort of faux antiques? They're all made of materials like wood, glass beads, ceramics, leather and base metals, though... (The few pieces I have of possibly somewhat higher value are not hanging out on daily display.)

I wear very little jewellery at all except on special occasions - and special occasions these days are becoming rather rare! I look at these items every now and then and think that I should give most of them away to some charity shop, as I so rarely use them. The main reason that they're still hanging where they're hanging, though, is that a lot of them are still associated with memories. (And they aren't really in the way either...)

December 17 - The Outsider

I asked yesterday if you could spot the figure in my Christmas crib that really does not belong there. What I had in mind was this little red horse - correctly identified by Meike as a Dala Horse (or Dalecarlian Horse); a traditional carved and painted wooden horse from the Swedish province of Dalarna. I have a bigger one as well, once upon a time blogged about here. I think I have had this little one since childhood too, even if I can't recall exactly when I got it or who from.

The Dala horses are not Christmas ornaments - actually usually more associated with summer. This little one just happened to already be on the shelf where I was going to set up the crib... And on a whim I decided to let him stay for Christmas this year. 

Janet spotted something else as well, though - and quite correctly, even if it was not what I had in mind when I asked the question. The star on top of the stable is really a starfish. To be more precise, it is a little brooch... And as it happens, I have seashell one too. They're not real gold, just cheap trinkets.

 
 

Circles of Gold

Scriptor’s recent post with a ring in it reminded me that I have not yet posted about this one, which I had made (or re-made) recently.

I had my parents’ rings just lying in a drawer, not knowing what to do with them. Mum’s rings did fit me, but since they were just plain gold rings (i.e. obvious engagement/wedding rings and nothing else) it felt weird wearing them as they were. 

But then recently a friend of mine inspired me by what she did (or had a goldsmith do!) with her inherited rings. So I decided to do something similar with mine, and had mum’s plain rings soldered together with a brand new one (in white gold with gemstones) which I picked out for myself; and traded dad’s rings in to pay for it (or part of it).

I’m pleased with the result. It no longer feels like wearing someone else’s rings, and yet my parents’ names and dates are still preserved in the inscriptions.

Doing it justice with the camera turned out to be another matter, though. Any reflections on how to avoid reflections (of oneself and the camera)??