Color - It’s all About Proportion

seelensturm via Flickr

This post is not for the faint of heart, the vanilla crowd or anyone afraid of color.  It is clearly for the more spirited reader - the ones that are fearless in the face of color!

Inspiration Board  

Cameron Diaz / Estate Necklace / Interiors by Angele Perlange

Designers conceptualize designs from many different sources and much of the time, my jewelry designs are inspired from beautiful interiors since that was my career for many years.  However, my latest design was inspired from several sources - a beautifully designed room, a stunning  estate necklace and a celebrity.  All three converged to lead me down the path to a daring color combination of aqua and hot pink.  If you study the images above you will see that all three have the same color combination, but used in different ways.  Most importantly, what you see is a complementary color scheme using either aqua or hot pink as the primary focus with smaller accents of the opposing color.  Complimentary color schemes are probably the most difficult to pull off successfully.  Much of that difficulty lies in knowing exactly what proportion of the opposing color to use without becoming a garish combination. 

Abelle Necklace

Stunning Peruvian Opal smooth rondelles and pink sapphires are hand-linked to create this beautiful Spring / Summer necklace.  This cacophony of color terminates with an antique Georgian Silver Paste Locket  replete with a little gold vermeil bow.  This precious heirloom features an adorable gold vermeil Napoleonic bee floating amongst approximately 2 carats of minuscule rubies.  As most of these lockets are a combination of silver and gold (925 silver & 9ct gold), that combination also extends to the hand linked chain to allow the owners to wear it with either preference. The apt name for this necklace is Abelle, which signifies “bee” in French.

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The Tableau Collection - Keepsake Lockets

Too precious! How many of us kept a lock of hair from our children's first haircuts?

Once I get and idea in my head, I can become a little OCD.  Such has been the case this past summer and early fall in my quest to find antique lockets, brooches and clasps that can be used to create little “Tableaus” or pictures.  Historically, these lockets were used to house not only photos of family members and sweethearts, but a lock of their hair.  The hair was often plaited, woven or styled to create a “Prince of Wales” plume.  An interesting fact I discovered - when men/boys went off to fight during the Civil War, they often left behind a lock of hair for their wives and sweethearts in the event they did not come home.  Someone recently said to me, “That’s creepy!”.  Personally, I disagree - as humans we have been collecting hair from our children (first curl/haircut), family, sweethearts and pets as little mementos since the dawn of man.  

Many of these gorgeous lockets and brooches have not survived with the original hair intact, so I think it is only fair to try and preserve the unique workmanship of these gorgeous lockets by incorporating them into little “pictures”.  I have filled the recesses of these lockets with very small gemstones and sometimes, if there is room, a vermeil charm that can tell a story.

via Project Style

Ava Necklace - French Paste Reliquary Brooch with rubies and carved labradorite leaves.

The Ava Necklace was once a reliquary brooch.  The brooch was filled with little rubies, a carved labradorite leaf and a Byzantine cross.  Most antique brooches have a pin that extends outside the diameter of the brooch.  Rather than snip the pin, thus devaluing the piece - a small round bead has been added for comfort.

Palmer-Weiss

Morgaine Necklace - 14k gold Cannetille turquoise locket with 1ct. white topaz.  How cute is this French Napoleonic Bee?

The Morgaine Necklace has a delicate chain of the most minuscule turquoise is interspersed with beautiful blue kyanite faceted beads and flanked by smooth spring-green chrysoprase rondelles.  The dainty chain is the perfect accent to highlight the gorgeous and complex 14K gold cannetille and turquoise locket (ca.1830).  The tiny glass compartment of the locket has been filled with 1ct. of white topaz while a grouping of kyanite, chrysoprase and sleeping beauty turquoise briolette amulets acts as the background for a regal little vermeil Napoleonic bee.  The locket can be easily removed and worn as a brooch.

Katie Stassi

via Design Fabulous

Siren's Song Necklace - Step-faceted aquamarine nuggets & mermaid riding a seahorse on a frothy wave of aquamarine bubbles.

Keeping pace with the recent New York Fashion Week’s Spring 2012 haute couture influence of the mermaid silhouette, the exquisite Siren’s Song Necklace is certain to make a splash.  The gorgeous and highly desirable color-saturated aquamarine faceted nuggets, only serve to enhance the diaphanous antique French silver paste locket (ca. 1900) filled with a 24k gold vermeil mermaid riding a seahorse in a frothy wave of aquamarine bubbles.

Now for the truth - I still have several of these lockets waiting to be made up - it seems as though I can’t resist the gorgeous designs.  If you are interested in having one made up with keepsake elements that represent your life, leave me a little comment or email me at karensugarmanitr@aol.com.

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A Queen’s History Reinvented

I am not really certain how I stumbled across this photo of a necklace incorporating Marie Antoinette’s grey pearls but, suffice to say; I became very enamored with the “architecture” of the design. As a lark, I decided to try and duplicate the style based on this historic treasure. After a few false starts, and a few “tweaks” of the idea, a new collection was born. The Tuileries Collection pays homage to a very celebrated queen and her lavish need for beautiful jewelry.

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