Monday, August 29, 2011

Cameo necklace

The second necklace I made was a cameo necklace. 
It has been a long time of searching for a jewelry like this, not because they aren`t any around, but the fact was that I didn`t knew what the name was of these silhouette representing pendants. About a year ago my search came to an end as I found out they are named cameos. With this newly found wisdom began cruising the internet for pictures and inspiration to make my own, which took form like this:


It is interesting, because you might think that these kind of jewelry were ment to be worn by women, but in fact, at different points in history they have been worn as frequently by men. Of course, back then, each one was unique and hand craved in hardstones or agate.
" Cameos are works of miniature sculptured art. Their original purpose is lost in history, with the original intent of individual pieces known only to the craftsmen who carved them. What is known is that of the countless ancient examples of the sculptor's and carver's craft, none offers such a unique window through which to view the cultural past. Cameos reveal the manners, customs, philosophies, historic events, and social occasions that have marked our past. The ancient cameos, like fine art and sculpture, were intended as statements. Only in the last few hundred years has the significance eroded as cameos began to depict endless profiles—of vapid females.
Today most cameo connoisseurs believe that cameos originated without any practical purpose other than ornamentation, but a dutch scholar, Zadoks-Josehus Jitta, seeing their deeper meaning has characterized them as "messages in agate." In ancient times the cameo also served as an amulet, a talisman, a storyboard depicting ethics and morals, a tangible affirmation of one's faith, and in some cases a reflection of one's destiny. At one point the wearing of a cameo portrait of the ruling monarch not only showed one's loyalty to the court but also facilitated a quick audience with the ruler; such a cameo could quite conceivably guarantee safety and favor. Given all this, it seems inappropriate to consign the carving of cameos only to the category of personal adornments and amusements plastered on cups, vessels, crowns and relics, used to fill treasuries of royalty and the church."  - source


I`m still wondering... Is the bow too much? But I sincerely think you can never have to much bows or as the matter in fact, dotted bows. :P

Have a pleasant evening,
Enci

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Experiment

I`ve ordered online some jewelry materials and gave assembling them a try. I always liked those bronze pendant frames combined with something colorful and those flower rings you can find in many places.

Here`s my first necklace:

Also made a matching flower ring:

I used my glue-gun to attach the resin flower to a ring frame:


What do you think? For a first try I say they came out pretty good, I especially love the ring!
The materials are plenty, so I will be experimenting in the upcoming weeks with them.

Have a good weekend!
Enci


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Sock Refashion

A few months ago I did a T-shirt Refashion post here just to see if it would get some credit. This time I`m doing something a bit different, a sock refashion. I know it sounds weird, but I love socks and I love bows, so I thought why not combine the two?


It`s easier than 1-2-3, because you`ll only need to count to two by the time you`ll ready. So let`s get started, first up you need a pair of socks, some ribbon, scissors, thread and needle:


Of course, if you want you could add some beads or ruffle, or even some ribbon in a different color, that would stand out. I wanted something simple, so I went with white ribbon to match the white socks.

Take the ribbon and make two bows, as easy as that may sound, tying a bow can be tricky, so that`s why I posted here my "cheat sheet" for making one:


Then, sew one bow on each sock. I sew mine on the side, but you could sew then on the back too, especially if you use a wider ribbon and leave longer tails on the bow:


After 1-2 you are done! Enjoy your cute socks:


The possibilities are endless, I only wanted to give an idea of how to get started :P
I would love to see your version, if you tried it out, so please leave a link below, so I can go and check it out!

Hugs,
Enci

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Matyo Brooches

Earlier this spring I wrote a post about folk art inspiration and made some earrings following motifs and color combination inspired by these. Today I`m extending this Folk Art collection with some brooches that resemble and evoke the Hungarian Matyo embroidery motifs. I used the traditional red color and combined it with a black background so the forms would stand out more in the following three types of flower brooches:




It was a challenge drawing and cutting the shapes, because they are so symmetrical, but it was also a rewarding experience to take something from the history of my people and redesign it into a modern day accessory :


The brooches can be found in my shop here, follow the link to see more photos or if you wish to buy one. The brooches are in the traditional red color, but at request that can be changed!

Enjoy,
Enci

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Delicious!

What? Strawberries, of course! Planning on making a bunch of this, or at least so many to fill a jar with them :


It was something I`ve been wanting to experiment with for quite a while now, stuffed felt strawberry with a little ribbon hanger :


In other new I`ve started my job this week and I am very excited about it. But no worries, even though I won`t be able to post so much during weekdays, I`ll be sure to make up in the weekends !

Have a delicious day,
Enci

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Vacation Recap - Week 1

The first week we spent at E.K.E. Traveling Camp, which was organized by the Erdélyi Kárpát-Egyesület – Kolozsvár 1891. This organization is a branch of the Carpathian Society from Transylvania (E.K.E.). Their activity is mainly based on environmental education and on the protection of the environment, the beauties and treasures of nature, our cultural heritage, historical monuments, and ethnographic characteristics.

Every year a different branch office organizes the E.K.E. Traveling Camp in which thousands of people participate from worldwide. This year my city`s branch was in charge of the camp and it was placed in the commune Alsójára, a village which is surrounded by the most beautiful hiking places such as: national reserve Turda Gorges (in Romanian Cheile Turzii, Hungarian Tordai-hasadék), national reserve Tureni Gorges (in Romanian Cheile Turului, in Hungarian Túri-hasadék), Torockó commune, the ruins of Géczi Castle (in Romanian Cetatea Geczy/Liteni, in Hungarian Géczi/Létai vár) and many more mesmerizing places.

This is me on the day we arrived on camp, as you can see I am wearing my mushroom brooch, which actually brought me luck on more than one events :


There were 18 hiking trips every day from which we could choose from, some to the places I mentioned above, some to not so popular, but as much or even more of an eye-candy, wonderland-ish sights. And the sights weren`t the only eye-candy to see:


The first trip we choose was lead by my parents, who are members of E.K.E. in my city and took their part very seriously in organizing the camp. Their hike took us through the Túri-hasadék, which was an amazing adventure full with rock climbing and some wild trails, at the end of the hike we got a full frontal view of the Tordai-hasadék.

My parents in their matching E.K.E. T-shirts and caps:


The Tordai-hasadék:


The next day we went down in the Aranyos river`s (in Romanian Aries river) valley. Alongside we could witness wonderful scenery, filled with waterfalls and tributary rivers that flow into the main river. Our main goal was a lake-like formation that the locals call Csukas lake where we could go for a swim.


Our third and final hiking trip was to the Géczi Castle that I mentioned earlier. This was the shortest of our excursions, only 7 km that we did on foot, but it was amazing.

The ruins are remarkable :


and we even had a bit of fog so the photos we took came out really great :



A last photo that I just have to show you is of one of the youngest participators :


So this was my recap of our first week of vacation, it really was a great experience that I`ll hope we`ll be repeating next year!

Have a great day,
Enci

Monday, August 8, 2011

Home Sweet Home

It has been an amazing couple of weeks and thank God that the weather was also friendly: sunny when we wanted to lay on the grass and chilly when we needed to climb mountains.
I won`t bore you with details or gazillion photos (which I took about a thousand of), I only wanted to let you know that I`m back with new ideas, fresh forces to craft and create because that`s what this blog is all about, right?

But I will recap a little my journey for you in my next post.

Until then I`ll leave you with a little taste of what`s to come:



As much as I enjoyed every minute of it it`s good to be home =)
How was your vacation? Did you go anywhere special?

Hugs,
Enci
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