Little Treasures (Part 2)

I have built up quite an impressive collection of mish-mash pieces along the years as an idled pastime, not as an avid collector as such, never really taking this seriously, only pocketing my find if and when I came across it, take it home, clean it and keep it. I would show it to mémé (who found it quite amusing that I'd pick what her ancestors and the likes had thrown out as junk!).

Vintage square and hanging heart brooch, by Kate Hamilton-Hunter, available from Lasso The Moon

I wish I could showcase a broader representation of my collection to you but the bulk of it is locked away (ha-ha not in a bank vault!) in a cellar (god knows why it ended down there) that is not easily accessible, but the day I lay my hands on those beauties again I will exhibit them for the whole blogworld to see!

My yet-to-materialise idea was to create a mural, a mosaic if you like with all the pieces carefully encased in plaster, or how to turn junk into art, a theme recurrent with our modern artists (not that I wish to claim any artistic pretensions).

Small heart pendant by Kate Hamilton-Hunter, available from Lasso The Moon

Imagine my delight when I came across evidence that I am not the only collector of broken pottery. While visiting the beautiful Lasso The Moon website (exquisite hand-crafted homestyle pieces that I invite you to browse at your leisure), I noticed the clever use of vintage pottery fragments (shown above) by one of their suppliers, Kate Hamilton-Hunter Studio, as a backdrop and prop to add further interest to an item of jewellery, and the complementarity between the two is spot on! Well, I might be biased but just see for yourself. What do you think?

And while on the pottery pieces idea, I struck gold once more when visiting one of my bookmarked design blogs, Absolutely Beautiful Things and discovered Harriet Damave's handpainted decorative Delftware designs used as pendants, brooches and wall-hanging ornaments that remind me loosely of our pottery fragment treasures (although Harriet's ornaments are of course created as whole pieces). Judge the effect for yourself:

Harriet Damave's handpainted Delft porcelain heart ornaments, featured on Etsy

Some people collect seaglass from the shore (and surprise, surprise I do have a few of those!). What pushes them to do that is probably unmotivated, as an idled pastime while on their beach stroll. The colourings from some of the old glass's original pearlescence or the smoothed polished finish certainly catch the eye. Some artists like American jewellery-maker Lisa Hall recycle their finds into delicate jewellery pieces. Read about the origins of the seaglass that Lisa collects, very insightful.

Silver Cluster Ring by Lisa Hall Jewelery's 'Seaglass Collection'

Interestingly Lisa doesn't solely work with actual seaglass.

So all in all, those unassuming broken bits of junk have some nice future ahead of them and I am delighted that the feeling is shared. Meanwhile if you too collect them (from wherever you are in the world), just leave me a note below and I will happily feature, on your behalf, your photographs and stories in this blog.