DesignSponge Challenge: #DSCollections

The talented Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge has issued a challenge in the blog-o-sphere. She's curious about the collections of her readers. Throughout the month, Ms. Bonney's invited Design Sponge fans to share their personal collections on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag "#DSCollection." Find full details at the blog.

Although my personal collection items are rather eclectic, born of greatly varying time periods and styles, there are a few patterns to be found in my magpie's gatherings.

The trio of Victorian-era velvet boxes in this post's first photo caught my eye because of their soft, faded blue hues and contrasting metal hardware. I have the key for that gorgeous lock on the largest box, too!

Equally irresistible to me is vintage jewelry. 

These antique celluloid necklaces are circa 1930s. As they are super delicate, I rarely wear them. I particularly adore the chenille pipe-filled blown glass globe charms. The other necklaces have floral motifs, featuring leaves, flower buds, and acorns. So much character and charm can be found in celluloid pieces! 

Just a fraction of my modern, vintage, and antique birds collection... There are celluloid, ceramic, glass, chalkware, and chenille birds in it.

Thanks for the #DSCollections challenge, Design*Sponge! It's super fun, and I'm excited to see what sorts of items the other participants share.

Insta-Watch

African and handmade glass beads

The Wood and Watch is now on Instagram!

Vintage buttons

See badge in the right column to follow me for a behind-the-scenes look at my inspirations and creations.

Rosebuds and clay

There will likely be a bunch of beads, birds, books, adventures in butane, and antique bijoux, too.

Garden sprouts

African Beads

It's always exciting when a package of new supplies arrives!

 These beads are from Africa. The metal ones are brass, and the pale green glass ones are recycled glass. They arrived strung on dried straw grass, which lent toward a nice raw, natural effect.

 Fighting the urge to hoard these and wear them as is, I unraveled one of the strands. The straw curled up and looked so lovely in contrast to the rustic, lost wax-cast brass rings that I snapped a work space shot.

Bijoux Binge

I tend to go through periods where I try very hard to conserve and not indulge my consumerist desires, and then...I fall off the wagon in a display so grand, you could say I'm overcompensating for the lean months. "Wish Lists" and "Carts" are reviewed and checked out, and I'm high for days on the thrilling view of packages peeking out of my mailbox.

The latest binge includes a supposedly Georgian wax seal. It's huge and made of brass with intricate repousse.

 The seal features an agate stone.

I also acquired this Victorian quizzing glass. Repousse all over!

And finally, this base-metal locket with flourishes and flowers rounds out the collection.

All of these pendants will eventually become part of necklaces.

2014 and a New Decade

The new year has also brought me to a new decade of life: 30. This age transition has me reflecting on, among many other things, travel and volunteer experiences I've had, as well as goals I've set and met. The following is a record for future Rachel.

Travel
In my 20s, I took my first plane ride since grade 5 to visit the magical land of San Francisco, California. My love for the city and the state as a whole was immediate. Since that time in college, Mark and I've returned to Cali thrice. In addition to more trips to San Fran, there have been explorations in:

-Napa Valley
-Big Sur
-Muir Woods
-San Diego
-La Jolla
-Beverly Hills
-Yosemite National Park
-Los Angeles
-Venice Beach
-Santa Barbara

The adventures have included museums, aquarium, zoos, nature hikes, baseball games, antique malls, beaches, gardens, mini road trips, a coastal road trip from S.F. to L.A., trolley rides, tourist attractions like Fisherman's Wharf and Telegraph Hill, Chinatown, and vegetarian restaurants.

Abroad 20s adventures:

-Costa Rica (Manuel Antonio -- the best!)
-family cruise to Grand Cayman, Jamica, and Cozumel, Mexico
-cruise to Canada
-Ecuador and the Galapagos
-Paris and Southern France (Provence) for the honeymoon

American 20s adventures:

-Williamsburg, Virginia
-Charlotte, North Carolina
-Kansas and Missouri (Tallgrass Prairie engagement, road trip, St. Louis, Lake of the Ozarks off-season creepiness)
-Road trip to Pennsylvania with my mom (Philadelphia and nearby antique malls/outdoor flea market)
-Seattle and Washington state (forests, lakes, beaches)
-camping at the Delaware Water Gap and upstate, New York
-Boston and Salem, Massachusetts
-Tampa and Florida
-Hamptons b&b with sister

Projects
-The Wood and Watch collection was featured in the Queens Museum, Astoria and Brooklyn shops (SITE, Love Brigade, Candy Plum, a Williamsburg collective).
-W&W and my studio were featured in Cloth Paper Scissors STUDIOS, a national print magazine in bookstores (a dream come true!).
-I took metalsmithing classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology (soldering) and 3rd Ward, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (photo etching, bezel setting, etc.).

Volunteer
-National Audubon Society's Women in Conservation program - wrote script for and worked on the honorees video
-National Audubon Society's Bedford Branch - newsletter editing

Thank You

My dear friend Maggie was ever so kind to share her talent and capture The Wood and Watch studio in a photo shoot this past spring.

As a thank you for the special collaboration, I gave Maggie some Wood and Watch pieces along with a handmade card.

The card includes Washi tape, stamps, and a Victorian lady.

An Arrow's Angles

As cliche as this may be, I really do find inspiration everywhere for my jewelry designs.

I came across these arrows on the way to the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene with my oldest friend and the husband.

They reminded me of my Brass Arrow necklace.

I think they'd look lovely as earring pendants hand-rendered from metal sheet.