Saturday, April 13, 2013

Focus on Life Week 15 Aged Beauty

Childhood gift of a Chinese Charm bracelet

This week our prompt for the Focus on Life was Aged Beauty.  The first picture that came into my mind was a charm bracelet I was given as a child by my good friends Anne and Carla.  Sisters.  Their parents parents were in the foreign service and they had lived in China.  They brought back this bracelet at some point and later it was given to me.  I have saved it all these years because I always loved these intricate bamboo carvings.
close up one of the hand carved charms 

 They held a special magic for me back then and still do now.  Once I thought of this bracelet I remembered another piece of jewelry in my childhood jewelry box.  It is a necklace my grandfather made out of silver that he had wire wrapped with Lapis lazuli.
Lapis lazuli necklace made by my grandfather

 I wore this necklace for many years before I ever even thought of making jewelry.  It is very long--about 46 inches--so I wrapped it around my neck several times.
                                                    detail of my grandfather's  wire wrapping

                                                detail of the lapis and wire wrapping

 My grandfather died very young so I never met him but I always have held him in high regard and believed that his artistic work was a sign that I should be an artist.  He also made leather book bindings with intricate tooled designs. He was an American but lived in Florence, Italy where my mother was born.
I am always surprised that Sally's prompts lead me into wonderful paths of discovery.  Thank you once again for this wonderful journey Sally.
Now let us see where everyone else has been transported this week.  HERE



15 comments:

  1. Fantastic bracelet! Keep it forever....

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  2. that is so amazing that your grandfather made such gorgeous designs and that you have one of his pieces! he did really beautiful work

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  3. Thank you for sharing these lovely pieces. You are lucky to have such special jewelry.

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  4. wow! both pieces are amazing! i love the little carvings on your bracelet, but the intricacies of your grandfather's silversmithing - wow! you are very lucky to own such treasures :)
    have a wonderful week!
    no. 21

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  5. Beautiful pieces!! I love Sally's prompts as well. It has been an enlightening journey so far.

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  6. Oh Mary - gorgeous!!! Both pieces are worth the world to you, but I bet they'd be worth a lot of dough, too. ; )

    The wirework link is very interesting. I'm going to try duplicating I love it so much. Thanks for sharing this vintage heirloom!

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  7. That's a lovely bracelet. Your grandfather was very talented, the links in the necklace are beautiful.

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  8. Aged beauty, truly. Thank you for sharing these two stories, and not one, but two pieces of special jewelry. Your grandfather's link are really fabulous. I am so glad you shared that one with us. Andrea

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  9. Mary, what a touching post. You really shared two treasures for this week's challenge. The carved charm bracelet is so special; I've never seen anything like it! And your Grandfather's wirework necklace...now that is truly a keepsake and family heirloom. His wirework is incredible, precise and unique. I love the length - it is so wearable. I can only imagine the time it took to create it. Do you know anything more about the piece, such as who he made it for and what inspired him? I absolutely love it. Thank you for sharing these special pieces of jewelry.

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  10. That wire wrap is amazing. I've never seen anything like it. How special that your grandfather made it.

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  11. Love both your photos, but the wire work necklace is incredible.

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  12. Oh Mary, that is sooooo cool! Love the necklace from your grandfather. So the great creative talent runs in the family:-) and the charmbracelet is cute too. Love your interpretation of the prompt.

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  13. You did some magnificent pictures of true treasures. It is obvious where you jewelry making skills came from. He would be very proud of you!

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  14. Both pieces are lovely but your grandfather's work is really wonderful. You are so lucky to have such a treasured piece of your family history.

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