Vulticulus's Weblog

A long weekend and a wedding

Melanie Dooley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:57:15 +0000

It is Australia Day today. This is a national holiday which falls on 26th January every year. It’s when we recognise the first white settlement of Australia. It’s a day that’s becoming more and more controversial, with Aboriginal and ethnic protests and gangs of teenagers roaming the streets waving and wearing Australian flags (considered a racist gesture?!). But it’s also a day of BBQs, going to the beach, drinking beer and enjoying a day off. And if the day happens to fall on a Thursday or Tuesday, most people make the most of it and have a four day weekend.

Australia Day

Last night we went to the Suzuki Night Market, an annual event held from November to March at the Queen Victoria Markets. The markets run a few days a week selling produce, gifts, souvenirs, clothes etc, but the night markets are a showcase for international cuisine and handcrafts. There is a great array of food, from Ethiopian to Greek to Chinese. I tried some Columbian food – white tortillas with beans, guacomale and chicken. For dessert I had fried donut balls with honey, chocolate and ice cream, I need to go on a seriously long walk to work off all the oil in those donuts!

Night Market

So…I mentioned a wedding. Last Sunday we went ot visit my mother for her birthday. Her partner Bob has a birthday 10 days after mum, so they decided to have a joint birthday party. We all arrived and started to enjoy the great food and company. I made chocolate coffee meringue brownies.

Mmmmm...brownies

Then as we were all sitting outside enjoying the perfect weather, a woman arrived and started talking to us. She had an authoritative voice and I knew right away she wasn’t just any ‘usual’ friend of my mother’s. She was in fact a marriage celebrant and was there to marry mum and Bob.

I had suspected that they might do something like this – since they met 10 months ago they’ve been inseparable. It was not the first marriage for either, with Bob being married once before with 6 kids and mum being married three times before with two kids. So I guess you could say that they ‘knew’.

The dragonflies are a symbol for mum and Bob, since a few years ago mum and I got tattoos on our wrists – a bee for me and a dragonfly for mum. Bob has since got the same dragonfly on his wrist. They decorated their cake with little dragonflies.

Destiny

Lulu’s Dark Side

Melanie Dooley — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:02:43 +0000

A while ago I made Lulu – an extravagant necklace of pearls, diamonds and sapphires. It was white and pink and glittery. It has sold to a local customer, but I liked the style and always wanted to make something similar. I wrote about it here.

Today I worked with another pave diamond piece I’ve had for a while, and made a darker version of Lulu.

Lulu the Bad

Lulu the Bad2

Dark Lulu is made from black spinel gemstone chain, pink sapphires, red rubies and a silver and pave diamond pendant. I made the toggle clasp by hand and added little Japanese Akoya saltwater pearls. It’s quite a Luxe design, very Deco and flapper, and great to wear. I’ll list it for sale once I can take some half decent photos in good light.

There is also this other necklace I’ve been working on for MONTHS! It just would not work and I gave up thinking I’d never finish it. But tonight I had a brainwave, and managed to make it work to get the result I wanted. I used an Art Deco rhinestone brooch as the centrepiece, and added dangles of pearls. The chain is in silver, with light blue topaz, mystic antique silver quartz and pearls. There is also a bit of gold in there for contrast.

Sparkle Girl Necklace

New girls on the block

Ahhh…Napoleon

Melanie Dooley — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:49:53 +0000

Years and years ago I bought my first ever mirror locket in France. It was broken, the lid was not attached, but I loved it so much because of the little bees on the front. I’ve had it in my supplies box since then, and only this week did I accept that I couldn’t fix the lid to make it swivel – so I had to glue the lid down and turn it into a pendant.

And it worked a treat! This necklace is what resulted. You can click on the image to see the listing in Etsy.

I listed a few other pieces in my shop - some charm necklaces, and there will be more to come soon!

I realised that I don’t have enough bracelets, and had pulled apart a whole lot of old ones I thought were a bit outdated. So…I made some more.

SALE at L’Atelier de Talaru

Melanie Dooley — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:15:22 +0000

Sale Notice

Since I’ve been making so much new jewelry, I’m a bit over-stocked and need to clear some space. So YOU can save 25% off ALL DESIGNS. No exceptions. Everything sold till the end of January will receive a 25% discount (by using a coupon code – check shop announcement for details).

Weekend Concert

Melanie Dooley — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:07:07 +0000

On the weekend we went to Werribee Park Mansion to see a concert. Each year there is a French Film Festival held in Melbourne, and each year they release a compilation recording of current French artist’s songs. I always love the eclectic French music, but this year was the first concert featuring some of the artists all the way from France. Given that I have every CD since the first one released in about 2005, I just had to go to this concert.

The venue was spectacular – set in the grounds of a Victorian mansion, which also has on its grounds a world-class open range zoo and a 5-star hotel and spa. We’ll save the zoo safari and spa visit for my birthday but we enjoyed an afternoon of great music, perfect weather and beautiful surrounds.

I took a walk through the mansion and took lots of photos of the lovely old house, which has beautifully and faithfully restored with lots of lovely old furniture and decor.

New Designs Listed Today

Melanie Dooley — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:25:50 +0000

I’ve been ventuing out into some new styles with my jewelry lately – here are some I recently listed.

Using some of the gorgeous Art Deco glass pieces I recently acquired, I made earrings and necklaces.

Black and Blue Deco Earrings

All of the focal glass pieces used in these designs date to the 1930s – so are 80 years old. They have stood the test of time quite well, and are still very wearable today.

Amethyst Glass Pendant Necklace

I really enjoyed making these leather bracelets. Each is quite different – one has a black and blue art deco (original) buckle, and the other has a sweet hunter’s jacket button from France with a racing Hare on it.

Art Deco Buckle Bracelet

Hunter's Button Bracelet

Tresors pour moi!

Melanie Dooley — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:04:29 +0000

I’ve been making a lot for my shop lately, so I thought it was time to make use of some of my precious treasures and make a few pieces for myself. You know that I welcomed a little poodle puppy into my home a few months ago. I’ve since searched for poodle-themed items I might be able to use in a design. Needless to say most are a bit twee and many are terribly tacky. But I did find this divine little Victorian-era seal fob. And it’s in the shape of a poodle. He became the centrepiece for a necklace which also features chain in smoky quartz, rose quartz and tanzanite gemstones.

Poodle necklace

My parents think it’s amazing that I have taken to Serge so quickly, since all my life I’ve been a cat person. But I love him to bits and he is such a joy to have in our lives. He is apparently very well behaved, for a puppy, according to people I know who’ve had dogs before.

Poodle necklace

I finally came up with an idea for a necklace for this beautiful 19th century St. Esprit pendant I’ve had for ages. It’s a silver piece with paste stones. I don’t actually know if it’s French or English – I bought it from a dealer in England, but such pendants are typically French. I used beautiful, subtly sparkling chain made with hand-wired black spinel and iolite gemstones, as well as chain from a solid silver antique rosary. They all come together in an eye-catching chocker necklace that I love, and I often wear it together with my Poodle necklace.

St. Esprit Choker

Tresors pour moi

I have some interesting new pieces coming to my shop soon. I’ll photograph on the weekend and upload as soon as I can. Here’s a sneak peek…

Big ole ring

Very Deco Earrings

Just listed

Melanie Dooley — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:15:10 +0000

Now at L’Atelier de Talaru

Pocket Watch Necklace

Mother of Pearl Pendant Necklace

Sublime

Melanie Dooley — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:38:07 +0000

These are a few of my favourite things.

Whitby Jet with Shell Cameo…

Whitby Jet & Shell Cameo

Antique French silver baby’s rattles…

Silver Rattle

NYE Creations

Melanie Dooley — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:47:55 +0000

Now, you might be wondering what sort of person would be creating jewelry and posting on her blog on New Year’s Eve? Well this person is in a town that is having a heatwave, and it’s too hot to go anywhere and do anything. The sky is bright blue and no matter where you go…you sweat. So I put on the fan in the studio and made a few things. It will cool down a bit soon, and then we’ll go out and see what’s happening around town.

Melbourne is a town of 4 million-plus people – there is always something interesting happening on NYE. We are only half an hour by train to the city, where hundreds of thousands of people gather along the river to see fireworks and hit the bard, pubs and clubs of the city. I’m not wanting to be part of the throngs, but it is some great people-watching at this time of year.

So…today I made a few bracelets and a necklace from the new (old) rosary beads I got the other day. They clean up nicely and after a bit of handling, reveal their lovely nacre.

The necklace I made uses a Victorian-era Vulcanite locket – it would have once been a mourning locket and is beautifully made. There is the face of a Grecian lady on the front, and inside I added a mid-1800s tintype of a gracious looking lady. A beautiful silver and paste Art Nouveau piece connects the locket to the rosary chain. I used some of my lovely antique Czech beads – milky satin glass and steely grey bicones.

Gracious Lady

I have had these delightful rhinestone clasps for ages, purchased from the wonderful Dian of Beadtopia Vintage. They are multi-strand clasps and it is often a challenge to work them into a necklace design, but they make great bracelet clasps. Hence these two designs.

Pretty Bracelets

Happy New Year everyone!