Vintage Beaded Bag - Totally Blog-worthy!

I found this at my local thrift store for $1.98 today. Naturally I snatched it before anyone else could. No thought required. It's perfect inside and out. Not a bead missing, no yellowing on the silk lining, original Hong Kong label, frame in excellent shape, clasp perfect, strap perfect. I couldn't believe it and since I do a lot of beading, I felt this purse was blog-worthy. If anyone who sees this post can identify the age for me, I'd be grateful. I'm thinking 30's-40's.

Everything's an Embellishment

I started collecting vintage jewelry when I was in my early 20's. By the time I hit my early 40's, I was selling it online. I have tons of it. Don't throw any of it away. Clasps, settings, components - almost all parts of vintage jewelry, particularly if it's ornate, can be used elsewhere. You can do a lot with it to make it new and different. I took a floral component from an old broken vintage necklace, cut the attachment ends off either end - I used a jeweler's saw, because this is soft base metal, but you can use a rotary tool, and sometimes, if it's soft enough, just use your snips.

I filed the edges smooth - I did it by hand, using jeweler's files and sandpaper, but if you have a rotary tool, you could do it in a jiffy by simply grinding the rough edges until they are flush with the piece and then using a finer abrasive to smooth and polish.

Then the fun began! I changed the color of it using Alcohol Ink. The inks I choose to use are Tim Holtz's Adirondack Alcohol Inks and for purposes of simply showing you what it can do, I chose Cranberry, since it would show the complete difference in look.

Below is what the piece originally looked like:

And this is what it looks like after applying Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Cranberry. I just swabbed it on using a felted stamp applicator. It needs another coat and I'll have to use a small wrapped toothpick (or you can wrap the end of a file in felt) to get to the inside edges. This is simply for demonstration purposes, so it's not as neat and tidy as I'd normally do it:

It took about 30 seconds. It's dry, and it's permanent. I'll probably spray it with some Krylon Make it Last! just to give it a nice scratch-proof finish and to seal it, just in case.

Easy peasy. You can do this on any of your metal findings - change the color if you don't like it. If you need something to match beads, or a scrapbook entry, or something pretty for a notecard, recycle! Use found objects, broken jewelry, or anything you might just toss in the trash.

I'll post some more of my color-changes later today.