The components I use to
make jewelry are so small that I
need magnifying glasses to see them clearly. Often they will jump off my bench and fall into the void of
my workspace, never to be found again or only appear when I'm searching on my
hands and knees with a flashlight.
This drives me crazy at
times, but I love Tiny Things.
Last week my assistant, Jen, and I were reminiscing about our love for
all things tiny. How did this
start? Surprisingly, we could both
trace our fascination back to our first dollhouses. One of my earliest
obsessions occurred when I accompanied my mother on her weekly grocery shopping
and noticed a toy high atop a shelf on an aisle, prior to Christmas of
1959. This was the original
"Dream Kitchen" and came with a working dishwasher and a total of 176
pieces. It included tiny steaks,
plates, pots, pans and canned goods.
I repeatedly tortured my mother until it arrived that Christmas. I began to create a secret dollhouse in
a cabinet in my bedroom where I made curtains and doll clothes with my tiny
crank Singer sewing machine. I
would work on my cabinet of curiosities endlessly until my mother would come in
and force me to go outdoors, into the sunlight. But I preferred my dollhouse, much as I prefer the time
spent in my studio today.
This is a dollhouse to top
all doll houses. Fairy Castle was
commissioned by silent movie actress Colleen Moore in 1928 and now resides in
the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. It took many years and countless
artisans to create this masterpiece:
with its 500-year-old ornaments, pure gold and diamond encrusted
chandeliers, it boasts a great hall, a princess's bathroom and a well-manicured
courtyard.
Here is my "Girlie
Necklace". It features all
charms that reference the pin-up girl theme. While I do not often work in non-precious or costume
jewelry, I couldn't resist it when I saw these charms. The small binoculars are viewable with
a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge. There's a pink-gold plated
"Playboy" locket, an expanding cellulose fan with nudie girl pictures
and a small disk that rotates viewable girlie pics… The little book expands
with picture postcards of Somerset.
It is made of copper with silver accents and is truly one-of-a-kind.
The wonders of a Tiny World
are infinite: zoom in and you'll
see!