We end at the beginning: The Mittens

When I started my blog, I talked about the very first pin I remember from my toddlerhood, a delicate pair of tiny hand-knitted mittens that my mother wore on her winter coat.  While I was visiting my mother this past summer, I mentioned my little brooch project and my original inspiration.  My mother collects very little jewelry; her lifetime acquisitions are held in a tiny jewelry box more suited for a child.  But she seemed to think she might still have this one item, though she had not worn it for decades.  We went to look, and there, in perfect condition, was the precious little "brooch" I remembered.

I suspect that the high quality of this knitting, including the wee thumbs and the miniature black contrasting dots and trim would be unimaginable in a modern product.  This is literally from the late 1940s.  Now I have to persuade my mother to start wearing it again!  And to let me inherit it!

This brings my little blog to an end.  It was kind of you to follow along, and I certainly had fun doing something I would never have come up with on my own.

The Dragonfly

This is my latest acquisition.  It is in the style, again, of the Art Nouveau movement, but it is new.  It is by one of the designers in the David Howell company and supports the American Craft Museum.  It is solid brass electroplated with silver and then enameled.  Apparently the dragonfly was a recurring motif on most of the Art Nouveau craft forms, from porcelain to accessories.  I got this at the Fred Jones Museum of Art in Norman.

This nice little pin gives a lovely burst of color to nearly anything, and it has various degrees of luminosity depending on how the light hits it.  I particularly like to wear it with clothes that are gray.  I have it here on a charcoal belted wool sweater.

The Amethyst Stickpin

This is another old pin, age uncertain but from someone's estate and in the Art Nouveau style. It has a very deeply colored round amethyst in the center, with four rhinestones along the body.  I'm not sure what metal is used.  It is very finely wrought with tiny beading along the edges and larger beads on the surface.  I got it at A Haggle of Vendors, that sublimely named store in Grand Junction (with my collector sister urging me on).

Because this pin is so clearly from another era, I like to put it on a forties-style hat.  (I am mad for 40s fashion, including shirtwaist house dresses with cap sleeves and platform shoes, and certainly wool coats and fedora and cloche hats.)  So I have it here on the crown of a taupe wool shaped hat.  It is placed on a sculpture of a woman's head, done years ago by another sister.  I use this head sculpture, which is next to my fireplace, to hold my hats.  I hope it's not too disrespectful.

The Amber Lobster

This amusing brooch is in the shape of a lobster, made of silver with big amber cabochons for the body segments and eyes.  It was given to me a few years ago by a student, who wished to remain anonymous.  It came with this handwritten note:  "Here we are trapped in the amber of the moment.  There is no why."  -- Kurt Vonnegut.

But the student didn't remember that I see handwriting throughout their academic careers and can't help but remember particular styles.  Plus, only certain students are going to wax philosophical.  So I successfully guessed her identity, and she eventually acknowledged it.  I can't help but think that the quote was a reference to those that I hang on my office door each semester.

Even though the brooch is fairly big, it doesn't overwhelm.  I have it here on one of my winter coats.

The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

This is a typical member of my collection:  a sterling silver bird, this one a scissor-tailed flycatcher, Oklahoma's state bird.  The impressive features of this pin are the wide and nicely articulated wingspan and the long, long tail feathers.   I got it at the gift shop at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.  Plenty of others shop there as well; for the first time, I saw another woman wearing a copy of a piece of jewelry I own.  I sucked it up.

This pin is fun and easy to wear because it's catchy but not too fussy or too heavy. I have it here on a very old (ain't sayin' how old) copen blue velvet jacket by Givenchy (who's probably dead by now).  Notice how the tail feathers reach past the edge of the lapel.

The Stained Glass Butterfly

This is a very special brooch, a delicate piece of metalwork and stained glass.  The butterfly's head and body are made of glass beads, and the legs and antennae of wire.  It's not easy to capture how beautifully the tiny glass panes capture the light.  My husband gave this to me as an anniversary present.  I'm sure he got it at the Fred Jones Art Museum gift shop (the one I recommended!).  He wasn't able to keep from telling me that "it cost a lot of money."  (NB:  This is why I was right to marry him instead of the one who re-gifted a brooch he'd picked up in Japan.)

This brooch is both big and delicate, so I wear it when I don't think I'll be smashing into things or having to wear a coat on top of it.  One of my favorite ways to wear it is on this Ralph Lauren velvet jacket, in an Edwardian style.

The Llama

Another of my many animal pins.  This one is a llama, made of cast pewter.  It has a nice piece of carnelian set into it to depict a blanket.  The pewter is literally cast with the gemstone embedded in it.  It is from Peru, but the artist is unknown.  Like many of my pins and brooches, I got it at a museum store -- the Fred Jones Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.  (Check this one out:  they get good stuff in all the time.)  One reason I like this pin is because I visited Peru many years ago and had brought back several different llama items -- the locals know that tourists are mad for llamas.  I like the profound simplicity of the design, especially its right angles.

This pin is easy to wear, demure and the right size for many outfits.  Here it is on a little turquoise short-sleeved cardigan.