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.

The Art Nouveau Brooch

This lovely piece, if not actually from the 1920s, is several decades old and part of some deceased woman's estate.  It is cast brass with copen blue and green cloisonne inserts, interspersed with a number of small blue-green tourmalines around the edge, with a single one in the center, surrounded by rhinestones.  I got this at A Haggle of Vendors (now THERE'S a name for a resale store!), in Grand Junction, Colorado.  My sister, who loves unearthing a forgotten treasure, frequents the place, if not actually haunting it.  (She says, "I sometimes watch Hoarders to keep myself grounded.")  I like this brooch for its departure from my animal bent (in brooches, not behavior).

This brooch is actually quite versatile, since it is such an iconic example of what we think of when we pronounce the word `brooch'.   I have it here on a Ralph Lauren blazer.

The Catfish

This large brooch was made for me as a birthday gift by my friend Deborah Kaspari, the artist.  She specializes in animals, particularly birds, and does painting, drawing, sculpture, and even, as a bit of fun, metalcasting.  This is cast from her own design in the shape of a catfish swimming in swirls of water and pond plants.  It has a little blue glass bead in the filigree at the top.  I feel very lucky to have my own personal one-of-a-kind brooch, especially from someone as skilled (and busy) as Debby.

This brooch is both large and showy, and so needs something substantial to pin it on.  Here I have it on a red dress and jacket outfit.  Just as a little note, Debby has been invited to do a portrait of Gloria Steinem when she visits here next month, and I will attend that event as her guest, probably in this outfit.

The Seahorse

This is a large, glamorous brooch that has a closed bar in back rather than a pin, so one can put it on fine silk scarves without worry.  It is of a cast silvery metal (but not silver) and paved with multicolored crystals and cabochons.  It is from the Painted Door in Oklahoma City, a kitschy gift store that seems to specialize in way over-the-top accessories.  I am not a regular shopper there, but happened to go there with a friend from rural Texas who rarely has any fun at all and was clamoring to do anything not immediately connected with livestock. 

I wear this when I am feeling powerful enough to literally carry it, since it's quite heavy.  Here it is with a finely pleated, block-striped silk scarf from the New York Museum of Modern Art.  The whole look is quite dramatic.

The Orphan

This large angular brooch is made of, I believe, tin with a welded-on brass insert.  It has some raised filigree.  It was actually "dumped" on me, which is why I call it the orphan.  An acquaintance who accumulated lots of random stuff and then regularly got rid of it simply didn't want her brooch any more.  Frankly, I didn't either, but she pressed it on me, and it's not like it was a having to take home a puppy...  The rectilinear aspect and the welded parts are not my taste in jewelry, but it's also my nature to take in strays and make the best of it. 

This brooch is rather hard to wear because of its size, and also because of its lack of cleverness.  I have it here at the throat of a front-zipped chenille sweater.

The Antelope

This sterling antelope is a favorite of mine.  I like the extreme abstraction (a bit like the copper horse) and the heavily textured body, with primitive motifs.  On the back are the initials IHMSS (for Indian Handmade Sterling Silver) and the outline of a butte with the letter E in it.  I wish I had paid more attention to the artist when I bought it -- this seems to have been a bad habit of mine.  I would love to be a supporter of individual artists, and that can only happen when one bothers to find out their names!  I am pretty sure I bought this in a museum store; this is my new favorite venue for handcrafted jewelry (and much else).

This pin is easy to wear, since it's silver, not too big, not too small, and not too funky.  Here it is on a (perhaps) retro velvet gingham vest.