work in progress...on a plate

sea horses cut from a very old tin and a riveted combo of vintage tin pieces

fairly ready

Renegade tent setup dry run. The real deal happens in three days...and also four days; it's a two-day event.

gamesmanship necklaces for Renegade

antique game pieces from France, vintage rosary chain,
vintage brass and steel chain, antique brass uniform
beads, antique crystal bead, vintage black steel bead

tin riveted to antique yellow-dyed bone game counter, antique
yellow enamel and sterling watch chain, antique turquoise enamel
and brass watch chain, African trade beads, copper heshi beads, vintage
copper leaf bracelet links, antique dog clips from watch chains

the antique swivel dog clip makes this piece reversible

tobacco tin time: plugging my plug pluggers

I've forayed into homemade rivets, attaching tin tobacco tags and the like to tin-can backings cut from a Sunshine Candies container. I'll be selling these goodies at Renegade Handmade (see previous post).

Tin tobacco tags were a promotional tool used circa 1880-1920.
These are all tobacco tags except the feather and the key, which were
promotional pinbacks from Red Feather Services, a forerunner to
the United Way, and a 1947 tourist promotional key that was worn by
teachers and students visiting D.C. and Virginia on spring break.

Sunshine Candies tin cutouts for the backs...or fronts,
however you want to wear them.

According to cigarhistory.info, "A key strategy in the war for market supremacy was the offering of  household items as premiums in exchange for tags.  The man who couldn’t afford to buy his wife a set of silver-plated tableware, might be able to accumulate the 500 tags necessary to get six Rogers knives and forks for free." Like S&H Green Stamps!

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RENEGADE HANDMADE

I'll be selling my wares at the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles on July 28 & 29.

Where? 1245 North Spring Street, adjacent to
Chinatown and Dodger Stadium.  FAQ!

Per Renegade, here's what's happening: "We’re finishing up the West Coast leg of our 2012 RCF summer tour with the 4th Annual Renegade Craft Fair Los Angeles on July 28+29 from 11am-7pm both days, at the Los Angeles State Historic Park! Get ready for hundreds of today’s best indie crafters, hands-on workshops, music, food trucks, booze + oh so much more.  As always, our favorite free-to-use photobooth will be in full effect, and DJs from KXLU will be spinning our crafting + shopping soundtrack.  Attendees can help LA’s four-legged friends find a forever home with Second Acts Animal Rescue. We’ll also have several of LA’s finest food trucks on hand!

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many metals, many years

New necklace: Victorian enamel and cut-steel button mixes it up with 1940s TWA DC-3 pin from a Stetson Stratoliner. Metals are mixed, too: brass and nickel silver chains and plane; and steel and pinchbeck (an alloy of copper and zinc that shines like gold) on the button. Two links from an antique watch chain accent the neck. Delicate brass-beaded rosary chain holds the twin-engine craft. That bitty plane makes me happy to no end.

wild blue yonder

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on ivory, feathers and animal bits as ornamentation

"The Bull Leaper" 15th-century ivory figurine from the palace of Knossos, Crete

I worry about offending people, which is the reason I hesitate to use anything that even looks like old ivory. I mean, really, to say that it's pre-ban ivory doesn't make it okay; an elephant killed for its pieces is still a murdered elephant. Unless you've been desecrating an elephant graveyard or finding the actual skeleton itself. I guess if I'm walking the savannah and trip over a tusk, I could use that tusk without guilt.

I've sometimes questioned the acceptability of using of items depicting circus elephants. I don't think most captive, trained animals are happy.

And what about bones? Are they okay? I purchased some old ivory piano keys, intending to try my hand at scrimshaw.

Also, I'm reluctant to incorporate feathers in my pieces. Where are they coming from? I did find an already road-killed pheasant on a trip a couple of years ago, so I can use its feathers without guilt.