Vintage Redux

Brenda Schweder will show you how to use fun finds and collectibles in modern jewelry pieces that work with today’s fashions and reflect your unique personality. More than 30 projects featuring a variety of traditional and unique pieces show you a multitude of design possibilities.

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Author: Brenda Schweder
Softcover; 8 1/2 x 11; 96 pages; 350 color photos; ISBN: 9780871162663

Brenda Schweder is the author of the books Junk to Jewelry and Vintage Redux and has contributed to BeadStyle, Bead&Button and Art Jewelry magazines as well as many of Kalmbach’s other special issues, compilations and booklets. Contact her via e-mail at b@brendaschweder.com, or visit her Web site, brendaschweder.com.

Introduction
What Is Vintage, Really? 8
What Not to Redux: Collectible vs. Redux-able 8
How to Use This Book 9
Cleaning, Repairing, and Storing Jewelry 9
How to Redux: What Makes Jewelry Up-to-Date? 10
A Re-Stringing Project 12

New Order Redux
The Ol’ Switch-arooni: A Brooch Makes a Magical Conversion to a Necklace 16
Mr(s). T: An Eighties Gold Chain Collection Gets Baubled 18
The Owl and the Pussycat Fish: Articulated Necklaces Go from Kitsch to Cute 20
Ring-let: Costume Rings Link Up to Build a Bracelet 22
A Ribbon Runs Through It: An Eighties Chain Splits to Form Two Mixed-Media Bracelet Combos 24
Fantastic Plastic and Elastic: A Plastic Link Bracelet Tells It’s Time for Fun 26
Mod Squad: Basic Cuffs Blossom with a Collection of Flower Pins 28
Steppin’ Stones: A Contemporary Plaque Necklace Rocks Out to a New Groove 30
A Necklace with Fili Pedigree: A Filigree Pendant Stars in a Collage-y Show 32
So Stilletto: Great Eighties Earrings Click (Clip-on) Your Heels 34
Chandelearring: A Silvery Teardrop Earring Pair Says “Chandelier,” Literally 36
Plastic with a Twist: A Faux-Bakelite Necklace Tangles with Nuts and a Melon (Clasp) 38
A Few of My Favorite Things: A Mix of Materials and Origins Tie Together in a Cream-Colored Theme 40
Mona Lisas’ Smiles: A Graduated Cameo Necklace Exhibits Its Own Five-Woman Show 42
Bombastic Plastic: A Few Already Re-done Necklaces Get Redux Part Two 44
Comment Dit-On “Purse” en Français? (How Do You Say “Purse” in French?): A French Embroidered Purse Comes Full Bloom 46
The Amazing Technicolor Dream Necklace: Colored Gemstones Congregate for a Zealous (Jealous?) Neckpiece 48
Danish Anyone?: A Danish Pendant Is Treated to a New Life 50
Newfangled Old Bangles: An Old Set of Bangles Gets a New (Jump Ring) Twist 52
The New Definition of Studly: Plastic Bangles Get a Studded Face-lift 54

Unexpected Redux—Vintage Collectibles Become Jewelry
One Buckle, Two Buckle, Three Buckle, Four ...: A Belt Buckle Collection Teams Up to Become a Necklace or Belt 58
Very Millinery Berry: Millinery Berries Cluster in a Chic Choker 60
Curtain Call: A Chandelier Prism Duet Debuts as Earrings 62
With a Click of Her Heels: A Rhinestone Shoe Buckle Finds a New Home as a Bracelet 64
Cape(d) Crusader: Cape Closure Sinks to a New Low as Belt Buckle 66
A Change Will Do It Good: A Lovely Thimble Gets a Second Chance at a Happy Ending 68

Heirloom Redux—Sentimental Pieces Kept Close
Really Scary Pearls: Heirloom Pearls Scare Up a (Temporarily) Frightening Look 72
Caught in Time: A Vintage Watch Charms Now More Than Ever74
Getting Pinned: A Pretty Pin Is Housed in a Tapestry of Ribbon76
Pass It On: A Traditional Swiss Costume Button Fastens onto a Bracelet 78
Classy Ring: A High School Ring is Reclassified 80
The Dad Piece: A Bolo Focal Piece Turns Heirloom Bracelet 82
Regifting—It’s Good to Be Me!: A Cloisonné Necklace Gets Clipped (in a Good Way) . 84

Inspirational Redux—
A Gallery of Work by Inspiring Artists 86
Techniques 92
How Do You Know If Things Are Old?: An Interview with Merilyn Lauria, proprietress, A Wrinkle in Time 94
About the Author 95

By Cindy Gimbrone (http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/)

How much dust has collected on the jewelry grandma gave you? It's time to pull it out and upcycle it. How you ask? Enter author Brenda Schweder who has the answer for you in her new book, Vintage Redux: Remake Class and Collectible Jewelry. Schweder begins by defining vintage and what is collectible versus "redux-able." There's a section on cleaning, repairing and storing jewelry that I found particularly useful. A re-stringing project at the very beginning gets you in the frame of mind to remake jewelry.

Next are the projects organized into three major categories, New Order Redux, Unexpected Redux and Heirloom Redux. New Order Redux includes projects where vintage is remade into modern pieces. Unexpected Redux shows the reader how to use vintage buckles, buttons and even a cape closure and make them into accessories. Heirloom Redux adds modern designs to your heirlooms without altering your treasure. The "Classy Rings" heirloom project using 1940's high school rings for a bracelet was a favorite.

I love the possibilities Vintage Redux opens up for using art beads! One of my favorite projects is "Mod Squad" - you could substitute the large flower pin with an art bead and make a modern bracelet. You could use several art beads instead of the cameos in the"Mona Lisas' Smile" project. Schweder has written a very versatile book! You can take your stash of art beads and combine it with you stash of grandma's beads and the possibilities to upcycle and create an original piece of art jewelry are endless!

-Jean Yates at http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/
Let's face it! In this day and age, we don't have a penny to spare. When this simple fact is combined with our newfound interest in repurposing jewelry "finds" from earlier times, such as the era of the nineteen fifties for example, you come up with a winner of a book: Vintage Redux by Brenda Schweder. Brenda Schweder is a writer and designer who often appears in BeadStyle Magazine, Bead and Button, Art Jewelry, and other Kalmbach publications. That is nothing to sniff at, as those are some of the greats in the industry! There a reason she has such appeal: her approach to making jewelry, and in this particular book, "remaking" jewelry by using pieces which have lived earlier lives in different forms, is clever and never forced or facile. She is able to take a piece of jewelry which is almost impossible to imagine as anything but what it started out to be, for example a high school class ring, and make it into a clasp for a glamorous bracelet ("Classy Ring"), with an appropropriate toggle bar which suits the nature of the design to perfection. I found some of her pieces used color in a way which I never personally choose...and yet I respected every piece which she created in the book. Why would this be? Because she makes sense with each item she redesigns. So what if I am not a brown girl, or a deep red girl, or a coral girl? I was able to LEARN something from each project! Additionally, there was plenty I certainly did like and even love! Items I was attracted to in particular were, for example, "With a Click of Her Heels" a fantastic, "luxe" cuff bracelet which the designer made from a rhinestone shoe buckle. With its background of wide black velvet ribbon, I coveted this sparkling bauble! As a jump ring maniac, I also admired the "Newfangled Old Bangles"! These are a set of five 1950's silver bangles from Mexico, each one different, which get the jump ring and charm treatment by Brenda. What an instant update! Really easy and really great! The author knows her vintage, too. Just take a quick look at the interview she conducts with her pal Merilyn Lauria, who sells costume and vintage jewelry. I have never been so enlightened by two people discussing vintage costume jewelry in my life. Absolutely fascinating stuff, even if you think you know a bit about the greats in the costume jewelry industy! Learn, learn, learn from this book! I had a ball studying the incredibly clever manner in which she used buckles, chandelier parts, a resin filled pocket watch and a bell pull (this was a project she did with a friend and called "Monk's Timespiece"--really nice), berry clusters which came from a millinery store circa 1910, which she remade into the focus of a pretty choker, a thimble which became the pendant in a project called "A Change Will Do It Good", and many others, all fun to see, study, and to examine. This is a fascinating and unique book. If you have a hip jewelry designer in the family, or you want to BE a hip jewelry designer, check this book out! I would say that the push toward unique inspiration alone which you will get from this book, Vintage Redux, by this highly intelligent and charming designer, Brenda Scheweder, makes it worth purchasing, learning from, and enjoying!