She Sells Seashells

 

The Story of Some Frozen Charlottes, Chrome Seashells, and a Glass Funnel

All of which were glitzed!

We are ready for our close-up, Mr. DeMille!

The story begins with a challenge to copy-cat some glitz from Z Gallerie.  (Notice the French spelling - prices always are steep when that happens!)

Then post your project on Monday, July 23rd.  (Click on the button at the end of this post for details.  You probably are hiding some glitzy little thing from a past post in your closet.)

This is my second project.  It started with a vintage glass funnels.  I have a thing for funnels - mostly tin ones, but I acquired this one several years ago.  It comes in handy in vignettes around the house.  I took a picture of the funnel in the condition it was in when I took it down from the top of a cupboard.  You may have cute dust bunnies, but I have dust monsters.  I did clean the funnel before using it along with the Frozen Charlottes, shells painted chrome, bead wire, and some images from The Graphics Fairy. (Seashells , of course)

In the end I did mot use this tag - just the ones of large shells, and I used a smaller gauge bead wire.

Frozen Charlottes are from the Thuringia region of Germany made from 1860 to 1900.  As they were fired, any defected ones were tossed into ditches in the back of the factories.  Several years ago people were invited to dig up these little treasures.  They are all flawed in some way - this group is mostly torsos- and range in size from 1/2 inch to 4 inches tall.  They are wonderful in art projects, jewelry, and just sitting around looking pretty.  I purchased mine from a German collector who actually dug them - he has thousands.  I sell them on my eBay site zoeyfeb98 about twice a month.

I used a metallic taupe glaze on the black and white shell tags.  I spray painted the shells with Rust-Oleum chrome.  I wired the dolls and the shells with small loops in the back.

A closer view of the wired shells and dolls.

I cut a long strand of the bead wire and threaded first the shell tag, then the shell, then the doll. I twisted this section so it would not slide down the wire and repeated this step three more times.  

I wrapped the ends of the wire around the neck of the funnel and twisted closed.

I know you should never have an even number of objects, but I could not get three to fan out the way I wanted and five were too long and overpowering for the funnel.

So there is the glitzy glass funnel with chrome shells and Frozen Charlottes. Thus the title "She Sells Seashells".  I have displayed it here on purple tissue paper, but I plan to move it to the mantel. This adornment of my favorite funnel is not permanent - I can easily slip off the dolls and shells.

I am almost through with my last glitz project - it's a weird one!  Be sure to come back!

See y'all!

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