Vintage Coin Purse Necklace...A Tutorial!

Hi Sweeties...

Have y'all been LOVIN your summer as much as I have??

I know some of you are in very HOT places, which makes it not as fun...

but I live in a place that is so often COLD,

the Warmth of Summer is a welcome change!

I have a true love affair with little, vintage leather coin purses!

I could NEVER have TOO many of them, there are so many endless

ideas of  charming things to do with these adorable Victorian gems.

I've made necklaces out of them, which I adore, but recently I was thinking

about the purses women wore attached to their waist with a decorative

belt clip or chatelaine. They are so Simple & Sweet, I just

wanted to make one, so I did!

This is a really EASY DIY piece, that requires very little technique or supplies.

Prior to doing anything else, I added a small tintype & cast, repo metal frame

with some E6000 adhesive & let dry completely over night. I have added this

on to the leather of a vintage coin purse & the metal lid, both work perfectly.

With the lid open, you can see a space right next to where the hinge connects

the lid to the leather, that's wear you will attach either a large jump ring or

hand wire a double ended connector. {which is what I did} You can then

open the end of any length of chain you desire & attach it to both of your

jump rings or connectors. Tie a bit of sari silk through one of the jump

rings & VIOLA...you have a great little vintage necklace or waist coin

purse. Now depending on how much knowledge you have in jewelry

making, you can just open up your chain in a few different places

& add some beads & bobbles as you please!

Easy Peasey!!!

Here's one I made into a long necklace. The main difference with this one is that I

only used 1 connection on the corner of the coin purse, so it would hang

at an angle. LOVE THESE!!!

Before women actually carried purses, they wore a chatelaine...

a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of chains

suspended from it with accessories, like a watch or thimble or scissors.

I would definitely hurt myself with something like this around my waist! ;)

So, I'm now looking for a cool vintage belt hook like the ones above, to

hold my coin purse at my waist. Won't it be soooo cute with my

Magnolia Pearl top & rolled up jeans??

No matter what or when, you can't separate a woman from her purse...

without it, where would we put all of our crap??

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial & give it a try, I bet you'll love them

just as much as I do!!!

XOXO

vintagesusie

My Finished Soldered Necklace & More

Hey Sweeties, Happy Hump Day!!!

Today's the day of the big reveal...

the finished product of my 1st soldered necklace & even I must say,

I LOVEY IT!

It may actually be worth all the aggravation

of soldering! ;)

Don't you just love my little civil war girl's grumpy face?
She reminds me of Shirley Temple for some reason.

Something I DO enjoy doing, is hand-wiring together crystal beads.

When done with an annealed steel, they have the look

of a vintage rosary...Heavenly. 

Now, being that I am the Queen of SPOONIN,

I had to add a vintage spoon to the mix.

I chose one that is very close to my heart,

a souvenir spoon from

Long Beach, Ca where I was born.

I also added a small vintage brooch as a chain connector.

I love that this piece is just as beautiful on the back, as on the front.

My antique ledger paper I got from The French Larkspur

is perfect with it's 1855 date showing.

I have to tell you though, it was very hard for my to cut something

that was so old. I only know that I will cherish each little piece

& put it only in my art projects that will be loved & treasured.

And how cool is it that on the back of my favorite spoon
the date is marked 1917. This truly is an heirloom necklace.

So overall soldering is still a struggle for me, but I've found that

the end result can be worth every burnt finger &

swear word I had to go through to get here. 

Now in contrast to soldering,
making these cute little vintage coin purses into necklaces is easy

& so much fun. Since I adore tintypes, I just include them to

everything I make these days. They add that touch of the past

that really brings your piece to life!

I LOVE copper!

I love the patina it gets with time

I had a fabulous antique copper skeleton key that I used as a

chain connector for this necklace & I added a bit of

chain with an old Pepsi Cola coin dangling from it.

It worked perfectly as it is an old coin purse, right.

I even made a pair of matching earrings with a couple of metal

elements I got at Round Top from Sandy Schor. I swear,

his booth alone calls me back to Texas!

The set together...

too bad I didn't notice that the key was

backwards when I took the picture. :)

All in all, this past week has been full of creativity.

I've tried my hand at techniques that scare me,

I've learned about the concept of wabi sabi,

I've embraced the beauty of imperfection,

& I know as with all things,

I will only get better with practice.

Patience Grasshopper, patience.

XOXO

vintagesusie