During my vacation this year, I got to meet an old "pen pal", face to face, finally...Joleen and I have been friends for almost 3 years, but had never done more than chat over the phone, or on the Internet, having met through the eBay group we belonged to. We set aside a day to meet and play (she, driving to Denver from her home on the NE plains of CO, in Sterling) - and had the most wonderful time doing it.
Like friends do, we had little gifts for each other - and one of us actually remembered to bring it! Sadly, in the rush to leave Vegas, mine was left behind on the dining room table "staging area". She arrived that day with the most beautiful little blown glass heart and a sterling silver ring, dangling from the daintiest of chains. It is etched along the side with the quote, "Wherever you are it's your friends who make your world..." It will always remind me of her!
As I was driving home that afternoon, it suddenly hit me that I was actually glad I had forgotten her gift (you may be surprised that I actually have friends after that?!). She had commented several times during the day about a necklace I was wearing that I had made, a few years back, from a piece of an antique china platter. I knew that what I had for her at home would never do, once I remembered that I had a piece of the plate left over in my stash. AND, it had Forget-Me-Nots on it...AND it was in blues and greens (she has the bluest eyes). Perfect! This was the starting point...bezeled with sterling silver gallery wire and surrounded by the base of beads.
Ending with a ruffle of beads, an antique button, and various little pearls, crystals, and doo-dads (each of the pendant portions of these, excluding the bail, are 2-1/2" long) - these two pieces could not be more different, while actually coming from the same plate (the one with the pansies is mine, and the one I was wearing that day)! It made this piece even more special to me, as I was working on it, knowing where it was going. Yeah - I'm glad I forgot my original gift and am keeping my fingers crossed that she wasn't just being nice that day (friends do that, you know).
5 comments:
uhhhhhh....speechless! well, not really..but nearly so.
Let me get this straight. You took a broken plate and beaded around it and made this beautiful necklace?
Can you see my head shaking?
GIRL, you're amazing!
z
Wow Tanya!
It blows me away that you can turn a broken piece of china into something so beautiful. The beading is awesome!
Joleen is going to love it!
Those are some stunning pieces of jewelry! You need to get some in your etsy shop, it sounds like people really love this concept, amazing work! Joleen is one lucky little pen pal! Whoo-hoo!
So cool- a gift she will truly treasure!
Sparkly Pink Saturday Hugs,
Tobi and the Pixies!
I wasn't just being nice, I was amazed that such a beautiful necklace came from a broken plate. Her forgetting my gift was the best thing that could have happened, because nothing could be as special to me now as the one she has sent me, and the pictures don't do either of these pieces justice, they are both just amazing, as is the artist that made them!!! I will treasure the necklace and our friendship forever, unlike the plate...it won't be broken!!! Thanks Tanya, your are one in a million and I love you very much...Sister!!!
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