Halloween Jewelry for Your Inner Goth

Blasphemy! Lechery! Blood! My jewelry box is crying out for a little death and destruction today, so let's get in touch with our inner goth in honor of the year’s creepiest holiday.

If you worshiped The Cure, wore black in honor of Morrissey’s interminable depression, or call The Nightmare Before Christmas your favorite holiday film, you’re already way ahead of the game. For those of you who need a refresher, here is a doom and gloom jewelry primer.

Cross necklaces are the building block of any Goth girl jewelry wardrobe. No, not the dainty little gold cross you might see on your sweet Aunt Linda. We’re talking large, layered, chunky cross necklaces that are definitely NOT a statement about how ‘devout’ you are.




Skulls: According to the experts at FIT,

“The human skull is the type of object once treasured as a memento mori (a reminder of death), later collected as a scientific specimen, and (is) now ubiquitous as an inspiration for gothic accessories.”

Diamond skulls are my favorite skeletal incarnation, but you can find them in an array of precious metal options.





Spikes: Instrument of death meet jewelry accessory. ‘Nuff said.








Chokers: Necklaces generally fit snug around your neck if you’re a goth princess. Perhaps to protect against your run-of-the-mill vampire or to show off your close relationship to a world without oxygen.








Bats and Spiders: Bats are big these days what with vampire chic taking a bite out of the fashion world, but you can expand the category to include spiders, webs, and any matter of the creepy and the crawly.













Rubies: Blood is big in the underworld, people, and what other gemstone could possibly represent the vampire elixir better than the ravenous ruby. Find them on a cross pendant or a spiked cuff, and you’ll double down on the all-important death and destruction factor.

So whether your true persuasion is uber-angelic or devilishly devious, Halloween is the perfect night to accessorize like it’s going to be your last. In the meantime, I’m off to dig up my Siouxsie and the Banshees concert T and that pesky white foundation.

midnight at the mutter museum ii. / give a way news!!!

this halloween marks the first anniversary of my wedding to my love. we were very lucky to be married at the mutter museum last year on halloween AND the day of the dead, surrounded by the best of friends and the most amazing family. we were even luckier to have such a talented photographer, marie labbancz, that "got" our aesthetic and never judged our ideas. we had shots taken at the laurel hill cemetery, the rodin museum & the mutter museum. we were even featured in philadelphia wedding magazine!

as a last minute gift to ourselves, we booked a mini vacation to san francisco, where we'll be spending halloween. due to this, i'm postponing the revealing of the winner of the self portrait contest, so if you were thinking about entering, you have a few extra days!

the contest will close now on monday night, november 2. some of you have been sending handmade self-portraits, which has been really great & of course will be accepted. send entries to me at jlschnabel@gmail.com. also, you can just leave a comment to this post; just leave a word or two about what you think identity means or an influence you feel something has made on yours, which is something i've been doing all week on here!

& happy halloween!!!!!!!

x

* please please don't use any of these photos*

Diamonds and Dial Tones - The Dior Phone Rules

Jewelry hounds, you all know that I J'adore Dior. So like any Charlize Theron wannabe, I'm falling in love with their latest round of blingy phone products due out just in time for the holidays.

Last year, Dior blew all the other designer phone brands out of the water with their Dior Phone Diamonds (Glorious Black) set with a whopping 641 diamonds, weighing in at 3.251 carats. Not enough bling for you? They threw in 34 black sapphire crystals for good measure for a pricetag of a mere $28 grand (yup, that's three zeroes).


This year, the recession must be affecting their price points since the new diamond phone offerings run from $7900 (red Zelie model) to $13, 400 ((white Zenaide model). No word yet on the carat count, but if you'd rather not have a diamond blingtone, there's a sapphire and gold-plated clamshell option covered in black PVD for $6500.

See? They're being reasonable.

I've already added this little ditty to my Christmas list - but one can apparently only get ones hands on the Dior dazzler by special order - so sharpen those claws and start praying to the fashion gods now. Santa doesn't have quite the pull in this arena.

repels/fascinates iv. abandoned mental asylums/ pilgrim state

"let conversation cease. let laughter flee. this is the place where death delights to help the living"

mental illness is a human condition that i have both romanticized & have been marred by, so my feelings on the issue are highly complex and contradictory. mental asylums, particularly abandoned ones are creepy & fascinating, and seem to bare the essence of the sorrow of its former inhabitants . although i'm sure i could have posted about many other facilities, it is pilgrim state psychiatric center that has haunted me since childhood, being that it exists, in all its decadent splendor, in my home town in long island. opened in 1941, it still, even in its abandoned state, holds the title of being the largest mental institution in the world. it's peak occupancy exceeded 16,000 at one time. although a small percentage of it is still in use, most of it is left empty and ominous. abandoned/haunted architecture is something i obsess over & i feel a closeness to particular buildings, such as the divine lorraine hotel here in philly that i drive by every day on my way to the gallery.

photos via.

x

repels/fascinates iii. taxidermy.

polly morgan.

i'm incredibly repelled and intoxicated by taxidermy. i even feel this way about all the bones i handle when making my jewelry. i have no moral qualms about it, i just get seriously creeped out by it sometimes. (in particular, there is a wild boar head at the restaurant where i work and i stare at it constantly) mostly i think what gets me is the 'head on a mantle' aspect of it. the animal seems desperately out of place & i can't help but look into its glass eyes and wonder what it's last moments were like. however, when taxidermy is done poetically/in the surrealist vein, like by the above uk artist polly morgan, i find beauty in the tragedy of it & am hypnotized.

xo

Sea Foam

The waves came in like wild horses, pawing the sand, snorting and tossing their heads, their manes and tails flying in the breeze. Alison closed her eyes and felt them all around her, prancing, dancing, wild and free.

She was swept up onto the back of a pure white beast; she shivered and trembled uncontrollably as the water swirled around her feet and withdrew, leaving her suddenly bereft and buried to her ankles. Before she could mourn, a new wave came in and carried her away again; it left her buried deeper, and then deeper again.

How long could she stand there before she disappeared entirely?

© 2009 Cynthia Newcomer Daniel

Seed beads, sterling silver, Swarovski crystals and pearls. Hand fabricated.

50 Cent Downsizes Diamonds

Whether your jewelry box is full of costume pieces or icy diamond jewels, the recession is forcing everyone to take stock of their stash with a discerning eye - including hip hop stars. In fact, rich rapper 50 Cent recently confessed that his diamond habit has taken a hit due to these tough economic times (the horror!)

Is he turning in his diamonds in for dollars? Putting the bling away for good business? Hosting gold parties at the mansion? Not really. He's just had to sell some of his old diamonds before buying new ones, according to The London Telegraph. Life's tough.

“The credit crunch has hit rap,” 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, said.

“I buy diamonds on a very regular basis, but now I am selling my old stuff before I get something new. “These are times when you learn about the value of money.”

50 Cent said he has lost "a few milion." in the past year:

“If you don’t lose money in this recession, it means you didn’t have enough to start off with,” Fitty explained. “Sure, I lost a few million, but that’s because I have so much. This is a time that will sort out the strong from the weak."

I'm heart-stricken by his loss.

My sister's treasuries make the front page!

My sister Colette has become quite the treasury maker,
and 2 of them have made the Etsy front page this week!
In the Etsy world this is very exciting. Check out her Etsy shop: rawartletterpress

The Hershey Kiss Meets Diamond Glitz

We jewelry lovers usually pair our diamond fetishes with other decadent delights - say, designer jeans, overpriced shoes, and - of course- chocolate. And lots of it, right? Now, thanks to our friends at Hershey's, jewelry hounds like ourselves have the perfect way to show the world what makes our hearts skip a collective beat.

From Carrie Bradshaw's signature 'Carrie' necklace to Rachel Zoe's panther ring, jewelry has always been used as a way to express our personalities to the world. That's why I'm really digging this little kiss of a jewelry statement - what better way to say you like your life both shiny and delicious?

According to a National Jeweler interview with the Hershey Kiss manufacturer, World Trade Jewelers, more than 400 independent jewelers are carrying the Kiss jewelry line, in addition to a special collection that's sold at Zales. Pricepoints range from the reasonable ($49 for simple sterling silver designs) to the royal ($10,000 for a more diamond-heavy Kiss).

Seal your style with a kiss at Dylan's Candy Bar at 6:30pm tonight in Manhattan if you're in the hood to check out their new designs, or shop here for some lip smacking styles on Jewelry.com through our retail partner Zales.

More custom work

I've been doing a fair bit of custom work lately. Here's the latest, a little compass. I like it so much that I think I will do one for my regular line.

repels/fascinates ii. conjoined twins.

if you've been a long reader of this blog, it shouldn't surprise you that one of my most favorite obsessions is conjoined twins. i use the image of them a lot in my written and visual work, as it makes for an interesting metaphor, rich with hidden meanings. however, the image of them has been something that has fascinated me forever. medical abnormalities in general do this to me, i was even married at the mutter museum last year! to be marred by a difference, to be set against the current of "normal" yet to find ones own normalcy and self within the body of two people is something that interests me to no end.

for some more interesting reading on this subject, please check outauthor alice domuart dreger's book: one of us: conjoined twins and the future of normal.

Another road trip

My boyfriend Kelly had another enduro this weekend (a 100 mile dirt bike race, all on trails in the woods) so we set off for gold country on Saturday morning. We went through Sacramento and then over to Highway 49, stopping in Jackson for a look around and a grocery store. The tiny downtown historic district is absurdly quaint, but it's very crumbly and peeling so it retains quite a bit of charm despite the touristy nature of it.

It's very popular with bikers, who are mostly harmless these days.

I love the colors in this window.

The trees at dusk. It got close to freezing at night, which for us is really cold!

Kelly making pan fried bagels in the morning. They're really good, but NEVER watch how much butter he uses!

While Kelly raced I went for a 6 mile run/walk in the El Dorado national forest. Running is much harder going uphill at 5000' than sea level and flat, hence the run/walk.

This is a weirdly distorted picture of the San Francisco bay at sunset from highway 37. No crashing, injuries or breaking down van this time, so we'll call it a success!

repels/fascinates i. nuns.

shawn barber

denise courtilliot

catholic imagery has always repelled and fascinated me. when something does this, i'm obsessed forever. there's something about nuns in general that reminds me of madness, that devoutness to the unknown seems something so unreachable to me. i'll be posting other things this week, leading up to halloween and the lifting of the veil, that repels/ fascinates me.

x

Ivanka Trump’s Wedding Jewelry Low Down

Ivanka Trump jewelry is all the rage right now – from her stunning cushion-cut diamond engagement ring to her eponymous jewelry line, The Ivanka Trump Collection.

So it comes as no surprise that jewelry mavens like us are darn near apoplectic to find out what kind of diamond bling the lucky bit%@, I mean, lucky bride wore to her wedding this Sunday.

Here are the diamond-filled deets, my hounds:

Ivanka wore three pieces of custom-made platinum and diamond jewels. The first? A platinum mixed-cut diamond hair piece to accent her veil weighing in at 6.38 carats for a mere $45,000.

Next? Tasteful platinum mixed-cut cluster earrlings at 9.67 carats and $130,000. (Click here for diamond clusters like Ivanka’s that don’t have so many price point zeros.)

Finally? A truly stunning art deco fancy link diamond and platinum estate bracelet at 26 carats worth $90,000 that went perfectly with her Grace Kelly-inspired Vera Wang gown.

Her bridesmaids were appropriately adorned in Ivanka Trump Collection diamond jewelry to go with their Carolina Herrera gowns (searching for pics, so stay tuned).

Well-heeled New Yorkers from the publishing, real estate, and jewelry worlds rubbed elbows with the likes of Russell Crowe and Natalie Portman. Ivana mingled with The Donald. Regis mingled with Babs Walters. Oh, to be a fly on the wall…

Before heading back to their important careers and fairytale lives, the newlyweds are going to spend some time honeymooning in Africa. Of course.

What do you guys think of the happy couple and the diamond bling? Weigh in! I thought it was tasteful and non-Trump like. Not too over-the-top at all.

And now back to our regularly scheduled lives....

Week 42-Lampwork and CZ pendants

I took a few days off from jewelry-making this week and it actually felt good to let my self relax and just read a book for a change. But I do have Christmas shows starting in a couple of weeks so yesterday I was back to work. These are made with lampwork beads by Brenda Hynes of Dancing Hedgehog Studio, lots of 26 gauge wire, and a cubic zirconia dangle. Thanks for visiting.

Victoria's Secret Diamond Bra Is Off the Hook

Diamond divas and jewelry hounds? It’s that time of year again. Victoria’s Secret has announced that model Marisa Miller will be the lucky angel to adorn their latest bling-filled B cup (ok, C cup), and the diamond details are as stunning as the pricetag.

We're talking $3 mil, folks. That's a lot of lingerie.

Designed by luxe jewelry house, Damiani, the bra features 2,355 white and cognac diamonds - each one set by hand in a feather outline, one at a time for a total of 150 carats. The centerpiece is a 16-carat heart-shaped champagne diamond (a big diamond color trend for the holiday season - stay tuned).

The detail is admittedly exquisite – with each feather mounted and sewn by hand (if lined up they would cover a distance of 3 feet) using a team of 15 artisans who worked over 800 hours in Damiani's workshop in Valenza, where the company was founded in 1924.

The bra will be featured in the Victoria's Secret Christmas Dreams & Fantasies Catalog in mailboxes starting this weekend. And for all you guys out there this one’s for you:

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show airs Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 10 p.m. EST. on CBS. Set your DVRs, fellas.

(Who am I kidding? This entire post is for you)

New stuff!

I've been busy with new designs! Here are some new tiny necklaces, all available at my Etsy shop. I made all of these using etched brass plates. I take my artwork,print it on to special transfer paper, iron it on to a sheet of brass and then etch it with ferric chloride. I then use these brass plates to imprint the design into my precious metal clay. It's a great technique because I can take any black and white artwork and turn it into silver jewelry.