Blog

We're just back from the Pacific Northwest, where we saw the eclipse, did a tradeshow and visited family with our daughter.   Being a handmade, family-operated business can be a real challenge when faced with the global marketplace. It was delightful that our work was voted best new product at the Seattle Gift Show!

Our new Antique Button Teardrop Jewelry is perfect for modern brides with vintage style. We have a selection of beautiful buttons cast in recycled, ethically sourced bronze and sterling silver - available in a variety of gemstones and crystals to match any wedding colors.    

Art Deco style, with symmetrical lines and geometric pattens, is a modern look that emerged from the Jazz Age. This Modern style combined bright colors with metallic chrome, first popularized Paris International Exposition of Decorative Arts in 1925. The event signaled a move away from soft flowery Victorian and Edwardian fashion into strong, angular, modern wear for women. The fair took place in 1925 in Paris from April to October, with designer Jeanne Lanvin as a major artistic contributor.  We tend to think about Women's liberation as political and economic. Fashion is intimately involved. Art Deco fashion came without the physical...

The story of automatons is one of engineering, politics and artistry. These mechanical creatures, made to emulate the movement of living things, were at their high point in the late 1700s, a time when Europe was full of automatons entertaining royalty, teaching moral lessons to citizens, raising philosophical questions and even fomenting revolution.  Automatons were masterpieces of engineering and art. Mechanical wonders that conjured up something bigger than the sum of moving parts. These spectacular creations were made possible by innovations in precision engineering. In the Middle Ages, mechanical clockwork was invented - it was a technology was formed that allowed...