break it down, barbarian style

Barbarian hoard! I've been collecting and shopping for my new earthier version of Victorian tribal- I'm getting roughly 20% Victorian 80% tribal at the moment! Really there's no one accepted term for this stuff- myth and legend, sword and sorcery, D&D, sci-fi fantasy...whatever you want to call it, it's that.

The Victorian element really just comes into it with jewellery style- because the Victorians had a great love of nature, the motifs found in their jewellery lend well to fantasy style pieces.

Here's a run-down of the pieces and what I did to them- if anything:

1. bone connectors from Dinkalulu - I like these because they're hand done, you can see each one is different. The natural colour change of the bone has been left too- usually bone beads are bleached.

2. This is the top from a little stand that held cocktail sticks in the shape of swords. I stuck it in some oxidising liquid but the plating is preventing any real grunge. I've ordered some novacan blacking solution, if that makes it through customs I'll give it a go in that.

3. and 4. gorgeous pendant from lusturousthings. It too has a plating which is resisting my (probably dead) oxidiser. I've done a special grunging technique here that's basically preservation wax, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and then burned with a lighter. Two or three layers of that has given it a little 'I've been in the desert for 150 years' look, but I don't know if the sugar crust will stay. More wax should do the trick!


5. decorative metal brads from a vintage belt. They were super shiny silver, I chucked them in the oxidiser...the backs went nicely rusty, obvious where the plating wasn't! So I lost my temper and grabbed the nearest thing to hand- matt black spray paint. Now the fronts are black and the backs are rusted silver, and they make great hanging charms when their prongs are removed.

6. The metal detail from a massive 1950s button. It was threaded onto a big yellow perspex back, so I pulled it apart and then oxidised it, rusted it, oxidised it again and hammered it flat.

7. cage beads from Dinkalulu - a bit too shiny at the moment but my oxidiser is gone to Heaven, so I'll have to wait till the novacan turns up. They'd be great with torch-fired enamel...

8. Antique escutcheon plate- I was trying to curve it and it just snapped in two, so I've hammered the ends to flatten them. Need more hammering.

9. plastic sew-on gems from the craft shop discount bin. PLASTIC!?! Yeah, I don't usually use it (no matter how much you tell me it's 'lucite') -I have some illogical grudge against it, something about authenticity or whatever. The top one is how they came (aside from me reaming the holes bigger) and the bottom one I covered in copper tape and oxidised in the hope of elevating them from their cheap plastic status. It works.

10. A rusted flattened bottlecap, glued to a Victorian button. The button came to me with it's shank cut off (why would you do that?!?) so I hammered it flat to be a charm. Adding it to the rusted cap gives it a more primitive look.

11. Gorrrgeous vintage Indian pendant from Dinkalulu again. Different stones- lapis, agate, moonstone...no carnelian and that's a plus, because I'm allergic to it. Seriously- I can't touch it at all, it's like holding a low-current electric fence.