The Beading Gem

Did you know body chain jewelry isn't new? Body chains date back to antiquity (see historical section below). In the past, body chain jewelry wasn't just a statement of wealth. These pieces adorned what were then simple tunics.  They gave some refinement to what were otherwise loose fitting garments.

Arachnophobes rejoice!  These clever spider web jewelry tutorials do not feature the 8 legged creatures!  These designs are definitely a change from the usual Halloween designs.  The first one is called Caught in the Web by Pattie Wilkinson over on  the iLove to Create blog (Update : tutorial no longer available)

Do you remember how little kids (and their parents) loved their temporary tattoos?  Well, they are back and have been blinged out just for adults.  The metallic, non-toxic jewelry inspired faux tattoos from Flash Tattoos are perfect for  the beach or for a special occasion.

But this Mexican mother of 4 and tattoo artist is not the sort of person you'd like to encounter at night...at least not with a cross pendant and garlic bulbs on hand.  That's because she is known as the Vampire Woman.

Safety Pin Bling
Part 2 of 2

Safety pin jewelry for men
Safety pins in jewelry designs are not a new idea. Think Tom Binns and you'll know what I mean. But safety pins by themselves and geared for just men turned up in a spectacular photo shoot recently. The punk style spread entitled ‘Flex Your Head appeared in the Japanese magazine, SENSE's July 2010 issue.

The photographer Junji Hata and the fashion director Tomiki Sukezane tried to create a tough look with the black and white pictures and black clothes. But somehow I found the pompadour hairstyles to be a distraction from the macho image. Perhaps had I grown up in the 1950's, my view might be different!

Some innovative couples have found a novel way to declare their love and seal their marriages. Instead of buying rings which could be lost and cost money to boot, they are getting rings tattooed instead! Skin rings could also be substitutes until the couple can afford rings. For safety reasons, real rings are also not a good idea for anyone working in construction or with machinery.

In the past, people used to have their wedding date engraved on their rings. Now some people ink it in on skin! Surely the tattoos which put a smile on my face is the "I do" and "Ditto" pair!



Tattoos require a strong commitment to each other for they are not easy to remove. Many people including celebrities have gone the tattoo route only to have to ditch them when their relationships floundered.

The best known ring tattooed celebrity is the inflatable Canadian born blonde bombshell Pamela Anderson who had to have her ring tattoo initially changed from "Tommy" to "Mommy" after she divorced Tommy Lee, the much tattooed Motley Crue drummer (both shown above).

Other celebrity mistakes when love flitted away involved much larger arm tattoos. Johnny Depp had to modify his "Winona Forever" on his arm to "Wino Forever". Best yet, Angelina Jolie had her Billy Bob Thornton (and dragon) tattoo erased and replaced with new ones showing the geographic coordinates of the birthplaces of her children. She may have had the laser removal but you can still see the faint traces of the dragon.

Via,Via and Via

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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Magazine Success
Part 1 of 2
As many of you know, I like to design chain maille jewelry. However what I do pales in comparison to the innovative, one of a kind hip chain jewelry creations by LitterSF, an online store based in San Francisco. It was opened earlier this year by two designers MacKenzie and Rachael who are sisters. In a very short period of time they've managed to capture plenty of online attention as well as made it into a recent issue of ELLE magazine.

The designs which first caught my eye were their signature shoe jewelry where their anklets also complimented the shoes as "pumped" up walking bling. Shoes with killer heels look really sharp (in both senses of the word) with chains looping underneath the soles. What's also different about their design concept is the strong focus they put on the front of the feet (above right) like for necklaces.

That's just for starters. They create jewelry from head to toe and for unusual body parts. Their head jewelry reminds me of Indian style jewelry.



They not only do necklace earrings but head-earring combinations too :



Their unusual duos continue with this ear cuff and tassel pair of earrings :



Moving down the body, they cover the arm with chain shoulder pieces as well as elbows!!



I found their chained double rings clever. But some of you will probably be leery of wearing such chains in case you catch them on something while waving your hands around.



They call this (below left) style of body chain, harness jewelry. The one piece that took days to complete is the vintage brass chain maille affair (below right):



Young enough to still wear mini-skirts? Then take a look at their thigh and knee jewelry!



Have they missed any body part they can put a chain to?

Via

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Part 2 of 2
New ways with chain
Actually body chain jewelry is not new - see my past post on an archaelogical find, the Hoxne Hoard . But one artisan who has really becoming known as a stellar body chain designer is Bliss Lau. I first featured her in my past post on Clothes with Built-in Jewelry which showcased her Diamond Dress inspired by the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Shown on the left is her LoveTriangle Dress. It reminds me of the body chain from the Hoxne Hoard.

Bliss Lau is half Chinese and half Irish. She was raised in Hawaii and educated in New York city. She has a degree in apparel design and actually started out with handbags before changing over to her distinctive style of body jewelry.

Her talent comes from her ability to design in 3-D and to deploy traditional garment draping techniques so she can "reshape and enhance the most beautiful and forgotten parts of the body." Her inspiration comes from history, the study of Hawaiian culture, corsets, armor and as I mentioned, even the Brooklyn Bridge. Certainly "her approach to design and accessories without boundaries" is highly commendable and inspirational. Too often artisans restrict their own creativity because they are too rigid in how they approach design.

Here are my favourites. Her Diamond Top (different from her Diamond Dress) for women can be worn in three different ways.



Her Torrent for men shows at least four different ways to wear it.



You can purchase her designs on through her website and at specialty retailers in the US and Japan.

Via

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Image by George Gastin via Wikipedia

I didn't think anyone could possibly add any more piercings to the human body than Brazilian born Elaine Davidson . However, the world's most metal jewelry adorned woman is now up to 6,005 piercings as of February 2009.

That's considerably more than the 462 she had back in 2000 when she was awarded the title by the Guinness Book of Records. Of the 6,005 piercings, more than 1,500 are internal - you'll have to use your imagination to figure out where they might be. All that jewelry weighs an estimated 3 kg or more than 6 lbs!!

Davidson actually doesn't enjoy being pierced but she wanted to break the record. At the rate she is going, nobody is going to catch up any time soon. She says "People often just want to look at me or touch me - some even want to kiss me". She never removes her jewelry and thus sleeps with it all on. Once a nurse, Davidson not surprisingly now owns her own body piercing, tattoo and aromatherapy shop in Edinburgh, Scotland.


 The video below was made in 2008. You can see more photos of this unusual lady here.
Related post: Body Jewelry in Strange Places



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Have you been wearing lovely jewelry for formal get-togethers over the holiday season? Or even now plotting what to wear for a New Year's Eve party? Here's one glamour product that popped up on the internet - stick on jewelry for grown ups! NEWD is an Italian jewelry design firm selling these Skin Jewels which you can peel and stick just about anywhere and I mean anywhere. As they said on their website, it is a "wireless world of freedom" but they forgot to mention underwire boosts!



There are five collections - GOLD, SILVER, MY BONES, MY STONES and FASHION. There are both precious metal as well as plated pieces. The stones collection features real gemstones or coloured Swarovski crystals.



The company's research division developed Skin Touch, a new adhesive which is non-toxic and non-allergenic. It is very easy to apply. I wish they would sell sheets of this stuff because I could see a lot of people including jewelry artisans who could use it for designs like brooches which can thus be applied without pins or chains.



NEWD in colloboration with Irene Pivetti also launched the Learn to be Free charity project which promotes the culture and professional training of young people from developing cultures. The proceeds from two of their collections, the MY BONES and MY STONES, go towards scholarships for deserving young people who otherwise would not be able to get a proper education.



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My highly conventional ear lobe piercings are just fine by me. But I sometimes really feel my age when I learn about new ways to puncture your body. Some time ago I discovered there were 9 places on your ears you could pierce and that there were names for them too. My past blog post has the scoop.


Ear piercings are pretty tame today. We've all seen the belly button, nose and eyebrow varieties but I bet you've not yet come across butt jewelry! Yes, jewelry to adorn those buttock cracks when you're wearing low slung pants!! Not for me though. -Via

BmeZine.com has tens of thousands of different, some really far-out, types of body piercings. One of the more unusual body modification is jewelry for webbed toes. This anatomical abnormality occurs in about 1 in 2,000 people. The soft tissue which fuses the toes together is apparently safe to pierce through so long as the type of piercing chosen doesn't impede the ability to walk. Duh. -Via


This next one is so bizarre it'll make you squeamish too - eyelid piercing. How on earth did the wearers a) go through with the piercings and b) sleep? Can they close their eyes? Surely those metal rings rub the eyeballs. Altogether now -ewww! -Via


Apparently the latest trend in counter culture circles is for truly innovative dimple jewelry. It's not enough to have cute dimples but you can make them sparkle as well! Check out this fan video of Pixie of LA Ink flashing her cheek jewelry! She is a tattoo artist and the manager of an ink shop and is responsible for launching this movement. -Via


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 Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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Feature Designers

We already put make-up on our faces to make us look better so why not accessorize those as well? Jewelry for faces is not new - East Indian women have worn forehead jewelry for centuries. The bindi is usually a red dot applied between the eyebrows but small pieces of jewelry can also be added. Hindus believe only married women should wear red bindis and single women, black ones. Black bindis also act as protection against evil spirits. Today, the bindi is largely decorative and you can get quite a selection of self-adhesive bindis.

Taking their cue from East Indian bindis, fashion designer Solomon Chase and visual artist David Toro have created their own version of jewelry bindis for both men and women for their Face project.



Each of their bindi cases contain a selection of their unusual forehead jewelry for users. Some of the fun materials include smileys, small photographs and all manner of fuzzy and hairy materials.



They have also come up with their range of reflective face jewelry. First up is their reflective face jewelry as you can see below. Won't these be cool for Halloween? They plan to showcase the eyebrows next. Their "brow-hats" will also be made from reflective materials. Can't wait to see what those look like!!



Indian Bindi Photo by Laniuop on Flickr

Via

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