Styling question - brooches

[battah]

I've seen a few of you styling pearl necklaces with brooches. I tried to fiddle with that combo a bit last night, but couldn't figure out how to attach the brooch without possibly scratching the pearls up a lot. How do you do it? Bonus points for pictures!

 

[Purranha]

I use slightly larger jump rings at the end so the pearls and brooch just miss each other. No scratching and no rubbing!
If you are really worried, adding some gold/silver bead in the end can extend length, add visual texture, and keep pearls far away from brooches!

 

[battah]

Oh I love that! I wasn't even thinking about the clasp area, more about clipping them onto longer strands. That's lovely! My GemPacked order should be arriving today, I have a few larger clasps coming that would be easier to clip onto brooches like that.

 

[BWeaves]

OMG, Purranha, you're killing me. I love those looks.

My cameo brooches have fold down rings / bails at the top that could be hooked to an enhancer to look like a pendant. I've also seen things that look a bit like pearl shorteners, but slide over the pin of a brooch. I've only seen these in books, not in person anywhere.

 

[Purranha]

Awwww thank you Battah & BWeaves!
The thing I love most about the double strand pearl is that I can wear it as a long single as well, so it is very versatile.
I went through a vintage/art deco phase and collected some brooches and such and they didn't cost very much. I have packed some away since my apt is so small. I need to dig them out again and share some photos!

I have shared some mechanism similar to what you described BWeaves in my Transformer posts! Lots of brooche/pendant transformers.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Purr, you NEED a tiara with those clasps! Just gorgeous. If you ever tire of that first one, let me know

 

[battah]

So Purr, you have the pearl strands knotted onto bigger jump rings rather than clasps at the ends? Then just attach them to the brooch pin?

Off to dig up your transformer post, I remember you had some really cool stuff in there.

 

[Purranha]

Haha absolutely JP!

Battah - I will take some pics of the back side this weekend. Those are old stock photos that's why they only showed the front side!

 

[battah]

You da best!

 

[Purranha]

Hi Ladies! I took some additional pictures to show the back side mechanisms:

So, here is a first look at how I connected my pearl strands - these are ooold akoyas I chopped up from mom, so they went straight without bumpers. Oops! Haha I think they are fine. With the jump rings, I can wear them as double, or long single layered up with other strands.



See the layered look - Heeellllooooo Playdate!

 

[Purranha]

Here is the back side of the brooches:

 

[Purranha]

So the above happen to be with brooches that have the pin nicely spanning across the brooche. What happens when that is not the case lol? As long as there are openings, you can actually put a jump ring through the openings of the brooche/clip piece and make it work, too! See some other of my conversions below:


These are similar to the above gold pearl necklace with the leaf brooche, but of course I chopped that one off to rework it into Emily Thorne lolol!

 

[Purranha]

JP - the brooch looked great from a sliiight distance, but the issue with vintage items is that often times the glue can turn a tiny bit yellow and the stones not as bright. I went through a period when I collected art deco/nouveau stuff. Some from ebay and some from antique garage markets. None very expensive. The rhinestone ones are mostly $50-$100, and ones with "jelly belly" are $150+.

I admit My collection goes through phases and these brooches/dress clips have been stored away. When we have our east coast mini-ruckus, I'd be more than happy to bring some along and I'd be more than happy to pass along at cost.

 

[BWeaves]

Droooool! Love.

 

[Katbran]

Thanks for the photos ! Gorgeous broaches and I do love your fearless creativity !

 

[battah]

Oh my, I love everything about your photos, Purr! Really digging how you put together the strands with the clasps, and the mixed metals! The bronzey metal really gives a cool vintage vibe to the pieces. I've been madly searching for deco brooches on etsy now... and funny enough, I was searching for dress clips a couple of days ago! I was thinking of using them as pendants, I didn't think of attaching jump rings into the filigree to incorporate them into necklaces.

I'll prepare my mini ruckus list haha.

Are the leopard heads a dress clip, too? LOVE.

 

[SunSeeker]

Hi Purranha, your creations are so clever and versatile!! I love what you've done with your brooches. Also, I'm loving the idea of an east coast mini-ruckus!

 

[Purranha]

Aww thank you everyone!

YES let's PLEASE organize an east coast mini ruckus!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

The oval and the two pair of clips would be fantastic finding for pearls. What are their backs like?

 

[lary007]

Oh, I adore brooches! Never used them in a strand of pearls before though..after seeing yours I can't imagine why not.