Forever Yesteryears Antiques and Collectibles--The Blog

A Fenton Find....

2008-06-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

We found this Satin Yellow Fenton Art Glass Fairy Lamp with the insert at a yard sale here in Lexington. Just goes to show, you never can tell what you may find out there. This piece is pretty rare, especially with the insert in tact and in perfect condition.

More finds....and a little bit of inspiration

2008-05-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

We attended our favorite auction house this week for a Memorial Day estate auction. We found some great items like this gorgeous, unsigned, vintage brooch made of deep amethyst color faceted rhinestones, light blue aurora borealis rhinestones, and lavender rhinestones. All are prong set with pave inset in the silver tone metal. The piece measures about 2.5" wide---beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

We also obtained this elegant, unmarked, cranberry opalescent hobnail double crimped vase by Fenton Art Glass. We are huge fans of Fenton as well as authorized dealers. This vase measures 4.5" in height and dates to 1940-1978.

We found this lucite Sarah Coventry Apple Pin/Earrings set at the Burlington Antique Show a few weeks ago.

All of these pieces will be placed on our web site or in our eBay store very soon.

More finds to come.....

Although we consider ourselves jewelry artisans, from time to time we take inspiration from craftrsmen outside of our medium. One such inspiration is Sam Maloof, famed woodworker. We discovered him initially in a documentary series showing on PBS entitled 'Craft in America'. I only hope that we are still making our jewelry at age 90 like Sam is. Anyway, check out his beautiful furniture, his foundation, and his web site at http://www.malooffoundation.org/. He is truly an inspiration to us. More information on Sam can be found at the Craft In America website: http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists_wood/story_180.php.

A New Color Pattern...

2008-05-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Roseberry (pearl red and dusty rose) is the name of our newest color pattern. I must admit this pattern is very appealing to me--reminds me of warm weather and strawberries & cream popsicles. This takes us up to 33 color patterns now.

This bracelet and earrings set can be found on our web site.

We also updated the web site today by adding all of our color patterns to our 'About Me" page.

Myra went to the Burlington Antique Show today and found some great items..Fenton, costume jewlery, Limoges, Coventry, textiles. We'll post some finds soon.

We picked up our pieces that we submitted for jurying for the KY Craft Market program. Now it's a wait-and-see game.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

How do you ever say thank you to your Mother? It's a shame that Mother's Day only comes about once a year. For everything that they do for their children, they should be honored every day of the year.

This bracelet is my own, very small way of saying thank you to my Mother--made especially for her with our own handmade, Lineage pattern beads and enhanced with Swarovski crystal rondelles.

We went to the International Festival in Berea, KY this weekend. There was a vast amount of artists and craftspeople selling their items. A great way to spend the day. We also got some great beads from a little shop called "Fish Wisdom".

Tomorrow is the big day! We submit out pieces to be juried for the KY Crafted program. Maybe next year we'll have our own booth at the Festival.

Our Two Newest Patterns--Sunburst and Wildflower

2008-05-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

These are two of our newest color patterns--Wildflower and Sunburst! We're now up to 31 patterns.

The inspiration for the Wildflower (dusty pink and purple) pattern came from our tulip garden. The Sunburst pattern (copper and cadmium yellow) was inspired by---well, I'm sure that you can guess.

We attended the Rings N Things bead show in Louisville this week and found some really beautiful glass beads and some Swarovski crystal rondelles.

Next week we'll be submitting 5 sets to the KY Crafted program for jurying.

By the way, the above bracelets can be found in our Etsy shop. And we'll be adding more to our website soon. Stop by and take a look.

Our Etsy Shop Is Up and Running!

2008-04-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Check out our new Etsy sho p!

A Find....

2008-04-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, you happen upon a find--maybe at a garage sale or at an estate sale--something of value--something that no one else is interested in--something that you just know is special.

Such was the case with this--a large, Fostoria milk glass shallow fruit bowl in the Monroe pattern, #2678, produced between 1954-1965 in excellent condition.

Our New Packaging...

2008-04-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

We've been searching quite some time for a packaging solution that fit our needs. Well, we think we found it.

This one package can hold one of our full jewelry sets-- earrings, bracelets, and necklaces--and also nicely displays our logo and web address. It's also very economical, done by a company called Dolphin Bead Designs (http://www.dolphinbead.com/). Great work Kristi!

By the way, the earrings and bracelet set in the picture feature our 'Mochaberry' pattern beads, just one of our 30+ color patterns.

And so it begins....

2008-04-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone and welcome!

This is the beginning of our new blog where we will be posting information about our antiques business- Forever Yesteryears Antiques and Collectibles-and our handmade jewelry business-Uniquities! Jewelry and Accessories.

Born out of our fondness for antique and vintage costume jewelry from makers like Sarah Coventry, Coro, Weiss and Trifari, Myra and I decided to start making our own jewelry, initially utilizing, among other components, glass beads and Swarovski crystals.

From there, we began making our own hand-fashioned beads from polymer clay and incorporated them into our designs.

Every single one of our polymer clay beads are unique. Therefore the jewelry items that we create with them (necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, pendants, etc) are one-of-a-kind as well.

We've developed over 30 different color patterns in our beads and are always looking to create more.

From time to time, we'll be showcasing our more popular color patterns on this blog along with some of our jewelry designs. Information on our various antique, vintage, and collectible finds will also be posted.

Please visit our online shops by clicking on the logos above.

We'll be posting twice a week to start and welcome all of your comments, critiques and thoughts.

Blessings to you and yours,
Mark and Myra Johnson