Decorating Braided Bracelets with Antique Jade

Combining my love for braiding and my love for quirky pieces of old jade I have, over time come up with more  braided bracelet items. Each bracelet was painstakingly hand knotted by me and each antique jade ornament just as tirelessly  hand carved by craftsmen from long ago.

 

My bespoke bracelets





I used embroidery floss and braid patterns like Chevron, Chevron with border, Egyptian and Knitted to knot the bracelets.  Tiny, flat jade ornaments were then added as a centerpiece or as a closure  after the bracelets were completed.

Of the six bracelets 2 were formed by the simple pattern Chevron, shown below


 

Top pattern: Chevron embellished with jade butterfly as centerpiece
(closure button is modern)
Bottom pattern : Three color Chevron decorated with white jade polygon
as centerpiece and square jade button as closure
 

 



Chevron with border is a variation of the chevron pattern. The two bracelets shown below were made to this design.

 



Top pattern: Aubergine color chevron with contrasting grey border and
white bird as centerpiece (closure button is modern)
Bottom Pattern : Three color chevron with contrasting pink border,
 ending with a carved jade button
 

 



Last two  bracelets were made with  more complicated Egyptian and Knitted designs.



Pattern: Reverse side of Knitted pattern is used. Knitted pattern shown below
Decorated in the centre with a white jade bird. (Closure button is modern)

Knitted pattern on other side
 

The last bracelet was knotted following the Egyptian design

 

Pattern : Egyptian with spherical jade button closure





Compared with the mass produced stuff of today my self crafted, personalized accessories are real neato !

  

What a refreshing change !

 

 

Revisiting old Haunts and getting a haul....

.....of antique hairpins

I had not visited this shop in over a decade  because of all that's been  happening in my life(both good and bad ) that prevented me from going. Well ten years is  a long time and I did not really expect the shop or the shop keeper to be still in business. So it was pleasantly nostalgic to discover both shop and lady boss to be still in operation albeit shop was reduced to half its size and lady boss had aged by ten years (as I also) Despite the changes we both recognized each other immediately and effusively.

Here are some pictures of the nice haul I got from that impromptu  and  fortuitous visit



 

Antique hairpins from the Ming - Qing dynasty (1368-1911)
Very-old-world sweet !

  

Close ups of  the hairpins are shown below


Jade lotuses set in silver gilt evoke nostalgia 



delicate and graceful  bird with dangle, to adorn a ladies' hair

Captivating white jade flower. The 4 petals appear convex but are actually concave!
 

 

Silver gilt butterfly with blue enamel ends in a tiny spoon

2 white jade bis set in silver gilt

 

A pair of colorful hairpins hand wired with jade and beads depicting a floral design





 

Hairpins look good  displayed in my centuries old pots.



Jade on the Shells 2nd Installment

After a sumptuous seafood meal at Rung Fu Ji Seafood Steam Pot  I've gotten myself a bagful of  bigger shells  than those shown on my earlier post of  Jade on the Shells *

Oyster and scallop shells

 

Armed with these larger shells, I have gone on to rearrange the display shown on my earlier post. Here are the pictures of my new theme Jade on the Bigger Shells.

 

Jade on the Scallop Shells showcase interesting composition of  jade and pearls



The scallop shell on the left has 7 tiny carved jade frogs perched amidst 13 apple green jade stones. The shell on right has a combination of various oval shaped vintage jade stones and freshwater pearls.



 

The shells are the placed upright  on  rosewood plate stands.

 

 

Rosewood plate stands

 

Shells stand out on rosewood stands



 

The large oyster shell  below is a perfect fit for 8 delicate emerald green pieces of antique jade (which were previously displayed on 2 smaller shells.)

 

 

extra large oyster shell



It has been a fun exercise !

 see also Jade on the Shells 1st Installment

Jade on the Shells

 

 

I got these very attractive, tiny pieces of antique jade from old Shanghai many years ago.

 

Lao keng or old mine jadeite



Although amazingly thin, each piece is carved with intricate pattern of coin, flower or knot. The color is an attractive emerald green and is likely to be lao keng or old mine jadeite.

 

Coin shaped buttons



 

Carved as flowers



 

 

Eternal knot

Each piece is razor thin, the thinness almost  like jade  'to airy thinness beat...' . The largest flower measures 2 cm across.

Razor thin, "like gold to airy thinness beat..."

 

I am not sure what function they served in antiquity but I guess it must be to do with ladies accessories, be it hairpin, brooch, coronet or even as inlays for powder/jewellery boxes.

     



Jade on the Shells



For my present pleasure, I stuck them on scallop shells from my favourite sushi place, Itacho Sushi, to come up with this rustic Jade on the Shells display.
  





Crystal Jade

I composed this to reflect my love for jade and crystal.

Shows tiny jade frogs frolicking on a slab of crystal.

Hmmm maybe Crystal Jade Kitchen would like this for their logo !