Add a luscious pop of color to your collection with our newest fine jewelry designs! My favorites talismans, made from antique buttons and teaspoons and charms in sterling silver adorned with glowing rubies and sapphires in shades of plum blossom pink and deep magenta.
The stars of this collection are our California Poppy Teaspoon necklace, an elegant marquis pendant with blossoms overflowing with rubies and sapphires.
Our favorite Meiji Era Camellia sings with two large rubies set at the center of each flower.
]]>We used broken flagstone from around the garden and with 5 bags of mulch and a few bags of gravel... BAM!
Johnny and I got the upcycled junk dodo bird at the Mendocino Arts Center on one of our first trips as an engaged couple, my cousin made the burl bowl-turned-succulent planter. The wine barrel sphere, placed ever so specifically by Phoebe, was traded for a typewriter key bracelet a show more than a decade ago and the lawn chair belonged to my grandfather, who died when I was 17- built to last!
I didn't want to spend any money on landscaping, so I split off succulents, lambs ear, yarrow, Santa Barbara daisy and a few others to transform the mound of dust along the edge into a some semblance of landscaping.
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Each of us is on our own journey. Choose from our collection of ancient symbols, powerful motifs and whimsical designs to celebrate your individual story. Our swivel hooks and chain choices allow you to collect and customize your jewelry to meet your mood and style. Easy as 1-2-3.
Our selection of charms and pendants is available solo
- just with a jump ring ready to wear.
Remember you can enjoy all our charms individually on your layering chains and wear them in endless combinations on your journey necklace.
With four chain options in lengths from 16" - 28" you can create the perfect set of layering necklaces and the perfect journey necklace. Customize with our signature Hammered Circlets and add a Pocket Watch Swivel Hook for interchangeable options.
Gender is a construct.... We all live on a continuum, but I never miss an opportunity to celebrate women and know more about history.
Did you know that International Women's Day was started in 1910 by the American Socialist Party? A first event in America took place in 1909, inspired by Theresa Malkiel, a Ukranian-born American labor activist, suffragist, and educator. By the next year the event had gone international largely in Communist countries through a network of brilliant women intellectuals including Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker, Paula Thiede and Rosa Luxemburg.
Here is a picture of Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg in 1910. They were both anti-fascists and anti-racists. Clara Zetkin called out white supremacy within the American Socialist movement during a speaking tour to the American South. Rosa Luxemburg was murdered in Berlin in 1919 because of her opposition to fascism, imperialism and obscene accumulation of wealth.
May we be bold in their honor and in the name of MANY other women who have come before us. Particularly the women of color who were not allowed to even join organizations like the American Socialist Party (had they wanted to) until the 20th century. Of course, women in other communities formed their own societies, more on that below. Most struggles are not easily won.
Let's look at another brilliant thinker, Jane Datcher, Black scientist.
We celebrate Jane Eleanor Datcher, a botanist and the first Black woman to graduate with a degree from Cornell University. She was born in 1868 in Washington, D.C., Her research involved a species of Anemone flower, a relative of the buttercup. In addition to her scientific contributions she was involved with the Colored Women's League, and 1892-founded club for educated African American women. She went on to attend Howard Medical School and was a chemistry teacher at a public high school in Washington, D.C. until her death in 1934.
By the 1970s, International Women's Day was adopted by the Second-wave Feminist Movement.
Around the world, the holiday continues to be an opportunity for women to mobilize to call attention to important issues in their lives.
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We also have some beautiful new ornate Antique Button chokers in time for February!
I've also added a small collection of Vintage Charms dating between 1850 and 1970.
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Our Modern Vintage Charms make the perfect gifts for gardeners. It wasn't our goal to create more durable jewelry by working with semi-precious metals and casting our antique buttons, but it's delightful to have sturdy but delicate-looking jewelry, that is waterproof and stands up to dirt and garden life!
I love to garden but I do not love to wear gardening gloves. I never remember to take off my rings before I garden. I love the feeling of the dirt in my hands. So, I created jewelry that can go in the dirt and mud and wash off clean. Jewelry you can sleep or shower in. Jewelry that lets me easily wash off my kindergartener's rejected banana. Jewelry lovely enough and sturdy enough that you can pass it to the next generation, but not so precious that the loss would haunt me.
Are you a gardener or outdoor lover? You'll love our Nature & Botanical Jewelry Collection
Our Modern Vintage rings are perfect for people who get their hands in the dirt or moms with babies who are taking a break from earrings but still want to wear jewelry. Our rings are waterproof and wearable while gardening or in the shower!
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Our teaspoon jewelry is the perfect combination of elegance and history. Like most things, souvenir spoons have a very specific story.
Silver spoons have been popular since at least 1500 to commemorate births. Wealthy Americans traveling to Europe picked up on the trend, which had been popular in Europe since the mid 1800s. Some of these travelers started collecting decorative spoons, often from the Netherlands and Germany, which had both a social convention of using many small utensils, many of which were carved with ornate scenes and decorations. Here are a few pieces from my Dutch family collection, mostly silver plated.
The first souvenir spoon in the US was designed in 1889 by Galt & Bros of Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 100th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration. The Martha Washington spoon followed shortly thereafter - all advertised by mail order catalogue. These spoons had a raised profile on the handle. It was jeweler Seth Low, who translated the creativity of the European spoon tradition for the American market. In 1891 he made a Salem Witch spoon, then a second version which is even more interesting.
Here is an 1891 Seth Low spoon patent:
By the middle of 1891, souvenir spoons were being created for every town, fair, animal, school, and potentially historic event. Like buttons, spoons were small and easy to collect and display. Events like the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893 played a role in the growth of the trend - with the confluence of improved production techniques, the US's first International event, the collapse of the silver market and the opportunity to market them to the 27 million visitors who attended the fair. The souvenir spoon tradition allowed people to collect keepsakes or at least aspire to feel worldly. They were convenient mementos and gifts. The fad lasted until WWII, when people focused on other things and time moved forward.
Our take on teaspoon jewelry is a unique approach - we create a carved marquis shape that is just as elegant now as it was in 1810 and 800 BC. Our California Poppy, shown below, pays homage to naturalist Sara Plummer Lemmon. Each piece has a secret history.
We cast what we carve and then use the spoon ladle to make settings for antique buttons, as you can see here.
Then we flatten and texture the spoon bowls using our rolling mill and create new settings, like this Victorian twinkle button:
Watch my Souvenir Spoon Chat - just over 4 minutes:
Each of us is on our own journey. Build an opera length 32" charm necklace that tells your story. Wear long or double for a layered look! Follow the steps and click the button at the bottom or email me at CREEK(at)compassrosedesign.com.
Simply Choose:
1. Chain color & style
2. Center Pendant
3. add 1 or 2 charms of your choice
4. (optional) add a gemstone for a pop of color!
Prices start at $194 for Classic Silver Chain w/ a Center Pendant and One Charm
Medium Charms:
Small Charms:
That's it!
Here's an example:
And another:
And another:
And another:
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We'll have a beautiful selection of limited edition buttons - Bohemian glass and Victorian mirror buttons of exquisite quality - AT VIP PRICES. Join our newsletter for a reminder.
]]>We also had a close call with the CZU August Fire at my brother's house, my childhood home, but have been lucky. I went to college at UC Santa Cruz, spent childhood summers camping in Pescadero and Big Basin and a myriad memories scattered in those mountains.
Yet California needs fire. Fire is part of this place. Fire and other land management techniques are part of a healthy California ecosystem. The hours I spent researching ethnobotanist Kat Anderson's work at UCLA's American Indian Studies Center on native Californian landscape management were many. This brings me to baskets and fire.
The majestic and profoundly sophisticated baskets made by Native Californians are possible because of management techniques that resulted in heathy patches of bear grass, deer grass and usable shoots on hazel bushes that were right for basket weaving. Fire broke the disease cycles of filbert worms and acorn pests while stimulating a healthy crop. Controlled burns after the mid fall acorn harvest also cleared out overly crowded seedling growth that supported a distribution of large healthy trees of different ages. Without intervention, the oak pests can decimate 95% of the annual acorn crop. (Quick note - John Muir noted that Yosemite looked like a park with scenic views and winding open meadows. The expulsion of the local indigenous communities and their millennia-old land management practices were also the end of Yosemite Valley as it had been for centuries. The last native village in Yosemite Valley was bulldozed to make way for campsites in 1969.) The delegitimization of traditional ecological knowledge has contributed in nearly two centuries of fire suppression.
It is estimated that 350,000 people lived in California in 80 language groups at the time the Europeans arrived. In The Fine Art of California Indian Basketry, basketry scholar Bruce Bernstein shared that "Baskets were integral to the activities that were the foundations of life - infants were carried in baskets, meals were prepared in baskets, and baskets were given to mark an individual's entrance into and exit from this world." The impact of displacement and genocide by Euro-American settlers and the degradation of the ecosystems since the Gold-Rush has decimated Native basket traditions and their maker communities. After European settlers disrupted existing ecosystems and economies, indigenous women were able to for the tourist market between 1890 and the late 1930s, Thanks to a small group of weavers in the 1960s and 1970s, these traditions were passed on to a handful of weavers. Only about fifty baskets are known to date before the gold-rush era.
Californian native baskets are among the finest in the world, arising from a 6,000 year tradition and the right climate for a myriad weaving supplies. Baskets were created for function and ceremony - with purpose expressed through their design. The technologies involved in making baskets included six twining techniques, three coiling techniques as well as wicker work in some areas. Coiling appeared about 3,000 years ago and established itself as the primary technology in two thirds of the state. The northern third of the region used only the twining techniques.
Here is well-known basket weaver Joseppa Dick with her husband, Jeff Dick, and son Billy, Yokayo Rancheria. (Photograph by H.W. Henshaw, ca. 1892. Courtesy of Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah, Cal.)
Some of the central categories of California baskets are burden (carrying) baskets; seed beaters, hoppers and winnowers; storage baskets; cooking, soup and feasting baskets; caps, cradles, ceremonial and gift baskets. There is remarkable diversity within Californian basketry traditions. The shape, design, materials and weaving technique of a basket with a similar function varied based on the traditions of the community.
Acorns played an important part in many local foodways. There are up to eight different baskets involved in the harvesting, carrying, storage, processing, cooking and eating of acorns. Think of the great resilience and durability of a water tight cooking basket that can withstand boiling acorn mush and hot stones from the fire. Large burden baskets were often made with willow shoots or sourberry shoots as the foundation. They were made with wide mouths for easy seed harvesting and to carry greens, bulbs, acorns or other foods. They were carried with a woven tumpline (strap that goes over the head), as seen in this Edward Curtis photo of a Pomo woman carrying a burden basket.
In 2015, this 200 year old Chumash storage basket - the largest known, was discovered in a cave cache in the Santa Barbara backcountry. It is now at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Tradition is alive and native people of what is now California still exist. Learn more or support current weavers through the California Indian Basketweavers' Association.
Here is a short video of Julia Parker of the Kashiwas Pomo and Coastal Miwok Bands talking about basketry and showing her gambling tray from grasses and redbud, which took her four months to make. Her work is in the Smithsonian and she worked for years demonstrating basketry in Yosemite. Large baskets could take more than a year from harvesting and preparing materials to completion. For Redbud, the weavers were instructed to wait until after the leaves turn yellow and fall off. Then wait for the first frost to make the long slender stalks easy to harvest. But still - wait for the first rain to see the color of the redbud, since the color of the redwood is affected by the soil in which it grows, for example an iron rich soil would produce a more red color.
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At long last! Limited Edition BAY AREA mini-collection launches next week!! These beauties - Oakland, the Bay Bridge and The Golden Gate Bridge are newly finished! Each is made from a vintage teaspoon sculpted into a pendant in recycled sterling silver or bronze. Every piece has a unique history with deep roots in California and the complex stories and beautiful people that have created the beautiful Bay Area.
Did you know the "Golden Gate" is the name of the strait that connects the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Here it is before the bridge construction started in 1933.
Construction began in 1933. Finished in 1937 with paint inspired by red lead primer, the bridge is held together by 1.2 million steel rivets and built by the ironworkers’ union local 377.
The Halfway to Hell Club was established by the 19 workers who fell into the construction safety nets. Imagine their stories!
Six Generations of Mohawk Ironworkers helped build the nation's most famous structures including the Empire State, the Chrysler Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. Listen to the Kitchen Sisters Podcast "Walking High Steel" to learn more.
The history of Bay Area bridges is intimately connected to railroad history. The transcontinental railroad reached the West Coast in 1869 at Alameda Terminal, which is now the corner of Pacific Avenue and Main Street in Alameda. Two months later, the station moved to the Oakland Pier, shown here in 1871.
The railroad had crossed the entire country, yet San Francisco remained only reachable by boat or horse wagon. In 1872, self-proclaimed Emperor Norton declared the need for a Bay Bridge. Here is the Oakland Wharf in 1909.
Planning began in 1929 and was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs to bring the country out of the Great Depression. Here is the bridge under construction in 1935.
Wear history. Shop these limited Edition Pieces!
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Well, writing about the musical notes played off the butt of a 15th century painting is new territory. Hieronymus Bosch, born circa 1450 and named for his home city of 's Hertogenbosch - called 'Den Bosch (pronounced "den BOSS") happens to be where I spent the summer of my 16th year. For me Den Bosch was a place of outdoor cafes, shopping, and making wistful eye contact with Dutch boys at the open market. It's where, with my sweet host family, I tried my first Gin and Tonic. It's also the birthplace of my relative Thomas van Giesen in 1812. My middle name Jeannette comes from his daughter through her son, who was my mom's mom..... I digress.. Bosch lived in a house overlooking the market square - a quick walk from the present day train station. The great cathedral of Saint John (which I have visited) was rebuild in his youth after a fire. That is a strange thing about old places and their accumulation of memory.
Hieronymus Bosch was born Jheronimus van Aken, a contemporary naming convention to reference where his grandfather (also a painter) had roots. He was born in 1450, a year before Cristopher Columbus and His first name was a version of Jerome, which was also recorded as Jeroen (Yeh-ROON) or Joen (YOON). He wouldn't have been called his latinized name on a daily basis and the Dutch are notorious nicknamers and name shorteners. My mom was named Maria at birth and never called it once in her life. She went by Mieke (Mee-KAH) every day of her life. Her mother Jeannette was "Netty," my Opa Antonius was "Ton" and even my brother, Johannes has always been called "Hans." This homage to some concept of religiosity or civilization or simply name tradition has remained with us through my nephew Hendrik, called "Hank." Anyways, back to our painter...
Joen signed his paintings as Jheronimus Bosch - a reminder that last names were not really a THING until Napoleon mandated them in 1810, more than four centuries later. His father was from Aken and he was from den Bosch. My husband's people came from Houten (I'm a Van Houten) - it's all rather simple. While there is no verified image of him made during his life, it is thought that he often painted himself into his pictures.
Jeroen became a member of the community organization called the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady, founded in 1315 to honor the mother of God. (Hello Goddess!). The organization served as a social network and was founded in 1315. Bosch died in 1516 around age 66. To know we walk in the same places as those who come before us, separated only by time. In another August, some his funeral was held in the same church where I stood, looking up at the painted Eye of God and pondering my own existence.
Bosch is an enigmatic an extraordinary painter and he was a force in the Northern Renaissance movement of Early Netherlandish painting school - also called the Flemish Primitives. His work explored the deepest fears and hopes of humanity. He stood on the precipice of modern science and his work held the tension and gravity of centuries of existential wondering about the nature of the world. We could say his work is beyond his time, but the reality is that humans have been modern since the Neolithic and beyond. He reaches out through nearly five centuries with the raw explosive naked strangeness of the human experience. His work is a dance between fantasy and pessimism. Humans are complicated. Exquisitely beautiful and harmonically grotesque all at once.
There are only 25 paintings and 8 drawings officially attributed to him - one thinks about the journey of those 33 pieces through the centuries. Certainly more work did not survive and perhaps more works by Bosch or his workshop remain to be discovered - like the priceless Bosch discovered basically yesterday in 2016 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
To get closer to the point, Jeroen completed the Garden of Earthy Delights, a triptych completed sometime after he was 40. From left to right, the work shows Paradise, the Garden of Earthly Delights and Hell
It's full of a million super weird details - like a musical score written in ink or tattooed directly on a man's backside. This was discovered in 2014 by Oklahoma Christian University student Amelia Hamrick. She and a friend were studying the work and noticed the music on the backside.
And here - in the best recreation possible given the circumstances, is the butt music - which is rather beautiful. Amelia acknowledges there are certainly issues with accuracy since not all of the notes are necessarily visible, but it's a lovely project.
Most of you will know I am Dutch (at least my better half). My mom was born in Rotterdam in 1947 and came from people who rose out of the sea, wind and mud in the southwestern most bits of the Netherlands. Land claimed from the sea in a centuries long conversation between the elements. Fun fact, there are also ancient altars made in honor of the goddess NEHALLENIA, who was honored along the Scheldt River from source to sea. They have washed up after the great storms along the banks in villages in Zeeland. Offerings were made for protection from the powerful sea and harsh weather.
When you think of Holland - you think of the outfit from one area - Volendam. In actuality, there are more than ten super specific regional outfits communicating messages about marital status, class, mourning, religion and level of casualness from work clothes to "Sunday Dress". A sample from an old book I have:
Here is my mom's dad's oldest sister, Catharina in the regional costume of Zeeland, where both of my mom's parents have roots.
But regional dress died out by the time my mother's mother's mother, Marie was born in Rotterdam in the 1890s. But that point it was nearly but not quite novelty. People wore black socks and practical clothing but my Oma knew how to make lace, as did her mother. And that is how I came by this hat. I don't know who made it, but someone did - each hole representing strings set down around pins at a lace making table, my word what a lot of work.
Here is a close up of the Lace Hat. There are three distinct lace styles.
Here I am!
Here is a close up of the flannel skirt, black wool and floral apron, which also has a matching piece that covers the chest above the blouse.
Here is another close up of the floral pattern.
This piece was actually a pickle fork made by Fessenden & Company. Originally founded in the 1850s as Whiting Fessenden & Cowan, the name was changed in 1858 to Wm. P. Fessenden & Co then Fessenden & Company in 1860. The company was out of business by the 1920s.
Maybe it's odd, but before I begin reworking a piece and asking it to come on a journey together with me into a wearable artifact that will be treasured - I thank the makers and acknowledge the unrecognized. And then we begin.
Our signature style is to have the flower cutout to accentuate the shape - this also makes the pieces lighter so we can wear them as earrings.
What's a pickle fork? It's a wee fork with sharp tines and a barbed center to hold on to the pickles.
Here is the final version - ready to go to the caster.
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We are a values-based business. When you wear our work, we want you to feel beautiful and also know you are doing good. We are committed to an ethical production process and supply chain as well as working towards a more equitable world. We do our own metalwork in our studio just north of San Francisco. We work with chains and components made in the US. Our bronze, sterling and gold components are made from recycled metals. Our metal supplier is a member of the Responsible Jewellery Council. We choose to work with suppliers who support Black Lives Matter and a diverse jewelry industry, including Rio Grande and Otto Frei.
The world needs more entrepreneurs, makers and leaders who are women and people of color. It is our goal to help cultivate this next generation of makers and artisan entrepreneurs by helping young people gain skills and confidence in technology, collaboration and real-world problem-solving. We donate a portion of our profits to the Crucible an organization in Oakland, California that empowers young working artists through hands-on creative education. We also donate to We Wield the Hammer, a hands-on training program for women of African descent in Oakland and Dakar.
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Practically speaking, the thick wooden shutters provide protection from heavy weather, but they also provide a place to display information about geography and identity. Colors are associated with regional history and land ownership.
Here is the set that inspired me:
Here are some of the most common shapes, many of which are based on the saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross (crux decussata), a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type.
I was 16 when I first visited the town hall in Middelburg in the southwestern province of Zeeland. It is an enormous Gothic building completed in 1520 that hovers protectively over the town square at its feet. As a side note, the weekly market still takes place was founded in 1575.
The nearby coastal town of Vlissingen had a gorgeous town hall from 1594 until it burned in 1809 after being bombed by the British. I bought an etching of it when I lived in the Netherlands for graduate school before knowing about the personal connection.
Now, the Dutch are meticulous record keepers. Nearly 400 years of civic archives are explorable online recording births, baptisms, marriages and deaths, in addition to property management, civic registers and wills. Many records are gone, burned or disintegrated, but MANY remain available to anyone with basic Dutch skills and some time. The name variations offer a challenge, but I made good progress.
On June 16th, 1784, Willem Rietvelt married Suzanna Jansen, they were both listed as bakers. Susanna's parents, Jan Jansen and Laurina de Cam also married there in the winter of 1749, he married Laurina de Cam years later, a parallel branch of the family also celebrated in this building. On the 12th of July in 1786, Isaac Timmermans, who worked as a tailor's apprentice, married Jacoba Catharina Barbier in this building. Jacoba's parents Jean Barbier and Krina van Alderwereld married here on April 23rd of 1764. It's amazing that they stood in this very building and signed their names.
Isaac Timmermans and Jacoba Catharina Barbier named their daughter Krina when she was born in 1783. As we survive a strange and historic time, I realize that every generation lives through their own strange times. Krina fascinates me.
In 1795, the French moved to occupy the strategically important city of Vlissingen, located at the mouth of the Scheide River, which lead to Antwerp. The Treaty of Fontainebleau officially annexed Vlissingen to France. On January 14th, 1808, when Krina was 24, there was a huge storm and the dikes broke, flooding the entire town and killing 31 people. What was this night like for Krina and her parents? This engraving by Johannes Koekoek shows the scene. What terror to feel in the darkness as the sea washes in.
The next year in July of 1809, the city was bombed by the British to attack the occupying French army. There was little fighting, but great loss of life due to what was called "Walcheren Fever" - probably a combination of typhoid and malaria. How terrifying to live through a bombing and see the city go up in flames. That must have been a long night and weeks of strange transition and rebuilding.
In 1810, Napoleon further moved to occupy the Netherlands. All records during the later occupation are in French instead of Dutch. Names are changed from Willem to Guilliome. He ended the tradition of patrynomic naming (John-son etc) and required people to use last names by 1811.
Crina did not marry, but she had three children with three different men in 1812, 1817 and 1822. Each birth record shows her midwife (vroede vrouw / sage femme) as well as two witnesses. Though she is noted as unmarried and listed as a "werkster" or worker. In each case, there are two witnesses in addition to the midwife. In 1812, she named her first son Joseph Daniel for the first witness Jozeph Daniel Tambourni - this one is in French. I dug a bit and found that Guisseppe Daniele Tambourini was born in 1777 in Monaco and he was a corporal in Napoleon's army. The second witness was a French sergeant. Her second son Isaac, born in 1818 is named after the second witness, who is the official town messenger. Her daughter Jacoba Lena was born in 1822 (named for her mother) is witnessed by a police agent (who was married and had kids before and after Lena's birth).
Here is an 1813 painting of Napoleon's arrival in the Amsterdam surrounded by lots of fancy powerful men by artist Mattheus Ignatius van Bree.
I have done enough research to know that Crina's circumstances are not common. People often married and remarried to pool resources and help care for children. From the civic registries I know that Crina moved fairly often but always maintained her own house with all three of her children. She was never in the poor house. Interestingly, for several years she names the children with the last names Kruger, Tambourni and Timmermans for her daughter. Joseph Daniel signed up for the military in 1831 and has brown hair and brown eyes. From Isaac's 1836 military record, we know he has blue eyes and is blond, works as a smith, and still lives with his mother. By 1843 he is engaged and a bailiff. Joseph Daniel worked as a mason and each of Crina's three children named their children after each other and their mother. Evidence suggests they stuck together. This FASCINATES me. Later all three are known by her maiden name, Timmermans. Each of her children went on to work and marry and have children.
Here is my Great Great grandfather, Isaac (the bailiff) with his wife, Maria Reitveld.
So now the speculation. Crina lived with three children of three different men and was witnessed in each case by people affiliated with government and military. If the convention of naming the father on the birth certificate holds true in combination with her using the last names of these witnesses for her sons seems to clearly indicate that these were the fathers. Was it conventional to name the father - even if he was married to someone else - to assure civic order and correctness in record-keeping? Children born out of wedlock were given fewer legal rights than other children. This also means that she had three kids - one of whom was of Mediterranean descent - one wonders what her world was like. After poking around more in the Zeeuwse Archief, I found that Crina's mother's sister also had two children out of wedlock - though she was married and they were recorded officially as bastards or "onecht kind." One wonders if they were liberated women or worked in the sex industry or maybe they were just human beings who lived before reliable birth control. One wonders with the statistics around early 19th century pregnancy if there were other lost pregnancies. Who was this woman!? What was her world like.
A few of you have been sending me photos of YOU wearing your Compass Rose Design jewelry - I LOVE IT! I've decided to make it official with a Photo Challenge!
Winners receive a $50 gift card towards anything in the shop and we'll feature your image on our instagram, website or blog!
Photos that showcase your style and our jewelry work best.
How to enter:
Email me your photos or tag us on instagram @compassrosedesign and I'll pick 10 winners in early May. Photos must be high resolution - at least 2000 pixels. Tell me if you'd like your first name used or would like to remain anonymous.
THANK YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!
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From left to right:
My daughter, Phoebe, almost five, really wanted to make her own so I turned her loose on the drawers and let her choose her own charms.
If you have some basic beading equipment, you can make your own!
You need:
Here is Phoebe's finished bracelet - the artist is pleased!
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The back says Gold-Filled, Germany and has a small diamond mark with the letters DLC or OLC.
There is a signature on the left but I can't read it. Look at the exquisite and bold paint detail in her face and eyes.
I can't tell if it is painted on ivory or wood or porcelain. Her hair is powdered and her clothes certainly seem 1800-1850? Notice the lace collar and large pink bow at the top of her dress. Here is a close up of her headband. There is a touch of enamel detailing left on just the tops of the frame.
Ok - let's look at the history of powdered wigs. t
This 1749 pastel Portrait of Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, Dauphine of France (1731–1767) by Jean-Étienne Liotard shows us a time when powdered hair is in fashion, but the hair is not yet SO BIG.
Narrowing in, I think by the 1770s, hair is getting big but in the 1750s and 1760s, women are wearing hair curled but still fairly natural. We also see square necklines and the bow front detail in style in the 1750s and 1760s.
This 1753 portrait of an Unknown Lady at the Spinett, by Johann Heinrich Tischbein has the pleated square neckline, bow details and flowers in powdered hair that predates taller hair styles of the 1770s (think Marie Antoinette).
This 1757 Portrait of a Woman, possibly Madame Charles Simon Favart (1727–1772) by French artist, François Hubert Drouais on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art seems very close in fashion and hairstyle, though her makeup is more naturalistic.
This portrait by Jean-Étienne Liotard from 1762 of the Archduchess Maria Antonia (later THE Marie Antionette) has the same bow front detail as our miniature.
This portrait of Portrait of Countess de Bavière-Grosberg from 1780 has remarkably similar dress neckline. The makeup fashion is also similar: the Countess de Bavière-Grosberg wears white face makeup, strong lip and cheek rouge, and may have darkened eyebrows, in this portrait by Alexander Roslin, 1780. But this portrait has much larger hair that came into fashion in the 1770s.
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I learned how to make Dutch pancakes from my maternal great grandmother, Maria. She was born in Rotterdam in the 1890s and called Marie. She used to cut up her old blouses and make remarkably detailed clothing for my dolls and monchhichis. Her bold polyester prints in navy and tangerine polkadot because tiny jackets and bedspreads. I kept many of them and now Phoebe plays with them. Handmade quality for the win!
Here is a photo of four generations of pancake makers in my family taken when I was at the front end of my pancake apprenticeship. In all seriousness, this woman was a fierce survivor who tolerated no crap. Her grandfather was the son of a single mother of three who lived in Vlissingen through the flood of 1808, being bombed the British in 1809 AND the unwelcome reign of Napoleon. After scratching out a living as carpenters for a few generations, the family made its way to the port city of Rotterdam, in time to live through four years of regular bombing in Rotterdam - by both Nazis and Allied forces alike. She raised four daughters and taught me how to darn a sock. I am grateful to her grace and her grit. And for her pancakes. She was the last of my people who spoke in 65% proverb.
Dutch Pancake Recipe - Pannekoeken
Dutch pancakes, called Pannekoeken, are more like a thick crepe - a pan-sized wonder with a touch of golden crisp. Pancakes are usually eaten for lunch and dinner and are just as often savory, with young Gouda cheese and maybe a slice of ham as they are served sweet with powdered sugar and butter (and maybe lemon); maple syrup, cinnamon and sugar; or whatever suits your fancy.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup milk (add a bit more if needed)
pinch of salt
(optional: dash of vanilla extract)*
1 cup flour
Preparation:
*my Opa traded in cocoa and extracts so he had access to Vanilla extract and he liked the taste. Leave out the vanilla for a savory meal - simply melt some cheese and/ham on top for a delicious treat.