July Update

The Kitschy Witch, a little mascot I drew up for Kitschy Witch Jewelry :)

I couldn't be happier it's summer right now.

After a pretty rough and long winter, all I've been looking forward to is being outside to enjoy some garden time, late night fire pits with friends and maybe a beach trip or two. We just finished up my last convention of the year, Heroes (a big thanks to all who came by!) and now just strapping down on work and concentrating on painting for the rest of the year-which feels great. Lots of things to be excited about this year and next as far as work and gallery shows go-should be fun!

I'll also be updating my store a lot over the next few months, new prints were added this week and lots of older prints are being weeded out to make room for the new. Speaking of stores and Etsy, over the spring I started work on a small side project for fun called Kitschy Witch Jewelry. A little bit of back story...

For the past couple of years I've really enjoyed playing around with jewelry making, but always wanted to take it to another level. After painting all day, making jewelry became a way for me to unwind from the pressure of work and zone out. Collecting and hunting vintage jewelry/jewelry components has always been a hobby, so, I decided to find a way to combine my obsessive collecting/hunting/making into a small side business.

A couple of space age style brooches, incorporating hand painted
boomerangs, bakelite discs and hand cast sci-fi charms.

Why a side business/project? Well, for a few different reasons. One main reason being, I want to share what I find and make with other ladies (and jewelry loving boys!) who love what I love. Flea markets and antique fairs are, and have always been (for me anyways), a pretty magical place and experience. They combine both vendors and shoppers who all have a true love for hunting and collecting items from the past-each item has a story, history and a personality. Going to these events, connecting with like minded people and picking up pieces to incorporate into my jewelry gives me great joy. It's all in the name of fun, really! I started to notice it was becoming more and more difficult to find particular jewelry items. Many were popping up but needed serious repairs and/or were extremely costly (which I totally get, sometimes we have to cave in and bite the bullet when we find a true love vintage item!!). I decided to hit the drawing board and make some repro jewelry, inspired by these amazing vintage items and incorporating vintage/antique components I hunted for.

Hand painted necklace & earring sets with vintage lucite confetti beads.

After months of playing, hunting, mold making, casting, sanding, restoring, painting...(collapsing), I had not only accumulated a large collection of vintage supplies but had handmade a bunch of pieces. The majority of jewelry I'm designing and making is inspired by vintage pieces from the deco period to the 60's-novelty items, bakelite brooches, lucite, celluloid chain charm necklaces and so forth (maybe some Victorian mourning inspired pieces eventually as well!). Incorporating true vintage supplies into the pieces like bakelite, lucite and celluloid has been really fun and gives the old components a new life. All pieces are handmade by me, very limited edition and one of a kind, something that I feel makes each piece really special. I've posted some photos of some of my favorite new pieces, hope you enjoy! ♥


With a lot of help from my crazy talented partner in crime, we came up with a mascot/logo/design for the store, had stickers and packaging made, took photos of everything and set up a store on Etsy. I'll be opening Kitschy Witch Jewelry next week, July 10th, and will be adding items on a monthly basis or as I get them made. Trying not to put too much pressure on myself, as I'd really like to keep this little side project all about fun. Really looking forward to sharing these little pieces with everyone, as well as hunting for pieces to incorporate at flea markets and antique fairs this summer!

Tons of colorful and fun earrings on their KWJ cards that we made! Everything from 

vintage charms, hand cast "carved" in the style of bakelite and repro confetti lucite. 

Record Fair novelty brooch in candy colors! Hand cast blue bar,
vintage 1950's guitar charms and miniature records. 

Fruit Loop novelty brooch (a favorite of mine!) Hand cast "fruit loop",
loaded up with vintage fruit charms. Also available in bright, cherry red.