Help finding lost charm
June 17, 2007 3:18 PM Subscribe
Help me relieve my guilt with the use of beads - specifically round ones with stars!
Hello,
A year ago, I borrowed my best friends' favorite earrings to go to a concert. She was hesitant to let me borrow them, as they were special to her. When I was at the concert, an earring flew out of my ear as I was dancing. I searched high and low, and when I finally found the earring, it had been stepped on and scuffed. My friend was quietly angry with me about this for a few days. The earrings had been purchased at a craft fair by her mother, and so they were not easily replaceable.
SO! Although she has long forgotten the incident, I never did. I had a lot of success finding a lost videotape on Ask MeFi before, and I thought maybe I would be lucky enough to find an answer to this question as well.
I am looking for a round charm, dark blue, with small stars inside. It would look sort of like this:
and I know it is unreasonable to find the exact charm lost, but anything that looks sort of like that and could potentially be made into earrings would mean a great deal to me (the item pictured is too large and heavy, intended for a necklace).
Thank you!
Hello,
A year ago, I borrowed my best friends' favorite earrings to go to a concert. She was hesitant to let me borrow them, as they were special to her. When I was at the concert, an earring flew out of my ear as I was dancing. I searched high and low, and when I finally found the earring, it had been stepped on and scuffed. My friend was quietly angry with me about this for a few days. The earrings had been purchased at a craft fair by her mother, and so they were not easily replaceable.
SO! Although she has long forgotten the incident, I never did. I had a lot of success finding a lost videotape on Ask MeFi before, and I thought maybe I would be lucky enough to find an answer to this question as well.
I am looking for a round charm, dark blue, with small stars inside. It would look sort of like this:
and I know it is unreasonable to find the exact charm lost, but anything that looks sort of like that and could potentially be made into earrings would mean a great deal to me (the item pictured is too large and heavy, intended for a necklace).
Thank you!
(The picture didn't show up because you can't embed images. It gets stripped out in the posting process. Good luck with your search!)
posted by macadamiaranch at 3:21 PM on June 17, 2007
posted by macadamiaranch at 3:21 PM on June 17, 2007
Response by poster: I think it might be enamel. It was very lightweight, and had a metal back and rim.
posted by thelastpolarbear at 3:29 PM on June 17, 2007
posted by thelastpolarbear at 3:29 PM on June 17, 2007
I think you miss the point. The earrings are special because they were purchased by her mother, not because they're unique or come from a craft fair.
Even if you find an identical set, it won't have been purchased by her mother. It's not that they're not easily replaceable. They are irreplacable.
posted by b33j at 3:32 PM on June 17, 2007 [2 favorites]
Even if you find an identical set, it won't have been purchased by her mother. It's not that they're not easily replaceable. They are irreplacable.
posted by b33j at 3:32 PM on June 17, 2007 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: True, but these ones would come from me, and they would demonstrate that I care for her so much that it drove me crazy to upset her even a little bit. I don't think the gesture would be lost on her.
posted by thelastpolarbear at 3:36 PM on June 17, 2007
posted by thelastpolarbear at 3:36 PM on June 17, 2007
Etsy is going to be your best bet for finding something similar or for finding an artist who could make a custom recreation. Here's the search for blue earring. I didn't immediately see anything that was really similar, but maybe something like these or these.
posted by MsMolly at 3:56 PM on June 17, 2007
posted by MsMolly at 3:56 PM on June 17, 2007
Here are some bead/jewelry supply shops online that may have what you're looking for:
http://www.firemountaingems.com/
https://www.rings-things.com/cgi-bin/hazel/hazel.cgi
http://www.artbeads.com/
http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/
http://www.beadstudio.com/
Like MsMolly said, etsy.com is a good place to look as well. They used to have a section (alchemy) where people could make requests for custom pieces and different sellers could put in bids to do the work. I know they're planning to bring this back in the future, so until then you might have some luck by posting in the forums.
posted by kitty teeth at 4:10 PM on June 17, 2007
http://www.firemountaingems.com/
https://www.rings-things.com/cgi-bin/hazel/hazel.cgi
http://www.artbeads.com/
http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/
http://www.beadstudio.com/
Like MsMolly said, etsy.com is a good place to look as well. They used to have a section (alchemy) where people could make requests for custom pieces and different sellers could put in bids to do the work. I know they're planning to bring this back in the future, so until then you might have some luck by posting in the forums.
posted by kitty teeth at 4:10 PM on June 17, 2007
I just wanted to point out that it's millefiore. I'm pretty sure it's a technique where they stack up a bunch of little rods to make the picture and slice them to make the charms. However it's done, "millefiore"is going to be a useful search term for you. Good luck.
posted by selfmedicating at 4:33 PM on June 17, 2007
posted by selfmedicating at 4:33 PM on June 17, 2007
I agree with b33j that the original Earrings are just about irreplaceable. They were basically one of a kind.
Don't set out to copy those earrings exactly. I don't think it's going to happen. Why not buy her a similar set and include a note about how much you value her friendship?
Etsy is a great place to shop as you support crafters. They've got to get more money for glue & yarn somehow!
Ms Molly linked to some great earrings... but I think this set of earrings with necklace is absolutely beautiful.
If you're set on replacing the originals, consider 'stealing' them back (If she even has them anymore... after a year is she still hanging on to a single whole earring and the scuffed, broken mate?) and letting a crafter or jeweler repair them.
posted by aristan at 5:16 PM on June 17, 2007
Don't set out to copy those earrings exactly. I don't think it's going to happen. Why not buy her a similar set and include a note about how much you value her friendship?
Etsy is a great place to shop as you support crafters. They've got to get more money for glue & yarn somehow!
Ms Molly linked to some great earrings... but I think this set of earrings with necklace is absolutely beautiful.
If you're set on replacing the originals, consider 'stealing' them back (If she even has them anymore... after a year is she still hanging on to a single whole earring and the scuffed, broken mate?) and letting a crafter or jeweler repair them.
posted by aristan at 5:16 PM on June 17, 2007
Response by poster: The set you linked is lovely, aristan - I may get those for her after all!
The original idea was to replace them exactly - the night I broke them, I stayed up all night searching the internet for replacements, and she told me "[I] would never be able to find them" - after hearing that, I thought it would be a pretty significant thing if I could find the exact same beads and make the earrings for her myself.
Unfortunately, I'm losing hope in that, and now I think I will have to settle for something similar enough to recall the incident and let her know how sorry I am for my carelessness, but novel enough to show that she and I have moved on.
posted by thelastpolarbear at 5:36 PM on June 17, 2007
The original idea was to replace them exactly - the night I broke them, I stayed up all night searching the internet for replacements, and she told me "[I] would never be able to find them" - after hearing that, I thought it would be a pretty significant thing if I could find the exact same beads and make the earrings for her myself.
Unfortunately, I'm losing hope in that, and now I think I will have to settle for something similar enough to recall the incident and let her know how sorry I am for my carelessness, but novel enough to show that she and I have moved on.
posted by thelastpolarbear at 5:36 PM on June 17, 2007
Random:
One idea: get the non-scuffed earring to be a pendant on a very nice necklace? A good chain, or get an Etsy type to do up a very nice strand of beads that'd set it off well.
Millefiore's popular with people who're into Fimo/polymer clay. It might not be too hard to have it custom-made in polymer clay.
I know relatively little about enamelling, but it sounds like it could be fixed up by a jeweller.
Fire Mountain (linked above) rightly prides itself on great, friendly customer service. Fire the picture and general request at them and see what they say.
posted by kmennie at 7:10 PM on June 17, 2007
One idea: get the non-scuffed earring to be a pendant on a very nice necklace? A good chain, or get an Etsy type to do up a very nice strand of beads that'd set it off well.
Millefiore's popular with people who're into Fimo/polymer clay. It might not be too hard to have it custom-made in polymer clay.
I know relatively little about enamelling, but it sounds like it could be fixed up by a jeweller.
Fire Mountain (linked above) rightly prides itself on great, friendly customer service. Fire the picture and general request at them and see what they say.
posted by kmennie at 7:10 PM on June 17, 2007
Seriously consider checking out Shipwreck Beads, linked above by kitty teeth. They've got everything. Unfortunately their site prevents me from linking directly to specific beads, but do a search for "cobalt star". The results seem pretty close to what you're looking for...
posted by Vervain at 1:51 PM on June 18, 2007
posted by Vervain at 1:51 PM on June 18, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
http://www.carinacharms.com/dev/images/items/90x500/StarMoonMillefiorePendant.JPG
posted by thelastpolarbear at 3:20 PM on June 17, 2007