Cottonwood AZ (November 25, 2013) – “Mom had a jewelry box on her dresser,” states Cottonwood Jewelry maker, Anita Brandon, known for her southwestern and Sedona inspired wearable art. “It wasn’t fancy, just a simple pine box.” However, to her as a young child, that simple treasure box and it’s contents of colorful Bakelite jewelry piece’s from the 1940’s were every bit as exciting as playing with the crown jewels might have been for some other child. “I especially loved the bright red pieces and dreamed of wearing them someday.”
She had forgotten about the jewelry box and her love affair with red Bakelite jewelry until she saw two episodes of “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS. One featured the well-known vintage Cherry Jubilee necklace of bright red dangling Bakelite cherries and the other the classic Cherry Bar Brooch with suspended cherries. They made her heart sing. “I desperately wanted to own them, however, they were in scarce supply and sold for a great deal of money, so I ended up making my own reproductions using artist-quality polymer clay.”
People took notice when she wore them and wanted their own, so nowadays she handcrafts and sells reproductions of classic vintage Bakelite cherry jewelry pieces at her online shop. The reproductions remain true to the spirit of the originals and she is proud to say that she discovered an un-credited photograph of her recent work (2009) in a gallery of online photos featuring the “best of vintage Bakelite jewelry from the 1940’s”!
This line of reproduction Bakelite jewelry, plus her Sedona ornaments and other unique creations can be found at http://www.MelodyODesigns.artfire.com/