About Little Vintage Treasures
As a lifetime collector I aim to present the interesting and unusual items collected over 45 years.My choice ranges from anything pre 1900 to the 1970's, with a particular fondness for the Edwardian and Art Deco period. I hope you will share my enjoyment as I progress with my shop and aim to offer good quality items from my personal hoard of little treasures.
Luulla is where I sell vintage and antique jewellery,postcards,lace,buckles, buttons. Occasionally I may sell my handcrafted items,photographs, art work ,digital downloads and supplies.
My love of vintage began as a child age 7 visiting my rich, slightly dotty great aunt. She introduced me to all manner of beautiful things, including Whitby jet.That started me on a life time passion. I began modestly, collecting buttons, beads and discarded lace from Grandma. Then when I had my own bank account I bought my first piece of Whitby jet, which I will never sell. Now I am retired I have a lifetime of treasures and must reluctantly sell some as nobody in my family will appreciate them. I began selling online in 2003 and opened my own virtual shop four years ago on another web site. My collectors “eye” is constantly on the lookout for more treasures to add to my hoard, even though I have enough for another lifetime.
Having a “butterfly” character and a fertile mind my artistic and creative endeavours have accumulated over the years and I have had many hobbies utilizing my skills; resulting in more creative outpourings and stock I feel I must dispose of!
Currently I try and restrict myself to just buying the vintage treasures I feel I simply cannot do without and enjoying my butterfly photography. But a leopard cannot change his spots and I simply cannot keep away from all those tempting flea markets,thrift shops and car boot sales to find more treasures to add to the hoard. I think I may have a collector’s disease, but please don’t tell me when they find a cure!
The Georgian pinchbeck mourning brooch is something I am currently researching and may offer for sale in the future.
Tell us a bit about yourself and Little Vintage Treasures ?
Little Vintage Treasures has come about really because being a lifetime collector I have so much I now wish to dispose of. Having another outlet on the internet enables me to present more of my unseen stock for sale.
These very fine Edwardian Japanese Komai buttons are being shown here for the first time.
How did you get started in doing what you do? How long have you been creating?
I have been creating all my life,since I could hold a pencil and draw.As small child I had a little old bag of treasures,just things like buttons ,beads and anything that attracted me like pebbles. My indulgent mother allowed me to make things from her old clothes ( this was post war Britain) and along with my grandmother taught me to sew. My grandfather ( an artist and professional photographer) and my dad (an amateur photographer ) did everything to encourage me with my drawing and artistic career and it is from both of them I acquired my deep love of art, photography and wildlife. My dotty great aunt gave me a taste for antique jewelry.
After I retired from work in 1992 due to ill health I began to realise how large my collection of jewelry ,beads and buttons had grown,and that possibly it was time to make some important decisions about my accumulated treasures. I then began to sell at craft fairs,flea markets selling vintage jewelry,my own jewelry,and bags and purses I made.
Concurrently I also sold my own photographs produced in my own darkroom and studio.
The photograph shown was one of my earliest acquisitions a beautiful Edwardian silver button, from the Arts and Crafts movement the detail is exquisite.It only measures 1-1/4ins diameter
Where do you get your inspiration?
Just about anything, I may find a piece of old silk,lace or a beautiful button,or simply some old beads that need to be restrung. I love to use vintage buttons and beads when making purses, ring bearer pillows and jewelry. It became a key feature of my work.
Back in 2007 I commenced work on a series of silk ring bearer pillows,using vintage lace and buttons. These were a labour of love and now unfortunately I do not have time to make any. I do still have some unfinished ones I may return to at a later date when my family life is more settled and we have moved house.
Photographically I can get inspiration from so many things,especially the sky, weather ,seasons, flowers, and butterflies. I really love still life,minute details and macro work. I take photographs of something every single day of my life.
The silk painting in the photograph was an amalgam of my sketches and impressions looking at embroideries and chinese clothing in my favourite museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London.That is one of the most inspirational places I know and have spent countless hours there over my adult life; having first gone there as a student in 1963
The ring bearer pillow in photo 2 was made having found the delicate vintage chiffon bow at a flea market.It was so beautiful it needed little in the way of embellishment .
What was your first creation? Do you have a favourite?
My first real creation is a bit difficult to remember. I still have a now very collectible doll dressed in clothes I made age about 6 and I am overwhelmed by my skill at such an early age. All credit to my mother that she didn't dispose of it!
By the time I reached Art college I already had a massive output of work, but then in my first year of a degree course in Fashion and textiles in 1963 I made a dress I was really proud of.I loved it so much I made it again when the first version wore out.That has to be one of my favourite creations along with this moonstone bracelet I made in 2008. I only made two and kept this one.
What have you created recently?
In recent years I have only had time to take photographs,and I am not sewing or making any jewelry for sale.
These are some of my recent photographs.The raindrops on the metal table really inspired me.
The ammonite fossil was found on a local beach and it was huge.I was absolutely thrilled to find it having just taken a landscape shot. I literally looked down at my feet and it was right there !! It is huge thelarge lump of rock was over 18ins square.
The Victorian lady from the Civil War era is a digitally retouched image from an ambrotype in very poor condition. I had to use a lot of artistic licence to recreate missing bits.I had made a contact sheet from the plate many years ago ,then recently I decided to make a digital copy of it and try and restore it; mainly as a technical exercise for my own enjoyment. I could not have done it without the aid of Adobe Photoshop and it took many hours.
When I had my own darkroom I used to do this kind of retouching work the hard way with a brush and photographic dyes on a copied photograph.Following techniques taught by my grandfather I restored photographs similar to these for new generations.
