Today's Vintage Jewelry Word - Tessera

Today's vintage jewelry word is tessera. The plural of tessera. (pronounced tess-er-aye) A tessera is an individual tile used in a mosaic, usually in the form of a cube.

Originally, the tiles used were small, naturally colored pebbles, but eventually special tiles were made to use in the making of pictures or designs on mosaics of all types.

In vintage jewelry, this is a word used for small glass tiles which are combined to make intricate designs in Micro Mosaic, Mosaic and Pietra Dura Jewelry, which were very popular with Italian artisans.

Marble or limestone pieces were cut into small cubes that were then arranged into the mosaic design. Much later, the tesserae were made from colored glass. This is the type of tiles that we have come to know and recognize when used in Italian micro mosaic jewelry.

The size of the tiles determines what the mosaic style is called. They range from micro mosaics, where the smallest tesserae were used, through medium sized tiles, which were used in mosaic jewelry, through to Pietra Dura, where the largest tiles were used.

The following are examples of the various styles of mosaic jewelry and shows the differences between the tesserae. You can click on the pictures to get a better idea of the size of the tiles.

The micro mosaic red photo is courtesy of ebay seller artsmart275

For more words of the week, you can go to our Words of the Week Archives in the resource library on Vintage Jewelry Lane.

Just the Cat's Meow - Figural Cat Themed Jewelry

I used to be a cat enthusiast. When my husband and I lived in Australia years ago, we had cats as pets for years. My favorites were the Siamese - we had several of them over the 15 years we lived there. Since returning to the US, we seem to have acquired a fondness for German Shepherd dogs, but that's another story for a later date.

Since I began selling vintage jewelry online over a decade ago, I have come to discover that one of the most popular thematic jewelry line is that featuring cats. These items just seem to fly off the shelves, particularly if they are unusual designs. Sometimes, the designs are wild cats such as this cute Trifari leaping leopard pin featured here, and other times, they are various designs of house cats. All seem to be widely popular.

Most vintage jewelry designers had cat designs in their lines, but several vintage jewelry designers are particularly known for lovely feline figurals. Some that come to mind are JJ (Jonette Jewelry), AJC, AJMC, Danecraft, and others. Trifari, Art, Warner and Coro also had several designs of cats.

Have a look at these cute kittens to see if something makes you purr with delight.

Which one is the cat's meow for you? The cat jewelry is all available for sale from one of my online stores. Just click the pictures to go to the item. Prices are $9.99 to $29.99.

Jewelry Find of the week -

B. David jewelry is known for their stunning rhinestone jewelry, in particular their mother's crown series of brooches. The design is meant to show the story of a mother's life, with each child's simulated birthstone as a jewel in her crown.

I was fortunate to acquire a complete set of this design in the original B. David box for my new Ruby Lane Shop - Finishing Touch Vintage Jewelry. The set features a crown brooch and matching pair of clip back earrings. They are in like new condition, and feature very pretty aurora borealis rhinestones along with multi colored accent rhinestones.

The color of the stones in this particular set are supposed to simulate gemstones for January, September, May, March, and November. (the stones are meant to imitate a garnet, aquamarine, topaz, sapphire and emerald.)

The stunning B. David mother's crown set comes with the original gift box and the small gift card which tells the story of the mother's crown. It is available for only $60 with free shipping.

If the stones aren't the colors that are appropriate for your mother and you are a crafty type of person, they could be changed for the appropriate colors - the story card tells you which stones are the right ones for each month.

Or just wear the set as a lovely demi without the story. The pieces are beautiful in their own right.

Today's Vintage Jewelry Color - White

With spring here and summer around the corner, I thought that today's color should be white. When I was young, there was a "rule" that you should only wear white shoes between Memorial day and Labor day. Fortunately, there is no such rule about white jewelry. It can be worn anytime, but is especially good with summer fashions.

White jewelry can be worn with blue, black and any other dark colors. White can also look very trendy with this summer's hot colors of yellow, and orange. But don't stop there - white jewelry is the perfect accent for any color.

You can look for jewelry in gem stones such as White Agate, moonstone, snow onyx, pearl or mother of pearl, or just pure crystal such as quartz. And don't forget white rhinestones! White milk glass is so pure looking, and vintage plastics often used white as a color. And nothing is quite as crisp and fresh as white enamel. It looks just perfect on black.

Since pre-historic times, white jewelry has been part of the human fashion business. Why? Think of the available materials - jewelry was probably first made from bones and pearls and shells of pearls. So white was it.

Check out some of these pretty styles of white jewelry. Which one would accompany your wardrobe best?

All of these styles are available in my Carolina Collections Vintage Jewelry store for prices between $9.99 and $24.99. I even have collections of all white jewelry for sale. This pretty collection contains the white featherlite earrings shown above and is available for $24.99 for the whole collection!

And remember - you can wear white all year round. No rules to follow.

Men's Jewelry for Prom Time

It's almost time for school proms, and the talk is all about what the girls should wear for jewelry. But what about the guys? They like to dress up too.

This wonderful set in goldtone metal is perfect for the guy who likes a modernistic look without too much flash. And it even has six Tuxedo shirt studs to complete the look. It's available from my Carolina Collections Vintage Jewelry store for only $18.99.

If your guy likes a much more dressy look, then check out the latest in these flashy men's cuff links. They feature onyx and rhinestones, or channel set rhinestones and some which are just onxy. They will give the perfect look to a simple dress shirt and make your guy really stand out in the crowd.

Prices are very reasonable - from $15.99-$29.99. Just click the pictures to go to the item pages for more details.