Weekend Special

This weekend special is an 'Erin go Bragh' necklace.......

It will come complete with this explanation card.......

so that you can explain to your friends, or anybody that you might be

 gifting this necklace too, exactly what it means.

It can be found in my Etsy shop here

have a nice weekend :-)

Oh Captain Wentworth..........

One of the things I like best about wax seals is that a large number in my collection come from the Georgian period.  As does the work of my favourite author Jane Austen.  When I hold a seal, examine the craftsmanship and admire the materials used to make it, I can't help but picture Elizabeth Bennett sitting at a writing table and writing a letter to Jane or Charlotte.

But my favourite letter comes from Austen's Persuasion.

Anne Elliott is a much more sedate heroine that Eliza Bennett, but I feel her personality has a more emotional, self deprecating and therefore deeper quality.  I 'feel' more for Anne.


Therefore it makes it all the sweeter for me to see her receive the most breathtaking love letter.....

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."

When I read this I wonder what kind of a seal did he use to seal his letter?

With his nautical background and the fact that he has just emerged from war makes me think the this might be his choice.....

Proved by the storm

I have used a handmade wax letter seal to cast an impression onto sterling silver, and then created a pair of cufflinks......... very Fredrick Wentworth!

Fascinating...........

Fascinating seals..........

This is a significant historical artifact, and also an object of striking beauty and resonance.  Released from the Vatican archives for the first time, this 1530 letter - a 3ft- wide parchment with 81 wax seals attached to red silk ribbons.  Sent by English noblemen urging Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII's marriage to his first wife, (Catherine of Aragon) so the king could marry Anne Boleyn.

Anne Boleyn

introducing.......... Un me Suffit.

I thought that I could break the ice by introducing my seals, and telling you a little about each one.

The first one I would like to show you is  'Un Me Suffit'....... One is enough for me......

This is a hand carved early seal made from sterling silver and carnelian agate and still has it's original patina..... just gorgeous!  It dates to the earlier part of the 1700's... and when I first saw it,  I thought that it was THE most romantic thing I had ever seen.

Because it was hand-carved it was obviously commissioned.  You wouldn't have been able to walk into a shop a buy two of these seals off the shelf.  Wax seals were used to seal correspondence... (and letters and messages were the only way to communicate if you weren't face to face) and were valuable and an important part of daily life.  The seal you chose showed how educated you were, your status, your wit and cleverness and your general mood at the time of writing the post.



This particular seal had layers of symbolism in it..... and I can daydream and imagine a newly engaged girl, writing to her sisters or friends to tell them of her impending marriage.......

'Un me Suffit'

.............one is enough for me!

As you can see it features an image of cupid, winged and flying.  He has one perfectly shaped heart in his arms.   He is raising it up or 'elevating' it as the one he has chosen.

He is also leaving two other hearts behind (perhaps two other suitors?) ....un me suffit!

Another layer of the wax seal that I love is the fact that the two hearts were left behind on a drum.  Drums or the beating of them is often used as a metaphor for love....' a heart beat'.... 'be still my beating heart'....... 'with a pounding heart'.......'with every beat of my heart'.  So it adds significantly to this lovely romantic image.  Hand-carved over 250 years ago..... and reclaimed in sterling silver to be worn today.  And I do think that it is still as relevant today as it ever was.

This wax seal necklace is available to buy from this site or in my Etsy shop (you have a choice of a 16" or 18" sterling silver Rolo Chain.).  It will arrive beautifully packaged, with 'SWALK' packaging.  It will also have an explanation card with it to explain to the recipient the meaning and sentiment behind this particular seal.....

Making heirlooms from heirlooms...................

Beginnings........

Don't you just love new beginnings?  A fresh, shiny new blog.  Blank pages where there has been no meltdowns, problems or dilemmas......... yet.

Welcome to SWALK.  It's a new beginning for me.  A fresh start of sorts. An idea that I feel in my heart and soul that I can really make a go of.

Background......

A Million years ago, before I had children, I was an antique dealer.  I travelled around the country with various 'fairs' and sold what I called 'girly antiques'.  I made a pretty good living.  My inventory included vintage and antique handbags and purses, jewelry (lots of Jewelry......), dressing tablet trinkets,  Sterling silver hair brushes and mirrors,  and of course antique desk seals, fob seals and intaglios.

I used to load everything into my 'new husband's' old rusty Jeep and set off often before dawn.

Dublin was my favorite place to sell, but I also travelled to Limerick, Wicklow, Kildare and anywhere

the fairs travelled, I'd be there. 

I worked throughout my first pregnancy, and my second..... but after Grace was born it became too difficult to leave two small children with David and travel all over the country for weekends at a time.

My inventory was packed carefully away with a view to picking up where I left off when my family was older.

But of course the world went into recession and consumerism faltered....... 'girly antiques' were no longer something that people wanted to spend their money on.  So the inventory stayed packed.............

Meanwhile.........

While I was having and rearing the kids I used my creative side to keep myself sane.  (I have a degree in Fine Art.)  One of the hobbies I picked up was 'wire wrapping jewelry.'  This progressed to using a soldering torch, hammers and saws.  I love and adore metal working, but with the price of metal (and my tendency to make BIG pieces)  meant that sales were slow enough, and only just about enough to keep myself in silver and stones.

Now........

My kids are that bit older.  This is the first year where my youngest is in pre-school five mornings a week.  I found my thoughts turning to gainful employment and earning some kind of income to contribute to the household....... Picking though my inventory this Christmas I wondered what I could do with boxes of 'girly antiques'.  Was there still a living to be earned from schlepping around the country with boxes of hand bags and jewelry and bits and pieces.  Were people even buying these things these day, with money being so tight in the country?

Well, I had a bit of a Eureka moment.......  While looking through my desk seals, wax seals and fobs, I caught myself smiling at the wonderful witty, often sentimental, romantic messages that would have been impressed into red wax, thinking about how sad it was that they were packed away and wondering if I should sell them off so that someone else could enjoy and appreciate them.

When it dawned on me that I could combine these wonderful antiques with my metal-smithing skills.

The idea of SWALK was born.... it's only been a few weeks since that eureka moment.  But I've been working really hard setting up a business.  A business that I KNOW in my heart and soul can work.  A business that I am passionate about (Antiques AND Metalwork combined).......

So this is the story of the journey that I am embarking on...... a kind of journal I suppose.  A record of 

the highs and lows and my struggle to rear a young family and build a business from scratch.

Will you join me?