{"id":344759,"date":"2020-08-10T09:57:14","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T13:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/?p=344759"},"modified":"2021-12-15T06:00:14","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T11:00:14","slug":"paste-jewelry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/paste-jewelry\/","title":{"rendered":"A Novelist Reveals Her Love Affair with Paste Jewelry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Edwardian<\/a>
Edwardian paste starburst brooch, 1900<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had a love affair with paste jewelry<\/a> since I was a little girl. One of my mother\u2019s hobbies was decoupage, and I used to go with her to a notions and trimming store in midtown Manhattan to buy materials. We\u2019d walk up a dark flight of stairs and enter an Ali Baba\u2019s cave stocked with ribbons; Victorian images of birds, butterflies, cherubs and flowers; decorated buttons; rolls of sequins from the 1920s; and boxes and boxes of crystal flat-back rhinestones in every color and shade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At home, my mother would put her purchases in a closet outfitted with shelves to hold her tools and materials. I was encouraged to avail myself of anything that struck my fancy to make my own arts and crafts projects. Mostly, I was drawn to the stones and sequins and used them to decorate small boxes I would give as gifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t realize those stones were different from the ones in my mother\u2019s jewelry box until I glued a pair of her round drop diamond earrings<\/a> onto one of my creations, which I then gave to our babysitter on her birthday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily for me, the babysitter was an honest soul and returned the earrings to my mom. After that, I was banned from the jewelry box and taught the difference between real and make-believe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Victorian<\/a>
Victorian paste and yellow gold cocktail ring, 1873<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paste jewelry didn\u2019t come back into my life until I became a novelist and was having a hard time fully realizing my main character. In desperation, I came up with the idea of going shopping with her to learn her likes and dislikes, an excursion that would include buying something of hers I could wear while writing, as a talisman of sorts. I settled on an engagement ring, imagining a ruby surrounded by diamonds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was I thinking? I was an unpublished author \u2014 I couldn\u2019t afford rubies and diamonds! But I had convinced myself that I wouldn\u2019t be able to write the book without the ring. And that\u2019s when I remembered the \u201cmake-believe\u201d stones I used to play with. So, I left Tiffany<\/a> and began scouring antiques stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paste, I was told by the dealer who showed me just the ring I was looking for, was an outgrowth of ancient cultures\u2019 veneration for glass. Throughout history, royals had their own paste jewelers. Napol\u00e9on gave a parure of paste to Jos\u00e9phine. The finest such pieces are made using the same techniques as fine jewelry and often employ precious metals like gold or silver. The best paste stones are even cut like real gemstones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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M.J. Rose's Paste Jewelry Picks<\/div>\n\t\t\t
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