BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
A few days after attending the fantastic Consequences exhibition at Nexus Art Cafe, my lovely friend Miss Freyia Lilian Porteous conducted a beautiful little workshop to accompany her work, inspired by 18th century keepsakes.
A 'Lovers Eye' signifies a piece of decorative jewellery adorned with a miniature portrait of an eye of a loved one. These romantically bizarre yet beautiful pieces of ornate jewellery, often had hand-painted eyes situated in the centre of pendants, brooches and rings. To wear one of these pieces can ultimately be an expression of love and adoration for another whilst can also represent the loss of a loved one hence mourning jewellery.
Freyia's workshop was so lovely, instead of traditionally hand-painting eyes, magazine cuttings and photographs were provided. Along with pretty fragments of broken jewellery, beads, dimantes and flat back brooches.
Here is my lovely friend Freyia, I got her to model the pieces she made because they looked soooooo good! I recon her pieces could well and truly pass as the oroginals as she decorated them so beautifully with personal photographic eyes, such as her own and her grandmothers.
Here is my very own handcrafted Lovers Eye! I had fun making it, I cut out a model's eye from a magazine as well as a detail embellishment on a dress spelling out 'rocker'. I wanted to make a more contemporary version of one of these pieces. I adorned my brooch-pin with a string of vintage pearls, a paper flower and some small delicate dimantes. With the placing of the jewels, I think my lovers eye has a slight Middle Eastern feel to it, what do you think?
