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Treasure Island Books

Specializing in quality used and out-of-print books since the Twentieth Century

TWO WOMEN BROOCH

I bought this cabochon on eBay from a seller who claimed it was
"vintage" from about the 1950s or early 1960s. Its provenance is a
bit doubtful in my mind; I saw several other similar cabochons
recently on eBay, either of this picture or a part of it. Be that as it
may, I still am captivated by this sweet scene of two women,
watched over by an angel (see him there, on the right?), confiding in
one another.

The seller claimed it's porcelain; that may be...it's some sort of
ceramic. The picture is a decal, although well-applied, not
hand-painted. It measures the typical 40 cm (about 1-5/8") tall X 30
cm (about 1-1/4") wide for cabochons designed to be set into
commercially-made metal settings. The beaded edging extends
about 1/4".

I first glued it to a stiff interfacing-like fabric known as Lacy's Stiff
Stuff." Next, I bead-embroidered one row around the cabochon.
From there on I stitched what amounted to a tubular peyote stitch
up, around and slightly over it. After that, I went back to the original
bead-embroidered row and used the peyote stitch to stitch
outwards.

This is a very basic stitching pattern of no particular design; note
that the stitching is not perfectly even; I was going for a slight wave
or ruffle effect. The angle I shot the photo at makes it look as if
there's very little stitching at the top but it just isn't showing.