Thursday, December 28, 2017

What Is That Spot On The Back Of My China Pendant?





If you own a piece of my Dishfunctional Designs Broken China Jewelry, you might have noticed something on the reverse side of your china pendant. 

It's not on many of my pendants (and other jewelry pieces I make such as pin brooches and bracelets), but it is on a few. 

Every once in a while you will come across a small circular bump - what looks to be a dink - on the reverse side surface of the china. 




Hmmm. Mysterious. 

Can you guess what it is? 

Give up? 

It's called a stilt mark or a kiln spur, and it's a resting mark from where the plate once sat in the kiln when it was fired. You will usually find three of them on the reverse side of a plate. 

Yup, these little dinks and spots are actually a pretty interesting fact about the antique piece of the past that you now wear around your neck!  





I thought that was a pretty cool fact! I think that they add interest and character to something that already is pretty unique - they are like a part of each piece of china's story. 

What do you think?




Have a great week!
 Laura






Wednesday, December 27, 2017

My Favorite Bluebird China Patterns (and other bird china patterns!)

Hi friends! I hope you all had a great holiday. I can hardly believe that it's the end of 2017 and that 2018 will be here in just a few days! 

I am so excited for the new year and I have something special planned for my blog for the entire month of January...hopefully I will be able to pull it off, hehe... I am going to try my best and lately I have regrettably fallen out of the blogging habit, mostly because life just gets in the way and then all of a sudden the holidays are upon us and I am then in production 24/7! 

That's just how things are sometimes and it can't be helped. But I have BIG plans for 2018 and lots of great blog posts coming up that I know you are going to LOVE! So stay tuned! 

I want to say Thank You to all of my amazing customers - both new and returning customers - this certainly was a super-busy season for Dishfunctional Designs Broken China Jewelry, and I hope you are loving your new jewelry! And for those who purchased not for themselves but as gifts for others - I hope they loved their jewelry! Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know. 

While fishing through some dishes I came across one of my boxes of bluebird china, and thought I would snap a few quick photos so that I could share some of my favorite patterns with you. Now, before you even ask, I can barely tell you any of these pattern names - most don't have names - and not even a maker's mark on the reverse side, so your guess is as good as mine for most of them.

But they are just beautiful. 

Some of the patterns below I have only ever seen once - maybe twice - so they are not commonly found. Others you may recognize as a bit more popular. Enjoy! 


















Which is your favorite?


Have a great week!
 Laura