Sunday, August 2, 2015

Repairing Vintage Jewelry with Nail Polish

I have a weakness for vintage jewelry and have been collecting items since I was a teenager. My passion was fueled at yard sales where older ladies sold off their collections from the 1950s-60s. These weren't cool, vintage or fashionable when I was a teenager in the 1980s-1990s, but I lived in my own "silver screen fantasy world" and was able to amass a large collection for very little. However, sometimes the pieces were in really bad shape. I learned quickly how to repair and clean vintage jewelry the right way, but I also cheated a bit. I found that plastic pearls that have completely lost their color and luster could be painted with pearl nail polish. This was a much faster fixer-upper than trying to locate the exact same pearl size...and especially in the days before the internet this was a difficult task. Plus, I'm a practical person and want to live with and use the items I bought. I found that using a shimmery pearl nail polish did the trick. Some purist collectors would probably hate me for it, but you can always later, if need be, pop out the old pearls and replace them with long sought after original replacement pieces.
              
Vintage Trifari
 

 Vintage Chanel


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