New at Bumbershoot Supplies: Cheery Cherry Brand Vintage Japanese Beads

Here at Bumbershoot Supplies, we've been 'oohing and ahhing' over a new shipment of gorgeous vintage Cherry Brand beads. With bright cherry reds, vintage turquoise and creamy pastels the bead colors look like they've been picked while standing in front of a candy counter. (Please don't try to lick them though!) Cherry Brand beads were handcrafted in Osaka during the late 1940s -- you can read more about their history in our blog post here.

In addition to regular round beads we also have 'baroque' beads. Unevenly formed with lots of interesting texture to the surface, these beads will truly enhance any design. 

We're drawing out the last days of summer with these bright beads. Guaranteed to brighten anyone's day! 

Shop our Cherry Brand Collection at Bumbershoot Supplies.

New on Pinterest: Trim Up the Tree

The holidays are fast approaching, and one of the best things about the holiday season is the decorations! Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, you may still appreciate the craftsmanship of the gorgeous glass ornaments of yesteryear. In our recent board "Trim Up the Tree" we've been pulling together some of our favorite vintage glass ornaments. Check them out:

Source: etsy.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: indulgy.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: toppics.ozziesworld.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Bumbershoot Supplies Vintage Bead Giveaway with A Bead A Day

Want some free vintage beads and cabochons?  Head on over to A Bead A Day, Lisa Crone's bead blog.

Bumbershoot Supplies is sponsoring a giveaway on A Bead A Day of all the items you see in the photo above and below. Leave a comment on Lisa's blog so she knows you are interested. The winner will be selected Friday, Sept 24, 2011.

And while you are on Lisa's blog, I hope you will enjoy a look around and also check out her book, A Bead in Time: 35 Jewelry Projects Inspired by Slices of Life.

Our daughter Emma and I were inspired by all the amethyst and purple tones we saw in the fall fashion issue of Vogue magazine to curate a collection of amethyst vintage beauties, complemented by a selection of our vintage glass pearls. As a group, these beads and cabochons date from the 1930's to the 1950's. You can learn more about the history of the round amethyst sew ons here.

The winner will receive the beads shipped directly from Bumbershoot Supplies, with our standard shipping confirmation email, and a tracking number if you are in the US.  Of course, international participants are very welcome to participate too!

Dating Antique Glass Buckles from Vintage Czechoslovakia

I have mentioned elsewhere how much I appreciate the intersection of history, art and artisan craftsmanship that is exemplified by vintage beads and components.  I do enjoy discovering as much as I can about the history of our vintage supplies. These particular vintage, actually antique, glass buckles took me on a journey to Eastern Europe, to Czechoslovakia and Bohemia over 90 years ago.

These buckles are marked M. C. S. R.  The “M” is larger than the “CSR”.  Hard to see, and to photograph, but it's there.

A bit of time spent researching the history of Czechoslovakia, specifically the many names this region of the world has held over time, and I learned that from 1920 – 1938 Czechoslovakia’s formal name was Czechoslovak Republic, with the acronym CSR.  Bingo! Perhaps the “M” stands for “manufactured”. It is distinctly not part of the acronym “CSR” because it was specifically made to be larger than those letters.

We have these buckles listed as being from the 1930’s, but in fact they may be as old as 1920. In general, we like to be conservative in our estimates when we date our vintage supplies.  So in many cases, such as these buckles, the age of a particular bead, button or cabochon may be older than the date we provide.  The Bumbershoot Supplies website, www.bumbershootsupplies.com, is a good resource, because information there is formatted to provide you with the date and place of origin of each supply, as well as links to these types of history blog posts for individual items, as these posts are written. 

If you ever have questions about any of our supplies, certainly feel free to email me, Sharon at sjdurfy@bumbershootsupplies.com and  I’ll do my best to provide any information we may have.

Products related to this history can be found right here at Bumbershoot Supplies.

What is Cherry Brand? History and Provenance of Vintage Japanese Beads and Cabochons

What is “Cherry Brand”? You may have noticed several items at Bumbershoot Supplies labeled “Cherry Brand”. We have beads on wire, rhinestones and cabochons, all glass and all labeled "Cherry Brand".

These items often arrive wrapped in tissue sealed with an orange gummed sakura blossom label.

We love to obtain vintage beads and cabochons labeled Cherry Brand since the label helps us in dating and locating the supplies, providing information about their history and provenance.

My source for information about Cherry Brand comes from Dolce Street Arts and Crafts, a Japanese site. I recommend visiting this link for an English question and answer fact sheet about Cherry Brand. Here is a summary of the information provided.

Cherry Brand was used to label beads and cabochons made by a group of glass artisans in Osaka, Japan, from 1945 to 1952 during the US Occupation of Japan after WWII. Some glass beads and cabochons marked Cherry Brand were made earlier, but the vast majority of currently available items come from this period. Cherry Brand was not a factory per se, rather a large group of individual artisans who were rice farmers during the day and glass workers at night and during the off season.

At the end of WWII, American dealers brought samples of items they were interested in and commissioned these artisans to make similar beads and cabochons. The samples were European, usually Czech and Venetian. This is why you will see vintage and antique Czech cabochons from, for example, the 1920’s and 1930’s reproduced by Japanese glass artisans in the 1940’s. It is very interesting to look through Sibylle Jargsorf’s book Baubles, Buttons and Beads. The Heritage of Bohemia because you will find examples of beads and cabochons that were subsequently reproduced by Japanese Cherry Brand artisans.

In addition to being able to date and locate Cherry Brand beads and cabochons, we also love to obtain them for Bumbershoot Supplies because with Cherry Brand, we can always expect extraordinary beauty, as well as remarkable quality and craftsmanship. When an item is marked Cherry Brand, we know that within is contained a glass treasure, almost always made between 1945 and 1952, in Osaka Japan, by glass artisans working from their homes. Plus with these beads and cabochons, there is a direct connection to the original glass artisan – from their hands to yours. Does that thrill you? It does me!

Products related to this history can be found right here at Bumbershoot Supplies.

Vintage Design Inspiration Board #15 with Creativity Quote

Life is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?

~Margot Fonteyn

Inspiration Board #15 features:

vintage millinery glitter stamens (West Germany, wrapped with hand dyed twine)

vintage glass mirror button (US Zone Occupied Germany)

vintage coral glass beads, whole and halves (Japan)

vintage glass pearl drop (Japan)

vintage turquoise glass bead links (Japan)

vintage plastic flower cabochon (Japan)

lace, hand crocheted with antique crochet cotton (USA) and vintage orange lustre glass seed beads (Czech)
kanzashi flower made from Tracie Lynn Huskamp Nature Inspired fabric, embellished with vintage glass pearl button (Japan)

vintage paper  button tag (Austria)

vintage rhinestone earring component

vintage ivory flower buttons

additional scraps of Nature Inspired fabric

antique embroidery floss

vintage linen tea towel

mounted on 4x5 inch gallery wrapped canvas base

Vintage Rhinestones, Vintage Beads, Vintage Buttons and More from the US Zone of Occupied Germany: Date and Location

A lot of the vintage glass at Bumbershoot Supplies, including vintage beads, vintage cabochons, vintage rhinestones and vintage buttons, comes to us labeled “Made in Germany US Zone”. This tells us that the item was made in Germany during the time the country was occupied by Allied Forces immediately post WWII. Here’s the history…

This map is from http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/map.cfm?map_id=525

This map shows the Allied zones of occupation in Germany. The division into these zones was in place by July 1945, after a period of negotiation by the Allies and subsequent troop movement. The Soviet zone is in pink, the French zone is in blue, the American zone is in bright yellow, and the British zone is in the softer yellow. At first, each occupying power had authority in their respective areas. Eventually the three western zones were combined to form the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1949, with the Soviets forming the Germany Democratic Republic (GDR), also in 1949. 

Allied occupation of the Federal Republic of Germany continued until 1955, but the “zones” disappeared with the formation of the FRG in 1949.  “Western Germany” and later “West Germany” were the common English names used for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), which existed from 1949 until the reunification of Germany in 1990. Soviet control of the eastern zone of Germany, commonly referred to as “East Germany”, continued from 1945 to 1990, first as the USSR Zone (1945-1949) then as the GDR.

Who knows how long it took for new packaging materials to be printed for glass baubles and beads, stating their origin as “US Zone”?  And who knows how long it took for packaging material to switch subsequently to “Made in Western Germany” or “Made in West Germany”? In any case, the “Made in Germany US Zone” marking is understood to encompass most of southern Germany as shown by the map and covers the time between the end date of WWII and the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. 1945 to 1949.

Bohemian Rose Matrix Glass Cabochons. History and Provenance

These pretty vintage glass cabochons have a history and a story, these are a really cool find. The original packaging calls them rose matrix, but they are more of a salmon color, with brown and white glass that together, makes each cabochon unique and gives them an organic, natural feel.

These arrived in really interesting original packaging, with the applied sticker Bohemia-Germany, the Made in Germany stamp, and the second stamp, "Released by the Joint Boycott Council". With a bit of research, I learned that after the Nazis took power in 1933, there was a wave of boycotts across Europe, eventually reaching the United States. In 1936 in the US, the Jewish Labor Committee and the American Jewish Congress, both bodies already engaged in the boycott process, joined forces and instituted a "Joint Boycott Council". This committee was one of two major organizations in the US spearheading a boycott of Nazi Germany between 1936 and Pearl Harbor in 1941. Of course, boycott efforts became unnecessary when the US entered WWII in 1941.

The original packaging thus allows us to date these cabochons to the period of time when the Joint Boycott Council was active, between 1936 and 1941.

Very pretty and rather unassuming little cabochons, but think of what was going on in the world and Bohemia when glass artisans made these - that's a story...

Products related to this history can be found right here on Bumbershoot Supplies.

New at Bumbershoot Designs. Old Favorites Restocked: Vintage Boot Buttons, Vintage Rhinestones, Vintage Glass Cabochons

We have listed many more new vintage rhinestones and vintage cabochons at Bumbershoot Supplies over the last week.  I'll describe them more in our upcoming June 15 newsletter, and you can always see the new arrivals section at our website.  But today I thought I'd mention some of our popular items that I have been able to restock in small quantities, always an exciting event, since with vintage supplies, restocking is never a sure thing. In addition to the cabochons above, here are some more supplies that have been restocked this week...

I hope you enjoyed seeing these returning vintage treasures! Until next time, wishing you a happy and art-filled weekend!

Look What I Found. Vintage Turquoise and Gold Feather Beads

Since Bumbershoot Supplies, I don't purchase very many vintage beads for my personal collection any more.  I use the same ones in my designs that we offer at Bumbershoot Supplies, plus beads that have been in my collection for years. 

However, every once in a while I come across some beads that I just cannot pass up. 

Like these...

Years and years ago I purchased a notion kit from the French General that had a few of these gorgeous green turquoise feather-like beads in it. The ones from the French General were much larger and I used them as an accent in this one-of-a-kind bracelet. My recent acquisitions are a smaller version of the same bead. 

I am so thrilled with being able to locate a few more of these beads.  I love how these are drilled, they curve so gracefully. I love this greenish turquoise vintage color, and I love the aging gilt paint.  I've got these sitting out on my work table in my studio, where they will stay until they tell me how they want to be used. 

At the same time, I also purchased a few of these...

And these...

Both of which are also whispering quietly to me...