daretodream: Some of my French Treasures

~Click the image above for the full view~
I made this jewelry during my Obrien workshop in Durfort, France. I loved the workshop and actually loved spending time with Linda and Opie and the other students as much as the class, working in the studio and traveling around together. The gorgeous leather book below was a found treasure! More pictures of this book are right under this.
This book is just gorgeous. It's dated in the 1800's, the leather cover is all hand tooled. The marbled end papers are amazing. All the pages are illustrated and there are about 10 full etched illustrations throughout. The icing on the cake...one of my favorite things about old books...I discovered a gorgeous old bookmarker within the pages. :)
There were several things I found at the flea market that I'm not sure I'll part with.... This beautiful victorian piece is actually an early collage. Someone used wallpaper with roses and birds, cut and pasted and about 10 different pieces then placed the religious image on top. This was made to fit the beautiful plaster frame. It's quite large measuring 20" x 26". It was either 5 or 10 euros at the market.
I can't even tell you the number of religious antiques there were....I'm not catholic but since becoming an artist, I've grown so appreciative of the beauty and craftmanship put into these pieces. Here are a few things I found...

These two are my favorite...the 1st is a very old plaster statue of Mary holding baby Jesus. The 2nd is of St Theresa. In the picture below, the kneeling chalkware piece is St. Bernadette. She was the young nun in Lourdes who saw Mary...(Our Lady of Lourdes....lots and lots from Lourdes)

Everything inside this printer's tray I got at the flea market. (Except for a couple of charms I made at the workshop). I have them divided into groups such as...crosses, popes, Lourdes, St. Theresa, misc. saints, misc. non religious charms and jewelry, Notre Dame charms, etc.

These gorgeous rings held heavy curtains in a medieval church perhaps?
St. Peter?
Gorgeous bronze crucifix mounted on a red velvet covered wooden cross.
Some other treasures?
My husband asked for 2 things....a tablecloth & napkins from Provence and some Herbs of Provence. Here's the tablecloth. It has a 17th century design that was from Provence.
I came across this beautiful set of porcelain cannisters for $6 euros. I originally got them for my sister but my mom didn't think she would use them so, they're mine. I love them.

These are incredible. A set of 13 old crosses. (there should be 14). These are "Stations of the Cross". You'll see a light colored circle at the top which has hand writing "Bois de Gethsemani" which translates into "Gethsemane wood". I'm guessing the Gethsemane wood is the inlaid circle. The crosses are hand carved and stamped Jerusalem at the bottom. A roman numeral representing a station is marked just below the top circled inlay. In the center of the cross, (these aren't complete on all 13 crosses, btw) there is, under glass, a paper with handwritten roman numeral (the same as marked on the wood above) and a tiny relic that looks like fiber. Over the glass, there is a mother of pearl circle which signifies Mary.
Plaster heads mounted on marble blocks.

This is unbelievably beautiful...it's a cast bronze frame mounted on wood. The photos came with this piece.

I know that I said I'd write about the details of my trip, but after posting the first day, I had a change of heart. I will share more but not quite so detailed. oxox