displaying costume jewelry

[mlogan]

How can you display it? I collect owls so it was bound to happen that the "owl necklaces and pins" bug was going to hit me. I have my pins on a avocado green pillow and it looks good. I actually have my necklaces hanging on the lamp shade(of my owl lamps:)), but is there another idea?   Of course jewelry is made to wear, but I don't wear jewelry:)

[valleythriftshopper]

I saw a great idea in Better Homes & Gardens once.  You take a pretty picture frame and cut a piece of radiator cover mesh (you can buy it at the hardware store) to fit.  Then you can hang all kinds of jewlery from the mesh.  You can spray paint the mesh before putting it into the frame too.  I wish I still had the magazine to scan the picture, but it really does look nice, they had the frame sitting on top of a bureau, but you could hang it on a wall too.

[mccoysnina]

One thing I do with nice pieces is put up cup hooks on the wall and hang the necklaces as art.
I also saw an idea in a book on thrift shop decorating.  You take an old dress form and find a vintage dress.  Pin vintage jewelry all over it and display.  The book showed a wicker form but I had an old metal one.  I found an antiqued looking lace dress at a thrift for about $3 (zipper was broke, but heck I wasn't going to wear it.) I put it on the form and DD and I hung thirifted jewlery all over it, hanging from the lace.  It lookd great.
And for a Christmas wreath this year, we wired vintage jewelry to a pine wreath and hung on the front door.  Lots of compliments on that one.
And a bit of silliness.  I inherited a statue of a swan from my mother.  It sits on the mantle.  DD and I hang different necklaces on it to match the season and color.  Definetly not my mother's way to display.
Jeannie
Jeannie

[mlogan]

thanks for all the great ideas!  Can't wait to try some.

[fashionbird]

Hi,

I would also recommend to hang your jewelry on any stuffed animal, my daughter and me do that.   We put all the jewelry we collect on their necks, and we also use the idea of hooks in the bathroom wall to hang our necklaces.

And for our earrings we have put a mesh, which was previously hand-painted with bright colors, and there we hang our earrings.

We have painted with different colors each section, for formals, casual, and colorful ones to use them either at the beach or at school parties, etc.

I also keep the most memorable jewelry hanging on each Prom Dress, since I have 4 daughters (twins and twins), each one has her Prom Dress decorating her bedroom, as a souvenir.
 

[akgem]

I love the wreath idea!

[slpwendy]

Just get a sturdy branch/twig and spray paint it, stick it in a pot, and hang stuff from it!  Silver spray paint or a bright color looks cool - or you could hang it on a wall if you have wall space - looks like a little tree with jewelry buds on it!

[valleythriftshopper]

I saw this picture on a blog and thought of this topic.  I know someone mentioned displaying on a dressform.  A bust like this one is good becasue you can put it on a table too.  I like the prom dress idea too.  How awesome would it be to find a vintage prom dress and fabulous jewelry to display on it!  I never see stuff like that at my local thrifts.  

[mccoysnina]

At Christmas time I posted about the Chriistmas wreath my daughter and I had done out of an evergreen wreath and thrifted vintage jewelry.  We werwe lucky, I thought it would only last a couple of weeks and then we would have to pitch it.  We must have lucked out and gotten a fresh wreath because it was only last week that the thing started dropping needles and we knew it had to go. 
OUr luck held this week-end tho, at an estate sale.  We had looked thru, not finding much amd were ready to leave when the lady in charge said, "Oh, if you are crafters, go around to the basement, there is all kinds of stuff there too."  We didn't need to be asked twice.  Pay dirt!  Iron on appliques, lace, beads, a crafting girl's treasure trove.  And in the corner?  A grapevine wreath, covered in so-so silk flowers, for the grand total of $.50!  I took it home, took all the flowers off, added some nice deep purple irises for spring and set to work. Took all the jewlery off the old wreath, added in some new pieces and hung the jewlery back on.  And for the grand total of $.50 for the new wreath.  All set for a wreath for a while to come.  A plain grapevine wreath alone is much more than that. Thought I would give you an update.
Jeannie