Pamela Love Jewellery

I've kept the name of Pamela Love under my little directory of cool, grungy, Gothic inspired silver jewellery for about two, nearly three years now and it's time I shared just a few of her pieces with you! Previously, I had written about the collaboration with Pamela Love as well as opening Ceremony as inspired by the movie (based on children's book) Where the Wild Things Are. It seems that she's also had another collaboration with Opening Ceremony featuring beaded skull necklaces on dangling silver chains which you can see by scrolling further down but here are some of the golden oldies and her newer pieces.

  

Above is a mock raw crystal necklace in decadent grungy silver and matched with silver nail polish. It would make a hell of a knuckle-duster; I myself favour wearing heavy set rings in case of a scuffle and fight in which I can find a weapon to defend myself with readily. I've never needed to resort to those measures though...

In a guest blog appearance for the Opening Ceremony website,Pamela Love showed off some of her inspiration and trinkets collected from the duration of her life including a friendly looking snake charm carved in wood. Perhaps that was inspiration for this coiled snake around a thick and chunky piece of amethyst coloured quartz? Well I just love it and the tinted colour as the stone gets darker towards the bottom of the gem and I do like snake motifs but I am rather picky and pretentious about their execution. They can't look too skinny or fat and they mustn't look threatening is my criteria- I also prefer that they have a  friendly smile.

This style of necklace has been much imitated in online stores far and wide on Etsy but I do love the design of sharp little daggers offered by Pamela Love in her collaborating with Opening Ceremony in a range of colours. My taste in fashion and jewellery is wide, varied and undisciplined and this is one of the few tribal looking pieces I am attracted, but who could say no to those little grinning teeth and big empty eye sockets? These necklaces make a great statement piece when worn below a coloured shirt buttoned up all the way.

 

The silver cross necklace that seemingly ensnares your finger in a small cage has been a favourite among fashion bloggers and has been sold through quite a few popular online stores in the past including Net-A-Porter. It's one of the rings that really mesmerised me and drew me into the collection as well as Pamela Love's other large chunky silver rings. I still have a soft spot for them after so many weeks and months- they hold a little bit of nostalgia for me I guess in that sense.
 

 

Another heavy set ring featuring a cross that is a 'crowd favourite' as it were is this large and detailed beast with oxidised black top as well as detail on engraved scripture and shoulder motifs as well.The last time I saw this ring on eBay the seller was asking for close to $800 AUD, so if you happen to own this ring, or indeed, any of the jewellery pieces shown here or created by Pamela Love, count yourself a very lucky person. I bet modern day witches would be all over the silver goodness of her collection and the oxidised detail and style of her jewellery.

Believe it or not, but this silver ring above is my favourite ring from across all her collections and ranges. The moon phase ring, featuring a large rectangular tablet shaped face and four moon phases in engraved and oxidised finish to give off this black look. It too costs some few hundreds of dollars and has been one of the more rare rings to track down from Pamela Love so if I had the money and managed to sell, oh, say half of my wardrobe on eBay I may get this little beast of a ring right after I pop out and get myself an iPad. However all this is wishful thinking and with university orientation coming up I'm going to have to save money to pay for a small laptop for notes as well as keeping money aside for functions for first year students. The next few months will be busy and busier!

The final thick and juicy rectangular tablet shaped silver ring from Pamela Love that I adore is this sword ring- I actually like the detail and pattern on the band on this ring more than the moon ring but I still love the motif of the moon phases a bit more than the sword. It must be all my study of Literature, there are constant suggestions that the moon is feminine, soft, passive and is a representation of the night; whereas the sun represents the day and is supposedly active and masculine. Phoebe, Diana and Artemis are the goddess' of the moon and are named after woman so maybe as a creature of feminine whiles and grace I favour the moon as an unconscious decision?

The artist and jewellery designer Pamela Love has as of late, been favouring crystal's whether they be fake or metallic and I absolutely adore the trend but the structure of the rings seems a little dubious to me. The necklaces in the shape of a crescent moon and arch are gorgeous and so is the copper coloured metal used- very chic and unusual.

I still don't own a skull necklace by Pamela Love and I swear they've been in store for months now! Slack on my part, but maybe I've just been waiting for the perfect colour to come along, such as this bright cherry red shade of skulls as well as little daggers hanging out of their smiling craniums.

An Outsider look at Pamela Love

I find myself continuously back-flipping between glamorous vintage style jewellery and dark Gothic pieces made of silver and worn by creatures of the night. What's worse is that there's now the vintage and kitsch domestic inner  goddess longing to break free and buy everything possible on Etsy. One thing that seems to stay constant is my attraction towards this dark grunge style of jewellery from Pamela Love, as well as fangs necklace from Perks And Mini and now Bloodmilk Jewellery as well. As hard as I try to turn my back on witch-like jewellery, the harder it draws me back in with it's allure and I am not complaining at all. I love the crystal necklaces, silver crosses as well as bone motifs and Ouija board pointers.

Sometime later today I will begin to clean my room again and put some clothes back I took out for my outfit posts; I can't wait to move out of my old room and move into a more adult setting where I'll have crystal agate/ geode book ends as well as small glass bottles and Polaroids made of felt about the place. For such a creative release it should get both sides of my brain working since I'll be studying science for the next three years at least. I'll need the occasional creative workout too as well as logic. That's another reason I'm itching to join clubs at university and meed people who actually decorate/ want to live in a similar manner to myself.

The designer of Pamela Love knows just what's right to showoff her pieces to their best ability teaming them up with long locks of tangled hair tumbling down in large waves as well as black and white filtered effects for photography and grungy, old-worn shirts. Although the clothing is very basic and minimalist, the jewellery such as this heavy signet ring strung on a silver chain, the snake charm and earrings have a dark gypsy quality about them. I bet the pieces she creates would look so good with ear cuffs.

Here is my model hero, Alexa Chung pictured on the right with the designer of the silver jewellery range Pamela Love; at the back you can see some of the thicker set silver crosses from the range as well as dream catchers and cowboy boots. I love what Alexa is wearing (no real surprise, I always do) the pattern looks so good in the black and white filter and both the lovely ladies eyes are outlined by thick mascara too.

As well as crosses, claws and talons have also been recreated in silver for their jewellery range which looks great when layered upon another Pamela Love piece such as this cross? The snakeskin patterned blouse as well as purple streaks through the hair above ooze character and charisma and the tan skin peaking from the unbuttoned shirt is an interesting and surprising quirk as well.

Stolen Girlfriends Club Heavy Metal Bracelets

It's as charming as it is fitting that the name of New Zealand brand 'Stolen Girlfriends Club' range of jewellery be named Heavy Metal because if there's one thing all these silver bracelets have going for them, it's weight and gravity. Since you're paying between $350- $400 AUD you can rest assured that you are paying for solid pieces made of silver. I make no secret of my love for pyramid shaped studs and this edgy ID bracelet epitomises my love for heavy silver jewellery as well as punk aesthetic.

The pre-made charm bracelet includes motifs from many of their other pieces including a guitar plectrum, or pick as it is so often referred to, the Eiffel tower recreated in miniature, flat pressed skills as well as edges of what could be fangs. It removes all the hassle of having to choose your own charms when creating a charm bracelet and for your Parisians out there and French speakers the Eiffel tower has to be the selling point for this amazing piece.

 

I first saw this charm bracelet many years ago when pressing my ugly nose on the display glass at Melbourne Store Fat4 located in inner city GPO. It was when I was still an avid guitar player and VCE hadn't entirely crushed my dreams with the weight of a heavy study load as well as demanding and crazy science teachers and horrible and unendurable maths lessons. I loved the piece for it's thick and rectangular linked chain as well as thick and generously proportioned plectrum hosting the brand's name. I love the realistic size of the pick and the thick rock edge of the chain. It's my favourite bracelet from this brand.

Witchcraft

Bloodmilk Jewellery runs an amazing blog, if you enjoy the evil looking photographs I sometimes post and dark magic in general you should have a peak over there and at their Etsy store as well. I could liken their pieces to that of Pamela Love in that dark, grunge tradition of using oxidised silver and creating bird skulls as well as Ouija board pointers, bones, raw crystal and pentagrams. I like the gritty style and darkness of it all, not that I'm anti-religious but I think it's easier to embrace something that's dark and alluring. Besides, I read a lot of books about witches as it is so I don't see them as evil, more like rich characters with interesting stories to tell.

Instagram seems a fitting tool to take a photograph of this pentagram necklace made of chunky sticks of silver in its rough shape. The chains used for these two necklaces aren't overly decorative and I think it would look rather nice against a clean and crisp blouse. It's a shame I don't have a spare hundred dollars lying around, I could really splash out on the pentagram star necklace as well as an amazing rune stone cuff. Grit, character and intuitive design in jewellery will always win over boring plain pieces that are made poorly in basic metals. I don't understand why some people my age still buy from stores like Diva, they're so cheap and nasty.

Another alluring feature of photographs from Bloodmilk Jewels is there studio space- out of focus in the foreground of this photograph is a perfectly dried out starfish. The exoskeleton is as hauntingly beautiful as it is creepy and there's something intriguing about the mixture of those two features. When I was a little girl I loved going to the beach and collecting as many seashells as possible- I still have that quirk when I go down to the beach with my friends but most of the time I throw them back in.

I've wanted to have a claw ring for a while but I'm not sure whether I want to have a really gritty and realistic claw sitting on my finger from Bloodmilk or something smoother and with sleeker lines from Unearthen. Between the two pieces there won't be a massive difference in price and with Unearthen I also have a choice of different metals and stones. While I go like the large talons and oxidised details of this ringing sitting around with petrified eggs, I'm more attracted to the perfect shape of an orb and it's association with magic and wizardry.

After pouring my eyes over the Bloodmilk website I got in the mood to cut out some thick paper in the shapes of bones and a skull but I don't think I would ever be game enough to collect bones and taxidermy also creeps me out a fair bit. Although I have aspirations towards becoming a veterinarian I would prefer to concentrate on keeping animals alive rather than preserving their corpses, even if it was for the benefit of science and learning.

Something that won't creep me out though is the use of smoke flares in photography and the colourful smokescreen effect it creates. I have no idea where one would find such an item except maybe a small boat but I don't really want to sabotage and risks people's lives and safety in the name of art. If I knew the location of an excellent location of forest in Winter or Autumn then maybe I would go out of my way to purchase them but my heart's not really into it at the moment. I just enjoy seeing all the different colours and the shades and shadow they create when used.

Bird Brain

Birds and I have a long rich history together, mainly how they sort of terrorize me despite their little size and me being afraid of them. I mean sure, I've been swooped before and that was more annoying than anything but their dried out tongues sometimes freak me out a little. Not very good when you want to be a veterinarian I suppose. Still, I do quite like the use of birds in design such as their silhouette in a print repeated on silk of even their claws being used in jewellery whether they are clasping your wrist or a small gem as a ring. The combination of the two elements in this single outfit was rather ingenious though, I tip my cap to however put this together.

At the shop I work at a girl had a tattoo of silhouette birds; it had a softer tone to it and less detail on the wings. There wasn't the finely sketched out feather though and I have seen this motif before but I do like the way this single photograph shows three shots of the flying birds from a single tattoo. It's probably the best artistic execution I have seen. Seeing something like this really put my faith back into tattoos as a platform of art, each bird is different and has a unique position springing from the top of the feather and every fibre has been meticulously drawn onto the skin with care. Whoever did this must be a master of their art form.

Never before have I seen birds such as these but I'd love to know the species or at least be able to get a good look at the mixture of colours on the birds. There's something very picturesque about the way they travel in large crowds as well as the poise of the neck, the striking black tipped and yellow beak as well as the brighter and darker breast of the bird. I'm sure if taken on by the appropriate fashion label a digital print of this image on a silk dress along the hem of a long maxi dress could be a runaway success.

As well as the bird silhouette blazer in a khaki colour, silver bangle featuring a gnarled bird's claw like something out of Edgar Allen Poe's poem 'The Raven' there's a tiny bird skull necklace thrown in as well? I love the empty eye sockets used to thread through the necklace chain and the side profile which shows off this tiny feature in design. While I love everything about the coordination of this outfit I do hope that these pieces were worn more than once and not specially bought for this single shot. It looks like something from a magazine but it's distinctly missing the ghostly pale writing in the corner of the designer pieces and their price tags.