Before the release of theBling Nation collection for Edition X, Princess C, Lady J and the Uppercrust were happy making a range of resin brooches in a whole assortment of colours ranging from bright green to purple, black, yellow, dark blue, aqua and pink. They played on mixing and matching various backgrounds with coloured animals and giving pet names to the animals, For example, the gorrila shown above has been named Barry, Maude is a Tyranosaurus Rex, Kevin is the alpaca and the stegosaurus has been dubbed Eartha. The fondness for each design and the resin animals onto mock cameo bases just shows the fun nature of the brooches. I was thinking of getting myself maybe a gorilla or pony brooch to spice up a black velvet jacket I have to make it more fun and personalised.
As well as the plain circle background used for the gorilla brooch there are bottle caps recreated in resin, jigsax puzzle pieces, saws, hammers and rosette shapes used for the backing of their animal brooches. There are so many different colour combinations I;ve seen, my favourite being red and white or white and pink for some of the more minamilist designs but I also like the three wild cat heads mounted on a plastic red saw. A brooch like that on an evening jacket could really add some artistic flair to your outfit and draw attention to it. The key to wearing such boisterous and loud pieces is to have confidence and wear them proudly; not to look meek and be worn by your accessories.
As an animal lover I was really chuffed to see pieces like these in resin- this brooch of the two gorillas reminds me of the dinosaur playsets in plastic I had as a kind that came with plastic plants for the dinosaurs to eat from. Also those sorts of things would come with a thin plastic mat to play on. The plastic animal brooches sort of remind me of a modern, three-dimensional Lea Stein- although her pieces were made of much more expensive materials than these resin beauties. Still- it's nice to see someone who will make brooches exclusively for a range and collection of pieces. And there's such a great amount of detail on the fur of the animals as well as the finer details of the plants. Some of the more minamilist brooches go for from as little as $30 AUD- cheap as chips!
The more intricate backing backgrounds of the resin brooches have a more desert outlook on them- I like the cactus backing with the sun shining behind it as well as the cute orange pony peaking it's head out. There's also a weaponrey feel to it, if you look at the top right hand you'll see a plastic pink tricertatops hiding behind a yellow cactus and operating a sniping rifle. I may just give that one a miss... but I do like the black jet brooch with the two dinosaur heads on either side of it's engines as well as the sand bag motif and two hiding animals bunkered down behind some spindly plants.
I think the more simple colour schemes of white and another predominant colour speak to me the best- I haven't seen much of the rhinocerous motif used in many of the other pins and brooches but I like the cameo backing as well as the curved nature of his ears. Princess C, Lady J and the Uppercrust have managed to make the rhino look happy and even cute! That in itself is a feat, but to present it all as a pocket-sized piece of jewellery is deserving of reward.
More of my favourite brooch featuring a hand saw, this time the cats are coloured in pastel tones of pink, green and yellow. That colour really dress up a plain black jumper given the opportunity. It's one of my favourite designs but unfortunately I can't seem to find it on the online Shop Moose. I'd gladly settle for a nice Barry the gorrila or Pony club brooch though. The detail on the lion's mane looks so great, and the assymetrical mounting onto the brooch fits the shape and angle of his face well. I'm not sure I really like the triceratops brooch though, it features two bright lime green dinosaurs the right upside and then a black one right side up. I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing a brooch that can have some of my little critters upside down- maybe that's why I prefer the long hand saw and all the cats having outwards from my lapel.
It's interesting to see the detail in a floral motif on the backing of the brooch above as well as the filigree on the orange coloured backing of the pin brooch below- for something that ends up covered in an animal motif there is a lot of intricate detail on these brooches that I believe photographs can't do justice to. I like the detail of the torn ears on some of the cats and tigers- as well as the combed lines on the pink tiger's face above. I assume that the process for making these brooches would involve pouring resin into a mold somewhere but I am still none the less impressed with the detail on the fur of the cats. I never really took much of a fancy towards these pin like brooches but I do like the cat's face chosen with a contrasting and brightly coloured plastic backing.
The1950s bottle cap backing is another one that's caught my attention, the colour combination of mint green and dark blue goes so well together! It would look great on say, a blue coloured or white coloured jumper teamed up with a vintage collared dress and brogues. Hippopoatmuses can actually look quite cute- the first time I ever saw one in full was when it wasn't hiding in the water and was on the ground at San Diego Zoo. Their legs look so short and stumpy compared to the rest of their weighty body- the jaws on this brooch and rounded ears and mouth are perfect, I wouldn't mind proudly wearing this around town!
As well as dinosaurs such as T-Rex, Stegosaurus and Triceratops in addition to mammals such as gorillas, llamas, ponies, wombats and cats there's also some fierce sharks you can wear complete with rows of sharp teeth and beady eyes. I like the formal filigree and cameo style of the backing as well as the naturally symmetrical shape of the shark- but those beady and souless eyes freak me out a little bit! The second last movie I saw in the cinema was called Shark Night and I didn't enjoy it at all, instead I just layed on my boyfriend's lap and stared at the ceiling.
One of the only pandas within the resin collections put out by Priness C, Lady J and the Uppercrust is this yellow fella right here on a jigsaw shaped piece of backing and a love heart. I love the front half of the animals used on the resin backgrounds and the torn ear on his right side. It'd be interesting to see a different colour of resin over the traditional eye patches on the Panda but I love the shape and detail on the fur of the panda and the cute little smile on his face. My dream would be to work in the panda kindergarten's as a veterinarian in China- but all the news reports show Chinese veterinarians caring for them... also I would need to learn how to speak another language with fluency.
The hot pink dinosaurs over a pair of palm trees and a sun is so bright and striking- it reminds me of my childhood spending my time playing with plastic animal sets on backgrounds of mountains and with cheap plastic plants as backgrounds for atmosphere. What ebetter way to reunite myself with my inner child and inner paleantologist than to proudly wear a resin brooch featuring a tyranosaurus rex head and a stegosaurus front torso?
