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| a little french bag |
One of my overwhelming passions as a collector of stuff and things is purses. I have been collecting purses, new and vintage/antique since high school. I don't really remember an exact reason or moment when I thought, "I'm going to collect old, tatty purses..." I just think that I have always been drawn to vintage and old stuff. Of course, the lucite handbags are a huge part of my collection, but along the way I picked up some very pretty beaded bags too. The thing that never fails to amaze me is that the oldest of the bags were all hand beaded, using silk thread. I don't know about you, but I don't think I would have ever had the patience. Also, leisure time in the late 19th/ early 20th century wasn't what it is now. Couple that with the fact that lighting was also poor and I don't know how women found the time to make these beautiful bags. Some are marked from France, some from Hong Kong, some from Czechoslovakia...some are unmarked. I just think of them as eye candy. And yes, I do use some of them occasionally. Collected at thrift shops, flea markets, antique stores, and on ebay, here are some of my beaded purses:
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| notice the initials carved into the front of this bag |
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the camera does not do this bag justice
it has bright green beads - handbeaded
on beautiful yellow silk thread |
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the camera kind of distorted the color
the first purse is beaded with metal beads on silk thread
the second 2 bags are jet black bead |
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again, color is a little off, but still pretty
the front bag is black with blue stripes
the back bag is a very pretty bronze/brown |
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this bag is made of velvet and silk
it has gold thread throughout
with little golden beads |
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how I store and display
my bags
in a glass fronted case |
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| beautiful little bag with red beading |
