| I discovered antique purses in 1998. My passion for
beading, knitting and crochet led me to try my hand at
knitting a beaded purse from an antique pattern book
that I happened upon at a flea market. Of course I then
needed the perfect frame for my purse, and I was very
disappointed with modern reproductions. I purchased an
antique jeweled frame off of ebay and struck up an email
conversation with the seller, who wanted to know how I
was going to use it. Upon learning that I was making a
beaded purse, she asked if I could restore one. Thus I
entered the world of antique purse collecting as a
restorer. |
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I developed my own
technique for restoring holes in antique beaded purses.
I've always been a perfectionist, and a restoration
should be an effort to restore an antique as close to
its original condition as possible, not a quick fix to
hide holes. Too soon I found that many of the people
who wanted to hire me to restore their purses only
wanted that quick fix. Frustrated by this, and also
suffering from an injury to my arm from all of the
restoring, I decided to stop restoring commercially. I
now only restore antique purses that I find myself. |
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| In 1999 I developed this website to share my passion
for making, restoring, preserving and collecting antique
(and future antique!) beaded evening bags.
For people who want to
make their own beaded purses I carry beaded knitted and
crocheted purse patterns. If you are interested in
original beaded knitted bag patterns that are
reminiscent of the vintage purses carried by the ladies
of the 19th and early 20th centuries
check out the patterns by Arhyonel Designs and Barbs
Beaded Bags. I also carry an ever expanding list of
reproduction beaded purse patterns from 1899 - 1930. I
sell antique purse frames to give your creation that
heirloom look. For collectors, I sell
antique beaded and mesh purses.
To be sold on my site a purse must be in excellent
condition. Any exceptions are always clearly stated. |
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| I don't think I've found a
craft yet that I haven't fallen in love with. Some of
my earliest memories are of my mother teaching me how to
knit. Recently, I've returned to making jewelry and
lampwork beads and decided to add those to Arhyonel
Antiques' sister site
Arhyonel Designs. So many of the skills I use to
make jewelry are the same ones used to restore antique
purses. Besides restoring, I love beading, knitting,
crochet, kumihimo braiding, working with metal clay and
copper, lampworking, enameling, and combining all of the
above! I also lead a very full life, with three
children, a very supportive husband who built me my
studio, three dogs and a thankfully very independent
cat. I enjoy traveling, scuba diving, hiking,
reading and watching my youngest son upon the stage.
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| Some of you may have noticed that there was a period
of several years where there were few additions to my
web site. I continued to sell items during that time, just not add
much to the web site. I had a catastrophic crash
of my computer system & backup, losing all of my
inventory files, just as as my family was hit with some
trying times. Knowing that it would take many weeks of
intense work to recreate my inventory files I decided to
focus on my family instead. Now that those trials
are
behind us and my inventory files are finally rebuilt and
backed up on the internet there should be a lot of exciting additions
to come. |
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