Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Acrostic Jewelry

I recently came across a fabulous informational blog, Regency Redingote. Written by a former curator, it has fantastic in-depth articles on many facets of English Regency life. One post was on Acrostic jewelry, a type of sentimental jewelry where the first letter of a gemstone name is used to spell a word. This type of jewelry became popular in the early 1800s and continued to be made throughout the century.
 
For instance:
R - Ruby
E - Emerald
G - Garnet
A - Amythest
R - Ruby
D - Diamond

Common English acrostics are REGARD, DEAREST, ADORE and LOVE. Acrostics were popular in France as well. Napolean commissioned acrostic bracelets for his family commemorating at least one of his conquests. 
 
 
Acrostic ring REGARD
To make my acrostic jewelry I used glass flat-back rhinestones (4mm) and modern metal findings. It was difficult to find round settings with 6 places, so I was limited to spelling Dearest for round settings.  I also tried a couple of straight line settings glued to plain bands.
 
Acrostic jewelry making supplies
 
Rhinestones spelling DEAREST lined up and ready to glue
 
DEAREST - Diamond, Emerald, Amythest, Ruby, Emerald, Saphire, Turquoise
Adjustable ring back glued on
 
 
DEAREST in prong setting with Topaz instead of Turquoise
 
Selection of acrostic jewelry
From left to right: DEAREST, REGARD, LOVE, and DEAREST









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