About
The Port of Mystery Collection consists of Newly designed original, Vintage, Estate and Collectable Jewelry. Each piece within the collection is representative of the timeless, classic design and skillfull workmanship associated with jewelry manufactured prior to this century. I have personally designed many of the pieces in this unique collection. I utalize new OLD stock vintage components whenever possible. Certain individual pieces have been created utilizing components rescued from broken and discarded vintage jewelry.
My love for Vintage jewelry is easily traced back to my search for these useful discarded components. As I embarked upon my quest to set up shop as a jewelry design artist, I realized I would need to find a ready source of affordable, quality components for use in developing my designs. Operating on a tight budget, I initially purchased jewelry in large lots from second hand stores. At the time, I hoped to make use of whatever beads and other findings I could salvage from what appeared to be discarded jewelry. It did not take me long to discover that many of the pieces of discarded jewelry I had purchased, were in fact, highly collectable pieces of vintage fashion art.
Over the course of time I had not only procured a wide variety of components for my designs; I had also amassed a virtual mountain of vintage and estate jewelry. As my knowledge of and appreciation for Vintage jewelry grew, so did my reputation in the local community. I was soon approached by individual collectors, who for one reason or another, wanted to pass their cherished collections of jewelry forward to the next generation. These newfound friends offered a wealth of knowledge and displayed a love for this timeless artform that has become an invaluable source of information AND inspiration.
The website for Port of Mystery (http://www.portofmystery.net) has been a labor of love on my part. In addition to maintaining the collection, I am also the web designer, writer and administrator. I have been attempting over the past few months to adapt an inventory database to enable a faster upload of inventory to the site. This goal remains a bit elusive, although progress has been made. As anyone will tell you, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the virtual world, pictures also take up alot of disc space. I have accordingly added a Server to my network. I intend to add a section to this blog which covers what I have found to be practical solutions to website, software, network and other associated cyber woes as experienced by an artist. Pardon me while I kick start the other side of my brain…to be continued…Laura
