Secret Love Tokens

During the 18th century, people of means had exquisite love token portrait brooches made as a reminder of their secret loves. Since only the eye of the person was memorialized in the portrait, only the lovers and the painter knew the identity.

if you want to read more about her process of discovering the tokens and the way her inspiration formed, Gale has a post HERE. She also links to a great book on the subject.

It’s no secret that I’m in love with Gale’s new tokens. I had a great time trying to emulate the elaborate jeweled tokens.

Method

Use Sheet 314 the love tokens and the heart token.

Paint the tokens to desired color.

Where there are holes, string wire and beads through the holes. Where there are no holes, twist wire around the edge of the token. (See heart tutorial below).
Assemble two sides with photo of eye once edges are embellished.

For the heart token I used a rubber stamp on gold UTEE to make the pattern.

Since there are several pieces here, I’ve put up general instructions. If you have questions, feel free to post them here in the comments and I will be happy to answer. A quick tutorial in photos for the Heart Token follows.

Gather painted heart, 28 gauge wire and beads together.

String beads onto wire.

Line up strung beads over heart form.

Using short length of wire, twist beads onto heart form.

Wires that hold beads onto piece also become appendages that hold other beads.
Crimping the wire by hand holds the beads into place.
Once the entire heart is strung with beads, a bit of glue on the back helps hold everything firmly in place.