When I first read Blackwood Farm, there were many things (other than the timeline) that really caught my attention. It was no surprise that Rowan Mayfair and Michael Curry were familiar with films like 'Immortal Beloved' and 'Gladiator'. The book blended aspects of popular culture and the working class (at the time) in with mysterious tales of not-so-imaginary friends and mistresses from Hell, which I enjoyed. There was another detail in the book that really intrigued me, though.
Aunt Queen's cameo collection.
We're all familiar with the most recognizable cameo jewelry: brooches with detail carved in ivory (or ivory imitation) set against a coral color. When one looks closely, these cameos, basically carved portraits, have a lot of little details that are astonishing. Cameos were something Aunt Queen collected, and it was the descriptions of these pieces that really intrigued me.
When I first launched the Parlor, there weren't very many images of unique cameos I could find. I've always wanted to make available images of the types of cameos that had the types of detail Aunt Queen loved. Like jewel encrusted cameos. Or the cameo image carved right into the gemstone. Little, tiny details that appeal very much after my miniature-loving heart.
In recent years, I've finally been able to find some across all sorts of websites--jewelry stores, antique stores, antiques, creative stores like Etsy... I've been able to find cameo jewelry images that are really beautiful. Finally, I have been able to collect some of the images found and put them on the page devoted to Mona Mayfair and Quinn Blackwood.
I do have a lot more images than the ones you will see next to the paragraphs of text on this page. Perhaps I will create a small gallery of them because they are just so beautiful. I've even tinkered with some cameos where facial features are a lot more visible to give them the Parlor's "Mayfair Witches" face to some extent.
Images on the website can be opened by right-clicking and choosing to open the image in a new tab. Many of them will open to a larger size, depending on which images they are. There is one with a lot of jewel detail, so keep an eye out for it!