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| Orange Neon Design missing only the square brooch |
This design which was found in three colors is one of my favorites as it is such an unusual design. It is most often called the neon geometric design but also is sometimes called art deco. Of course it does not date from the art deco period but it does have a little bit of the feeling of designs of that time but in a much more colorful way. They are first found in the design books in 1968.
The design was found in three colors. The blue, the orange and the red. These are kind of simple names for the riot of color that these designs have but it does help to tell them apart when talking about them.
There are a number of unusual things about these designs from a Juliana (D and E) design perspective. The most noticeable is that the
stones are glue set in the top layer of stones due to the cast design. Another uncommon thing is the large amount of baguettes used in the design. Yes D and E did use baguettes in designs but it was not their go to stone, the long thin navette is probably more associated with them. The third slightly unusual thing is the darkened gun metal colored backing. Again yes D and E used it but it was not extensively used.
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| Blue Neon Design all the pieces shown in the orange are also found in the blue |
Some of you are probably saying what is a cast design. A cast design is one that the setting is done from a mold and not as individual settings soldered together. Cast designs always have glued in stones as their are no real prongs. Some have little stubs as faux prongs but there are not prongs holding in the stones.
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| Red Neon Design all the pieces found in the orange are also found in the red but are extremely hard to find |
In the orange design I have shown what I think are all the different pieces available for neon geometric except for the square brooch. In the blue I have shown just a few and in the red design which is by far the hardest to find I have shown only one brooch as that is the only one I have ever had.
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| Back showing the center of the brooch is a cast design with figure 8's frame |
I hope this week has opened some of your eyes to some different things D and E has done design wise. Next week I will talk about another design that has some similarities with this design as it also has cast components but it is unusual in the use of enamel painted backs.