SAS Bakelite History

We were at an antique show in Deland, Florida about 1998. Mac stopped to talk to Karen Kronimus about her Bakelite jewelry. I wondered off shopping while they discussed how she started and the machinery that she used. Mac has had 45 years experience using machine tools and was very interested in what she had to say. I wandered off looking for glitz and glitter.

In 1999, I was trying to build up my stock for a trip to Brimfield with a friend. I had almost enough jewelry to put on one table, a case of Matisse and a cash of rhinestone jewelry, mostly unmarked. I had also bought a lot of Lucite and Bakelite bangles on eBay.

Sheila Winters had helped me considerably, selling me more Bakelite bangles and some nice glitz and exceptionally good prices for the show.

We liked to explain Bakelite to customers and had bought some raw stock at flea markets to show the customers how the colors change and what it looked like. Our friendship with Karen grew and we bought some stock from her and I carved some Scotties and Mac made some cherry necklaces to add to our growing stock of vintage Bakelite.

During the end of my mother’s illness, Mac went to the shows by himself and got to know the customers much better. One of the frustrations with many was the inability to get the old Bakelite bangles over their hands. Even using a silk scarf, some just couldn’t do it.

By then we had hundreds of Bangles and measured everyone for one customer. If she could get a bangle on, she would buy it. Only two would fit her out of all that we had.

She wasn’t alone, just one of many, but more stubborn than most.

We purchased some raw tubes from Karen and Mac made his first bangles. He made them with 2 5/8” to 2 7/8” inside diameter. The first ones her grooved and called “Stella Got Her Groove Back.” Then he started experimenting with laminated pieces, dots and stripes. Mac has a 360º imagination, he understands how things are made from start to finish by looking at them, whether it’s a piece of jewelry, a machine or a piece of clothing.

When I saw a couple of clamper tubes for sale, I asked if he could make hinged bracelets.

Silly question, of course he could. DI just had to find some spring hinges for them. These have much more work in them than the bangles. It’s really like making two bracelets with the amount of work involved. His imagination has taken flight with these. The only thing holding him back is getting the material. We want only genuine old Bakelite stock and that seems to be the most difficult part of making the bracelets. We have made the offer that we will pay $100 for each full tube of raw bracelet stock , plus make a dotted bracelet for the person who brings it to us. So far, no takers!

Mac likes to name his bracelets and if you look on our page, you will see that they all have names. He won’t repeat any of the bangles or clampers, each is different. He will also dot old bracelets, but reminds customers that the bangle will revert to the original color. The vintage bracelets that he dots or laminates are signed SAS II as opposed the original pieces which are signed SAS.

I’m still making Scotty pins in various colors and carving little branches and leaves for cherry pins and our exclusive grape pins. Mac makes stud earrings and clip earrings out of vintage Bakelite balls, half balls for the larger ones. We are also making dice bracelets with plastic links in various colors.

We still carry quite a bit of Matisse and sell most of that on our website. We love to sell the glitz too, and are big Juliana fans. Sometimes we have as many as 20 of the bracelets.

Other makers come and go, and as Mac reminds me, “This is a selection, not a collection. Everything in the cases is for sale.”

My favorite things are the older pieces, Czech bracelets, old enamels and such. The only thing that I actually collect and you NEVER see in my cases is my old peacock eye jewelry. I don’t have any of the fabulous large art nouveau gold or silver pieces with the peacock eye stones.

We travel in our little converted school bus to antique shows in Florida and we get up to Atlanta each month to the Scott’s show too. Our schedule is on our website. We do outdoor and indoor shows and travel with our two cats, Henry and Ernie. This year we did the Brimfield show in July and September and have already signed up for next May at the Collin’s Apple Orchard, showing next to Karen Kronimus and Judy Clarke, a great Bakelite undercarver. We plan to spend all of next Summer in New England, traveling in our bus from a family cottage in Northeast Connecticut.

Mac and I met 21 ½ years ago and he proposed 9 days later. We lived on a sailboat that he had built himself. After 5 years on Dauphin Island off the coast of Alabama, we came back to Florida and eventually moved to Melrose and live at an airpark, where many of the neighbors have airplanes. We had one for a while and now it’s with friends in Australia.

During the Summer months we now stay in Ellington, Connecticut at Crystal Lake.  It's a convenient location for our New England shows.