Highlights of the Regency Era

Born to be Queen

Though it marks a very brief time in our journey through history, the Regency Period set the stage for some of the most dramatic reforms in English society and in the jewelry industry.

It was also this stage of my blogging journey that laid a foundation for some dramatic conversions in my writing process. It is was in my first post about Queen Victoria, Born to be Queen, that I found my potential to get bent out of shape by this dead woman.

Romance Reading

After a month of research and stringing you all along as I attempted to learn more about Victoria's father, I wrote Transition and A Royal Undertaking, both place fillers which actually served very much the same role as the Regency Period did in English society. The frustration of not having anything substantial to write about for over a month finally motivated me to move forward without all the information.

It was several weeks after writing these posts that I finally found a good resource on the life of the Duke of York, and I did write a post about him. Alas time had propelled me onward, and the piece was no longer befitting the direction my research had taken me. Perhaps I will find opportunity to publish it in another venue. I hope so. It's one of my favorites.

Underpinnings

After writing A Feudal Undertaking, I realized that I had embarked upon a futile undertaking. I had bogged us down in the history of a society it might take me a lifetime to truly understand, and I realized I was likely boring you, depressing you, or worse...both!

It would take me still a little longer to shake off the gloom of this period of history, but eventually a good talk with my mom and a new focus and vision drew me out of the muck. Curiously, more comments and more followers seemed to come as a result. Go figure!

If you've enjoyed this jaunt to the past, you will enjoy next week as well, when I take us on a quick sprint through the highlights of our exploration of the Victorian Era.

~Angela

Highlights of the Georgian Era

Sophia Charlotte Collage

My exploration of the Georgian Era dawned with the realization that examination of a life is worth taking it slow. In Royal Couture, I introduced Queen Sophia Charlotte. From this day forward I began to fall in love with this beautiful queen.

George III

Later, in the post A Face in the Crown, I confessed openly my love and affection for her husband, King George III. Never again will I refer to him as "mad," for this is a man I hold in high esteem, not only for his impact on English society but also for his impact on America.

Sophia Charlotte with her children

Though I am madly in love with these two, there were some areas in which they did not shine forth. I wrote all about it in a two-part series I titled Piety or Peace.

Lover's Eye Locket

And of course, the jewelry! We can't forget the jewelry. I wrote a lengthy post about the baubles of the Georgian Era titled Georgian Gems, a long but informative discourse on jewelry styles and fashion trends of their day.

I hope you've enjoyed this little walk through the first part of our year together. Stay tuned for highlights from the Regency Era in next week's post.

~Angela

Happy Anniversary to US!

Blog Anniversary

Hello everyone! July 16th marks my one year anniversary blogging. This journey has been a wonder for me. I started out with very little confidence that I had anything to write that anyone would want to read. Thankfully, I made a commitment to my brother, which you can read about here. This commitment kept me going.

My first few months of writing were filled with a lot of frustration and a little bit of ranting. Who knew that research could take so much time? Who knew that I had such high standards for myself? Who knew that it would pay off in the end? I started this out knowing absolutely nothing about English queens and not much more about jewelry. I gave myself impossible deadlines and had no patience for my process. Once in awhile, I would give myself a break and write about something without doing any research, like I did in this post.

Esther & Jen's Blog

Then I had a breakthrough conversation with my sister-in-law, Esther, of Seattle Moms Deal Finder. She gave me some pointers and tips. These tips, combined with my increased understanding of the ebb and flow of my personal writing process, gave me the permission I needed to not only take you on a journey of these historical queens and their transformation, but also to share more of my own transformation with you as a blogger. I wrote about that here in this post about research.

Fashion Across the Eras

And after one whole year, I have nearly finished three eras of jewelry, the Georgian Era, the Regency Period, and the Victorian Era. It has been an education for me on so many levels, and I can see by my readership that many of you have enjoyed the journey with me. I hope you will stick with me in the coming year as we explore the Edwardian Period and then slowly make our way into the latter periods of jewelry history, when choosing the queen will be a little more exciting and challenging.

Thanks for reading! I wouldn't be here today without your support and your encouragement along the way! Next week, I'll share highlights from the Georgian Era.
~Angela

Vacation

Vacation

Hello dear readers! I hope this Monday morning finds you well and happy. I have finally succumbed to the reality that the month of July is too full to give these posts my full attention, and by now I'm sure you've discovered that I can't write a subpar post. I am taking a few weeks to wrap up some things here at home, take a trip to my home state, and begin researching in earnest about our new queen, Queen Alexandria of the Edwardian jewelry period.

I will return with my promised post on the Arts & Crafts movement on August 11th. I will be scheduling posts for the next few weeks with links to the highlights of the past year.

Peace to all of you!
~Angela