Juliana Butterflies - Part II

Butterfly #1

Our thanks again Paula Knutson for taking on this butterfly training.  Here is part II. 

For this second D and E Butterfly Blog,  we’ll cover many of the Butterflies with Rhinestone Chain Outlining the Wings.

Butterfly #2

Butterfly #1: The largest of these is also the one most commonly reproduced.  The ONLY one manufactured by DeLizza and Elster is this one with this exact Back construction.  ALL closed back stones, Figure 8’s in the body, a support wire for the wings, a diagonally set pin back and Rhinestone Tipped Antenna. It came in many color combinations.

Butterfly #3

Butterfly #2:  The next big guy with more rounded shaped wings also has the same type of back construction – ALL closed back stones, Figure 8’s at the tail, support wire, diagonally set pin back and Turned Up Wire Antenna. Several color combinations were available.

Butterfly #4

Butterfly #3:  A Rhinestone Chain Winged Butterfly with a Cast body has Open Backed settings for the high domed cabochons, a support wire, and Rhinestone Tipped Antenna.

Butterfly #5

Butterfly #4: This one with baguettes and pears has all closed back stones, and the triple Figure 8’s serve to support the wings, and we see Rhinestone Tipped Antenna.


Butterfly #5: Another Baguette butterfly with stiff wire Rhinestone Tipped Antenna was first shared by Mr. DeLizza from his personal collection. 

Butterfly #6

Butterfly #6: Here we see ALL closed back chatons with a single navette for the body. The chatons filling the wings are multi-pronged.  Notice this one has eyes.  Most Juliana insects do not.

Butterfly #7: This smaller Butterfly is out there in many variations. The D and E version has all closed back stones except for the body navette and Scroll Curled Antenna.

Butterfly #7

On all of these butterflies it is important that the open and closed back stones be the same on the butterfly you are looking at.  One back open that should be closed can be the difference between being D and E and NOT D and E.


More Juliana Butterflies

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Juliana Butterflies - Part I

We are so lucky for the next few weeks Paula Knutson will be helping us in understanding the Juliana (D and E) butterflies.  Butterflies are one of the hardest things to identify in Juliana Jewelry. I like to call Paula the butterfly queen as she has more knowledge about identifying butterflies than anyone I know.

This is Part I of her blog.

Butterfly #1

Mr. DeLizza states that D and E made at least a hundred different butterflies. Dividing them up into like construction features is an easy way to learn about and become familiar with theirs. The BACK of a Butterfly brooch is more important than the front for identification. During the heydays of rhinestone jewelry a lot of copying and design pirating occurred, especially if your products were not marked and/or copyrighted.

Butterfly #2

We’ll start with the Wire Framed Wings. Everyone knows Butterflies have 4 wings.

Butterfly #3

#1 – All closed back stones - Filigree Antenna.  It is important to note on this design there are many variations on it, most of which are not Juliana.  If your butterfly of this design does not have this EXACT combination of stones in ALL closed back settings your butterfly is not Juliana.  It must also have these exact antenna.

#2 – All open back wing stones - Turned Up Wire Antenna - Figure 8’s at the tail.  This design is also found with other shapes of center stones.  The ones with the oval bodies don't have a figure 8 on the tail as they only have one rhinestone for a tail.

Butterfly #4

#3 – Cast wire wings and body – all closed back stones – Turned Up Wire Antenna.  The support wire is holding on the rhinestone squares.

#4 – All open wire wings – closed back stones – Turned Up Wire Antenna

Butterfly #5

#5 – Square wire wings – closed back stones – Turned Up Wire Antenna – Back Support Wire – Metal Accent Findings

#6 – Twisted wire wings – closed back stones – Rhinestone Tipped Antenna – Figure 8’s Lower Body

Butterfly #6

Another thing you will notice when looking at Juliana Butterflies is that the small ones do not have a built in pin back.  They have a one piece pin back.  This sort of pin back is NOT commonly used in Juliana except in the small figurals.  You will also find that the one piece pin back design will vary slightly even on the same butterfly.  I am sure this is due to using whatever one piece pin back they had in stock at the time.

Next week Paula will continue on with our exploration of butterflies.

Juliana Butterflies

Juliana Enamel Back Designs - Part I

Pink Enamel Design Back

Brown Enamel Design Back

This week I will start our focus on the pieces that Juliana (D and E) did with enamel backings.  By this I do not mean pieces that just are gun metal or japanned on the back.  I mean pieces that the back is a color that accents the stones on the front.

Blue Enamel Design Back

The one we will do this week is a design that is similar in stone construction to the neon geometric sets we talked about last week.  The design is also a mostly cast design with many stone shapes including baguettes, navettes and chatons.  It is always interesting when Juliana used baguettes as they were not a common design element for them.  This design is often called a deco set but of course is not from the art deco period.

Pink Enamel Design Front

This design was found in three colors: pink, blue and brown.  All of the pieces are found in all of the colors and I will try to show at least one example of each piece but probably not in all the colors.

Brown Enamel Design Front

Blue Enamel Design Front

I will first show the back of each design and then show what they look like from the front.

Looking at the back of the designs you can see that the cast part of the design is what has been enameled.  The part that is solder work is plated.

I assume it was done this way so that from the front the enamel would add an extra accent to the design.

Next week I will finish up these enamel backed designs.

Juliana Enamel Designs