This morning I received a convo from one of the Etsy admins which said my Fleurs de Mai bracelet had been selected as one of 48 (!) in Kaboodle's Pop 10 Etsy Floral Jewelry - in which one lucky voter would get a $100 Paypal gift certificate. Well, of course the item with the most votes would also get some promotional publicity. How very clever of them.


Anyways *whispers* I am, sadly, a realist who thinks it's highly unlikely that I would even make the top 10 (especially not when they chose a not-so-striking photo for the display), but for what it's worth, do help out, hop over and bump up my vote count a little, eh? You'd need to be a Kaboodle member to vote, but I think you can skip all that and sign in with Facebook if you're on there too.



This bracelet was one of only two pieces made, featuring vintage pale pink acrylic roses and vintage cream-ivory 3-petal glass flowers, combined with the juiciest grapefruit pink rhodochrosite rondelles. All on deeply oxidised sterling silver. Oh and there are matching earrings in store too.

A commission I finished off today: cascade earrings to complement the Violet's Blue Jeans bracelet. My right index finger hurts because I haven't done this in a while... but in a good way. I should but can't quite think of anything else to say now because it's almost 2am and I've been sleepy for the past 3 hours, so... g'nite world.

After a rather uninspired and unproductive past few months, I'm finally back to assault you with some new pieces. That's the way I work around here... in extremely brief bursts. I really admire people who can physically create new pieces every week. And it's not for lack of ideas - I do have loads - I mean, each batch of gems has been purchased with some ideas in mind. A lot of times, I just don't feel like turning them into reality. I'm a lazyass procrastinator. But now, I do have something I want need to work towards: gotta buy some stuff, and in order to do that with a clear conscience, gotta sell some stuff!

First, a couple of bracelets to add to the miserable number left in store:


The one on the left, Flame of the Forest, made it to Etsy's Gift Guide for Mom - I have no idea why or on what criteria they pick these things, but since then it's also been on the front page and enjoyed a rather staggering amount of hearts and views, seeing as it was only listed like 24 hours ago. Guess I got lucky huh :P


If the pinkness above (rose quartz and rhodochrosite - phwoaaarrr love the faceting) looks familiar, that's because I blogged about them way back in June. Yeah, that's about how quickly things move around here.

My photos today were quite disappointing, no thanks to the haze-filled, blinding white sky. Also all those facets... urgh. I hate all the white spots in the pics but I suppose there's nothing for it unless I shift location or use the light tent, which is now a bit grey instead of white. Everything turns grey in my house, even the jewellery busts. Right.

But anyway. I hope to create as much as I can in the next couple of months. Nothing groundbreaking, but I hope you stay tuned.

/pimp

Update: The Winter Reflections bracelet is now in my Etsy shop.

As luck would have it, today is much too hot and sunny day to be writing about winter inspirations. But I don't want to wait any more - here is the final piece in my Four Seasons of Bracelets series.


Why reflections? Obviously, winter is cold and when things are icy, they get reflective. Ditto the mood - I won't say winter comes at the end of a calendar year, but the season usually marks the end of a natural cycle. Time for reflecting on all that has been, and what is yet to be. And since "reflection" also suggests duality, so the bracelet has two very different sides: one composed of large, faceted crystal clear quartz, and on the other side of a Thai hilltribe fine silver hammered circle, clusters of apatite and aquamarine rondelles in varying shades of aqua-blue. All icy and suitably sparkly, lots of symbolism (to me), and - I hope - magical enough to end the series with.

Will update this post later when the bracelet has been listed. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be getting something done about my hair today. Absolutely no warranties made with regards to the success of this venture.

Quickie sneak preview!

Bracelet and earrings featuring those vintage pale pink acrylic roses and vintage cream-ivory 3-petal glass flowers, combined with smatterings of the ever-droolable grapefruit pink rhodochrosite rondelles (take note: I'm almost out of these). OK, these pieces are girly but the oxidised sterling kinda evens it out and besides, it's hard not to be tra-la-la when there are flowers in (what remains of) May!



Very limited edition and listing soon in my jewellery boutique and the Etsy shop, along with a few other vintage goodies. Watch this space :)

-- updated May 19th, 1:20AM --

It's been a while - and I got sidetracked with gems along the way - but I finally got round to making the third in this series, and it has now been listed in my Etsy shop.


We don't have autumn here in (wretchedly hot and humid) Singapore, so I love to travel during spring or autumn (more so the latter) where places are actually have nice cool weather, nothing too extreme. Far from the fiery shades of fall foliage, the colours I prefer for this season are muted and more subtle. So I fell in love with these adorable lucite leaves - they have fantastic contoured detail and gilded etching on both sides, and make a soft tinkling when you move about. On a hand-linked solid brass bracelet, and fastens with a large leaf charm ~ which is not shown here so you'll have to see in the listing itself :P

On to happier thoughts. While I haven't exactly finished tidying up my work desk, I can feel the new space lending me at least enough clarity and patience to finish up a few pieces this week. Specifically, some gem-encrusted bracelets and earrings.


Hesperides (mandarin garnet, citrine, pink topaz, imperial mystic quartz, andalusite) is already in my shops: here I must qualify that I am taking a bit of a risk in double-listing, which I've never done before. However, I figured that the odds of 2 different people trying to purchase a USD186 bracelet in 2 different shops on the same day and at the same time is quite low. If there are 2 of such people, then I think it's a good problem to have...

I took some photos for Violet's Blue Jeans (kyanite, sky-blue topaz, amethyst, rhodolite garnet, tanzanite) today and was not impressed with them at all. I'll need to reshoot them together with the earrings on another day - when I'm not in a hurry to be somewhere. This was slightly challenging to make, given my pig-headedness on trying a colour scheme I've never used before with my extremely limited stash of gems.

Stay tuned for part II and happy Vesak Day... if you're so inclined ;) Good for you lucky buggers who have a long weekend!

--- Update April 21st: this item has been listed in the Etsy shop :) ---

OK, I was going to wait a bit but the first one, Kyoto Spring which launched a couple of days ago, already got reserved so I feel bad. This is a sneak preview of the next one which will only be up in my Etsy shop probably next week or whenever I get round to preparing the listing.

Summer Sorbet was the actually one which started me off wanting to do all four seasons. I wrapped the glossy rounds to each other to form the chain (oh gawd this took longer than expected - it's not quite so effortless to wrap with thicker gauge wire!) and finished off with a large slab of aventurine, tangerine jade (which is not actually jade - only jadeite and nephrite are true jades - but some other stone, damn I forget what BUT it's still really pretty and vibrant!) and a handmade swirly hook.


The combination of colours was too juicy not to make me think of an icy cool sorbet on a hot day. Such relief! Yuzu would be my first choice. And, you might find it nerdy but I actually like lemon gelato. So let's see... in the bracelet above I would imagine tangerine and yuzu of course, but I also see blood orange, grapefruit, lime, pineapple, and even mint!! What do you see?

And this kicks off my "Four Seasons of Bracelets" series... I love making bracelets. Unlike earrings, they don't need to be perfectly symmetrical (in fact even better if they're asymmetrical), and unlike necklaces, they aren't quite as tediously long. Lots of interesting things can happen when you design for a single 7-8" piece, and it's even more fun when I make it OOAK because I generally dislike churning out repeats.


Kyoto Spring is a romantic allusion to cherry blossom season in the ancient Japanese city in a charm-style bracelet dripping with nature-inspired baubles: coral pink 5-petal flowers and blue-green pods in glass, really lovely and lustrous white freshwater pearls, faceted prehnite rondelles in the palest of greens, as well as tiny freshwater pearl buttons in baby pink and shimmery bronze. Available in my Etsy shop, one piece only.

Do stay tuned for the next instalment :)

P.S. Yes I am trying to model the bracelet there... it is SO hard it's not even funny. I might have to start training T to take the pics for me :\

Missed me? Heh heh. I've been kinda busy working on a side project (and then before that I was frankly quite tired of jewellery), but it's been wrapped up and now, being a new month and all (I can't believe it's already April!) I can move on to new creations.

The wardrobe basic faceted Flint Hoops are now available in 14K rose goldfill. Although I had to wait quite a bit for the wire to arrive, I am sooo excited to have found a rose goldfill supplier :) Couldn't find the time to actually make them until today, so here they are! Note to self: get some new props. Getting sick of the current ones.

I'm sure you might have come across rose gold and even green gold - these are gold mixed with alloys (copper and silver, respectively). Rose gold has a lovely pinkish flush which I feel resembles pure copper quite a bit, while green gold is greenish yellow. Check out these coloured gold stacking rings from soloartworks that have been on my wishlist for some time!

Find out more about coloured gold alloys here.

The other thing I was working on today is a set of two custom-made bangles which the customer specifically wanted with white keishi pearls and rhodolite garnets in the clustered bangle style that I like to do (I should be making more; I've still got loads of those curved tubes...). They have been christened the Orchidée bangles in honour of phalaenopsis orchids (well, I didn't think they would sound quite as romantic or appealing being called "Phalaenopsis bangles"!) - the elegant ones with large creamy white petals and pink centres. They feel just about perfect for a wedding ;)

In the early part of this week I was busy with a few commissioned items (in fact one is still being oxidised as I type). But in the past 2 days, I've been feeling strangely exhausted, especially after yoga. Heck. I thought it was supposed to energise you, but lately all I've been feeling is even more fatigued. I guess I'm in trouble. Like I said, I think my qi is blocked. It's making me feel tense and restless but damn lethargic at the same time.

I have been thinking of taking a short break from jewellery... I don't know. In terms of productivity, I've been at it for about 2 months, and that's a long time for me because I can't stick to one thing too much. So while I do have several ideas and rough sketches ready, I'm finding it difficult to bring myself to action. Maybe I should do other stuff, like tidy up my disgusting workspace, fix the loose ends in my shop, or finish up my Venice photos (which would finally make the entire Italy collection complete!).


Anyway, here is my piece of the week: a 14K goldfilled bangle studded with gems in various colours and textures. As you can tell, the possibilities for this kind of bracelet - which takes its name from the Italian word for "treasure" - are virtually endless. And what fun it would be to wear a few of them stacked! Working with heavy-gauge goldfilled wire is quite painful if any of it goes to waste, which is why I seldom do it. Furthermore, I did the bracelet without any prior sketch or measurements, so it was quite a hands-on exercise. It is one of a kind though, and has been listed in my Etsy shop at a lower-than-usual rate, if you should be interested :)

Have a good weekend!

Geez, not beer. New jewellery and some production notes :)

You've probably seen oxidised sterling silver pieces that have been left fully black and the ones that have been buffed to show highlights. I'd keep the metal fully black if I want to play up colour contrasts with bright gems, but if I want to emphasise textures, I buff the pieces either with steel wool, fine-grit sandpaper or a brass-bristled brush. This lightens the surface as it physically removes the oxidation, while leaving recessed areas dark, so what I call the "dimensionality" of the piece is enhanced:


Anyway, I've been wanting to do these twisted wire hoops and seeing as the Eden Hoops have been quite well-received (in fact I have only 2 pairs left and it'll be some time before I restock those etched hoops), decided to make a similar design using (my precious!) large keishi pearls but with an added cross-cross weave of seed pearls. This also evolved into a bangle, formed with heavier wire. And now there is wire littered over my desk and floor.


They're probably the last things you'll imagine when you think of "pearl earrings" and "pearl bracelet", but I think they're interesting :) Now listed in my Etsy shop.

I've been working with more wire today... need to oxidise later and take pics tomorrow morning :P

Here is a look at the new bangles I've been working on. Can you believe I've been thinking about them since late last year but never got round to making them? I'd wanted to put together a collection of wardrobe essentials for 2009 but meh.... I didn't finish the pieces I planned. Will eventually get round to them I guess!


This is a pretty basic design which is similar to the pearl eternity necklaces I did. An elliptical base was formed and hammered out of 16 gauge sterling wire, covered by coiled 26 gauge wire and then wrapped again with 28 gauge and the rondelles (light amethyst and rose quartz). I might tweak the wrapping a bit or put in some embellishments next time because I like to see a bit of metal with the stones. But that's just me.

I also just wanted to say... these cuffs are a nightmare to photograph because they're really, really flat; even when propped up on a rock or something, it's so hard to achieve a realistic DoF. Can you imagine how I contorted myself to shoot my wrist using a dSLR that doesn't have a live preview screen??

This is a shop-related update which I posted under the shop news section earlier today.

A bit of housekeeping has been in order: I have now organised all our handmade jewellery into browseable collections, and will be releasing new pieces under each of these categories, with the possibility of special limited edition collections popping up on occasion:


everyday essentials

Your jewellery basics – classic hammered hoops, gemstone earrings and simple solitaire necklaces in sterling silver and 14K goldfill – designed for maximum mileage and never compromising on the style factor.


little luxuries

For special occasions or luxe gifts, you can’t go wrong with extra blingy jewellery. An array of quality gemstones is used to craft these lovely earrings, necklaces and bracelets.


organically grown

Most of the jewellery here has nature themes or simply an edgy feel, achieved through the use of abstract botanical silhouettes or darkened, weathered sterling silver. More personal, more alive.


rustic charm

Handcrafted from organic semi-precious gemstones and Vintaj antiqued brass components, this collection is warmly earthy, satisfyingly unpretentious and unapologetically bohemian.


This last one, rustic charm, is what I’ve mainly been working on lately and there are a couple of one-of-a-kind bracelets over in the Etsy shop. Do check them out. Looking forward to adding more designs to the rest of the collections in due course!

These collections represent four main styles of jewellery I'm interested in right now and I never thought I would actually try to even pigeonhole my work in any way, but I'm sticking with these (broad) groups. I hope it makes sense but I know that most people tend to browse by function, e.g. look under "earrings" or "necklaces" - I just feel I would be more efficient and focused this way in terms of creative direction. So I hope to be filling these categories up in the coming months!

I've still got a number of behind-the-scenes web updates to do for my jewellery shop but I'm not relishing that at the moment. Anything is preferable to customising templates or writing new meta tags :\

BUT! I do have one more new jewellery preview for this week, so I'll leave you with the Fjordland Bracelet, made of icy blue aquamarine nuggets and flashy rainbow moonstone rondelles on deeply oxidised sterling silver. If you wanted to know what walking on a glacier is like.....

More new goodies to show you... the Seraphim Bracelet in particular features a plump golden rutilated quartz specimen (which can't really be seen in this shot but I have taken a couple of closeups) and a large variety of gemstones like aquamarine, turquoise, amazonite, yellow opal and freshwater pearls. Lovely palette to go with your neutral clothes. The Athena Earrings feature the cutest 9mm baroque coin pearls, which I think is just the right size and texture - smaller than most coin pearls so they don't overwhelm your face and with an interesting grain that goes well with the antiqued brass accents.



These, as well as the Eden Hoops and Cherubim Bracelet from yesterday, have already been listed in store :)

Back to work!

Today was the first day back at "work" for me after the long(ish) Chinese New Year holiday break. And although I'm supposed to be working on commissions and planned designs, I got distracted (as usual) and did a few more pieces to add to my growing Rustic Charm collection.

Here are two of them which I managed to photograph this afternoon. It was a bit cloudy and then got too dark for me to do the rest, which I'll attempt tomorrow morning.



Are they "springy" or "Eastery"? :) There are 2 one-of-a-kind bracelets and 2 pairs of limited edition earrings, which will be available at my Etsy shop shortly. Stay tuned...

I've just added four new items to the shop!


Chiaroscuro - I can think of several people whom this might be a perfect gift for. You know, the ones who don't accessorise much, and shy away from colour and general flashiness... and dare I say, the tomboyish ones. This adjustable bracelet combines brilliant crystal quartz and oxidised sterling in a monochromatic "light-dark" study.

Del Mare - Oh, I really love this one... puffy, polished prasiolite and tri-colour (blue-green-yellow) sapphire briolettes sparkle and shine with beautiful clarity and complementary oceanic tones. This soft and soothing song of the sea is absolutely one of a kind.

Helios - Very lovely faceted citrine pear briolettes, wrapped in 14K goldfill on my own hand-forged long-stemmed earwires. A classic to go with everything. Only one pair.

Antipodean - More contrasting elements in the form of microfaceted prasiolite rondelles and white Swarovski pearls vs heavily oxidised sterling wrap and hammered marquises.

I hope you like :)

I'm taking a break but the shop will remain open. So from now till Oct 19th, everything in store ships on the house! The only catch is that they'll be dispatched from Oct 20th onwards.

Early holiday shopping, anyone??

I reshot this photo sometime last week and relisted the item. I didn't realise that it's actually accumulated over 1000 views and 41 hearts till now. It's a bit hard to get rid of, if I may say so... LOL.

I've said a lot of times that what inspires me most is colour. Beautiful colours, able to evoke feelings, moods, places and things, and of vital significance to the saying that a picture paints a thousand words. The point of this post is simply to say that I am perfectly happy creating similar designs using different colour palettes.


These ones above are my latest lariat necklaces for this week. I think I've had it with earrings, been so sick of them and not making them for a while takes a bit of pressure off having to ensure that everything is symmetrical (the way I like it). I should be coming up with at least a couple more necklaces before I head to Oz.

These two below are my bangle-style bracelets with the profusion of gems as centrepieces. Wildflower Mélange was created sometime back, while Hyacinth is my new favourite, as I thought the style of this beaded cluster suited the natural form of hyacinths in bloom. Of course, every time I come across the word "hyacinth" itself, I'm immediately reminded of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "bouquet") from Keeping Up Appearances. I watch too much BBC comedy.

So it would appear I need to sell more of these in order to fund the personal Want List which keeps growing longer the more I (try to) Christmas shop. I've been making a few oxidised, chain-based bracelets. Relatively subdued, more wearable on a day-to-day basis for non-flamboyant types... like me! I don't about you, but as a person with a tiny wrist, I do prefer smaller or chain bracelets because they drape and hug the wrist better and don't make me look like I've got bulbous growths there.


Clockwise from top:

Moonlight And Shadow is my take on an ID bracelet. I'm loving rainbow moonstone; it's got pretty consistent blue flashes like labradorite, but on a clear to translucent white base. Hey, if I take away the dangle, this might even become unisex. LOL.

La Mer features some of my prized clear blue kyanite (oh yes, I have more coming). This is great for anyone who loves blue gems, really. A nice accent for jeans days.

La Vie En Rose is a nod to pink. I have a love-hate relationship with this colour. But these rose quartz gems are really soft and pretty, and are well-balanced by the dark metal.

In the Elemental Bracelet, I originally had three pieces of labradorite with blue flash. But, partly because they weren't flashy enough and partly because it seems more exciting to have different colours here, I changed them out. Sun, sea and sky is what it's all about here!

I was pretty much in a rut last week, not motivated much because of a depressingly slow start to the holiday season and crappy showcases (don't get me started on the new US$15-for-24hrs-non-guaranteed-exposure). Creative production happens in peaks and troughs, as you may well know. During a trough, I can go for a week without doing anything, while at a peak, I can work on weekends and lie awake thinking of new designs when I'm supposed to go to sleep.

I was startled just now to see that it was already completely dark by 7.15pm (maybe earlier, I didn't notice). How time does fly! And I'm longing for some cooler, rainy weather when I can sit at my desk with a cup of hot chai and play retro Christmas carols...