Epiphany: I think the gauge of which pieces I really like and feel inspired about vs which ones I'm kind of indifferent to is, quite simply, how easily I'm able to give them names (and I don't mean "girl names" like Eva or Francine). Sometimes a working name will be floating around before the piece is even born, sometimes the name just jumps out once it's completed. And you may not know or do this, but every time I list a new product, I run a quick search to see if the name I've chosen has already been used, and in what context. Compulsive, perhaps.

I used to write slightly longer descriptions for all my pieces, but now I just can't. I'm sorry but I'm tired of thinking up adjectives, superlatives and other marketing babble already. I've run out of stories to tell, and can't stand sounding like a broken record. The pictures should speak for themselves anyway, and I simply make it a point to mention the general design, measurements and materials used. Most of the time, it is hard not to sound clichéd, cheesy or obvious. But we all get on with life, as we all must.

So, the man has been hogging the PS3 of late, and I've found myself with sizeable pockets of spare time at home, even over the weekends (i.e. when ochlophobia is at its worst and hermit mode kicks in). Here are some new earrings that should be listed sometime next week:


I love how they turned out. I hope you do too. Now I need to restock those little pins...

OK, so I finally cut my strand of black rutilated (not to be confused with the tourmalinated variety which contains different mineral deposits) quartz today. It wasn't traumatic... in fact I intend to cut into a few more strands soon. Picked out one with some coppery tinges and paired it with my last faceted olive topaz brio for a simple lariat in 14K goldfill (pictured left below). This 3-footer is the longest lariat I've ever made, but it can be worn in so many different ways. And well, if you know me, you know I love any kind of contrast or asymmetry - these gems exhibit precisely that.


As for the earrings, I've had the London blue topaz brios for a long time and this was my last pair. LBT is, I think, one of those few gemstones that actually work well with either white or yellow metal and just manages to always look expensive. So here's a set in 14K goldfill, something I've not made before.

Both items are now available in my Etsy shop (only one piece each).

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.

Some new creations this week, pardon the poseur-esque foreign language names. I can't help it; my mind draws a blank when pressed to think of suitable names sometimes. In fact, I am starting to detest writing fancy descriptions. My pieces aren't that complex anyway.


Left: Petit Déjeuner (breakfast!) - pearl-tipped pink tourmaline clusters with textured 24K gold vermeil lentils and findings.

Right: Tramonto Earrings (sunset!) - grey moonstone pebbles topped with multi-tone Songea sapphires; 24K gold vermeil findings.

I don't know what it is with me and gold lately... maybe it's the vermeil components. Sometimes I just want to cop out and not have to make my own earwires.

Today I set about making the matching necklace - it's a lariat, my favourite style because I am seduced by asymmetry [except where earrings are concerned!] - and as the rain came down outside, I was cocooned in cosy AC with Sinatra-type oldies playing in the background. I should kick myself for missing lunch; I always bark at people for skipping meals or not eating properly. But in truth, I was just lulled into laziness and kept procrastinating the lunch hour until it eventually became time for dinner.

Seeing as it's been a little cloudy the past few days, I've been using a white reflector (and practising better metering) - with great relief. Otherwise the prop shots below would be half bright, half dark and so badly exposed that no amount of Photoshop would make them look vaguely natural. Almost looks like they were done in a light tent, huh? Nice to learn stuff every day :)


The Pavone pieces are composed of limpid green emeralds, electric blue apatite, deep purple amethyst and silky lilac tanzanite. 24K gold vermeil pins and ear studs, and the rest is 14K goldfill. The necklace features a glorious Swarovski crystal brio in graduated peacock shades, which I felt were so apt for the theme. The hand-forged loop is also modelled after the feather-like shape of the ear studs. Both are one-of-a-kind and available in my Etsy shop now.

There are lots of designs in my head right now but I'm not the sketching or note-making type where creative work is involved. Sometimes I wish I had a slave to churn out things that I dictate because I have a short attention span and little to no patience. Guess I'll just work through them one by one and hope I don't forget what I got the beads for in the first place.

Have a good weekend!

Something I worked on today (just finished!) and have yet to photograph properly. Still undecided about a matching necklace, but the earrings should be in store sometime later this week. And it's the first time I've used Colombian emeralds.... the colour is absolutely gorgeous.

I can't really take a decent pic of it to save my life, but here is one of my commissioned pieces - a super luxe bag charm inspired by Allegria (yes, one of those UFOs). Huge crystal quartz heart brio, prasiolite, green quartz and tiny little sapphire teardrops... topped with crystal quartz and finished with an adjustable chain, all sterling silver.

The second part of part II, actually. The first, the beautiful pain that was the Summer Sun earrings, has already gone to be with its new owner and I am once again filled with immense gratitude for return customers *sniffle*

So while I'm still in the mood for anything lushly gemmy, here's a delicious confection in a classic red, white and black theme. La Marchesa (the marquise/marchioness) comprises busy cascades of white freshwater pearls and glorious rubies meeting some crisply faceted black garnet briolettes. I love the proportion and size of these elegant earrings and can totally imagine wearing them with a sleek black dress to some fancy dinner or event... which I seldom partake in anyways, seeing as my social life is approaching absolute zero - that's why they have been created for you!

So I was taking more photos this morning and they were better than yesterday's, but....

Apparently, the pins on these 24k gold vermeil posts have not been soldered evenly, and one of them is positioned about 2mm higher than the other. This is driving me nuts because it makes the whole set unbalanced and not symmetrical! Of course, I can mask this using photo angles and you can't tell at all once they are worn, but when put side by side, it can't be missed and I'd feel like a complete charlatan if I let them go.

At first I thought it might've been my long cluster (I've never done it so compactly before) and briolette wrap, but I did make them step by step together and they do line up properly. It's the posts portion that looks weird.

I am extremely upset, if you can't tell. I've tried straightening the pins but it doesn't work because the soldered bases are off. Looks like I'll have to change them - and these are the only ones of this design I've currently got. I've also discovered some slight imperfections on the surface of these citrine brios, not very visible when worn but showing up through a macro. So they will also have to be discounted for. Ugh... nothing is going right!

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!

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!

I've been planning something special - no, not for the impending overpriced commercial affair a.k.a. Valentine's Day - and was so hoping to have it ready by today but unfortunately I was too stressed out and almost made a pig's ear out of it. Well, not literally, you know what I mean! Might have to go back to the drawing board so maybe tomorrow, maybe Thursday, but definitely this week. Please stay tuned!

Meanwhile, after finishing most of the commissions, I made something new today, inspired by the lovely and serene Villa d'Este in Tivoli, Rome (photos here).

I'm too tired right now to list it in the shop but it is composed of light seafoam quartz with a tumble of sky blue topaz, green quartz, prasiolite (green amethyst) and pale peacock pearls on 24K gold vermeil pins, topped with spring green freshwater pearls and finished with my hand-forged 14K goldfill earwires.

Note to self: better go dig up eye mask soon or I'll keep waking up when it gets bright and be unable to get required amount of sleep.

My head is starting to throb..... kthxbai~

Know what a sylph is? Basically, it's a faerie or elemental of air. With references in fantasy and alchemy, sylphs are imagined to be light, faerie-like and ethereal.

And so I present the Sylph necklace, a confection of the softest transparent pink rose quartz, stunning indigo-blue iolite, microfaceted prehnite and lilac amethysts, topped with a lustrous freshwater pearl. I'd been hoarding those tiny little briolettes for a long time now, and had actually forgotten how clear and beautiful good quality iolite can be. They're not called "water sapphires" for nothing.

Truly a romantic, fairytale piece...

It was already past 6pm and the light was fading, but I was so pleased with how my Anemone earrings turned out today that I wanted to sneak a couple of shots first. I had better, truer-to-life colour and lighting with my dSLR (I shoot with both these days, and compare how they turn out). Will have to reshoot more tomorrow.

Here I've combined gorgeous deep London blue topaz with clusters of ocean blue apatite and my favourite pink topaz. These earrings are really petite; the briolettes are only 8mm across and the rondelles are about 2.5mm each. But they are perfect for someone who digs understated brilliance. I'm so tempted to keep them!

At times like this, I really like the fact that I make my own earwires, because then I have complete control over the proportions of the whole piece. I don't understand long earwires with long dangly earrings, or combinations that lack focus because the components don't have enough of a contrast.

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 was possessed. It was close to midnight and I'd been already feeling sleepy for the 2 hours but something in me decided to start on some earrings. I haven't been working on earrings for about a week now but once you start with an idea it's hard to stop until you finish it, if only to see whether the end product turns out as you envisioned.

I've been wanting to do something with the Tunduru sapphire rondelles I got some time back (don't I say this with every bead purchase I make and cast aside in the pursuit of more?). These came in warmish hues of cranberry, mandarin, olive and taupe. I was about to pair them with smoky quartz when I discovered the citrine that I've been hoarding made a better complement. Pearls would top off the luxe look.

Named for the May festival of Beltane (here and here), which is celebrated approximately halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. In ancient times, this traditionally marked the arrival of summer with lots of festivities. These fiery earrings are my celebration of new seasons, fresh growth, abundance, and most of all the life-giving sun and the full moon. I love pagan holidays; they have so much more meaning than modernised/commercialised ones.

At last, I'm finally done and it's off to a Norwegian home next week! Here's the last of those custom bracelets...


It is similar to my Queen Mab bracelet, of course, which is why I did that one in the first place. The 5 different kinds of gems are birthstones for family members. I decided on this style mainly because of the enormous difficulty in obtaining large enough sapphires and tanzanites of a decent enough quality. Then it was a matter of obtaining evenly-calibrated rondelles. Challenging for tanzanite, because they're either so tiny, or cloudy to the point of being opaque. I am a bit nervous... I hope the new owner isn't too rough because there are 280 tiny dangles and many hours of work. This intricate bracelet won't stand for much abuse.

I'm immensely relieved that this project is completed because I've been so distracted by it, I haven't really sat down properly to create anything new. I guess working on a few things at the same time is not for me, because they loom in the background and just weaken my concentration.

One other thing that's starting to bother me is the US dollar. In just a few months, it's fallen so much that when I withdrew some Paypal funds, the pain cost S$150. Oh well.

Way back in June, I was commissioned to create 3 custom-made bracelets. Many convos later, I had the requirements fleshed out and started to source for materials in July, finally deciding on and purchasing them in August.

The lady I was dealing with had specific stones she wanted on the bracelets, as they had something to do with birthstones of family members. Some of the choices also sounded like they would clash quite violently with each other. As you know, one type of stone can come in various colours. I must've pored over dozens and dozens of possibilities. Anyway, I hope I made good choices.

This was also an exercise in which I had to physically visualise the finished pieces for the customer. Normally, everything's in my head and I don't bother with a sketchbook. In between coloured drawings and photos of bead strands, we managed somehow.

Here are the results so far:



This bracelet features faceted green aventurine so pretty and translucent it looks almost like chrysoprase. The turquoise rondelles are flanked by lapis lazuli rounds and the wire-wrapping is accented with tiny dangles of rose quartz and natural white sardonyx.



This was hard. Never before had I to combine so many different stones into one bracelet while taking care that it didn't look like a messy jumble. The "main" stones were to be tiger eye and agate. For me, tiger eye is not an easy stone to complement, due to its chatoyancy and markings, which is why I have always avoided using it. As for agate, there are so many different kinds, a lot of them dyed. But I wanted only natural colours in these pieces. I was also trying to obtain white or colourless zircon gems, but it was impossible to find them in the small rondelles I wanted. In the end, I decided on this cool palette of blues and greens. This bracelet features blue tigereye, grey-green lace agate, Sleeping Beauty turquoise, lapis lazuli, green aventurine, chrysoprase, blue zircon and lemon topaz.

I've got one more bracelet to go, but am only about a third of the way through.

Etsy is giving me much grief. After several days of painful slowness, it has come to a point where I cannot even load the Forum or Time Machine 2. It's rather pathetic. And to think I delayed my lunch today to photograph a whole bunch of supplies when I can't even upload images. It seems that many of us from Australia and Singapore are in the same boat. And we're not doing anything different from what we normally do, except maybe cursing at the situation. Koff. So I might as well take a break seeing as I won't be around from Wed-Sun. It's disappointing though.

I finally completed the Queen Mab bracelet a couple of days ago:


There are hundreds of tiny gemstones there in many, many hours of work. It's quite an achievement for me because I tend to get distracted easily, especially from repetitive tasks. I literally forced myself to complete the final 1" within a time limit. Actually, I made this as a demo for a custom order. So guess what? Now I get to repeat the entire experience but with more expensive jewels! Wheeee... I can't decide whether to keep this or to put it up for sale though. I don't know if anyone would want to buy it since it will cost several times more than my most expensive bracelets to date, and shipping will be a worrisome affair.

In other news, I was on a cleaning rampage today... wiping and polishing, scrubbing and mopping till my hands were red, puffy and trembling. I used to wear rubber gloves for these wet chores but I rather hate the feeling I get on my hands after they're removed. It's just... weird. It's a miracle that a cousin once said I have such young-looking hands. (Um, I don't smoke dearie, you do, and it really ages one a lot) Oh... and poor T, he knocked over 2 boxes of tiny beads whose lids came open. Gaaaaaack. The beads either fell out or got mixed up in all the compartments. By the time he'd finished sorting them out, I think I'd done half a room and one bathroom.

Here is a question for those of you on social networking sites: Do you add people whom you worked with but hated? Either just for fun or because they added you? They may or may not know how you felt about them though, because you were ahem, "professional" about it ^^

Mmmmm, I'm tired. Going to read and sleep :)