Time and Energy

My jewellery has been very much neglected of late. I rarely have the time to work on jewellery, and if I do have some time, I NEVER have the energy.

Today is one of those rare days where all the elements aligned...

I had some inspiration, I have been working on the designs for these two pieces for a while so I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve and how I planned on doing it. Having a plan is great as no time is wasted, and by tag teaming two pieces I can spend every moment being productive.




More uncommonly, I had time! Fridays are normally a flurry of activity with play dates and errands, however today was a free day. Miss 10 months had a nice long sleep in mum and dad's bed (I don't know why but this little lady has the best sleeps in a queen sized bed). And my hubby had the day off too so he was about to keep Mr 3 busy.


And most rare of all, I had some energy! Just some mind you, once the afternoon heat really kicked in I had to call it a day, which is why these are works in progress rather than completed pieces. But I think seeing them come together will give me the energy to continue on.




I have a whole stash of stones ready and waiting, I hope this momentum continues ;)

Look with your hands

Today I'm thinking about texture. I have been watching my baby girl use her sense of touch to learn about the world around her. Things made for baby a very geared towards tactile sensations.

I'm a sucker for texture, we used to joke and say "look with your eyes, not with your hands". I'm one of those people that while admiring a colleagues new shirt I can't resist a quick feel of the fabric, luckily so far that has not seen me being hauled into HR for harrassment.



Who can resist the soft downy fuzz of a babies head? Or maybe you like the feeling of hands that often see a hard days work? What about the sleek coolness of a reptiles skin, or perhaps the cool crispy feeling of freshly mown grass. Back when I was at school and walking home in the summer there was one house in particular that as I walked past I'd always take off my shoes to feel the perfectly manicured lawn beneath my feet, the owner was an elderly ex-greenskeeper.

Texture is a big consideration when making jewellery too. Finishes are not just for the eyes, they evoke a mood or a feeling, lets call it a vibe!



I am working on a pair of frangipani earrings at the moment for a special order. Frangipanis are my favourite flower, I have been thinking about the soft, thick decadence of the petals and how to achieve that feeling from silver. If I get it right, no matter how dismal the day the wearer will have visions of the tropics.

The next big thing... I mean ring

My next big ring project is very big indeed, 6.3 carats in fact!


I actually started work on the setting for this gorgeous cushion cut purple and yellow Amatrine a couple of weeks ago. But the result was a bit too flimsy and not what I had envisaged for this fabulous stone.


So it was back to the drawing board, or in my case the sketch book, to better resolve the design.

The idea is still developing, so not sure if I will start on this one just yet or give the ideas another week to stew. Either way, I hope to have a fabulous extravagent cocktail ring featuring this gorgeous stone to show you in the not too distant future.


In the meantime I hope to make a couple of pairs of fun enamel studs this weekend. Looking at what colours are dominating my Etsy store right now, and in the interests of diversity, I'm thinking green and black this time. Or maybe black and white... What colours would you like to see more of?

Autumn inspiration

Ok, so technically it is winter now, but our beautiful little Japanese Maple in the backyard is still wearing it's autumn colours with pride.


It just looks so bright and happy, I never tire of looking at it.


To top it off it was a beautiful sunny day, and my mokume gane & fire opal ring is on its way to a new home in the USA.


And finally I got to spend a little time in the workshop. My peppermint crisp ring is very close to completion, I just need to finish the setting and then set the ring and polish it up. Here's a sneak peak with the stone just sitting in the incomplete setting.


My head is full of ideas for some new pieces, must get them into my sketch book as my baby brain means that those idea may float off to the ether again! Hopefully I will get a bit more time this weekend to do some more.

Daytripper....

This friday will mark 3 years since we purchased our house at auction. On the day it was about 42 degrees celcius and we had only found out that morning that I was pregnant with our first baby.

I love our house and our garden, so now is a great time to show off one of our most recent additions to our garden.



We ordered our Daylilies online when we got back from our holiday in August. They arrived with their heads chopped off wrapped in damp newspaper.

We planted them that weekend, and by the next weekend new green tips were showing through.



They quickly grew up into nice green leafy plants, but having planted them so close to the flowering season I had thought we may have missed flowering this year.



However we have been pleasently surprised to find that for all but two of the varieties they have gotten in early enough to flower.



They are probably a little shorter this year, and the blooms are a little few and far between. But we have been very happy with the new additions to our garden, and there are still two close to flowering that we haven't seen yet.



As I have mentioned before my garden is a great source of inspiration for me, and this weekend I will begin work on a new daisy inspired enamel range. So as always... Watch this space!

'Scent'sational Spring

Despite the somewhat disappointing spring weather we have had this year our front garden is out in bloom at the moment. It is full of colour and life... and inspiration!



This weekend we have two new additions, they both look and smell divine.



While we were planting these two I noticed some gaps, maybe a few more roses will be making their way to our garden in the next few weeks ;)

Big is Beautiful

Especially when it comes to bling!

I am starting to feel a whole lot better, and as I do I am getting more and more excited about getting to work on some fabulous new jewellery.

Perfect for spring will be some big bright gem stone pieces. Here's a sneak peak at a few of the star attractions.



First up a pear shaped double rose cut amethyst with a vivid purple colour. This beauty is 3.809 carats. For this one I am seeing a pendant with a bit of a spin, to take full advantage of the double cut.



Next we have a beautiful round brilliant cut topaz in a pretty sky blue. For this 2.642 carat stunner I'm thinking a bit of an ice queen inspiration.



And last but not least (rest assured there are plenty more where these come from) a very pretty pair of round brilliant cut topaz in a vibrant peony colour. This pair weigh in at a respectable 4.501 carats and of course are destined to become some ear bling.

So there you have it, I'm looking forward to bringing you some glorious one of a kind spring creations soon.

Pseudocode for jewellery

One of the things I had drummed into me while studying was that you have to write pseudocode before you start programming. For the less nerdy of us, that is you basically write in sort of english the framework for your program before you start chipping away in the programming language.



This was something that never sat well with me. I would write myself comments for the major milestones and go straight to programming. For the sake of my assessments I would reverse engineer that into pseudocode afterwards. I am not a programmer now, but I do write SQL code, yet I never ever write pseudocode.



Fast forward a few years to when I was studying jewellery, the message that was driven home constantly was that you MUST MUST MUST document your design process. I have a confession that reading the previous paragraph wont surprise you, this is something that I am very lax at.



While I was studying my designs were well documented, they had to be. But I found now that I have slipped into my old ways of thinking through my designs in my head. This is not to say I get an idea in my head and just make it, that is not really designing per say. The design process involves starting with a concept and developing that over time, working through design and construction issues, "if I do this it will be too weak" or "after I attach that I can't do any more soldering" maybe "if I change that from a circle to an oval it may sit nicer" or "if I attach the stone on this angle it will catch the light better" etc.



I have had a wakeup call today. I am a member of a team on Etsy of jewellery artisans. Controversy arose when one member of the team accused another of copying designs. Now it is quite possible that these two people independently came up with the same design. But what is important is being able to show the process involved in the design. This is not a drawing of just the item itself, but they way in which you developed this idea. It can be accompanied by writing, descriptions, annotations or whatever. I used to do this and sign and date it when I did.



My exhibition pieces started from the same concept which I explored and developed over two years. The newer pieces in the same range stem from these. One of the big inspirations for some of my pieces was a method called paper tolle that my sister and I used as kids to make cards. In exploring these childhood activities further I had planned to make some paper chain people jewellery, however I did a search on Etsy and found that someone has already done exactly that. Although our interpretations would have been different I immediately disbanded that idea.



So today I make a mid-years resolution (it's close enough). I am going to be much more studious at documenting my designs. It will probably help me as a jeweller to further develop my skills, and if god forbid anyone calls my integrity into dispute, it will act as evidence that my designs are all my own.



The images throughout this blog post are pages from my journal documenting my art deco opal ring. Although a traditional styled ring you can see a lot of design development and technical design went into this piece.

Now that's one creative Mother

With Mother's Day fast approaching I thought I would pay tribute to a Mother who is also a spectacular artist. She inspires artists the world over and never seems to suffer from a creative block.

Her ideas are weird and wonderful, her palate extensive. Her work can be seen all over the world, but I have put togther just a few of my favourites from Australia.

Mother Nature, you rock!

Talk and Tapas

I attended a "Design It, Make It, Fund It" session at Craft Vic last night to learn about the process of submitting an exhibition proposal. While I feel that I am nowhere near ready to start on an exhibition proposal any time soon, I felt completely energised by the thought of it.

There are so many things to think about, aside from the obvious - the content. In this instance they are looking for fairly innovative or experimental work. Once you have direction you need to think about the look and feel of the exhibition, promotion, display materials (how do we avoid a plinth city), how should people move through the work, is there a narrative that we want the audience to understand.

Then the most scary topic... Funding, how on earth does one pay for an exhibition, how do you get a grant or sponsorship? How much does an exhibition even cost? I attended with 3 friends I met through my studies, hopefully when we are ready to travel down this path we will do it together.

Plenty of food for thought for me. And speaking of food we finished off the night with a glass of wine and some tapas at Bar Lourinha - yum yum. With my head full of grand ideas and my belly full of coffee sleep didn't come easy. When I am ready to start on the journey I'll let you know!

Where it all started

I think we all have one of those places that speaks to us, keeps calling us back, despite the fact that there are so many places on our "must travel here" list. For us it is Broome in Western Australia.

We first traveled there in 2003, we flew to Darwin (another place I really want to get back to) and hired a car and drove across. The top end of Australia is truely a beautiful place, and very inspiring for an artist.

And it was in Broome that I decided to get professional training in Jewellery making, and I have never looked back. While I am currently content in my day job (this was not the case in 2003) making jewellery is something I am truely passionate about.

The main street is awash with jewellers and another of my great passions - South Sea Pearls! We were discussing with a lovely shop assistant the possibility of getting a custom designed pendant with a champagne pearl and champagne diamond. We left the shop to go for a walk and discuss and my then boyfriend (now husband) looked at me in all seriousness and said "I reckon you could make it yourself".

We were also intrigued by the fact that they have jewellers fly in for the high season and had grand plans of spending a winter in Broome as a resident jeweller.

Five and a half years later I have not yet made my champagne pearl/diamond pendant. I did however make our wedding rings in 2005 and I also have a half made eternity ring! And last year I purchased 5 champagne diamonds which will some day be a very special piece of jewellery just for me.

We went back to Broome for 2 weeks last year, just before our sons first birthday. We had a fabulous relaxing time and it revitalised our desire for our winter in Broome. And with sunsets like this is there any wonder....

...yep Broome matches our son's hair perfectly!

Something you haven't seen

I thought I might share with you something that you won't see in my shop. This is a piece I made in 2006 during my studies. 'The Ball' was a concept sample that was used to build on an idea and some techniques for my exhibition work (at this stage I was planning on completing my course and exhibiting in 2007, it quickly became apparent that completing my studies and exhibiting in the same year that I had my first baby was perhaps a little over amitious).



The brief we were given was to make a container, my theme for my work was repitition. One of my personal ambitions was to really stretch myself technically, focussing on problem solving and contruction methods. The inspiration for this piece was actually the old Paper Tolle 'Holly Hobby' cards I used to make with my older sister.

My paper tolle inspired ball would be made of silver discs, each layer would be spaced from the previous and the result would be a three dimensional object. The spacers would be both functional and a feature; the piece although being a container would essentially be see through. The construction although robust would give the piece a very fragile, sheer appearance. Being hollow you would be able to keep something inside, but it would be a thinly veiled secret as glimpses of it would show through.