Tuesday, November 27, 2007

On genes and a sneak-of-the-day

Do you wonder sometimes how much stuff runs in the family? I never thought i'd end up doing jewellery someday, heck i never really passed art in my school!! Wasn't particularly well-known for any creativity to be honest. But what if genes did have a part to play in it...

If you'd caught Home Decor 3 on Channel 8 last night, you would have seen many of my cousins and even my gran on TV! They were on Mark Lee's team and since I'm not a frequent viewer of the show, I heard from the grapevine that his team hadn't won for a while so naturally they were kinda worried. Nevertheless they put in lotsa thought and effort, most of my cousins and aunts and even my lil bro went down to help with the renovation and they deservedly won, at least to me! Loved the way they revamped my gran's old furniture and came up with a east-meets-west-contemporary style :)

My gran even got to show off her crafting prowess in making butterflies fr used cans (so green right), which by the way, is not the only thing she does. She also makes little beaded animals like doggies, kitties, sheep, snakes... you name it, she jolly well can make it! I'm so proud of my gran!! Maybe my mom managed to sneak some creative gene from gran to me after all! Ok enough of showing off my gran.... ain't Athena a pretty lady! I'm very pleased with the way she turned out and can't wait to show her at Maad this weekend. Very vintage, very green... just the way i like them :) I have to get back to preparing logistics for the fair... you really gotta check out Dec's Maad cos there'll be so many cool stalls way perfect for some handmade indie shopping!! (maybe i should display some of my gran's butterflies too)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Dec Maad sneaks!

Some pieces for Maad next weekend...
there's lots more where these came from, and even more in the works!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Maad next weekend

Sorry things have been quiet here lately cos I've been hibernating and working on stuff for Maad next weekend. Usually stock runs out after the 1st day so I'm trying my darnest to have more and if possible 2 pieces of each design so I can stagger the display for the 2-day affair. I'd hate to disappoint the folks who can only pop by on Sunday!

This time round, apart from the usual repurposed vintage goodies, there will be petite lovelies and glam danglies, as well as special ooak italian charm necklaces (from the stash I acquired in the Philippines) and unique little quaint brooches perfect as stocking stuffers! I'm more pysched than stressed which is quite strange for moi, but hey i'm not gonna complain about that heh

I've got to go run errands now, but I'll get back to answering those emails and posting more sneaks. Thanks for sticking around! :)

December Maad
Time: 11 am - 7 pm
Address: Red Dot Design Museum on Maxwell Road

Friday, November 16, 2007

Roberta sneak


Another piece for Dec's Maad ~ more jewelled tones for the festive season! :)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Sophie - SGD 29 - Sold


Thought I'll list sth new just to keep things going instead of hoarding everything for Maad :) Sophie is a classy pair of good old-fashioned earrings featuring pretty shell roses. These roses are abt 1.8cm wide and the drop is a petite 3.5cm fr antiqued brass hooks ~

Another Maad sneak!


Ooh look at what came out yesterday! A quaint purply eye-catcher that's bound to be a keeper! I'm hoarding this for Dec's Maad, which by the way, is on for sure! So keep the 1st & 2nd of Dec free if you can and come do some major christmas shopping! (hopefully at my booth so i can do some christmas shopping too haaa)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Miss Holly - SGD 55 - Sold

Sorry everyone for being tardy in replying mails but I've been stuck in bed with a bad cold since Deepavali and today's my first good day although I still sound like darth vader. The last few days have been an absolute nightmare! Not being able to do anything at all except finish season 2 of Grey's Anatomy and plough thru half of OC season 4. Thanks to the hubster (who is a much better nurse than I am and was fabulous in looking after me despite catching the bug as well), I felt well enough today to try working for a bit. This is one of the perks of working from home, I get to fall back to bed if I don't feel well enough to carry on without having to commute heh.
Miss Holly is made from vintage holly-like bracelet links with clear quartz roses, green garnet briolette, lotsa mystic grey swarovskis as well as freshwater pearls, swarovskis and gold-filled extras. Drop is a lovely 8cm from goldfilled hooks ~

I wore a pair to meet my gal pal Val last week and we stumbled upon this lovely shop called L'Escalier in Takashimaya. It really is a treasure trove that carries local brands like the dear Makisquarepatch, Fuchsia Lane and Saltplay. Miss Holly caught the eye of the pleasantly polite (a rarity for local customer service) shop staff who suggested I bring in my portfolio and some sample creations for the manager to explore the possibility of stocking my pieces there! I think it'll be a great stockist so hopefully I can do up something to show them soon (if i don't tear my hair out amidst preparations for Maad and all). Exciting times ahead!!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Rose Assassin sneak


This vintage rose dagger pin was quickly taken by a regular who gave me the freedom to do it up into whatever I fancied so this is a little sneak surprise for her ~ More similar pieces of this style will be available at Dec's Maad if nothing goes wrong. Sorry I've been quiet lately, it's just too exciting checking out the possibilities with these vintage acquisitions! Usually it only takes one good piece to start a new series so yay! This Rose Assassin just saved me :)

Spring Fling II - Sold


A more petite remake of Spring Fling at a private request ~

Monday, November 05, 2007

my little bunny mug

Woke up yesterday morning feeling a lil anxious cos the thought of all those orders I've yet to finish is weighing heavily on my mind. Esp. since I popped by Maad yesterday and moi friends were like, hey where have you been? Come back to Maad soon! So yea, I'm thinking of how I can juggle finishing existing orders with coming up with new pieces for Dec's Maad. I'm praying very hard that my fingers and mind don't fail me! Having a stall at Maad is more about the community experience rather than the sales, though it's usually harder cos I have to spend lots and work like mad to stock up for the 2-day market. Still the friendship, the bustling atmosphere and ahem the shopping more than makes up for it.

Managed to control the spending yesterday but I couldn't resist this little bunny mug made by Amy, from whom I got most of my japanese-style ceramic bowls from. Matt and I love her work to bits! So rustic and homely. I find it so adorable that the little rabbit's peeking out fr the top of the mug :)
This guppy bowls are so pretty too! It'll be pretty cool to see the little fishies "swimming" when there's soup or sake in the bowls. I thought they were teeny whales at first but Amy corrected my faux pas!
Amy will be at Dec's Maad on the 1st and 2nd so remember to check out her cool ceramics!

Friday, November 02, 2007

i am free

I've been running out of accessories to wear which is such an irony considering what I do so I decided to do up a new necklace with some of the kyanite brios I'd been storing away hee hee. Didn't want anything fussy so some swirly goldfilled tubes and a brass swallow later, here's i am free. Somehow the glistening blue of the kyanite and the soaring swallow reminds me of the vastness of the sky and how puny I am in relation to this huge universe. I'm just glad I got Someone out there looking out for me!
The hubster thinks I shouldn't hoard stuff so I'm still contemplating keeping this for myself or for sale. Need time to think it over first haaa ~

Serene - SGD 55 - Sold

Think I love Serene as much as I did Esmeralda, just look at the colour! Soft blue carved roses (not sure what stone it is tho, shimmering moonstone gems and kyanite drops with the same pretty freshwater pearls and swarovski rhinestone-studded rings.

Drop's 8cm from goldfilled hooks (same for the wirework and chains) ~ swoons...

Yvaine - SGD 54 - Sold

Esmeralda was a fave so it was sad that I only got 1 pair of those soft minty green roses! I've done up 2 more versions of it, each slightly different from the other. Here's Yvaine, a silver-pinkie-purply combi of rose quartz roses, swarovski rhinestone-studded rings, the same beautiful freshwater pearls (even jenna thought they were gorgeous!), muted lilac & pale rose-pink czech drops and faceted gem-quality amethyst brios.

Drop is 7 cm fr sterling hooks (so are the wirework and chains) ~ Wonderful glitzy earrings... I'm getting into the christmas mood already!

Esmeralda - SGD 55 - Sold

I loved these minty green roses and kept them for the longest time until I decided to do sth with them as a christmas prelude. Beautiful gleaming swarovski crystal-studded rings, freshwater pearls with an extraordinary sheen, swarovskis and fabulous gem-quality phrenite brios for that awesome vision of green!

Drop is 7.5 cm on goldfilled hooks ~ (wirework and chains are also goldfilled)

Put the pic up on Flickr a while ago but forgot to describe it and yet it still got sold before the listing came up. Thanks babe! You know who you are, and I'm glad you got my fave piece of the lot!

Crimson Plush - SGD 46 - Sold

Crimson Plush is a slightly different version of Plush with red peony cloisonnes as well as phrenite and green onyx brios... but just as luxurious! Drop is 6.5 cm from goldfilled hooks ~ picture of Crimson Plush on light background here.

Plush - SGD 46 - Sold

I enjoyed working with the colours in Opulence but unfortunately I'm out of those gorgeous mudan/rose cloisonnes so I came up with other versions. Plush features pretty blue peony cloisonnes which I've used before, with tangerine clay roses, vermeil flower, swarovski blings, hoops, little red garnet rounds and rich orange carnelian brios.

Drop is 7 cm from goldfilled hooks (tarnish-resistant wirework and 14k goldplated chains) ~ Picture of Plush on a light background here.

cool vintage finds

After much frustration and exasperation with the embassies in Singapore, our friend Jenna finally set off for KL to get her visa into India yesterday and suddenly the house seems awfully big and quiet again. Which means it's time to become a recluse and work harder than ever! Recently I've been falling in love with gemstones and collecting different pretties one strand at a time cos the good stuff never comes cheap! I've been starting to include them in my pieces as well and it makes me so happy to just work with these pretty gemmies :p

I've finally opened up my trove of treasures from trawling the antique shops/flea market stalls of Salamanca Market in Hobart and Port Adelaide. This ain't the whole loot too! That's how much stuff I came back with.




The last picture are some beautifully aged cameos that my girlfriends and I found and I especially love the vintage black carved cameo set in a what i think is cannetile* filigree frame.

*Cannetile is a french term to denote a decorative jewellery technique in which a metal, usually gold, wire is twisted into delicate and intricate designs featuring rosettes and scrolls. Meant to be very popular in 19th century England.

So there! My stock of possible Christmas goodies. They're in excellent condition and beautiful in their own right so I don't have to do much to repurpose them. Just hope I can do them justice!

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