A big week for jewellery

Days are dashing past lately faster than I can keep up with! I hope this isn't an indication of life in general and getting older though...otherwise things will get pretty blurry as they speed past soon! My eldest has just turned 12 - we've already started the moodiness, the switching off (my voice just becomes a background buzz I'm sure!) and the attitude. I gather its only going to get worse so I'm taking it all one day at a time.

We've had more rain this past week - quite incredible after years of drought to have this regular rainfall. The pastures are responding beautifully and the cows, I'm sure, are feasting on the feed. Hubby has gone away for a few days flying aerobatics (at the National Aerobatics Competition) and so I'm back on duty as Farmer Piper. Fingers crossed I don't have any 'stories' (aka problems!) to relate to you on that front next time I write ;)

I had a fantastic day at Mendooran Show last weekend. The ladies were incredibly welcoming and fitted me into their pavillion beautifully - just like I was meant to be there. It was a bit on the hot side, made worse by the uniquitous Australian tin shed we were in - very practical, but hot in summer and cold in winter! But regardless of the heat lots of ladies went home with some new jewels and big smiles which is just the way I like it :) The photo above is of a piece that found a new home - lashings of freshwater pearls in all shapes and sizes and colours.

In fact its been a big week on the jewellery front. I've been very busy doing orders, remodels and sitting down designing with clients. One remodel was different - to turn a bracelet full of Pandora charms that the client no longer wears into a necklace. It is actually looking rather lovely with the charms mixed amongst black lava.

One client came over and choose a pair of elegant citrine and gold earrings to go as a gift to Italy and ended up leaving with a gorgeous pair of pink amethyst earrings for herself as well. I like the way she thinks - "one for a gift, one for me... "

I also had a wonderful meeting with one client who in her younger days (1950-60s) worked for a jewellery house in the city. She regaled me with her wonderful 'tiara' story - lets just say the tiara - which had also been designed as a necklace - got a night out on the town unexpectedly and she got to look literally like a million dollars!

Sometimes jewellery can be a fascinating field to be in - you get to meet wonderful people, hear riveting stories and get to touch on people's lives all over the world :)

Till next :)
Annette

Temora - 2008 NSW Aerobatic Championships

Day 1: Getting ready to fly...finally.




A quick note on the run from rainy/sunny/windy Temora in southern NSW. I am down here for the NSW Aerobatics Competition and the weather has been rather challenging! Only a few flights on day 1 (much delayed to rain), but a very full schedule yesterday with a slight delay due to low cloud. It's blowing a gale today, so no flights so far - but they're still hopeful!

Results of the competition can be seen HERE.

Anyway, just a few pictures to post from the comp for interest - no jewellery today ;)

Day 2: And it's go, go, go. Get those aeroplanes out and lets FLY!









The judging line :)

Aerobatics, a bracelet and Etsy considerations

How was your Easter break? As planned we spent ours at Parkes, with our faces pointed to the sky watching aerobatics. My face is sunburnt with "airshow" face as we call it in our house LOL.

Here is a pic of hubby in his plane as he is getting ready to take off. Nice plane, heh!? Its a Giles 200, the prototype in fact and it goes FAST. A high performance aeroplane that hubby is still getting used to!



Not much achieved in the jewellery stakes, although I DID take some bracelets to make whilst I was sitting around and waiting. I set them all up before I left so I didn't have to think - just do! I have included a picture of one of them at the top of the page. Following on from my last blog post, I tried to let a child's creativity out - throwing some colours together that I wouldn't normally try and I think it works in a slightly eclectic way! The main structure of the bracelet is dark navy dumorterite balls, which have been linked together with argentinium (tarnish resistant) sterling silver into a handmade chain. Then 'charms' of lilac coloured freshwater pearls, dark amethyst, dusky pink rhodonite and pale green aventurine. Finished with a little sterling silver toggle clasp. The combination took a while to get 'right' - I didn't want the green or pink overwhelming the rest of the bracelet, but on the other hand it was too plain with the blue/purple combination. The actual 'making' took about two solid hours, so these style of bracelets are pretty time consuming to do. I was completely out of this "charm" style, so I managed to get a total of three done over Easter. I will post pics of the others over my next couple of posts.

I have been seriously considering opening an Etsy store. I reserved my store name waaaay back when Etsy first opened, but I just haven't had the push to do it since I already have my own webstore. I always get busy and then it goes back to the bottom of the pile! I know of lots of people who have stores there, and they report varying degrees of success. There is so much talent there, I guess it may be easy to get lost unless you regularly put up new stock. Cigarboxbeads, an Etsy seller herself (she creates incredibly detailed beadwork), is currently featuring some of her Etsy finds on her blog - it is a great place to get an idea about the huge range that etsy offers without getting overwhelmed!

Have a great day!

Nuturing creativity

I am off to Parkes, in central NSW, this weekend. My husband is competing in the National Aerobatics Competition, and we are all attending as his little support/fan group. I expect it to be hot given the recent weather and no doubt we will all get sunburned faces from gazing up into the sky for hours each day.

To get the official stuff out of the way - I won't be processing any orders until Tuesday 25th, so please be patient if you don't hear from me straight away.

On a fun note, I found this post on Creative Clown. This is a great little blog about art and nuturing your creativity and makes really interesting, even inspiring reading. I absoloutely loved her idea - drawing a picture just for the fun of it and then looking at the picture as an adult and talk to/nuture the child who drew it. What a brilliant way of unlocking the child within. You could take this to another dimension and make something crafty instead. I know my daughter's revel in their creative abilities and sometimes its "interesting" but other times there are real flashes of brilliance. But the best thing is that they enjoy the whole process - they rarely say "I don't know what to draw/make" as the inspiration is just spilling out of them. Don't we all wish we could replicate that as creative people?!

I think I may indulge my creativity - put some colours and shapes together that I may not necessarily first consider - and see what I come up with! Have a great day :)