Lovin those Circles....

This is just a quick post to show off my latest necklace design for a local store. The hammered circles are one hot ticket this summer so I've been using them in almost all my new necklaces. I'm ready to move on to something else - but when you are working with a store you also have to listen to what the customers are responding to. In this case it's the circles!

The faceted nuggets are Aqua coloured Chalcedony. Another popular colour with this store's clients.

Have a great weekend!
Jodi

To Nepal and Back

So much for crafting - I'm still making jewelry! That's ok as I really do love jewelry and my apartment is set up for it. I have a designated table for my jewelry and this makes it easy for me to sit down for 10 minutes here and there to work on it. This is how I work most of the time as I never have large chunks of time for any of my hobbies. They happen in bits and pieces of time that I squeeze into my day. The problem with sewing is the lack of designated space. I have to dismantle my kitchen to sew and I hate doing this. I generally only sew when I have an entire day off to myself so that I can make a big mess for 6-7 hours and then clean it up. The problem with sewing is that you need a table, ironing board and cutting area ie. (space!) something we lack in our current apartment of 450 sq. feet!

This necklace and earrings is for my dear friend Norah. She is an artist and will be exhibiting her work at the Winsor Gallery starting July 19th here in Vancouver. If you get a chance please check it out! The necklace is a re-design of something she picked up in Nepal about 10 years ago. It had been strung on string and was falling apart. In hindsight I should have taken a before photo. I'm never thinking in terms of my blog....I am very pleased with the resulting design and earrings to match. I added faceted nuggets of Carnelian and Lapis that I had left over from previous projects. As well as a sprinkling of turquoise - much more interesting than the original!

Circles & Hoops

So far I'm only averaging about 1 post per month...I'll try and do better! It seems once I made a conscious decision to devote more time to crafting (check out my craft blog ChicaCraft)
The jewelry design business took off. I'm so thrilled that my latest designs are selling well at the House of Jewels boutique where they are sold here in Vancouver. She keeps asking for more. I just need more time to devote to it. Maybe it's the full time job getting in the way! Unfortunately at this time it still pays the bills.

Circles and Hoops is the name of this post. It seems to be the hot trend for this summer. Hammered circles are selling very well along with the wire hoop earrings. All shades of blue. I always fall back on the watery blues of Peruvian opals and Amazonite so this time I tried something new. The gemstones I used in the two necklaces here are Kyanite. It is a very icy blue which works best with Silver. This blue looks great combined with denim which we all have in our wardrobes!

I should add a note that the beautiful hammered circle and intricate Orchid are from the talented Hill Tribe people of Thailand.

I'm hoping to get back to some of my craft projects so it may be a while before I post again.