A bit of bling!

Just had to share a photo of the gold plating on one of the paisleys. It really was like opening a little packet of treasure when it arrived back. Soooooo shiny and very blingy! I haven't worn gold for years, but I didn't take this off, as I was really pleased with how it looked. The only thing is it does terrible things to the price. I'm looking for lots of feedback on this before I go overboard on the plating.

I'll post a picture of it on when I get the chance.

Beautiful garnets

I spent a little time today working with these micro faceted garnets. I have bought quite a few semi precious beads recently, but have not used any of them until today. Beading is a skill of its own, with new tools and components to learn about. With the right tools, I managed to achieve what I was intending. This was a good dry run for the beading I want to use in my polar bear necklace. I used the garnets today, as I have been working in the sketchbook on Valentine ideas (!). I definitely want to use etched text in the pieces, but it will also be nice to incorporate some semi precious beads. I have been wearing this today, and it sparkles beautifully.

The photo does not really do justice to the gorgeous colour of the garnets, but hey; there was no daylight and not even a daylight bulb to be seen!

Warm welcome and happiness here

Needed to occupy myself today, so I did this...

Finished Paisleys

I am so pleased with these (am I allowed to say that?) I have travelled in India, worked WITH India (my days in the Fashion Industry), worked IN India (hopping on planes to sort out production issues) and there are bits of it that I love, love, love. In fact I can't wait to go back to Rajasthan - (but who knows when I will manage that?)

For ages I have been mulling over doing something Indian inspired, and finally with the catalyst of picking up some beautiful hand painted miniatures of Gods and Goddess I got cracking in the sketch book and came up with  a paisley motif that I was really happy with. (Blogged earlier.)

Some sawing and piercing later, I had an array of shapes that I really loved. They have now been small batch cast (so I don't have to cut them out each time), and after Hallmarking and polishing; some are now ready and in in the Etsy shop - as well as round my neck!

There is more work to do with them. For a start,  a bit more mix and matching with the Gods, a few more photos to be taken, and some gold plating to be finalised. - Now that's exciting!