Gem Festival Goodness

I have been buried beneath sickness, laundry and a pile of dishes (that somehow included every bowl we own) today. The oldest did not return to school with his classmates, but rather lay on the couch beneath a blanket attempting to rest and fend off his siblings interest. Rather than focusing on my own runny nose, I thought I would share a few images from the gem festival on the weekend. So many colours, shapes and textures. So beautiful.

Winter 2015 Look Book

How gradually my little business has evolved. I hadn't imagined at University that I would one day be my own boss and work from home around my children. I didn't think as an apprentice that I would ever stop working for others. I couldn't have imagined how the internet would allow me to share my work with my tribe and create pieces for the special moments in their lives. But little by little I have been building, creating, learning, investing and making, in order to grow a seed of a dream in to a reality.

And now I am one step closer to a bigger dream, as I share with you images from my first ever photo shoot and my very first Look Book. I am so excited about these images! It's wonderful to see the ideas I sketched on paper and then brought to life in metal, being worn and so beautifully photographed. It feels like quite the achievement for this independent jeweller and small business owner, let me tell you. The images just seem so 'me' and so in tune with my brand. I love that Trudi and Harriet were able to interpret my vision. I am thrilled and I would love for you to take a look and share your thoughts with me. 

And if I could be so bold, perhaps you could share the Pinterest pin of my Look Book too?

Many thanks! 

xx

-

Winter 2015 Look Book

Photographer: Trudi Le Brese

Model: Harriet McAtee

Location: Residence of Brisbane poet Carmen Keates

Proud Rock Nerd

A 22kg Fluorite. (Wow!)

I can admit it, I am a proud rock nerd. I love pretty rocks. I have books and books about them. I love the science behind them. The history of discovery. The tales about individual gems. The rarity and the symbolism. I go to gem shows to buy gems for my jewllery as much as just to poke around and see all the pretties on offer and learn something new.

As a child I collected tumbled stones and crystals. I'd spend my pocket money on pieces of pyrite, clusters of amethyst and smooth samples of rose quartz. I was so drawn to the colours, shapes, endless variety and beauty. I've never outgrown that awe and fascination. It's one of the things that really excites me about being a jeweller; finding interesting and unusual gemstones and designing around them. Alongside my collection of cut stones for jewellery, I have a collection of fossil, crystal and mineral samples. My children love to fossick through them. There are polished thunder eggs, fossilised ammonites, petrified wood, dessert roses and all manner of boulder opal. To some they are probably just so much clutter, but to me they are endlessly fascinating and I like to sift through them occasionally when seeking inspiration.

Recently I discovered a second collection of specimens at the Queensland Museum (images above) on a landing in a stair well. Oh, how I love a museum cabinet full of such wonders! The little name tags, the clear stands and angled lights, exhibiting the wonder of what lays beneath the earth of this wonderful planet of ours. I hovered before each piece until my poor husband and children dragged me away. Must find a moment to visit undisturbed...

Are you, or have you ever been, a rock nerd too?

Welcoming Autumn

Already the mornings are cooler and I am welcoming the change of season after a particularly hot Summer. I've always been more of a cardigan and rainy weather girl. (The next change of season will coincide with the birth of our baby.) These coming months I am looking forward to squeezing behind my bench for as long as possible, starting a knitted blanket for the baby and making more time for reading.

Somehow the days and weeks feel even shorter since Cohen started school, and the demands never ending. So I am choosing carefully how to spend my time, and recording the little moments that otherwise get lost in the flurry of the days, and reminding myself not to rush.

Yesterday we welcomed the new season with two picnics. The first, lunch beneath a beautiful tree at a Gem Fair. The second, dinner in our newly finished cubby house.


How did you welcome the change of season?
What are you looking forward to this Autumn?

-

I have submitted my application for the Brisbane Finders Keepers market in July. Now to keep my fingers crossed for the next three weeks that I will be accepted. It was such a great experience in November, and I have been hard at work creating new stock and a new display especially for the market. Cross your fingers for me too?

Have you come across Jodi's blog, Practicing Simplicity? It is always a beautiful place to visit, and for the next three months you will find my store as a sponsor, and you might even spot Jodi wearing one of my creations. :)

+

New gemstones for my collection. New works in progress for the shop.

I've been dreaming about jewellery.

-

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

+

Sneak peek...

I find that when contemplating the creation of a new piece, the stones themselves are often the catalysts for the designs. With this banded agate, the tones and lines reminded me of pomegranate seeds, resulting in the discrete pomegranate saw piercing beneath the setting.

The completed piece will be in the shop before the weekend.

+

Dedentric quartz

Quartz and greened amethyst.

Sodalite, agate, carnelian, boulder opal, malachite, jadite and nephrite.

I am amassing a lovely little gemstone collection for use in my jewellery. These are just a few of them. Some have been gathered at trade shows over the years, some my family have brought back from their travels and others my parents have found and had cut in the sapphire fields of Australia.

I have been sketching some designs for the stones and plan to make some one off pieces incorporating them. They could also be used for custom designs. I love all the colours and the names of the stones. They are so fascinating. What's your favourite gemstone?