JBK now on facebook

Last week I finally set up a facebook business page for Jewellery by Kristine.  It is up and running and I have 31 "likers" already! I love my friends :)   If you have a facebook page and would like to get up to the minute updates from yours truly click on this link and like my page. There is also a tab linking to my etsy store so there is no need to navigate away from facebook to view my store. Noice :)

I've also been in the workshop finishing of new bits and pieces and they have now been listed in my etsy and made it stores .

 There is always so much to do and so many places to be in the lead up to Christmas. So I really must get cracking and make more stuff. 

Sometimes it's hard to get into the right headspace. Most days it comes easy, but this weekend nothing worked for me on Saturday, I kept forgetting to prep surfaces and/or my hands, clay stuck to everything and my mind wasn't co-operating and ideas were not coming easily. Thankfully today I had some success and managed to start on a bunch of new pieces - 11 pairs of earrings, a pendant and two custom pieces - so I will be a busy bee finishing them in the next few days.

I'll keep you posted with pictures in the coming days.

Shaweet!

 xoK

Coming Soon * This is the new stuff *

I got busy on the weekend and finished some new stuff. A few pairs of earrings and pendants.

I tried my new Koi fish stamp and have made a rectangular shaped pendant and earring set.

 

All these pieces are fresh out of the kiln, so still require a bit on finishing... burnishing with a soft brass brush, a bit of elbow grease to smooth and polish, hanging on ear hooks and threading through chains.

With a bit of good time management on my part I should have time this weekend to do a photo shoot and get them up on etsy and made it, ready for those looking for something special for Christmas.

xoK

Shrinkage

When creating a piece from Precious Metal Clay you need to keep in mind the shrinkage which will occur when firing your creation. 

Shrinkage occurs because the organic material in the clay burns off during the firing process to leave the pure silver. I use PMC 3 which shrinks around 10-12% during the firing process.

Don't get me wrong shrinkage is not a bad thing ;)

When a piece with an etched design shrinks the detail becomes finer. So depending on the effect you are looking forward the shrinking can be used to your advantage to create the kind of super fine detail you would otherwise not be able create with a non-shrinking clay. By the way all versions of PMC shrink when fired. The original version in excess of 20%!

This picture shows the cutter I used to cut each shape. As you can see the orignal size is clearly larger than the fired piece. These bits are fresh out of the oven today. 

xoK

The Good Mark * Custom Piece

Recently a friend of mine asked me to make a special piece for his wife. When he described what he was looking for, I had to ask... "Are you sure?". Being of the feminine persuasion I wasn't too sure if said wife would be happy with a pendant created from the mark of a fictional comic character.

It just so happens that husbands wedding ring is a replica of The Phantom's Good Mark ring. Now how could I question that. The woman obviously married him with full knowledge of his obsession with the purple one. So hey, how could she not love it!

A fair chunk of preparation went into creating this piece. I created a mould from creative paper clay.Actually I created two. It could have been more. Once I'd rolled out the PMC in preparation to make the pendant, then I decided which mould I would use. I chose the one which took the least amount of time to make. 

Wham!  Bam! Fabulous pendant!

This is the pendant drying on a dome.

This is it finished and ready to go to a good home.

I love it when a plan comes together.

xoK

Lucky Cat

Yay to the Lucky Cat!

My good friend Gay bought him back from Sydney after a recent trip for work.

She knew I've been wanting one of these for ages. I love the waving arm.

He now has pride of place on my workbench, waving and watching...

Little bit freaky really, but I heart him.

xoK

Coming Soon * Don't be Koi *

I recently acquired a new stamp. This beautiful Koi.

Today I took it for a test run. 

This is one of 4 new Koi pieces which will be finished and up in the stores soon.

Christmas is coming so I'd better get cracking!

xoK

Coming Soon * This is the new stuff *

I was feeling a bit cranky on the way home from work today... 

I knowwwww... 

Finished work for the day! 

How is it possible to be cranky?! 

Sometimes the best thing is to think about something else. 

So when I got home I headed straight for the workbench, unpacked the goodies and started making...

Coming soon to a online store near you... more Krisi's Kreations!

Birdies, Koi fishies and some shapey shapes.

xoK

Windows, Buckles and Books ** Featured **

I'm very excited to have one of my pieces featured in a treasury by a wonderful etsian Rita. 

Thanks Rita!

 How good is that!

Is it ok to be this excited about it? 

I'm saying it is... work has been sending me bonkers lately and a bit of good news really helped me get through the day.

xoK

 

Windows, Buckles and Books

Isn't it funny how people look at things and see something completely different to others. My brother asked on the weekend "why are you wearing a buckle on your neck?". My three year old nephew saw a book (he's a smart little cookie), same as a friend of mine. 

So while I'm inspired by one thing the end result can be interpreted in so many ways.

I love my craft!

xoK

New Creation * Cubist *

Say hello to the latest piece direct from the workshop. 

Fine silver pendant with part brushed and part mirror finishes.

I think this piece will work nicely with these earrings...

Different but still a bit of same.... no-one wants be too matchy matchy ;-)

These are my first experiment with embedding stud posts into metal clay.

I plan on wearing these for a few days to test the strength and the durability of the connection before making new ones for sale. It's always good to test something new and I do like to wear pretty things and see if I get any comments :-D

Cheerio :-)

xoK

New Creations * Graphic Pieces *

Look what just came out of my workshop. 

I feel so productive and creative right now. Maybe it's because the weather is warming up and the workshop in the garage seems slightly more inviting than it has these past few months.

xoK

Making things work...

While planning and making "the piece with no name"  there was the challenge of how to fire it without the circle on the bottom of the pendant sagging while it was being fired.

I decided to use a product called creative paper clay to make little supports to put under the piece (that's the white stuff).

 

Having not used creative paper clay before I wasn't sure if it would work or not. When I took the piece out of the kiln I was very pleased to see that the paper clay didn't burn off (as I thought it would at 650degrees celcius), and the paper clay left behind was a lovely ashey grey. So that was a very successfuly experiment and I'll be using it again.

xoK

New Creations * The piece with no name *

The graphic cut outs in Pierre Cardin's fashions from the 80's have inspired me to
continue with the more graphic designs I was doing 12 months ago.

So coming soon... more graphic creations along the lines of .... this......

I am looking for a somewhat whitty and inspired name for this first piece in my new "collection"...

Hopefully it will come to me in my sleep. Suggestions are welcome...

This piece has two different finishes... the upper part is a brushed finish and the lower has a high polish shine... so not visible in the photo.. note to self: do photo shoot next weekend.

xoK

Things to be Inspired by.... Pierre Cardin

Back in the 80's Pierre Cardin was King and I was in ell oh vee eee LOVE!

I was flicking through a recent issue of marie claire magazine and low and behold they were paying homage to the man himself.

The graphic cut out in these frocks caught my eye and are inspiration for my latest "collection"... coming soon.

xoK

New Creations * Custom Piece *

I whipped this piece up on the weekend by special request from my Mum (my biggest supporter).

De bon amis = good friends

I love the way this one dangles around my neck... of course I had to try it out :-)

Got it in the post today. I sure hope it's a hit. :-)

Pretty Gifts for Giving

I love wrapping gifts and this one was a special request from a customer based in NZ.

The earrings were placed on a bed of tissue paper in a wee white box and tied with pure white organza ribbon with a piece of fresh rosemary from my garden as a 'garnish'. The pink slip of paper under the ribbon holds a personal message.

I hope when the lucky recipient recieves then they get a lovely blast of rosemary scent as they open the envelope :-)

xoK

New listings in my madeit store :-)

Heart on Hearts pendant on 45cm sterling silver chain

 

Question?? earrings on sterling silver hooks

 

You like??

;-)

xoK

New Creations * ? *

Thank goodness for long weekends. It has been way too long since I've been motivated enough to list some new stuff. Here goes... about to the listed... 

Question Mark Earrings... so cute! 

I love these because the inspiration to create them came to me in a flash :-)  as it usually happens, I'm creating something else and *bam* how about doing something like this, then it's a mad rush to get it on paper, or finish what I'm doing so I can move on to the next thing.

I'm also experimenting with new "props" and backgrounds for my photo shoots.

Scrapbooking papers and my favourite pink scarf are working wonders for me now.

xoK

Things to be Inspired by....

I've been feeling like the laziest person in the world lately.... I'm back from the Thailand holiday and have been back at the grindstone like a good little workef bee, and now recovering from a virus of some sort... co-incidentally I fell ill less than a week after receiving a flu shot... sigh... after a few days in bed, contemplating the work that wasn't getting done and pretty much watching every tv show and movie I had in my collection, it was back to work on Friday and now happily it's a long weekend.

It is a weekend of reflection as it is at this time every year. ANZAC Day. A day of celebration and reflection. Of giving thanks to all the brave soldiers who throughout the years and to this day fight to keep our way of life in our "Lucky Country".

I am inspired by the people who put their lives on the line every day for us and am extremely grateful for all they do.

Time for holiday snaps!
Here is a selection of pics taken in Thailand of interesting shapes which will be used in future jewellerybyKristine creations :-)

Perhaps not this one... but isn't he beautiful :-)

I wish I was back in Thailand.... eating.... 

xoK

The caiotic inspiration wall

This is only part of it. Lots of pretty pics to ponder when I need an idea or twenty. Also covers the ugly chunk o' gyprock that is hiding the uglier brick wall.

xoK :-)

Rearranged workspace

I spent a bit of time last week rearranging my workspace. I was hoping I had a long enough chunk of wood (ie. left over from the kitchen reno) to extend the shelf the entire length of the bench but the bits are either too long or too short. Sigh. So it looks like I'll actually have to use one of the extensive range of tools in my 'man kit' to saw something. Later.

So even with a small amount of shuffling of the stuff I've managed to create a bit more space to work on.

I even got my inspiration wall sorted. Well what I call organised ciaos. There's a pic of that in my next post.

xoK :)

Music for my ears

I found these fabo wee speakers for my iPhone the other day. They can

be folded flat so I could take them anywhere. Best thing about them is

they have pictures of my favourite things on them. Shoes!!!

They are now on the shelf in my freshly rearranged workspace, ready to
blast out some tunes.

xoK :-)

New Creations and Stuff

The other day I started writing this post, then saved it as a draft and have just now come back to finish it off with pics etc and some how I've managed to delete the entire thing!!!! NOOooooooooo.......

I'll try to remember what I wrote, and I'm sure it was scintillating and extremely articulate as I am prone to doing... it went something like this..... perhaps a little more descriptive :-)

Been a long time since I've made time to update the blog, bought some stuff, made some stuff... sold some stuff :-)

I bought a new car!!! Yay!! Got a new flash black one.. the yellow one had to go after nearly 8 long and eventful years of faithful service....

 

I'm currently a little too in love with the new beasty. But I'm told it will pass.

I made a few commissioned pieces which turned out quite nicely and have had really positive feedback, which satisfies the tortured and oft way too critical artist in me. They were something new and have started me thinking, thinking....

Here, I've made the picture nice and big so you can read the text.

Ubuntu is an African word, which has been described as "too beautiful to translate into English". The essence of Ubuntu is that "a person is a person through other people". It describes humanity as "being-with-others" and prescribes what "being-with-others" should be all about.

Virtus et Honor - Latin - strength and honour : and on the back (not pictured) Mon Ami - French - my friend

Nossa Tia - Portuguese - Our auntie : on the back has a special inscription from the givers to their special Auntie.

Je t'aime - French - I love you

Ti amo - Italian - Love you

The last two pieces (Je t'aime and ti amo) are bits I made for fun and also to practice using my own handwriting in the clay prior to drying and firing. It is easier than I thought.. thankfully... Fortunately I wasn't looking for perfection in my script.

I'm going to make some more rings with words on them over the weekend. I like that a bunch of them can be strung on a chain, to jangle around ones neck.

Ciao for now!
8-)
K

New Creations * I Heart Hearts *

I finished the hearts! Yay! Well actually I finished them last week but decided to wait till the weekend for a daylight shoot, then ran out of time to actually blog about them and list them. Still haven't listed them, at least the blog bits out of the way. Phew!

These ones will be listed exclusively in my made it store, just in time for Valentines day...hmmm.... is it not Valentines day every day?



xxK

New Creations * More Hearts and Love

More hearts and lovey inspired dangley bits for hanging around your neck.

Waiting patiently for baking on the morrow. Can't wait to get home

from work so I can cook these babies up :) xx K

New Creations * Hearts with Love

These are some of the new things I've been working on. They are quietly

drying away in a cozy spot on the workbench away from kitty paws.

I can't wait to get them fired and polished.

This pic was sent from my phone direct so the orientation isn't right...sorry 'bout that...

Will post more pics when they are baked :) xx K

Babushka ya, babushka ya, babushka eye eye

My very talented friend, Kirsten over at Vintage Cherubs has created the most amazing Babushka dolly/pillows. I want them all!

I'm sure I'd find a way to fit them into the decor of my bedroom.

Love your work Kirsten.

And here's a pretty picture for you :)

I've not quite worked out this linking thing but the click on the link below and it will take you straight to Kirsten's blog.

http://vintagecherubsblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/babushkas-are-finally-being-born.html

Cheerio from the cat house!
xxK

* New Creations * Latest stuff

Hello, hello... well look who's been a busy girl then... finished these ones off today, then did the ishoot of all the new bits to be listed. Today the shoot was using natural light as opposed to the usual night time shoot with the desk lamp and overhead fluro... I must do daytime more often, much easier to get a decent natural looking shot.

Anyhoos best be getting to and listing in the stores... xxK

Update: Sat. 16th Jan 2010 - The Branching Out necklace has been ~sold~ Yay!

New Creations * Earrings *

These are some earrings I just finished. They being listed on etsy and made it tomorrow along with a couple of new necklaces which are being fired and finished off in the morning.

xx K