Goodbye 2009...

To everyone who visits this blog, I wish you all a great LAST day of 2009, and to celebrate the New Year in style tonight!!!

Je vous souhaite à toutes et à tous une très agréable DERNIÈRE journée 2009, et surtout passez un excellent réveillon ce soir!! A l’année prochaine !!

Merry-Go-Round: A few of my favourite things

As this year draws to a close, here are a few of my favourite things 'discovered'
this year...

Belly dancing:

Here in Turkey, belly dancing is reserved to an elite of professionals, they are very young, always beautiful, very skinny and extremely supple... They are truly incredible to watch! And having tried it myself, in all my 'rolls of fat' splendour, I can tell you that it goes beyond a few wiggles of the hips... It's tough, sensual, feminine and delicate, and an excellent exercise! Go oooon, try it, you know you want to... :)

The work of Sarah Williamson:

Her work just blows my mind away, it looks organic but it is soooo tidy and the wirework is UNBELIEVABLE!!! SOOOOOOO inspiring!!!

As always, cocktail ring are a few of my favourite things :)


Wendren's eye:

Wendren's blog is a visual treat full of surprises, packed with exotic and colourful photos, really well taken, that each time transports me in another world. Her vision is so inspirational, so is her philosophy, I love her new coffee bag, in fact I love all her bags! Wendren's work is filled with passion, and what impresses me most is the way she looks at the world around us, and generously shares her vision. Love the Wren!

Steampunk:

I just loooove this! Steampunk is inspired by the 19th century mostly, when steam power was widely used. It has elements of improbable technological inventions, like in Jules Verne's work, and films like 'Wild Wild West' and 'The League of Gentlemen'. Steampunk fashion and jewellery just strikes a chord with me! I love the corsets, the long skirts, ladies with guns in bustle dresses, with jewellery made from bugs climbing on vintage watch movements... fabulous... :)

And here are my favourite people of the year 2009: The Merry Girls!!!
Please go and see a few of their favourite things of this year 2009... Direct links on the sidebar, thank you :)



Thanks for reading and see you next year!!!!

A candle for Santa... une bougie pour le Père Noël...

Ma contribution pour le défi ALM sur le thème de Noël, une bougie de corail rouge pour le que le Père Noël voit bien où déposer mes cadeaux... :D



A little candle for Santa, made of red coral and natural stones... I'll leave it on the night before Christmas, with milk and cookies... :P

Bagues... Rings...

Mes préferées: gigantesques mais légères, et brodées au MAXIMUM de perles et de pierres naturelles. Et vraiment FUN à fabriquer!!!



My favourites at the moment: they are gigantic, but light, and really FULL to the MAX with natural stones. Really FUN to make too!!

Smaller and smaller...de + en + petit...

Safran - Saffron

A little stroll in the spice market... Natural and semi-precious stones...Double-sided pendant.
Une petite balade au marché des épices... Pierres naturelles et semi-précieuses... réversible...

Merry-Go-Round... what's your purple cow?

Time for another ride on the Merry-Go-Round!!
Jump on and join a group of 9 artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft...

This month’s question: What is your purple cow?

Yes, funky question isn’t it? It relates to Seth Godin’s work and book ‘Transform your business by being remarkable’, where the key to success is to make your work stand out…so the question here is to recognise what makes our work stand out from the crowd, just like a purple cow would stand out in a field of regular cows.

I have been thinking about it for a few days and it’s much easier to see the purple cow in other people’s work… lol…

I reckon there’s a few shades of purple in my cow, one of them is that I tend to make huge pieces of costume jewellery, some of my cocktail rings are particularly humongous, and they are always seem to get a reaction in people. I am an attention seeker and my creations are no different!

Another shade of purple would be the sheer amount of natural and semi-precious stones I use in my work. Semi-precious stones are magical, and I am yet to meet someone who does not like stones…

Then there’s the style of my work which is baroque, ornate and intricate, it looks complicated even if it’s not, it’s OTT and ‘life’s too short’ type of feeling, which especially in these harsh times, can be quite appealing…

I also try to add another dimension to a creation by giving the inspiration behind the piece; it can be a picture or a short text, a quotation, a title and so on. I am very drawn to the world of fairy tales, witches and wizards, pirates and so on, children’s books like Cinderella or Peter Pan, and this fantasy world is obviously very popular!

This has been a difficult question to answer, but a very rewarding one, give it a try!!!

Please read what the other Merry girls’ purple cows are!
You’ll find direct links to the Merry-Go-Rounders in the sidebar on the right.

Thanks for reading!

Ball Pool - La Piscine à Balles

J’adore les breloques en 3D, et ce petit minou est totalement adorable ! Cela fait un petit moment que ça me démangeait de le monter en bague… et JE SAIS que cette bague est quasi importable, JE SAIS qu’elle peut éborgner quelqu’un d’un geste malheureux, et JE SAIS que c’est une bague de dingue, mais que voulez-vous, on ne se refait pas…



Alors voici un petit chat qui s'étiiiiire de plaisir au milieu de sa piscine à balles...



I love 3D charms, and this cat is no exception… I have been itching to put it on a ring, and I KNOW it’s not practical, I KNOW you could take someone’s eye out with it, I KNOW that it’s complete madness, BUT I absolutely love it!!!



So here's a little cat streeeeetching with pleasure in the middle of his very own ball pool...

Armelle récidive!

Une belle variation du coeur (tuto 3), et un travail impressionnant, car ce n’est pas facile d’attacher plusieurs S !! Bravo Armelle !!
Sa boutique sur ALM
Vous trouverez mes tutoriels en vente sur Dawanda et ALM, liens directs sur votre droite...

Le Travail d'Armelle

Armelle, portraitiste de talent hyper sympa qui plus est, a attrappé le virus du wrapping (Supeeeeeeeer!!!). Voici son premier coeur (tutoriel 3), superbe!! Bravo!!

Le Danseur - The Dancer

Pendentif/pendant:





Bague/Cocktail ring:

The Crown Jewels!!! Défi proto-expo sur le thème de Londres www.obiwi.fr

Voici ma contribution pour le défi proto-expo d’Obiwi sur le thème de Londres:
The Crown Jewels!



Une bague imposante, entièrement réalisée à la main grâce aux techniques de wire-wrapping, avec 3 couleurs de fils métalliques, des pierres naturelles (grenat, améthyste, agate, onyx, cornaline), de la nacre, des perles d’eau douce, du cristal et du verre…



Une palette de couleurs un peu victoriennes, à l’image peut-être du passé glauque et sanglant de la Tour de Londres qui abrite aujourd’hui les Joyaux de la Couronne britannique...



Merci de votre visite :)

Flying Frogs/Grenouilles Volantes

Two 'froggy' pendants inspired by the "flying frogs" of the Rainforest, whose webbed feet allow them to glide in the air when they jump from tree to tree to escape from predators...



Deux pendentifs 'grenouille', inspirés par les grenouilles amazoniennes aux pattes palmées; leurs palmures leur permettent de planer en l'air lorsqu'elles sautent d'un arbre à l'autre pour échapper à leurs prédateurs...

Merry-Go-Round - Failure sucks but instructs...

Every month the 9 of us blog on the same subject, and this month's headline is: Failure sucks... but instructs!!

I learnt basic silversmithing skills a few years ago, and quickly became the most prolific member of the class. I was also the ONLY one who made ALL the mistakes under the sun… but I could not help it, this was the way I learnt then, I wanted quick results and I wanted to try everything my way. I remember feeling like someone who invented something new every time, so when I fluffed up (and I did countless times…), I just kept on trying… It was fantastic!!! I lost time and money, but I also learnt LOADS. Now I am able to imagine the end result before starting a project. Had I not ‘failed’ so many times, I would not have been able to learn that particular skill. And that’s just one example, but it is a very important skill for me personally. I also got technically better and although I am not silversmithing at the moment, when I do go back to it I will not make the same mistakes again. Invaluable LEARNING. No 'failures' there!!
So what’s failure? The opposite of success? No, I personally believe it is an integral part of success. I believe one just can’t become successful without being the best at what one does, and you are the best because you know what works and what doesn’t work for you. So one will 'fail' along the way BUT learn from one’s mistakes. I believe failure is finding out something that does not work; the word failure does not have to convey the bad vibe, the negative connotation, the sinking feeling of something final, on the contrary, ask yourself why it did not work and your next project will be better.
I also believe that with businesses like ours, we have to be prepared to take risks in order to move forward, and by accepting to take risks, we must also accept to make mistakes along the way. These are not ‘failures’, they are part of a growing business that’s going somewhere... :)

Please go and visit the other Merry-Go-Rounders to see their views on this subject, you will find direct links on the sidebar.

Thanks for your visit!!

Turquoise & Hummingbird (Colibri)

This is a TINY cocktail ring (well by my standards of monstrous normality in terms of ring size anyway...lol), my smallest ring, actually. Very sweet with a little hummingbird...



Voici ma plus petite bague, carrément minuscule par mes standards de monstrueuses tailles de bagues MDR!!! Mignonne comme tout, avec un petit colibri...