High Street Pieces..

Just browsing online and came across these lovely pieces..

Topshop Earrings £28.00

Topshop Seed Bead statemnt necklace £25.00

Miss Selfridge wire wrapped pendant £7.50

Oasis Drop choker £16.00

Topshop £18.50 Earrings

Miss Selfridge £12.50

Miss Selfrdige disc pendant £14.00

Oasis bugle bead necklace £16.00

Oasis seed bead link necklace £14.00

Mala Beads

So as a keen Yoga enthusiasts, aspiring meditator and most things spiritual I've discovered mala beads. I love a spiritual connection associated with pieces of jewellery, spiritual or even practical, and as soon as I heard about mala beads (or mediation or Japa beads), I was instantly intrigued. 

These beads are commonly used by Buddhists during chanting, repeating mantras and meditaion, usually consisting of 108 beads, with each bead representing a repition of a mantra. Malas can come in vaious materials according to what you want them to be used for. For example, wooden beads are generally used for a variety of mantras, and even specific wooden beads from specific types of tree serve their own purpose.

So whilst in Thailand I knew I really wanted to find one. At first I didnt see any at all (not sure what I expected really), but after a night out on our way home in a taxi, I noticed the driver had in fact had the beads hanging from his mirror. After a few attempts at trying to communicate with him as to where he got them, he finally understood what I meant and said 'Temple'. So, off we went to the temple the next day for some sightseeing, and I was really hoping I would find them! Low and behold next to the Giant Buddhas was a little shop selling religious pieces, run by a monk who randomly and kindly gave my boyfriend and I some friendship looking bracelets for good luck.

Anyhoo, I finally found my beads which has taken pride of place on my own buddha, (naturally).

Update..

I haven't been writing for a while for varius poor time keeping reason, but I am indeed back and updating you with what I've been currently doing. So I am still going through my mild obsession with seed beads, partly because I love how they look, but also I bought a huge bag of the same colour seed bead and I'm creatively trying to shift them!

So I started with a multi-strand necklace. I personally absolutely love how multi-strand necklaces look. I found a huge amount of gorgeous inspiration online so I bit the bullet and made an attempt. The only an obvious setback with a multi-strand is the stringing! It can take awhile and be a tad tedious but I think its worth it in the end. Its even better when you're just chilling out in front o the TV and let your hands do the work! In one of my earlier posts I did mention I had bought a seed bead spinner. Sadly so far its proven (to me) not worth it. Its, fiddly, it feels awkward and doesn't look half as easy as it did online. So it kind of defeats the point. Not sure if my beads were too large, but a seed bead is a seed bead right?!

Anyhow, my first attempt was this..

I had bought the pendant from a random. backstreet shop in Barcelona, off La Rambla with a couple of other bits and pieces, and like a lot of ramdon bits and pieces, they tend to sit in the box awhile. Personally I like the result, there are some tweaks I probably would've done if I were to start over again, but I'm fairly satisfied with the result at this stage. 

Then I began to make a black version, however it took a different route naturally, and turned out like so ...

I must say, this is one of my favourites. Sooo naturally began working on a brown version....

Also here are some more bits and pieces...

Introducing the Spin & String!

Still hooked on seed beads, I've been trawling the internet looking for multi-strand necklace inspiration, and in doing so I came across this clever piece of 'machinery' on the Walmart US site, The Seed Bead Spinner!

It's the first time I've seen of these and I just instantly knew I just had to get one. 

I've made a couple of multi-strand necklaces and completely underestimated how time consuming and kind of tedius it is picking up each tiny seed bead and stringing them on a thread, not to mention stringing multiple strands! So I ordered one from http://www.thecrystalphoenix.com, (it doesn't seem to be readily available in the UK for some strange reason).

So this clever contraption needs no batteries, plugs or any of that. All you do is fill it with lots of your choosen seed beads, spin it, and the beads are picked up on your beading needle, (comes with spinner). There you have it, cuts tedius seed bead string time right down, hopefully!

 

My own jewellery..

So I've finally decided to bite the bullet and focus on making my own jewellery a bit more seriously then I have done previously. As I've mentioned before I've made jewellery since I was quite young, but have never taken it seriously. I've made lots of random pieces that I've literally had sitting in a box not doing anything with them, which is a great shame as I kinda like some of them! hehe. Soo for the past month or so I've got my head down and really started looking into bead design and practising some of the techniques I'm familiar with. I've decided to take some decent pics of my work (to follow soon..) and really work at putting my effort into making something of my hobby.
I'm feeling quite positive about it, even if it is just for my own personal satisfaction..so watch this space :)

Thailand

I've just come back from my holiday in Thailand couple of days ago and it was well worth the trip! So much gorgeous pieces of jewellery over there, especially beaded pieces sold everywhere from the roadside to independent boutiques to markets stalls. One of my favourite places to shop was at Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok, open Saturdays and Sundays. As we arrived on Saturday, the market was a first venture out on the Sunday morning. The market if huge, 27 acres of practically everything from jewellery, fashion, food, household items to pets! Not only is it huge but extremely hot and quite busy so it is quite difficult and I thought almost impossible to cover it all in one day without getting disorientated and exhausted! They had some great bead stalls and shops and I stopped off in one in particular and bought a few things. I found the prices not entirely ‘cheap’, but we did haggle a good deal and bought some great strings of beads.

The bead shop I made my pruchases..lots of unique beads..

Turquoise is quite popular over there in terms of beading so most jewellery pieces will incorporate turquoise or red, which are lovely combinations anyway! Here are some of my purchases..

Wish i could've of bought more but unfortunately not only are they not dirt cheap, (they weigh them), but my luggage allowance probably wouln't allow it. 

Both Bangkok and Koh Samui are great places to shop for gifts, which I did! These buys were mainly from random roadside stalls.

Bracelets with tiny bells on plaited cord

love this large statement piece

Shell pendant

Hand painted wooden bangles

Jewellery pics from my short classes at City Lit..

Just an update of jewellery pics from my bead jewellery making course I took a few weeks back at City Lit College...

My wire wrapping attempt

 

 

'Knotting' (not a big fan of this technique)

Some more wire wrapping

Don't usual make earrings but I really liked the outcome of these, particulary the wrapping

More wrapping! Working with rounded beads proved to be a lot more difficult to wrap

Some more basic pieces....

dForsythe

I’ll be off to Thailand soon (cannot wait), and I’ve heard so many things about Thailand and their jewellery industry, not only the high quality of their metals, but they also have huge amount of beads and semi-precious  stones sold in  markets and malls around the place, in particular Bangkok, (where I’ll be staying for a few nights). So whilst I was doing my usual YouTube browsing, going through various Thailand videos etc, I came across dolores1014 channel,http://www.youtube.com/user/dolores1014. Her channel drew my attention not only because I love to collect jewellery pieces from my own travels, but also she makes her own stunning inspiring collections.

Dolores Forsyth owns her own jewellery boutique in California. From her travels around the world she has gathered a striking collection of unique, handmade creations from small independent businesses and designers in countries such as Bali, Thailand and Turkey to name but a few. Not only does she source stunning exotic statement pieces (my favourite type), but she also ‘gives back’ by supporting these designers, mainly from developing countries.  She also designs her own inspiring custom made pieces to sell.

Her site.. http://dforsythe.com/

For the past two Sundays I’ve taken part in a Creative Bead Jewellery weekend class at city lit .

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been making bead jewellery since I was a young child and have always improvised or just learnt techniques purely by experimentation. As I got older books and YouTube tutorials played a small part in developing ideas, (still very basic techniques). Sooo, I finally decided to bite the bullet and try a professional class. At first I was a bit sceptical, I’ve been umming and ahhing about taking a bead class purely for the fact that I always wonder if I would be wasting my money. I’m by no means a pro by far at jewellery making, but most classes don’t come cheap and I regularly found myself asking myself could I just learn this from a book or online for free? Having said that, I wasn’t disappointed. I learned some simple yet effective wire wrapping techniques. Ive never worked with wire before, so this was a completely new skill for me. And at first it was kind of hit and miss in term of getting it right, but once I got the hang of it I really liked the results. It’s definitely something I would use in future designs, once I get the hang of it.

 

The other new technique we were taught was ‘knotting’. To be honest I’m not a great fan of this aesthetically, as I like my jewellery a bit more polished and I think this would be more suited to more ‘earthy’ looking pieces with a organic feel. Never the less I can see the appeal, but I doubt it’s something I would incorporate in my work.

All in all, I would definitely recommend taking up classes. I’m also currently looking into more, and considering venturing into other materials, such as clay, ceramics and metals.

Pics to follow later..

La Diosa

The first time I came across the label La Diosa was whilst watching a small news feature on London Tonight interviewing the girls.  They had gained media attention after the then Prime Minister’s wife Sarah Brown was photographed wearing a necklace of theirs on a number of official occasions. 

Friends from East London, Semhal  Zemikael and Natasha Faith began making their own jewellery after finding great inspiration from travels to Mayan ruins in Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia to name a few. They gained vital important from The Princes Trust and created La Diosa, (Spanish for 'The Goddess'), and each piece lives up to their label name. Each stunning statement piece oozes exoticism, boldness and femininity. I found their story hugely inspiring, not only are they local London girls, but with determination and a genuine love for their ‘hobby’, they’ve managed to make a successful business of their jewellery.

Love this wall art..

Slightly going off the jewellery topic, but in keeping with the art ‘theme’, anyone who knows me really well, knows that I have a thing for collecting ornamental Buddha’s, to the extent where by I’ve managed to gather a small collection of them. Whenever I’m in a shop or a market I always find myself stopping to have an admiring look at a Buddha statue. I’ve accumulated a small number of ‘laughing’ Buddha’s, but my personal favourite are the Thai Buddha’s. I think personally what appeals to me about Buddha artwork are two major factors, the first one being that I just so happen to love what they represent in terms of meditation, serenity, peace and all that good stuff. Secondly I just love the aesthetics of them, from an appreciation perspective of the variety of symbolic mudras, to the bronze, gold or wooden finishing. I’ll be going to Thailand soon, and seeing ancient Buddha statues and authentic artwork in just the cherry on the cake.

My own Thai Buddha

Koh Samui, Thailand