Humans in Jewellery - How to get there

I read this fantastic article about using humans in your product photography, and I must admit to saying that photography is my least liked part of making and selling jewellery. I'm not that good a photographer, I do however have a great camera. I find photography frustrating as I have a view in my mind how it should all look and then they come out looking all different.

I also find the lighting settings hard and remembering that all little dust specs shows up in macro photography even harder. It is funny because I used to really like photography, I have stacks of photos from when I used to be a part of the photo class in grade 7-9 in school. I loved the dark room, the making, the fixing and they playing around with all the different solvents and see what effects you could get by mixing them wrong, quite funny ones I tell you.

The article is about using people in your jewellery photography, and I like the idea of that. However here in Sydney I know very few ladies who would go for a photo session where the result would end up on the Internet and more importantly they are very busy ladies, they are running families, growing families, running offices and running the world, they stand in court and argue cases and cook dinner for 5. So the likelihood that they would have a substantial amount of time (and I think it would take a substantial amount of time) to waste to let me photograph them (again I'm not a great photographer so I would probably take a while) is pretty slim.

Unfortunately I have none of my very attractive sisters here to bully into a photosession and the only one I could think off that would be available is my sisters very pretty friend who is here as a student for a couple of months.

So Lilla Syster Visan Fisan, do you think if I asked S she would be OK with that?? Or do you think she would think I'm a crazy woman trying to take her picture and put them on the internet and pass myself of as her on a dating site or something equally crazy. I would pay her in dinner and a necklace maybe or cash as she is a student she probably likes cash? Do you think that would be fair??? I know I could probably not call in more favours as she was so nice to help to set up for the wedding and all and refused to take money for that.

Cheer myself up with some more listings in my shop

I've been experimenting with a new design and it's not coming together as I want. So I decided instead of making myself crazy angry and start throwing my things around me I shall go and do something usefull instead. So I listed two new pieces in my
webshop.

I find it very frustrating when my desings don't work out. Basically what I'm trying to do is a shape a bit like a bluebell made up of 3 separate leafs made very similar to the leafs in the pendant above. But a tiny one. And I think it's the "tiny" bit that is causing the problems. You just can tiny pieces of wire in anywhich shape that you want.




I started making another bluebell shaped piece in my waxcarving class. It looks more like ghost that one. So so far I have 2 melted wire versions and a ghost. Not much luck for the bluebells so far

Part human Part reptile

I am often to cold or to hot. I'm rarely a good temperature.I deal with both extremes equally badly. I think I'm part lizard as I'm very much attracted to hot stony surfaces to sit on and warm up in the morning. Once I get warm it's almost impossible to cool down. That is why the aircon at work really argues with me, when it's warm outside it's like a fridge inside. When it's cold outside they turn the office into a baking office.

Other news. I've been trying to price up 3 rings to be made in Ct yellow gold. I have found that there are very few sellers of 9 Ct yellow gold in Sydney. They have to get even the most basic material ordered in before they tell you a price, even on the most common things like wire and sheet. I would understand if I was asking for something very different like octagonal setting for a bezel, which they by the way have in 18 Ct white gold.

It seems 18 Ct white gold is the thing to be in Sydney, most shops don't carry much gold jewellery, it seems that the Australian market is only interested in white metals. I personally don't understand why. I love yellow gold. I love the colour, it's so much gentler to all colours and textures. It's softer and less harsh and as I get older i think it's far more flattering for the skin. But it seems that is only me.

It also never fails to surprise me how expensive gold is, even at 9 Ct.

I have also found this Swedish design blog), written in English that is my new huge addiction.

Excitement

A lot of good things has happened. The weekend was fantastically sunny and I visited two new beaches I have not seen before. Balmoral and Nelson Park. Both where beautiful. Lying on the beach and having a swim in the salty water makes me feel like I'm on holiday so the weekend felt very long and relaxing. The fact that I binge ate ice cream all weekend probably help with a general feeling of sugar induced happiness.

And this morning when I logged into my etsy shop that I had ignored all weekend, I found I had sold the earrings that are pictured above. They are going to a new home in the US tomorrow first thing tomorrow. I'm very exited about that.

The Winter Olympics 2010

I'm obsessively watching the Olympics all day every day. I actually think we are on a better time difference over here then Europe. When I wake up the morning the athletes are working hard there in their afternoon the day before in Vancouver. We also have 8 TV screen surrounding me in the office and they are all showing some form of sport or news.

What I find interesting is that Australian television focus on the more modern sports in the Olympics such as snowboarding and snowboard cross, whereas as far as I can remember last time I watched the winter Olympics in Sweden they focused heavily on Cross country skiing, Biathlon and Slalom. I guess that is because Australia might not have good cross country skiers but they do have a 8 decent snowboarders and mogul (puckel pist) skiers where as Sweden only has the one participant in Snowboarding.

We do however seem to do really well in Curling. I actually really like Curling, once I got it all explained to me by a physics professor a couple of years ago (must have been 1998). Apparently as a curling player you need to take into account how many people are there to watch the event as the ice will react to the assembled heat in the hall and melt at different rates. Hence they need to brush the ice at different speeds. I think that sounds quite funny. Not many other events are physically affected by the number of viewers. I wonder if there are certain teams that are better at different viewer numbers, like Canada being better when the arena is half full whereas the current world champions Britain might be better at a full arena. Also how do you train for this. Do you to be able to practice with high speed melting ice force buss loads of people into the arena to simulate the competition environment. What people could you force, maybe it could be a way for the government to create jobs for people,as the unemployment number in some countries are rising. You know, during the curling preseason I work as a arena heater, like a seasonal job. Maybe something for back packers in Canada to think about.

But then again, it's probably cheaper just to get a whole bunch of electric heaters.

You know this white one...

It looks like this now...

And I have been expirimenting with some little more squirly detailing.

And this one is also a new little experiment.
Of course now I have to wear all these new rings, to test out my new designs. You know to make sure they uphold the quality requirements that I have. So these ones I get to keep myself. It's not that I am a jewellery hoarder at all...It's quality controll not selfishness. I promise.

I stand corrected

Corrections in regards to the previous post. The Swedish chef does not say Obi-Dobi according to Mr T.

And they guy who sit next to me is in now way of form unintelligent, he is actually really nice and knows a lot of good food places around the office. Invaluable in a workmate I think.

Obi-Dobi-Do....The legacy of the Swedish Chef

If you are Swedish and you live outside of Sweden you will at some point be greeted with the words "Obi-dobi-hofte-flode, the fjords, the fjords", this can be confusing until you hear about the Swedish Chef. The muppets where never really that popular in Sweden when I was little. The first time I heard those very famous words I was very confused. I had no idea what the person was talking about. But apparently the Swedish Chef, IKEA and Abba is our eternal legacy, it could be worse I guess none of those are mass murderers or inventors of huge pyramid schemes.

I have often wondered where the obi-dobi comes from, I get the comments about the Fjords, but I guess I would say that is bigger thing for Norway then for Sweden. Then again the guy who sits next to me at work states that Norway and Sweden is the same thing. He asked me the other day why I stopped correcting him and I said I just assumed that he was stupid and uneducated and since I had corrected him at least 10 times I have concluded that he is so unintelligent he is unable to learn new things. I reckon I could teach a class in how to "make friends and influence people"/

But I think I have figured it out, where the Obi-Dobi comes from. I think it's from the counting rhyme Ole-Dole-Doff, which is the same as Eeny, meeny, miny mo. Now Ole dole doff seems to really stick in peoples mind. I know several people who can say not much else in any other language but they can recite the whole counting rhyme.

So to spread the knowledge about Swedish counting rhymes, here it goes.

Ole Dole Doff,
Kinke Lane Koff,
Koffe Lane,
Binke Bane,
Ole Dole Doff,
Ärtan Pärtan Piff Paff Puff,
Här fick du en knuff

Valentines

Today it's valentines day, international day of soppiness and over priced red flowers. More importantly thought it's the 10 year anniversary of mine and Mr T:s first date. At the time I wasn't really aware that it was valentines day when he asked me if I wanted to for a beer at the Old White Bear in Hampstead in London.

Anyway, to celebrate this momentous occasion Mr T had planned a very nice dinner at one of harbour cruises last night. It was really great, for many many reason. First of all it's always really nice if someone else plans a surprise for you and takes you out. Secondly I really love the harbour and enjoy the water. Thirdly this particular cruise had so many many wonderful weird people on it that I have material for laughter for weeks.

To start with they had a dinner “band” that was playing and singing love ballads of course, it was complete with a Chinese Diana Ross. In full electric blue out cat suit, emblazoned with a range of different rhinestones attached at the halter-neck as well as at the huge bell bottoms of the trousers, the outfit was complete with a giant permed afro. She sang her hearth out alternating with trying to speak like an American in the mid-song banter, but with a heavy Chinese- Australian accent.

We also had a strange porny couple next to us, you know the type of couple where you wonder where in the world they would have met as they are so different. Then you remember on-line world of war craft, I can just imagine what their avatars would be.. Anyway, he looked like a very quiet, early balding, insisting on longer hair engineer, the type of guy that attend KTH in Sweden and never really have spoken to girls per se. Hence have a lot of strange ideas about how girls should be and are.

And she was, dyed bright red haired, huge bosom, kind of kinky looking. And Jesus they had either just met or they where giving the rest of the world value for money. You know the the type off couple, the ones that uploads their own home made porn on YouTube. Anyway, they where sitting next to us and she was taking probably 100 sexy pose photos of her, her and him and just him. Then a few glasses in to their wine bottle she starts sucking and licking his fingers, and all I can think about is whether he would have washed his hands when he went to the bathroom. Anyway, they where weird and very external in their enjoyment of each other and quite loud, so I didn't need to eavesdrop to know as much about their lovemaking as I do today.

We also had a table with single girls, who where up point dancing when Chinese Diana Ross sang “I will survive”. Which is a funny song to have at a “love cruise” being the ultimate break up f*ck off song. In addition we also had a table of Japanese business men who stole Chinese Diana Ross'es mike and decided it was karaoke time.

I must say I really enjoyed this harbour cruise. The food was good and the entertainment around us was priceless.

ps. I stole the picture from the cruise company website, cause again I didn't bring a camera...ds.

Weathers

The weather here is a little more crazy then I'm used to. It's more an event. It's not really something that just kind of happens around you and most of the time it's very similar. Like in London. It's funny I actually know a lot of people in London who say they like London weather as it's so different every day. I can't really see the difference in 9 months of drizzle and overcast. But then again, You do not get the same level of excitement among the population when it's nice. In London when the first proper summer weather comes along the whole place is buzzing.


Yesterday Melbourne was flooded. As you can see in the pictures. These are from the City Centre. Can you see how much rain fell, in one day. They say this rain is moving towards Sydney.


Currently it's 37.7 degrees outside and it's crazy humid. It's that type of heat that just drags you in, your enveloped by the heat and the stickiness. I'm not used to it at all. People here do seem to take it in it's stride. Just stay indoors. You can feel that a huge thunderstorm is building. They say the rain is coming after 7 tonight. I hope I will have time to get home before it hits. Someone has set up a meeting for 5 o'clock on a Friday afternoon, 5 PM on a Friday. That is after beer o'clock, like asking that no-one is going to pay attention to what you are saying. .

The importance of easy info

Yesterday something very nice happened which brought to my mind the importance of having easily available information. I was stopping by the little candy shop next to the office on my way to work in the morning, (yes candy for breakfast, that is what being an adult is all about, being allowed to decide yourself what is good for you to eat. Sometimes that is ice cream for dinner or candy for breakfast. In my defence, it was just a little candy and I had been eating my porridge before it. So it was more like an early mid morning snack. But I digress).

Anyway, I was standing in the little shop and this girl who was in there as well said to me - I like your necklace, where did you get it? So I got to proudly answer, I made myself. So she asked if I made a lot of jewellery and if I had a card. Which I of course didn't. I have been thinking for a while to sort out some kind of business cards, but I haven't' got around to it.

This event pointed out to me how important it is to have your shop info easily available. Well mainly because I had to dig through my entire bag to find a piece of paper and a pen to write my webadress on which meant I dropped my wallet on the floor and it subsequently distributed all my cash and cards all over the shop floor. So my next goal is to get some business cards sorted.

I think I'm going to go with moo cards, they have little mini cards and you can upload your photographs and design your own card. I think that is what I will be doing tonight when Mr T is studying. First I was planning to make cards myself, but then with Moo cards you can print on both sides of the card, so I could have a big photo on the front and all the contact details at the back. I think it would look really nice and professional.

Lilla Moln

I used to call my younger sister boyfriend “Lilla Moln”, (Little Cloud in English), not because he is little, he is actually very very tall. But he has this fluffy curly hair and this very soft but powerful energy about him. It sounds very strange, but if he wasn't him I think he would make a really god cloud.

Anyway, at my wax carving class yesterday I really tried to step out of what I normally do, to do something a little more organic. The process of wax carving is so very different from the process that I normally go through when I make something. The above ring is my first attempt. It's green as it's made of wax. The ring will be cast from this wax model, and then the wax will melt and be no more.


It's starting with a big block and you remove material,whereas when I make jewellery, I normally go about it the other way. You can see the above picture what the piece that you start with looks like. Then you keep filing and sawing until it's what you want it to be.

I wanted to make a ring that was like a little cloud, a little like my younger sisters boyfriend, soft and strong and the same time. I don't think I really got there. The part of my personality that wants things to be straight and even came out in full force halfway through and started to make it less cloudy and more hexagonal..

and those who have seen Mr T:s wedding ring that I spent weeks swearing over they can see that these two look very similar. So now I know, I really should have done this course before I made that ring. I made that one in metal from scratch and it took forever to get all sides evenish, and straight. Particularly since I didn't want to hammer it in shape. So I filed, and filed and then I filed some more. As you can see the ring is well worn. He never takes it off, hence the scrathches.



Underneath is an example of something else I've been working on, the ring is still white from the acid and the stone is not set, it's just to show you kind of the shape of it all. But it will be a chunky claw set topaz ring on a delicate band. This is more my comfort zone. And i'm kind of stepping out of it at this course. So well see how it will end up.

Happiness or anger...Pick one

happiness, I'm reading a book about it, I'm reading a daily blog about it (it's a great blog actually), still it eludes me as a concept. I'm married to a naturally positive person, which is great for me, unfortunately for him he is married to someone not always so positive. So I'm strategically working towards being better at that. So far I from the instructions I have been reading it takes planning, amendment of natural negative tendencies and ability for gratefulness to be happy.

I'm still at the planning stages. The author of the book I'm reading (Dr Timothy Sharp) talks about planning what you want out of your life. Which seems that people don't do. Well at least I've never done that.

It's not that I'm unhappy, it's just I have a tendency to see things from it's worst side, plan for total failure at all times and has some perfectionist tendencies in the way that I'm never pleased with my achievements. I once got 100% correct answers on an exam at uni (and I was the only one in the class that got 100%) and I still wasn't happy with how I performed.

So the plan is to be a little easier going, a little more planning for exiting events instead of a continues worst case scenarios planning and that way hopefully a little more fun.

My first plan was to do a course that I haven't done before. So tonight I do my first lesson in Wax Carving. We'll see how it goes.

My aim is not to be angry that I am not the best at my first attempt. If I can do that, I have come a long way.

Proof of concept

So these are the types of pendants I've been working on lately. They are not close to fished, they need to be polished and they stones need to be set properly. But this is their basic shape. This is my version of a medallion or talisman if you like. No hairy chests in site.

The big one is a tourmalinated quartz stone. It's basically a clear quartz with many lines of black tourmaline crystal inclusion. That is what gives it those black lines through the stones.

I love these types of gems, with big beautiful statement making inclusions. So different from your average stone and you wont find two stones that are the same.

I made some simple pearl ones as well, I have a thing for pearls right now.



The type of pendant is very simple, it's straight up and down, No fuss. Pretty much quite a lot just like I am.

And here is a photo showing the condensation on the outside of the windows to our flat this morning. In London we would have condensation on the inside of the windows every morning in the winter as it was so cold outside and warm inside. Here we instead have the condensation on the outside of the windows as it's so cold inside (air con I love you) and so hot and humid on the outside.

lets reignite our love for 1970:s style pornstar looks

on my wedding day I received a pendant from one of my sisters, it's gold coloured and circular with a big paste stone in the centre. Like a medallion, on the day itself I had sown the pendant into my handbag, but now I often wear it with a gold chain I got from my grandmother when I turned 15. I often wear it when I feel like I need a little more protection. Days when I am a little low. It's quite a heavy piece and it feels substantial in your hand. It's the type of jewellery that you feel would save you from a bullet if it could.

I am very attached to all my jewellery pieces, I remember who gave me them and when. They all mean something to me and they all fit different moods, I tend to wear jewellery more based on moods then outfits. And this particular pendant is my i need some extra padding today mood necklace.

So what I have been thinking and working on lately are pendants as medallions, but not in that 1970:s hairy chested pornstar kind of medallion. More a substantial shape to be able to hold on to when the going get's rough. They have to be substantial but not overwhelming, they have to be sleek and shiny as all my things are, not hippyish or frilly. Not that I don't appreciate hippyish style jewellery, I just can't make it. It's not in my design language if you like. When I try it looks silly and contrived. So I find it's better to stick to your natural affinity, with the risk of sounding pretentious, your own voice.

Anyway. I will put some pictures up later today or tomorrow to show where I've gotten with my medallion ideas, it's going slow. I guess its a step on my super hero jewellery idea I started thinking off about a year ago.

I would love to hear what people think about medallions. Is it something that we can resurrect as a design piece or are they so horribly attached to leather skinned hairy chested men that we can't see past their previous incarnations into a bright new future for them.

The Picture above of course has nothing to do with my pendant or any of the jewellery I've been working on, but it is a medallion and that had to be good enough.

My day was not as bad as this guys

I have had quite a frustrating day, I have been able to un-scientificly prove yet again that all men that have a specific name that I hate, are true arses. I don't know if they are such when they are born and their parents just happen to name them this particularly awful name, or if by giving them this name the parents are dooming them to become truly arsy people.

Anyway, then I was sent this. It happened this afternoon on Australian Live TV. It's viral already here. Channel 7 news is one of the biggest news shows in Australia, at this particular news how this guy is being interviewed about the un-expected non rise in interest rates. Have a look at what the analyst behind him is doing...



It's funny hu. I bet he was quite surprised when he found that everyone that watches the live news in Australia saw him checking out the naked ladies at work.

What ever will his mum say...