Swakopmund Exhibition

The decor:
The days before the exhibition were crammed with craziness! But I must confess, the day before is my favourite. I always take a good half hour and spend time picking the flowers I want to use as part of the displays. 'Penny gum' and 'baby's breath' are non-negotiable, but then there are always beautiful little bursts of exotic colour that I can't resist. There is a beautiful flower shop in Windhoek, and there are always these little exotic faces that have travelled from who knows where!

The guests:
I was very excited about this exhibition as it was my first time back in Swakopmund since living in Windhoek, and I was so happy to see all our friends. Such special people. Thank you for all your support!

On the business front:
My sincere apologies to all the husbands who were emailed suprise invoices the next day ; )

The venue:
A very special friend of mine offered me her home. What a privelige to have such a beautiful exhibition space! The space worked so well, and the lighting was just perfect. Bruna, jy was 'host' en 'sales lady van die jaar' - baie baie dankie!

Event co-ordinater:
My husband is the biggest help before an exhibition. He helps me with what ever needs to be done! He rolls metal in the evenings if I have a deadline, he designs my excel spreadsheets, he makes the best tea and he takes my workshop assistant for walks when I need to work. The beautiful display cupboard for my gold jewellery was built and designed by him.

Display cupboard on the right (top).

Old window frames also 're-vamped' by my husband (above).

New stock on its way : )

Last minute pretty things

It has been a while since I have had just two minutes to get to my laptop and share some new jewels with you.

These past two weeks have been so busy!

Birthday celebrations (hubby!) - eager engagement rings - prep for the swakopmund exhibition - my workshop assistant discovering the joys of my beautiful chewy pumps - tourism expo excitement ( we love slowtown!) - new website - and mastering the art of crepe suezettes ( Yum!)

Oh the joys of house - wifey - jeweller juggling!

I'm not complaining at all : ) I love my work and I love being able to be at home to do it.

So before I get started on another hyphenated - paragrah, here's what I have been up to.

These bangles are brass and have lyrics from songs punched onto the metal surface.

... Look at the starts, look how they shine for you....

...I fell in love the moment I saw you, and you smiled because you knew...

...I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart...

These were the first pair of earrings I made with this design and they were for my sister-in-law in Windhoek.  She is my self-employed marketing director ; )- Dankie Estee!

And of course always something for the little heart lovers.

done : )

Paperclips to pass the time

I have the habit of never being able to leave a paperclip as is. I start by untwisting the shape and bending to suit my own imagination and desire : )

These earrings were my little friday afternoon 'pass the time' experiment. They reminded me of my paper clip experiments : )

I hope you'll love the simplicity of them as much as I do!

Lovely Sunday afternnon to you all x

Farm treasures

As young children, we spent many holidays on our farm Klipplaat collecting buckets full of all sorts of treasures! Old rusted screws and nails, bottles and jars, shoe horses, tins and then of course the most valuable objects by far - the porcelain shards scattered in the veld around the farm house. These beautiful old chips of porcelin left by previous owners of the farmhouse and old cottages.

After collecting pieces, we would spend time sorting them, cleaning them, trading and trying to piece certain chips together. Sometimes we'd be thtrilled to discover that we had a few pieces that appeared to come from one single plate!

 A small flower design on a single chip, the only reminder of a once beautiful tea cup.

I still find these shards to be amongst my beautiful treasures.

For the love of beautiful old tea cups.

Swakopmund Exhibition

A little evening of prettiness at the coast. Friends in Swakopmund - save the date!

30 May 2013

Oval All

Some days are so very long. Those are days when I have little inspiration or energy to start a new project. Those days are luckily very few and far between.

This week has been the exact opposite! I haven't even been tempted by the thought of a cup of tea in the sun with my workshop assistant. We normally have tea and biscuits. He has his own biscuits of course....and no tea.

Too many shapes, too many ideas, too little time!

Monday I started off with roses and some finer work in copper and silver.

And since then, its been circles, studs, ovals and 'oval all', a successful first half of the week ; )

Brass and Silver Earrings

Silver, available in different lengths.

Brushed Silver Studs

And my workshop assistant snoozing on the job.

xxx

Winter Roses

We are renting a little townhouse in Windhoek. After our second floor apart last year, my own little garden is absolute bliss! The most beautiful suprise when we moved in, were the two rose bushes that have been blossoming since the day we moved in. Deep red roses and beautiful old fashioned floppy pink roses (my favourite!). My new workshop assistant does nibble on the flowers from time to time, but they keep blossoming : )

New workshop assistant. Meet Spatz.