Woke up this morning and it was so misty, felt like I'm on holiday in the berg.

Early Morning

Woke up early this morning at 5am to go to tech to finish my reflective report. The sky was so beautiful. I thought to myself that it has to be a good day!

Thursday Meeting

Lloyds turn to bring cupcakes. Yummy!

Quilled Neckpiece

 

Finally finished my quilled flower Neckpiece

Africa Wax Cut

These are my Africa's which I cut yesterday on Rhino. There were a few problems though. The wax beneath the Africa shapes were way too thick and the rims for the resin and filigree were too thin. I forgot to take into account the shrinkage when casting. So I have redone them in rhino and corrected all these problems. Hopefully!

Thank You FNB

 

Finally got my credit card!!! YaY!

Im so excited about this because now I can put my pieces onto Etsy. 

Just have to start making them now.

Tablet

Finally have caught up with technology and got a Samsung Galaxy Tablet 10.1. 

Etsy

On Etsy each listing costs $0.20 USD. The listing lasts for four months or until the item is sold.  when you sell a piece there is a transaction fee is 3.5% on the item price. This percentage does not include the shipping cost or tax. There is also a Etsy charges a payment processing fee of 3% + $0.25 USD for each order completed via direct checkout.
So as you can see Etsy is way more complicated than Hello Pretty, I feel like I would need to hire an accountant just to help me run my Etsy shop. But I'm not going to let it stop me.
The only thing now is that I have to get a credit card to get PayPal to use Etsy. Which I suspect is going to be very difficult because I don't have a set monthly income, but eerily will see.
http://www.etsy.com/help/article/2144

Twitter

So my friend told me that if I want to really get my business going I have to get a Twitter account. So that is what I have done...although Im still trying to figure out how to use it properly. So now my Twitter address is  @RoisinShevlin.

Hello Pretty

Hello pretty is the south African version of Etsy. They have just recently started and everyone at the I heart market is talking about it. Their terms for selling are very cool. You can either use the free option which means that you can put up 5 pieces and they will charge you 15% commission on each piece sold and a 5 % card levy or the unlimited option which is R90 a month, you can put as many pieces as you want up and no commission but there is still a 5% card levy. I'm very keen to get started with this. Just have to wait till all my Africa pendants are ready.

Chains

Finally found a chain supplier. Going to check it out on monday. So excited. I have been looking for a chain supplier in Durban for 4 months.Will keep you updated.
Its called Creative Design Manufactucturers on 1101 Chris Hani Road, Redhill, Durban.
Tel no. 031-5633987.

Jasmine Watson

Jasmine Watson is a jeweller who works with enamel and silver. Her pieces work alot with symmatry and repetative patterns.

Jasmine Watson

Nora Rochel

I really love this necklace!!!

I feel like she could have just taken pieces off the forest floor, stringed them together and spray pained them white.

Nora Rochel

Diffusion

I have to give a small power point to the 1st years on what I'm doing my B-tech on. I found this completely confusing. Had no clue how I was going to give a talk on combining art and commercial jewellery to create pieces which people would purchase. I mean in 1st year you hardly even know what art jewellery is! So my lecturer suggested I do it on diffusion...so in other words you could take a big elaborate piece and brake the elements down and create smaller pieces out of it...but still have the fun of making a truly interesting piece. 

On my journey of finding information to do this PowerPoint I discovered a Jeweller called Nora Rochel who I feel does exactly what I am trying to explain.

Sterling Silver with Gem Stones

Gold Plated Sterling Silver

Acid White Sterling Silver

Nora Rochel

Africa Pendants

I finally got tired of piercing out Africa's every single time I have to make an order, so I decided to try to do it in Rhino (CAD system we use to design jewellery) The reasoned I didn't do this before was because I didn't know how to put a picture of the Africa in so I could do it accurately. I figured that out too and it is so easy!!!

All you have to do is type in Pictureframe into the command bar and the just insert the picture you need.

So here are the Africa pendants I did,

The bottom Africas have a backing to them because I want to put resin into them and then the top africas are open back and those are going to have filigree.

Yulia Brodskaya

Yulia Brodskaya

"Yulia Brodskaya was born in Russia (Moscow); prior to moving to the UK in 2004 she was interested in diverse creative practices ranging from Textile Painting, Origami and Collage to more traditional Fine Art practices. Following an MA in Graphic Communication (2006, University of Hertfordshire) she continued to experiment and explore ways of bringing together all the things she likes most: typography, paper, and highly detailed hand-made craft objects. She has swiftly earned an international reputation for her innovative paper illustrations and continues to create beautifully detailed paper designs for clients all around the world."

Oh my word...I cant actually believe that that is made from paper. This is probably the most blown away I have been all year. I have just started creating a grey flower necklace which has taken me two days of needle poking, eye squinting and being covered in glue constantly...and i'm not even finished!!!

Victoria Lansford

"Technically, filigree means anything, cast, handwrought, or otherwise that has delicate swirls. The kind of filigree I do is known as Russian filigree, or open back filigree.

I build the frame from 18K gold or sterling silver wire and make the tiny "filler" wires from fine silver (.999% pure silver) for flexibility and contrast. I shape and cut each individual wire to tension fit it within the frame so that I can turn the piece over with the wires still in place and solder from the back. This method preserves the integrity of the wires' patterned edge.

There is much filigree on the import/tourist market from Mexico and Israel. What makes mine different, besides the less traditional designs, is the way I use the "filler" wires. In the faster methods a whole section of frame is simply filled in with a tightly packed coil and flooded with conventional solder. For me, sculpting each section is like shading in a line drawing. I don't plan out that part of the design ahead of time. I just know how it's supposed to feel in terms of negative and positive space and then have fun making pieces to my own puzzle.

People always accuse me of having infinite patience and great eyesight to do this technique. I find it humorous because I don't see myself as patient just determined. I joke I do filigree more by feel than sight, particularly in the wee hours of the night with an impending deadline."

http://www.victorialansford.com/

Icy White & Crystalline

Stardust On My Sleeve

Encircled II

Bongera Filigrana

"In 1914, Domenico Bongera established his firm in Campo Ligure, inheriting the cultural tradition and technique of the genoese school that is now vanished. His gift and his skill in the handmaking of exquisite gold and silver filigree jewels has soon become a family heritage handed down from father to son till now. At present, as well as in the past, filigree, thanks to it's trasparency and lightness, can be used both for the manufacture of fine jewels and to emellish larger goldsmith's pieces. The "Bongera Filigrana" firm, with the help of highly skilled labour, aims to the quality of its handicrafts together with the observance of the old manufacture techniques" 

http://www.etsy.com/

Filigree Brooch 

Filigree Butterfly which has been enameled 

I am excited by the idea of reviving the skills of old techniques. I feel that the public doesn't t know about or appreciate the workmanship that goes into making filigree jewellery , the patience, time or skills involved. Centuries ago filigree was extremely popular and appreciated for its delicacy. It would be something most women would be proud to wear. 

Flower Neck Piece in Progress

Charmaine Gerada

I discovered Charmaine Gerada through Ann Martin who runs the blog http://www.allthingspaper.net/ which specalises in quilling (paper filigree) but also features alot of other paper jewellery and crafts. When I posted the quilled snowflake from her website, she saw it and suggested that I check out a lady she discovered in Malta who does silver filigree. I couldnt believe how helpful a total stranger from the other side of the world would be.

So here are a few pieces by Charmaine Gerada.

TrulyFiligree

 TrulyFiligree

 

TrulyFiligree 

Africa Ring

 

This is a chunky Africa ring I made from sterling silver. I had it at the March I Heart Market. I was very popular and loads of people looked at it, one lady ordered one but in a smaller size. What I mainly found when people looked at it was they thought it was too expensive at R350.00