My Creative Space - Studio Snapshots

In the studio lately....

Some teeny tiny origami pieces have arrived, ready to be made into stud earrings...

I've been working with some jeweller's wax...

Working on adding some new designs to my range influenced by my new garden surrounds... and the weather of late...

I still find magic in that moment that the resin pours into the silver and hits the fabric, it's like a light has been turned on inside the bezel....

The puppy, who still loves to chew on everything, isn't allowed inside the studio yet, but that doesn't stop from her hoping....

Playing with lots of silver....

I'm loving having a dedicated resin desk, it's so clean and clear in contrast to the messy silver desk...

And ever so slowly my studio garden is beginning to grow.  I'm hoping it will be lovely and lush by next summer.

What's been happening around your place lately?  Any snapshots?  Drop over to here to share or check out other creative spaces this week.

My Creative Space - The New Space

Oh where, oh where has this blogger been...

It's been a few months since I've posted, and so much has changed since then.  At the end of last year, we finally moved to our little old house in the rural township of Glass House Mountains. We're loving it; the peace, the space, the friendly neighbours, the garden and the joy of knowing that it's ours to do what we want with it.

It's also meant that I've been able to build a new studio.  A little place in the garden that is all mine.  I feel like I should give it a glamourous name like "the studio" but most of the time it's "the shed".  As I sit and work, I look out onto Mt Ngugun.

While we had a builder construct the shed, The Man and I, with a bit of help from my dad, laid the flooring, put up the walls, did the plastering and painting ourselves.

For my birthday, The Man built me a big, long, jeweller's bench.  What I wanted most from this space is lots of different work stations so that I wouldn't have to pack up one task to begin another.  Across the room I have another long bench for resin work, a third desk for processing and packing orders.  A fourth, long table in the centre will be for my computer, fabric cutting and the occasional sewing.  I can imagine a lot of the sketching will be done on the little studio deck.

I still have lots of unpacking and setting up to do, but for me, a place never feels quite right until the books are out and a few little treasures are out.

My Creative Space - Getting out the Hook Again

About a year ago I crocheted my 136th flower.  I then ran out of the wool I'd bought and the hook was put down.  I had intended on joining the flowers together to create a rug but never figured out the best way of doing it.

Now the weather is getting cold, those wool flowers are calling out to be played with again.  Rather than joining them as is, I've decided to crochet granny squares and use those as a base for the flowers, with this kind of look, .. which lead me to my first issue.... how to crochet a granny square.  You have to love the internet, after a quick google I was onto making my first one (well second but that's another story...).

Using the left-over bits of wool, I made a couple to begin with, but tonight I'm going to head out to buy some more wool.  I'm inspired by this colour palette, so thinking making plain aqua / teal squares as the base. 

Hopefully it will be finished in time for next winter :)

Are you crafting anything at the moment?

For more creative spaces, here's this week's link.

My Creative Space - Working with Silver

I've been doing a lot of work with silver lately, firstly preparing my pieces for the end of semester exhibition....

Then working on new silver origami designs that will come out in the next month... 

And to help with the playing, I bought myself a few new tools... a flex shaft and gadgets...

And Terry the Tumbler for polishing.

To peek inside other creative spaces, here's the spot to start.

My Creative Space - Cutting Day

A little peak at what's happening in the studio at the moment...

Today's a cutting day, here I'm cutting lots of tiny pieces of Japanese fabric to feature in little stud and drop earrings...

And I've also be making some prototypes for a new range, all hand folded and coated

What's happening in your space this week?

To visit more creative types, drop by here.

My Creative Space - On the Silversmithing Bench

I'm working on a little dandelion at the moment in my silversmithing class.  I've made a little cup to be filled with strips of silver and resin to complete the design.

Don't tell my teacher but I'm finally starting to enjoy soldering.  I still have a lot more practice to do before I'm good at it, but it's pretty exciting being able to manipulate and join the hard metal with fire.  I love the possibilities that this new skill brings.

More creative spaces are over here.

My Creative Space

It's all about wholesale filling wholesale orders in the Kimono Reincarnate studio right now.  My resin desk was filling up this morning, covered with little fabric and silver gems waiting for some liquid light to be poured in...

Next, it will be teapot brooch central...

I've had a few moments also to play with my new iphone lenses.  This shot was taken with the wide angle lens.

For more creative spaces or to add your own, here's the place to go.

My Creative Space

On my desk, a few new toys... toys I was given for my birthday... toys I'm just itching to go out and play with.... some iphone lenses.

It's nine weeks until I leave for my next fabric shopping trip to Japan and this time, I'm going to do something that makes this ex-professional photographer have a little mini panic attack... I'm going to leave my camera behind.  The idea of travelling around that beautiful country without my DSLR actually seems quite silly, but while I'm lugging heavy loads of fabric / books / handmade papers / kimonos around I can't have it with me most of the time anyway.

So I've given myself a challenge, on that trip, I'm going to practice the art of "iphoneography".  There are a lot of great tips that I'm reading my way through here and some gorgeous inspiration here.

So to help me on my way, for my birthday The Man bought be three little iphone lenses, a wide angle / macro, a telephoto and a fish eye.  Fingers crossed for some fine weather this weekend so that I can go and start to play.

To see what other creative types have been up to this week, here is the place to go, or add your own to show us what you've been doing.

My Creative Space

Working on some new bamboo + kimono fabric brooches today

To see what other creative types are up to this week, this is the place to go, or add your own to show us what you've been doing.

My Creative Space

Lots and lots of tiny little hand cut fabric circles ready to be embedded in resin and made into hair clips.

To see what other creative people have been up to this week, drop by Our Creative Spaces.

My Creative Space - Rivets

My creative space - the noisy version today.  There's lots of drilling and hammering going on...

And just a shot to prove that crafting is sexy...

For more creative spaces, here's the place to be.

My Creative Space - Stitching Teapots

I'm stitching teapots while having a cup of tea.  One of those days that I love what I do for a living.

To see what other creative people are up to this week, make yourself a cuppa and pop by Our Creative Spaces.

My Creative Space

Recently I was saying I wanted to make a pincushion ring.  This week I did, a super easy one truth be told.  Using one of the bases I use for my kimono rings, I found a Japanese padded flower I had made a while back and it was a perfect fit.  I love using it and it's been perfect while I've been stitching away making "kanzashi"

Have you been up to any creative pursuits lately?  Leave me a link if you've blogged about one.

Head to Our Creative Spaces to see what others have been up to this week.

My Creative Space

Drilling, filing, sanding, hammering, riveting.... a sneak peek at a new collection coming out soon....

For more creative spaces, drop by Our Creative Spaces.

My Creative Space

Slowly but surely, my messy creative space is being sorted, tidied and pretty-ed up.  It's a huge job but I try to jump in and do a few things at a time.

I recently used a sweet set of nesting suitcases I had to put cards in; the small for hair clip backing cards, the middle for brooch back cards and the large for business cards.

Today the task was to find a way of keeping my Japanese washi tape.  I did get a bit of washi-tape-storage-envy when I saw Thea's new holder, but this year, as we're saving madly for a new home, I'm trying to use as much of what I had around me.  It's not the neatest solution, but I grabbed a few baby food jars I've been saving for this project and wrapped them in washi tape.  In the bottom of the jars I popped some clay and then some bits of dowel we had around the house.  The best thing is, the storage has a very small footprint. 

To see what other creative people have been doing this week, visit Our Creative Spaces.

My Creative Space

A couple of years ago I took my first class in silversmithing.  It was an introduction, just a few hours.  For the first time I hand cut and drilled a piece of sterling silver.

Alas, right after that, life took an unexpected turn and I never finished the piece.  It still needed to be filed and polished.  Finally it's out again and I'm slowly working on it during free moments in my current silversmithing class.

I'm told that next week we're going to learn to dome metal and I loved the suggestion that I could make a few more little flowers, dome them and solder them onto this little branch.  Hmmm... I'd love to play with a little bit of enamel too... so it looks like this work in progress might stay in progress for a little while longer.

To see what other creative people are up to this week, visit Our Creative Spaces.

My Creative Space

Some resin casting experiments in progress at the moment. The shaped crane is from a mould, my first ever mould, that I made. Most of the work on these pieces today however has been research, research on where to take them next to get the best looking results.

And this week, I've done a little more embroidery on some vintage kimono fabric. Another piece waiting to be folded and stitched into a fabric origami crane.

For more creative spaces, visit Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

I'm lucky that, for the most part, the little one sleeps well during the night. Daytime can be a different story however. There are periods in most days that she refuses to sleep unless someone holds her and cries continuously from being overtired. My solution? I let her curl up on my lap, have set up a kanzashi flower making station on the coffee table and watch some daytime tv. The beds may not be made, emails remain unanswered, but the babe sleeps, I remain sane, the collection of flowers grows and I can tell you what's happening on Bold and the Beautiful.


Today I'm also working on pendants while DH looks after the babe. Today's task is filing and another coat of sealant. Don't you just love the kokeshi ones? I wish I had a lot more of those fabrics!


And as I said, the number of flowers continue to grow. I still have to put embellishments in the centres and brooch pins on the back, but should have some ready for the market on the weekend.

After I've done these next couple of markets, I should be re-opening my Etsy store. To celebrate, I'll be having a giveaway which will include a pendant, a kanzashi piece and possibly some pieces of kimono fabric to play with yourself. Watch this space.

To visit some other creative spaces, drop by Kootoyoo.