What I've been playing with and Pre-Christmas Market Dates

I've been really inspired lately and have been having lots of fun playing in the studio.  

I've started creating one-off sterling silver and resin wearable paintings.  These will eventually be under my Melanie Augustin label that I'll be launching properly next year!

And to give the Christmas tree a bit of Kimono Reincarnate love this year, I have crane ornaments in "Peace", "Love" & "Joy".

I've been tap, tap, tapping away working on lots of Rock Pool stacking rings. 

And returning to my love of textiles and surface design, firstly with some new summer scarves coming soon...

I won't be doing many markets this Christmas, but you will find me at...

The BrisStyle Bazaar.  As well as some Kimono Reincarnate goodness, I'll be taking along kimono fabric ready for you to create gifts yourself.  I'll also have a selection of samples and seconds for the only time this year.

I'll also have a few pieces in the Etsy Pop-up Shop and am hoping to get along to the opening preview night.

And my final Brisbane market will be huge!  I'll be at the QAGoMA Store Christmas market, it's such a wonderful market, filled with fabulous artisans.

Then finally, a trip down to Melbourne!  Oh how I've missed my Melbourne jaunts.  I'll be at The Big Design Market and there will even be one of my Crane ornaments in one of the showbags.

And of course, both my web-store and Etsy store will be open until Christmas and my lovely stockists will have work available too.  Happy Christmas shopping!

Watcha Wearing Wednesday

A silver origami crane I made ages ago from silver clay. I've been really eager to get back into working with the silver clay, but am having trouble finding a way to fuel my hotpot kiln here.



But I am very excited because I've booked into doing this silver smithing course. Unfortunately, I because of the dates, I couldn't enroll in this one and when I have a bit more time on my hands, I really want to do one at the Goldsmiths school (though I believe DH has called dibs on doing that one first).

Before I left the house this morning for a meeting at a store, I threw on my pair of kimono fabric shoes. It wasn't until I got home that I realised, they had a crane on them as well.

Visit Dear Fi for some more Wednesday fashions.

Cranes for Christmas

I'm quite obsessed with origami cranes. I'm not sure exactly why, but I know the first memory I have of knowing anything about Japan, was hearing the story of Sadako and the Thousand Cranes when I was ten years old. The story always stuck with me and a few years ago, I went to Hiroshima to visit her memorial. Just being there in the Peace Park was moving enough, but seeing the tens of thousands of paper cranes folded by children from all around the world at her memorial brought me to tears.

Through her story, the origami crane has become a symbol of peace and so I feel it's an appropriate reminder at Christmas time. Besides, you have to admit, they are pretty cute.


I've folded a stack of them and strung some mizuhiki cord through the top so they can be hung. They are really easy to do once you get the hang of them, and of course, ribbon can be just as easily used to hang them with, I just happen to have a stack of mizuhiki hanging around. You can find a really easy to follow animated origami crane pattern here. For these, I used yuzen paper as I love the texture and the richness the gold ink gives to the paper.

I've packed up a bunch ready to send, and of course, put one on my tree.

A few years ago, for my Christmas cards, I made these and carefully attached them to the front of the cards. These were then ordered by a store in Brisbane for sale as well.


While this origami crane has been taken as a symbol of peace since WW2, the crane has a longer symbolic history in Japan. It is seen as an image of longevity and fidelity. The cranes mates for life and then raise their young together. It is often used as an auspicious symbol for weddings, and I used it myself.

My wedding invitations were two origami cranes hung like a mobile with the invitation strung at the bottom as a tag. I was really pleased with how they came out. They tied in well with my wedding dress, as the front panel was taken from a vintage uchikake kimono and had two flying cranes embroidered on the front.

Well, anyway, I really shouldn't be blogging.... the postman just delivered an exciting box from America full of supplies for my new hopefully exciting project, my husband has just left the apartment, sword in hand, for Iaido training, so that means I have a some quiet time to play with my new ideas. I'll let you know how I go!