New Directions

Something happened after I moved to the Glass House Mountains... I'm not sure if it was the change of scenery and the fact that I watch the sky change over the mountains all day long... or if it was having the new space dedicated to creating... but what ever the reason, I'm loving it.  While I come from a visual arts background, a while ago I felt like I stopped creating "art", but now, that need, that drive, that love is back.

The Kimono Reincarnate brand is still dear to my heart but next year I'll also be designing and creating under my own name, probably with less of a Japanese influence.  I'll be having a soft launch of the new "Melanie Augustin" brand in a couple of week at Finders Keepers in Brisbane and I'm a mixture of excited and nervous.

Choosing fonts for my new logo I was suddenly transported back to maths class in high school, trying to invent a new signature for when I married the boy two rows in front of me that I had a huge crush on.

It's no secret that I love colour.  I've been doing a number of pieces on canvas and large boards and it's been great fun then translating that into fun pieces of wearable art.  No two of these earrings are the same...

I hate anything to go to waste, so at Finders Keepers I'm going to bring along the sterling silver earwires I've made and my resin chips and you can "Choose Your Own Adventure" and create your own colour combination.

I've also been making some little "Rock Pools".  I handcut little pieces of silver and hammer them to give them an organic texture and shape.  The resin inside is translucent so that you can peer into the "pools" and see to the bottom.  I love the way the texture picks up the light and colour of the resin at different angles.

I can't wait to make more of these and fill them with turquoise and some with emerald green. 

While I haven't had a chance to photograph everything yet, I'll be taking these goodies along to Finders Keepers in Brisbane and have put them up in my Etsy store for pre-order.

Washi Tape Drops

It's no secret that I just love Japanese washi tape, especially since my last studio makeover.  Last year I made a series of Washi Tape pendants for Christmas and they were terribly popular at the markets. The tape is preserved under crystal clear resin and wrapped up in a silver base.

I've finally got around to putting some in the store over here.  They all come nestled in a little Kimono Reincarnate tin.

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Another Sneak Peek....

... from the soon-to-come Tokyo Collection. 

I'm really excited, but as with anything new, nervous as well.

The Sakura Knucklebuster

Last weekend I had a ball in a silver and acrylic workshop run by Dan Cox at BIA.

When you do a workshop like this, you really appreciate the time that goes into handcrafting jewellery.  I spent two days cutting, filing, filing and more filing, sanding, rivetting, polishing and cleaning, all just on the single piece.  It's certainly a statement piece and one that no-one will want to mess with me while I'm wearing it.

I have to say though, that I found the process really addictive and can't wait to book into another class.

I loved the work completed by the other students in the class.  You can see picture of their rings here.

My Creative Space

I'm letting my creative spirit take flight for a few days....  I've booked the weekend out so that I can complete my work for the Reincarnated Kimono Project exhibition that is hanging... next week!

I'm so inspired by the amazing creations that I've been getting sneak peeks of, and I feel like I need to lift my game a bit.  You can see a few for yourself here, here, here and here.

Today, I'm experimenting a little.  I'm not sure if it's something that will make it to the show or not,  but I'm playing with kimono wings and resin.

For more creative spaces, head to Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

I'm working in miniature today.  I'm preparing pieces for a resin pour tomorrow, mostly hairpins and tiny stud earrings.  It still amazes me to find the fine details in these fabrics.

For more creative spaces, drop by Kootoyoo, there's always such an abundance of talent.

Corky Saint Clair

Corky Saint Clair has some of the funkiest collection of jewellery cuteness around.

You can find his work (and mine!) in his shop in the Degraves Street Subway in Melbourne.

And a little birdy told me that he'll also be at the upcoming  Melbourne Finders Keepers market.

If you're in the area drop by and say hi to "Corky" and his Carry Monster.

My Creative Space

My creative space. Best described by the Man today as not so much being messy, but rather looking like WW3 had hit.

But I did manage to clear a little desk space to take a photo of one of the many things I'm working on this week. New brooches and a pendant, all with hand-coloured bamboo and vintage kimono fabrics.

These will join my Kokeshi brooches to form my "Kyoto" range, all using bamboo and inspired by traditional motifs.

For more creative spaces, Kootoyoo is the place to go.

The Melbourne trip and the Life Instyle show are now just days away and with so much still to do, this blog will get a little quiet for a couple of weeks. I can't wait to tell you all about it when I come back!

Flickr Faves - Frucci

I am so in love with these pieces by Francesca Vitali, of Frucci. She works a lot with sterling silver and old magazine papers. Love, love, love them!

1. fru and MATTONELLA PENDANT, 2. GIRASOLE earrings, 3. red stecco, 4. TALLY pink, the crativity side, 5. Pink CURVA necklace, 6. RED SHELLY

You can see more of her stunning work here and here.

Pencil Jewellery Love

Gorgeous pieces made by Maria Cristina Bellucci using repurposed colour pencils and silver.

Found via Klimt02.

Three in One

I love pieces that are versatile and so my latest kanzashi necklace/brooch style was born.

It can be worn like this for a bit of sweet fun...

... or like this for a funkier, sexier look...

... or taken off the neck all together and worn as a brooch.

Modelled by my fabulous cousin, Dan.

Tall and Slender

... not a description of myself I'm afraid, but of my new pendant shape. Oh so elegant and willowy. They will be ready and hot off the press (well, hot off the resin curing table) for this Saturday's BrisStyle Indie Designers Market at St Augustine's church.

The back-on-eBay-back-on-Etsy-joining-BrisStyle-Blogtoberfest Giveaway

Lots to celebrate this month, lots going on, so I thought joining in all the Blogtoberfest giveaway fun was in order.

To the winner, I'll be sending a parcel with some kimono fabric, a kanzashi brooch, a large kimono fabric resin pendant, a small matryoshka pendant, a few of my "seconds" (they'll be on cords as well) and if there's room I'll add in a few mystery goodies as well.

Sorry, but I'm going to make you work for it a little, as little or as much as you like...

To enter

1) For one entry go to either my Etsy store or my eBay auctions and tell me in a comment on this post what your faves in there are. If you do both, you can have two entries!

2) For another two entries, either Follow or Subscribe to this blog (either existing or new) and tell me in the comment.

...and because I'm a sucker for punishment... I know the maths is going to be a killer...

3) For an additional five entries, blog about the giveaway and tell me you did in the comment.

Complicated? I hope not.

When you enter, make sure that I can reach you somehow, either through a blog link or email address left for me. Sorry, but I may not be able to reply to these comments, but believe me, I will enjoy reading them all.

Entries will end on Sunday 1st November midnight my time and I'll try to announce the winner on Tuesday 2nd November, or very soon afterwards.

For more great Blogtoberfest giveaways, visit Curly Pops.

Kawaii Kokeshi - Blogtoberfest Day 6

A new range of pendants, the "Kawaii Cottons" range. Getting ready for a resin pouring session early tomorrow morning (and yes, they will get straightened up before that happens).

I think they look like little family portraits.

Portable Photographic Studio - Blogtoberfest Day 4

I've been busy this afternoon photographing items to list on Etsy. As of tonight, all going well, I should be back on Etsy! Very exciting.

In the meantime, I thought I might show you how I photograph my items. It's ironic that when I was doing my visual arts degree in photography, the subject I did least well in was small product photography, and yet, I do a lot of that for myself these days.

Eventually, I would love a small studio area with lights so that I could photograph at anytime of the day, in any weather, but for now I use natural light and a small pop-up light tent.


Really, it is very nice having this as my studio...


My light tent then collapses down, I roll up the blue/green backing screen it comes with and then pop it back into the little bag it came in.

I bought this from a photographic store in Japan, but there are a bunch of tutorials online that explain how to make a light tent of your own. For example this one, this one or this one.

My other studio of sorts, is photoshop. Here I've taken a photo of a bag, sitting on my ironing board using the natural light coming through the window. You can see my messy workroom in the background. No-one on etsy wants to see my messy room.

With photoshop, I've turned the image into this....

If anyone wants me to do a tutorial on how to do this, just let me know. It's really very simple.

Time for me to get back to preparing to list...

Silver Lining

I fear that I'm becoming a terrible bore. All I seem to talk about is kimono fabric and the little one. To be truthful, that's about all that's happening in my life right now and about all that I can fit in this mushy brain of mine.

The good thing is, I truly adore both, so I feel terribly blessed. I'm a blessed bore.

I'm very excited as I now have a range of my kimono jewellery that is rimmed in a lovely silver-toned casing.



DH and I are also collaborating on some designs, we'll soon have a "boy range" ready I hope. I'm madly getting ready for markets, filling orders for a store in Brisbane (more about that soon) and getting ready to re-open on Etsy, as well as sharing the care of the little one of course. I have a new-look banner, it was a perfect size for Etsy, but I can't seem to get it right for the blog yet.

And the little one continues to delight us everyday. She's become quite smiley, very chatty and loves singing with her mummy.

Yep, I am a blessed bore.

My Creative Space

Cutting fabrics into little shapes for jewellery today.

Drop by Kootoyoo for more creative spaces.