Observations Of A Mad Jeweler On the Morning Train Ride to work.

Since January 9,  I have been catching the train (subway, for you americans, Metro for other parts of the world)at about 8am to work. One of the really obvious things that I noticed was that most people going to work will avoid eye contact. There's this eerie silence, as no one speaks... Don't dare even to answer the phone as you will get  the deathly stare if you speak.

Yesterday morning the train carriages were really old and rickety. It also smelt awful at first, then the smell was masked by a combitnation of everyone's perfume or aftershave. I'm not sure what's worse...
We were almost at Edgecliff Station, still in the tunnel. The train started to slow and eventually stopped.  No Airconditioning!! Plus it is Australia and the trains are not too clean, compared to Germany or Japan. Then we heard the conductor say: 'Ladies and Gentlemen'.... then there was a big crackle and we couldnt make out what he was saying...a few of us laughed; the man sitting in the corner diagonally opposite from me sort of blew out his breath and started to text (LOL we were in the tunnel underground where there is no reception...).. Other than that there was still that eerie silence...




I'm still not impressed by our trains. They have now introduced the "Opal" card. They were advertising it as being cheaper than a weekly....   What they had NOT said is that ONLY if you travel off peak...

So it's back to the weekly. 

The other thing which really awful is the inability to 'Connect To Your Device' in between stations whilst underground.  What happens if the train gets stuck in between stations?? How can you then CALL anyone to say that you will be late?

And for a city that is so International & Fabulous to live in, some things really need to be looked at... and made BETTER 

Some Rings

Just a Little glimpse of a couple of rings that I've done.

This one is a real blingy Guy ring:

And this one is a more delicate engagement ring with a double wedding ring:

There will vbe more rings coming once I get my torch fixed and can commence soldering again...

A few Months of Injuries.....Sigh

Well, I've probably lost a whole bunch of readers, but then, never mind.... It ceratinly has been a few months of illness and weird eye things for me...

It all started out with the "apprentice" have mini viral attacks that had her miss 2-3 days of school on a weekly basis since mid July. Then I had some horrific (what i thought were migraines) head aches that turned out to be glaucoma attacks! Yuck! Turns out I have closed angle glaucoma.Here is a little bit about Glaucoma:

Glaucoma (the sneak thief of sight) refers to a group of eye diseases that affect the optic nerve and may cause vision loss. Optic nerve damage in glaucoma is primarily due to elevated intra-ocular pressure (IOP) within the eye. Glaucoma is classified either as open-angle (the more common chronic condition which is usually painless) or angle-closure glaucoma (the more unusual type which often occurs suddenly [acutely] and is associated with pain and redness of the eye).  There are no symptoms in the early stages, and by the time the patient notices vision changes, visual loss due to glaucoma can only be halted, not reversed. Glaucoma is usually treated with eyedrops, although lasers and surgery can also be used. Most cases can be controlled well with these treatments, thereby preventing further loss of vision. Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to preserving sight in people with glaucoma.

So then I get my eyes lasered (I think that's called an iridotomy). After which things were fine until I get a hematoma in the right eye. I got a bit scared, but thank goodness, it was not a serious thing...

The next thing that has been happening is that my left hip has been hurting while I sleep at night. Had an xray. The result was that I will eventually need hip surgery...Sigh to that! Tomorrow I finally get to see the specialist. So I will write about that tomorrow.

The Lost Ring Of The Lizard King

Reptiles have always been associated with mythology and have been credited with magical and supernatural powers. . Lizards are also associated with the Sun. The movement of a lizard was thought to be able to return sight to a blind person and it also represented good luck and divine knowledge.  Turtles were associated with drought and viewed as the enemy of the Sun God. 

It is also believed that Dragons were the true Lizard Kings.

Belonging to the family of extremely large, long-lived winged lizards, true dragons constitute the most advanced race of lizards known, far surpassing other orders in size intelligence and life-span.

The dragon is the most feared and esteemed of beasts. The beast that all the world knows and the creature that never was. It is the impossible creature that exists in art, mythology, religion and legend. 

The three predators who most threatened our ancestors The Eagle, the Leopard and the Snake, merge in mythology to become a single creature The Dragon. Classical Greek mythology is alive with Dragons… One of the twelve tasks of Hercules was to defeat a fearsome dragon and Zeus also had an unwelcome encounter…

Typhon the Hydra

 
After defeating Cronus, his father, Zeus was confronted by Typhon, Demon of the Whirlwind, a creature created from hundreds of coiled snakes, hundreds of serpents writhing from its shoulders, vast leathery wings and eyes that flashed fire; its roar shook the Earth and flames shot from its gaping mouth.
Fearful of Typhon Zeus fled, taking refuge in Egypt but accused of cowardice, Zeus return to face his formidable mountain hurling enemy. Zeus won the battle at Thrace, wounding and chasing Typhon to Sicily where he crushed him under Mount Aetna. (A thank you to Europas Ice Wolves for some of the Info and the Typhon Image)
 
Gaea, the ancient Greek earth goddess was impregnated by just one drop of blood that fell from Typhons’s head and gave birth to Actaeus, first King of Athens. When she gave birth to Actaeus, she had an alchemist fashion a ring that was magical and gave it's wearer the power of insight and luck, so that when her son became a man, he would overcome all negative forces..... This ring was stolen and vanished until it was recently discovered jammed between rocks in the Agean Sea by some tourists .
The rest you know....

This is the Lost Ring of the Lizard King.....

 

 

 

 

Queensland Flood Appeal

I am offering buyers a 10% discount with this coupon code: QLDFLOODAPPEAL
So sign in to my etsy store here: howlindoggie and make a purchase. You will receive 10% discount and I will donate 15% of that sale to the Queensland Flood Appeal. Leave a comment with your favorite piece of mine & you may win a pair of earrings at the end of January. I will pick out a name randomly and announce the winner on my etsy shop.

Thank you In Advance.

Our Little Visitors

 This beautiful spider cam to visit last night as we had quite a bit of rain at about 3am. As I love spiders AND rain, I welcomed both. This spider is a typical Australian house spider called a huntsman. They are not dangerous, although can grow to be enormous.  This little spider is as big as my hand. A bit scary that big, but only the notion of it crawling on me. Otherwise I let them be in the house, especially in the summer months as they catch mosquitos and other little insects... I have to think of a name for both of them....

Any suggestions?

Things That I find Really Tedious About Running a Business

The things that make me yawn and push me to be lazy about my business are mostly 'bookwork' related, ie. doing my tax stuff especially, even though I have a great accountant, I still have to have all my paperwork in order.

Now in addition to that paperwork, I have been closely monitoring the Australian Dollar, as it has shot up and for a while has been pretty much one-on-one with the US$.....so.................

I have needed to change my US$ prices in order to accommodate our Australian costs... ugh what a pain!!! On top of that making stocklists with all the different prices and costs... I had done paper & pen ones, but decided that i must update them into my computer as they will be much easier to alter & keep track of...

So out comes Exel and a New List is born... Hurray!! At least I've started... BUT since I'm on the computer and not doing an all nighter filling wholesale orders, I have to distract myself to blog since it has been a while since I have put words on the blog...

Well, I had better get back to the business of keeping track of the business side of the business....
Exhausting... I much prefer just being in the studio...

And the worst thing is the price of Gold AND Silver has gone through the roof.........

Etsymetal Charm Swap #6

It's on again!! One of my favorite swaps. I'm a member of Etsymetal, which is a group of Metalsmiths who have stores on Etsy.com.

A few times each year (or maybe that's only twice a year) 20 of us (the group is much larger than 20) sign up for a Charm Swap. There's always a mad scramble to sign on, as there are so many extremely talented metalsmiths whose work we all  would love to have. The Charm swap ensures that each participant gets to have 19 marvellous pieces of work (plus your own = 20 pieces in total) in a small form which  can be placed on a Charm bracelet/necklace. Since this is the third CHarmswap that I have participated in, I already have quite a hefty charm bracelet (so far there are 40 charms on mine, and I anxiously await the next 20, one of which is mine). Here are some shots of my progress so far.

This is what I was toying with,  as I came in to the swap late July, which didn't leave me much time. Some one dropped out as I was lucky enough to be one of the stand bys, so I was in!! YAY!!
A decision was made and I started on the Kikuchi Kamon Charm for the swap. I have now almost finished all 22 of them. We each make 2 extra Charms so that we can make up one bracelet to sell in our etsymetal store on etsy and one single charm to sell in the store as well.

These are the progress shots of the Kikuchi Kamon Charm that I am working on.

Artists That I have Always Wanted To Collaborate with

Firstly,  I have to say that I would be happy to collaborate with Furniture Makers, Industrial Designers and Metalsmiths/Sculptors and Lighting Designers.....

Here are some the Artists That I would Love to Collaborate with:
Joey Roth - Contemporary Industrial Designer (fabulous TeaPot & Ceramic Speakers!)
Akira Isogawa - Amazing Japanese Inspired Clothing
Ross Lovegrove - Wonderful Lighting Works
CYDWOQ - Fabulous Footwear.... I love footwear and have always wanted to make shoes...

I would love to collaborate on some home 'accessoires', detail on some "frocks", Lighting  and Footwear.
I am waiting on replies for permission to use their photos, so this post will be upgraded.
Meanwhile, please check out these wonderful blogs and you will find out bout more collaborations:

Andes Cruz - http://andescruz.wordpress.com/
Lisa Hopkins Design - http://lisahopkinsdesign.blogspot.com/
ceeb wassermann aka howlindoggie: http://mettledesignstudio.blogspot.com/
Rickson Jewellery - http://www.ricksonart.blogspot.com/
Purified - http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/
Susan Moloney - http://susarto.blogspot.com/
nanopod: Hybrid Studio - http://www.nanopod.tv/

Enjoy the Links!

The Newest Member of our Pack

Introducing Rocky! He is a Great Dane X Cane Corso. We adopted him about 6 months ago when he was 8 months old...

He loves his 'brother' sparks..
as you can see in this video..
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUmArVY6xJg

Heavy Rains....

We have had massive rains for ages now and I almost forgot that before it all got started we had a neat looking twister on the horizon. I saw it as I was getting in the car out front of the house. Please excuse the quality of the video, but it was taken quickly as I didn't know how long it would appear. I think it just went up the coast and a week of bucketing rain followed.

One of the Items I Most Treasure By an Artist

Ever since College, I have always had a soft spot for a jeweler/sculptor turned industrial designer. The fact that he attended the same college probably plays a part in it. I must say, his designs were all outstanding. He did some work for alessi for a while. His name is Marc Newson.
My most favorite piece of his is the sleek aluminium Lockheed lounge. He has done so many interesting pieces that it is always difficult to choose only one.

I would love to have it in the studio! I gather that a collector already owns it...


It was one of the early pieces. I have always treasured this "lounge" and have always wanted it for my studio.

check out these blogs for their most treasured pieces:
Andes Cruz - http://andescruz.wordpress.com/
Jewelry by Natsuko - http://jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com/
Tosca - http://www.nanopod.wordpress.com
Susan Moloney - http://susarto.blogspot.com/
WATTO- http://www.wattoonline.blogspot.com
Ceeb Wassermann - http://mettledesignstudio.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr - http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
Rickson- http://RicksonArt.blogspot.com
Tamra Gentry http://jewelrydesignchronicles.wordpress.com/
Purified Art - http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/
HandMade Division Blog http://handmadedivision.wordpress.com/

A free Gift With Purchases from any of my Webstores

I thought that I would like to say thanks to all my wonderful customers who read my feeble attempts at writing on my blog. This goes out to all of you who buy my work and read my blog. So, wherever you may buy my work, for any purchases US$60 and over, you will receive a pair of rustic sterling silver dangle earrings on hooks. You have a choice of either lapiz (a dark blue) or labradorite (a greyish stone with rainbow colors through it, very pretty)
Here is a pair of Labradorite Dangle Earrings:



So, please mention that you have read my blog and tell me which pair of earrings you want with your purchase upon checkout.

There are only a limited number so this offer is only valid until stock runs out.

Capsule Hotel In Tokyo

While we were in Japan earlier this year, we had thought about staying in a Capsule Hotel for a few nights for a couple of reasons:
a. for an adventure, as we have never stayed in one before
b. we wanted to be in the area for the next day.
Unfortunately for me, I broke my wrist and so it made it extremely difficult for me to climb up into one of the capsules. We decided not to do it this time.

Our friend Kirsty stayed one night in one. It was a very large capsule hotel that had one floor for women only. Kirsty said that the women's floor (on Level 9) was empty when she checked in at about 10pm. It was a bit creepy as she was the only one there for a few hours. The lockers were very small, so if you had a very large bag, it would not have fitted in. Also as it was in February, the heating was on full and it made it difficult to sleep in a very small space.










You get given a towel, pyjamas and slippers.


For privacy there is a small blind that you can roll down. There is also a TV which costs extra.
Kirsty didn't think that it was really worth the money, as it was almost the same price of a Ryokan (if there are two of you as they charge per double room at a Ryokan, so it's almost the same price as a Capsule) but worth it for the adventure for one night.

If you're thinking about staying in one here's a link:
http://www.capsuleinn.com/

Family. I found some that I was looking for....

Whilst in Japan, I was looking for some of my relatives, as my mother's side of the family is Japanese. With the help of a great Japanese friend of mine (I've named one of my pieces after her: Moeko) we found one of my cousins. She still lives in Tokyo in the same building that I remeber going to when I was 13!

It was just wonderful meeting her again after such a long time. It was a very emotional experience for all of us.

All of this, plus our Japan trip, my broken wrist and the inability to use my right hand AND having to ask for help has made me think about where I am at this point in my life. So I have started to reorganise parts of my life that I feel need to change. Those parts concern my business.

That's all for now. My next post will be about Tokyo Capsule Hotels

Beauty Around the Emperor's Palace

So much beauty everywhere. We had to keep looking down and up and around... a visual feast. Firstly these gorgeous manhole covers. Theses are different than the others on a previous post.




These two square concrete covers(I think they are also some type of hole cover) And can you belive it! They have inlay!!! In different colors...


All the trees around the Street area surrounding the Emperor's Garden had these gorgeous Sakura pattern around them.

It was just so wonderful to walk around a find so much beauty everywhere......

Tokyo Disneyland

My Daughter really enjoyed Disneyland. She went on every ride that was open an as not all rides were open due to the winter season, we just managed to cover what she wanted to see, with the exception of "Haunted Mansion", that was closed for renovation.


"Tinks"

The Tea Cup Ride was a favorite for her. I just stood and watched as I had my broken wrist in plaster


The Entrance


Canooing

We knew which rides were for smaller kids, as they had "Pram Parking" out front.

Haunted Mansion

We managed to spend the whole day there, which gave me lots of brownie points for Gallery visits and Museums and the Emperors Palace.

The Japanese and their Things of Beauty

I am always amazed at the beauty I have found in Japan. Even on the ground, the Manhole covers have a wonderful beauty and design sense that can only be truly Japanese.

Each different design is from a different area. As I so love things of metal, I was really inspired by these! Wouldn't they make beautiful stepping stones in the garden, or better still, a path to the studio...



The next post will be on the Emperor's Garden ...You should see the manhole covers aroud near the Palace...



Isn't it just wonderful that something we usually step on without thinking, is a thing of beauty in Japan.