I have been MIA, again and haven’t written very much lately.
I prefer writing in English for some strange reason or other, maybe because it was my first reading language, and although I have lived in Israel for over 30 years now, I suppose the first language that you hear, speak and read will always be the one that you are in the end more comfortable with.
The first intention of this blog was to make my self known to English speaking people in other countries, that don’t have the opportunity to pop by the studio to see what I am up to.
Now that I have it up and running again, I find that it is no good for me to send links to Israeli clients because for them, reading English is more often than not, like reading a foreign language, so I am missing the benefit of keeping a lot of my clients up to date with what I am doing.
So, I have resigned myself to the fact that this blog should be bilingual; the only question now, is how to attain that. Should I write a paragraph in English and then translate it into Hebrew?
Or should I write the same post twice - once in Hebrew and once in English?
How should I make sure that people that only read English for example, don’t need to tire their scrolling finger by having to scroll passed multiple Hebrew posts ,and vice versa of course.
And most of all, how do I keep it looking elegant, and not like a hodge podge and a big mess.
I am researching that right now, and will be back soon with my conclusions.
Till then - Lehitraot.
Turning My Blog into a Bilingual Blog - Coming Soon
July 2nd, 2009Stamped Coin Earrings, Sterling Silver
June 24th, 2009
4 Stamped Coin Necklace Sterling Silver
Also available in gold - Click here to see.
Stamped Coin earrings Sterling Silver
To see the gold version Please click here.
Please take into account that these peices are not photographed proffesionally, and are prettier in person :-p
Stack Rings with Colored Gems and Diamonds
June 17th, 2009
Stack Rings, 14 karat gold, peridot, pink tourmaline, iolite , dimonds, 22 karat gold
Iolite and diamond stack ring
Sterling Silver Leafy Earrings
June 17th, 2009
Long Leaf earrings Sterling Silver
Very Elegant earrings, with great presence. Can be ordered in Gold.
Leaf and Garnet Drop earrings. Sterling silver and 14 karat gold
Triple leaf earrings with Garnet, Sterling Silver
Carnelian Clover Earrings
June 17th, 2009
Carnelian and Turquoise Earrings, sterling silver 14 karat gold
Another hand mand clover, the Carnelians are gypsy cut giving them a nice sparkle.
New Version of the Dot Ring
June 17th, 2009
Inbal's Ring dot ring with little diamond flowers, 14 karat gold and peridot
The photograph doesn’t do it justice at all, the diamond clusters of flowers are truly lovely and delicate. The next one I make will be professionally photographed for sure.
2 Clover Earrings And 1 Choker
June 11th, 2009
Iolite clover earrings, Sterling silver Iolite, 14 karat gold
These earrings are completely hand made, and can be ordered in either silver or gold, and of course in a multitude of stones.
Labradorite clover earrings, 22 karat gold, 14 karat gold Labradorite, sterling silver
The same goes for these earrings. The sterling silver is the back of the earrings, and from the front they have a rich 22 karat gold look.
Labradorite and Rose Quartz Collar, Fine Silver, Sterling Silver and leather
This is a one of a kind Choker, since the stone is not a standard size, but obviously more pieces can be made along these lines.
Coin Bracelet Fixer Upper
June 8th, 2009Yay!!! Double Yay in fact!
New post, with photo’s which are a huge improvement on the previous photos 
I can’t say that they are anywhere near as good as Shahar’s photos are - but since I can’t do a daily run to have my work photographed by a professional photographer these make me really happy.
Enough blah blah - lets get down to what really matters now
Clients Bracelet set with ancient coins
A client brought me this bracelet to reset the coin on the left. to the left of it is the original setting, that the coin popped out of, and it was similar to the one on the left, that still is holding the coin.
My client didn’t like the original look, of the bezel hugging the coin, because since the coin wasn’t round - the bezel wasn’t either and that bothered her. I actually like that look for this kind of work, but since its not my bracelet, I tried to come up with something else for her. Knowing that she likes the work I do, I decided to add some of my own personal style into the bracelet, which is not something that I would always do.
Coin and base for new setting
This is my starting point - the ring that will surround the coin. It doesn’t touch the coin at all points, but only at some points. because I used my dots as the claws in the setting, and they are rather large, they made up for the space, but leave it visible which allows you to see the ring in its entirety, including it uneven edges.
one side of the setting
The front and back of the coin don’t look exactly the same, but that is fine as far as I am concerned and fitting for this beautiful and uneven coin.
Other side of setting
A Gem of A House
June 4th, 2009Something a little different today. Today we are going house hunting :-O so I have have that on my mind to a nearly 100% capacity.
I have had it on my mind for the passed few days, so much that it is practicaly entering my dreams as well. So, for a bit of inspiration, I did a google on arcitectural jewelry, which is very from my usual fair, but then again - so is house hunting.
Phillippe Tournaire's architectural ring
As luck would have it, and I am feeling extremely lucky lately (touch wood) I ran into a great article on a French Jewelry designer called Called Phillippe Tournaire who is reproducing architectural gems in jewelry using 18 karat gold, platinum diamonds and other deliciously expensive materials. You can read the whole article here.
I have made a couple of architerctural peices, way back when, but don’t have the pics on the computer…
By the way, this Idea was not origionally his or mine for that matter (not that it makes a difference)
Jewish wedding ring, first half of the fourteenth century, gold. Inscription: Mazel tov - 'good wishes'. Courtesy of The Wallace Collection © Erfurt treasure, TLDA
The Daily Mandala
June 1st, 2009I have been MIA fro the passed week, and for that I am truly sorry. A lot has happened, and basically I was just to busy to find the time or the availability of mind to post.
I have quite a few new pieces ready, and am pretty frustrated at the thought of photographing them, do to my regular complaints about photographing.
I have been asking around thinking about the issue, but as of yet have not done another trial to see how I can get my pics looking a bit more like my work, so you will have to take my word for it… my new work is really lovely.
But that is not what I wanted to write about today, in fact, it is exactly what I didn’t want to write about today.
Over the weekend, I had an open studio day, and one of the artists I invited to participate was a painter, called Osnat Shahar, who’s main focus is painting madalas.
She also teaches workshops to both adults and kids and that is what she actually came her to market.
In order to do that, she bought ready made mandalas that she had drawn and photocopied, just in outlines (making something that was fun to color in) and she was selling them for a symbolic amount of money, to let people experience the mandala.
I realized, after looking at her work, that I had unknowingly been drawing mandalas of sorts for years and years, like most people, and of course jumped on the opportunity of sitting and coloring in one of her mandalas.
Because we were quite busy, it took me the better part of the day, to finish it, and I was delighted with the result.
Osnat noticed that I had started coloring it in from the outer border, mentioned it to me and made me realize that that is pretty much an MO of mine. I skirt along the walls, afraid to approach the center…
She suggested that the I try to draw one myself, but start if from the centre. I didn’t have time to do that during the open studio. but the next day I had a meeting with my networking group, and I was doodling, as I usually do. I noticed that I was drawing mandalas, from the centre out, after I had done a couple without paying much attention to what I was doing.
1rst Mandala
Once I started to pay attention to what I was doing, I noticed that the rhythm of the mandala will make you take certain steps in drawing the next round, and will result in something completely different than what you would have drawn if you weren’t really working on a pattern.
2nd mandala
A while back, I posted about looking for some daily visual creative outlet that didn’t necessarily have to do with jewelry, and wouldn’t demand more than 15 minutes a day of my time - I think I have found it.