Blessed Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

My family and I spent 4 days in Ho Chi Minh City.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and plan to go back.  Lady Inspiration came back with me so I'll be sitting down to make some new designs.  I will only start work on orders next week.  In the meantime, here are some photos of our trip.

The first thing that greeted us was the thousands of motorcycles on the road.  This is the normal mode of transportation for the people.  Some motorcycles had 2 adults and 2 children on it!  Weaving in and out of traffic takes a cyclist with nerves of steel!

We saw people carrying fridges, glass panels, doors and this man carrying steel bars!

In Ho Chi Minh City, the power cables are external.  We saw this man laying more cables!

More cables...

At the crossroads where the cables seem to be a mess.

We saw a lot of street vendors who were working really hard trying to sell their wares.

Street food stores are very common.

The locals everywhere seemed to be sitting on the sides of the streets eating their lunches and dinners, oblivious to the traffic and smog around them.

Ho Chi Minh City has some French influence so some of their older buildings are distinctly different.  Here's the Central Post Office.  Really quite beautiful.

Our tour of the Mekong Delta.  This was the suspension bridge we had to cross to go on land for our orchard and factory tour.

At the honey farm.

We rode on the pony and buggy to get to our cultural destination where we listened to traditional southern Vietnam music and tasted their tropical fruits grown on the farm.

A street vendor peeling fresh lotus seeds from the pods.

Cheng Nam and Cecilia, our very hospitable and gracious hosts during our stay.

Goodbye, Ho Chi Minh City!

The month of December...

I've been baking, baking, baking for friends.  This year I made more Christmas fruitcakes, cookies and American carrot cakes than last year.  My daughter commented that our kitchen looks like a bakery! 

In total, I must have baked more than 100 tubs of cornflakes, coconut, rum and raisin, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and coffee cookies.  Many were packed as gifts for family and friends.

American carrot cake with lots of pineapples, currants, walnuts and carrots!  I told my daughter that this is a healthy snack because of all the fruits and vegetable we can get in this moist, dense cake.  The Philadelphia Cream Cheese frosting is not too sweet, just a thin layer and topped with a few Hershey's chocolate chips!

In December we decided we needed to learn how to run properly (without injury) so joined my physiotherapist, Gino Ng, in his running club where he teaches Chi running. It was my first experience in running.  It was amazing!  No knee or ankle pain!  It was also fun running in a group from Amoy Street to the Esplanade.

 Gino was a former national triathlete, 2-time Singapore National Triathlon champion (2000-2001), National Duathlon champion (2001), 9-time winner of the National Vertical Marathon (1998-2001, 2004-2005, 2007-2009) and was also placed 4th at the 2001 Asian Duathlon Championships in Hong Kong and made several podium finishes in the Asian Cup Triathlon Series events over the years while holding down a full time job as a physiotherapist.  Check out his website at http://www.sportssolutions.com.sg/.

Gino has also been a source of encouragement to me in my journey of injury and recovery this year.  If not for him, I would probably have just given up and given in. Thanks, Gino!

This year we're thankful that Alethea has grown up as a young lady as well as a beautiful dancer. Come January she'll be starting Year 3 at School of the Arts (aka SOTA) where her art form is ballet.

Alethea with her classmate Janice (who's also from SOTA), at rehearsals.

Beautiful lines and extensions!  (Proud Mum speaking)

Alethea with her Dance Station friends and director, Ms Rosalind Ong at the Barker Road Methodist Church's Christmas concert. 

To rest from the year's work and season's busy-ness, I will be taking a break from jewelry designing until the beginning of next year. Thank you to all my old and new friends who have supported me this year.  I have really enjoyed making jewelry for you! Looking forward to a new year of more colours, textures and designs!  May this Christmas season make us more aware of what is important in our lives and lead us to cherish our relationships. Blessed Christmas, everyone!

Freeform Beadwork Embroidery

I spent 4 days working on my freeform bead embroidery necklace.  It was really fun working out the main shape, choosing the main gemstone cabachon and then finding Japanese glass seed beads to bring out the colours.  Now I'll wait for a while for Lady inspiration to visit me!  This necklace will be part of my private collection. 

Some of the beads I used.  I also used lots of freshwater pearls and paua shells.

The completed main part of the necklace! 

New designs

This week I spent quite a bit of time looking for inspiration for my next line of jewelry but as usual, I got distracted and ended up making this in Swarovski bicones!  It'll go well with a simple strapless dress or blouse for evening wear.  I'll try the same design using pearls. 

For those who asked, I will repeat most designs but never in the exact same colours.  So you can be assured no one else has the exact same necklace, bracelet or pair of ear-rings as you!

Here's the 15 inch choker style necklace made entirely of Swarovski 3mm and 4mm bicones.  It's a symmetrical design with asymmetrical colours. Can be made in any choice of colours. $60

A really nice bracelet, sold the same week I completed it!  I used Japanese glass twisted bugles and size 11.0 seed beads for the base and embellished the top with lots of Swarovski pearls. Can be made with freshwater pearls or other gemstones but price will vary.  $60 (SOLD)

This is a repeat of RYB-09-0033 except it's in a different colour.  Can be made in any choice of colours. $28.

Photos by Rebecca Yam

Shopping day for the gals

I went shopping yesterday with my friend, Melissa Chor, an image consultant who runs her own business called Image Harmony.  Check out her website at http://www.image-harmony.com/ and blog at http://www.melissastyleguide.blogspot.com/.  We had lots of fun trying on clothes and looking for treasures in all the unexpected places.

One treasure I found was this ethnic necklace from India.  I love the shape, design and colours.  However, it was not in very good condition with the some metal parts rusted, fallen off and gemstones chipping.

Here's the original.  Can you see the rusted parts?  Notice too that one link is completely gone!

Here's what it looks after I changed the links and gemstones.

This is the original necklace part.  The metal spacer beads are not very nice and some of the gemstones disintegrated when I looked at them more closely! I also changed the gemstones to get a brighter look.

My completed refurbished necklace!  Looking forward to wearing it but now I've to go shopping and find a blouse to go with it! 

If you go travelling this holiday season and find a jewelry piece you really like but want to change something, I'd be happy to take a look and see what can be done.

Photos by Rebecca Yam

Cleopatra

One of my favourite necklaces got sold this week!   Cleopatra (her new owner named her!) is a free-form collar.  This means I have an idea what shape I want to create but I let my fingers do the walking!  I used thousands of bronze coloured Japanese glass seed beads and incorporated different colours and shapes of freshwater pearls.  It's asymmetrical (which is also why it's appealing to those more artistic) and will look absolutely stunning with a simple dress.

Photo by Ethan-Zuriel Yam

Custom Orders and Work Commitment

This week I'm working very hard at completing the many custom orders for Christmas.  Due to my present work commitment, I won't have time to rush a showcase for Christmas.  My apologies to those who've been waiting to see my jewelry.  I will upload photos on this blog from time to time so you can still have a look at new pieces and decide if you'd like to purchase any pieces.

Thank you to all of you who have been supporting me since I embarked on this journey.  Please keep the support coming! 

This is a 16-inch necklace with coral nuggets, Swarovski rounds, Czech glass beads, Japanese glass seed beads and held together by an antique silver toggle. $50

An attractive 17.5 inch necklace made with Swarovski pearls and bicones, as well as aluminium beads completed with a antique gold toggle. $50 (SOLD)

A beautiful 20.5 inch necklace made from blue/green chrysoprase, freshwater pearls, Swarovski bicones and finished with an antique silver toggle. $60

Photos by Ethan-Zuriel Yam

Getting back to work

Thank you for your patience during the past three weeks while I was getting my two bathrooms renovated.  I'm now in the process of cleaning up the layers of dust off my furniture and painting some rooms.  I should be back in the full swing of things by next week when I move my studio to my boutique so customers can see my works in progress and choose their gemstones and beads for their jewelry pieces straight from my boxes.

I'm planning for my Christmas collection to be shown the first week of December.  Remember, if you have any special orders now's the time to let me know!  Order now and I'll complete them by middle of December. 

Here's a pair of geometric ear-rings in a new colour!

Photo by Ethan-Zuriel Yam

See you next week with photos of some new items. Meanwhile, have a great week ahead!

Taking Two Weeks Off

These next two weeks will be filled with noise and dust from the renovations of our two bathrooms and service balcony.  This means lots of packing, taping plastic over our furniture as well as cleaning up after the contractors leave.  With some custom orders to fill I will not be posting anything on the blog for the next couple of weeks.  You can continue to buy jewelry pieces by sending me an email or text message.  I will check my email regularly.

Here are our cats, Sniffles and Lion-O who stay close by me when I'm working.  Both are pure breed Ragdolls who competed in cat shows (and won awards!) when we had more time.

See you in two weeks' time!

Peaceful Week

This week I've been able to settle down to work a bit on experimenting with new designs.  After sketching out my ideas and designs, I try to sit down for at least 6-8 hours at my studio table to try out new colour combinations and textures.  Often, it takes 4-5 tries before I settle on something I like.  Then it gets made into a whole piece!  On occasions, I've been known to unpick the whole piece and start all over again because I'm not completely satisfied!

I've been really thankful that I can work from home, being close to my family and cats (I've two, Sniffles and Lion-O).  Here's Sniffles who loves to sit in her box the whole day sleeping, cleaning herself or watching me work!

I've uploaded a few new items so do check out the ear-rings and necklaces pages to see them.  I'm working hard on my Christmas items now so do keep that list of yours going and don't forget to check it twice!  The postings may be slower the next few weeks because I'll be renovating part of my apartment so lots of packing, clearing and cleaning up after the contractors leave.  But rest assured I'll be working very hard!

A Very Full Work Week!

Last week I spent 4 days attending two courses that taught me how to save lives in medical emergencies.  It was an eye opening experience for me.  This week I'll be back at my studio table working on the numerous custom orders and new items for my Christmas show.  Do keep the orders coming.  I simply love making jewelry pieces for each of you to match your personality, face and body shape as well as wardrobe!  Please do send in photos you want to share with me and others.   I'll try to post photos of my new items later in the week when my resident photographer is available to work.  Below are some ear-rings I made a while back.

Swarovski tear drops and rounds with wirework.

These are real orchids dipped in resin and held together by gold filled rings and hooks.

Photos by Ethan-Zuriel Yam

Have a wonderful week ahead and keep those emails and orders coming!