What I did last night...

Last night we went to a show.

The Indigo came to town.

Tribal Fusion Belly Dance at it's finest.

Mesmerizing.

Electrifying.

Awe-inspiring.

Here, see for yourself, some clips I pulled from YouTube for you:

Zoe Jakes

Rachel Brice

Click here and here for more.

Seeing them perform live and 8' away from you is pretty indescribable.

Makes me want to:

run out and finally get some tattoos

and make huge jewelry

and start belly dancing again

I think I'll do all of the above...

Old friends, Good times.

One of my oldest friends from Toronto popped by for a couple of quick visits on her drive to and from Florida this Spring Break. 

Elda and me 2 weeks ago.

She and I go way back to 9th grade.

That's almost 22 years  (holy crrrackers, does that ever make me feel old).

After high school we lost touch, as most friends do.

But thanks to facebook, we've reconnected.

It's like we never skipped a beat.

We two have lots in common: 

we have the same new Liberty of London shirt dresses from Target, 

we're both Italian girls from Toronto (although I'm also half Armenian), 

we're characteristic Scorpios to the power of infinity, 

and we both have a mandatory sunhat requirement 

as directed by our respective dermatologists. 

Yesterday.

I love my friend Elda.

A beautiful and sweet person from the inside out.

She is sunny sunshine.

There's no such thing as bad weather when you're with her.

 

Makes me grateful that real friendships are bound by neither time nor distance.

A happy rest of the weekend to you.

:)

Stop and smell the cherry blossoms

Spring has sprung, and I've seemingly absconded from my studio. In fact, for the last 2-3 weeks I've only been going down there to fill Etsy and wholesale orders and little more.  

I just don't want to work. Maybe it's the warmer weather, maybe I'm a little burnt out. Maybe it's that I secretly know that this will be the last bit of calm before the spring festival circuit begins full force in 4 weeks.  And then it'll be non-stop madness until June. High five to whoever came up with the notion of spring break.

The weather has been getting more and more beautiful. The trees on our property are in full bloom.  2 bright pink cherry trees in the front yard, and two great big fat white pear trees in the side. In a couple weeks they'll shed their blooms and our dogwood trees (4 of them) will flower, taking over the duty of beautifying our home with colors.
What a way to salute spring.

It can't all be work, work, work. 
Sometimes you need to just stop and smell the cherry blossoms.

Life is beautiful.

Enjoy the loveliness!

What makes me smile

I've had a bit of a down week, 

and some unexpected (but welcome) down time to go with it.

Our internet and phone line went down yesterday.

No internet and no phone 

for

2 entire days (well, I have an iPhone, but still). 

The first day without facebook and surfability had me all ants-in-my-pants-ish.  

But today I really enjoyed the quiet that came with being disconnected.  

I'm thinking about a self-imposed unplugging about once a week...

Next topic...

Here's a picture of my favorite thing to see in the sky.  

It always, always, always makes me smile right back. 

Cheshire Cat moon from my back yard tonight

Happy start to the weekend, friends.

xoxo,

A :)

See you all next week :)

Transition complete

What day are we today? March something, right?  

The name change for my business from 

Alicia Istanbul Designs to Alice Istanbul Designs 

was officially instated on January 1, 2010, 

but good googles, 

it wasn't until yesterday that the last of my packaging with the corrected name arrived. 

There were a lot of things to change the name on: logo adjustment, Etsy banner, website banner, blog banner, facebook fan page, facebook profile page, twitter page, email address, jewelry boxes, jewelry care instructions, stationary, new rubber stamps, and finally business cards.  

The big hold up was the business cards. 

I used (past tense) an online company that's been notorious for printing with color errors. 

It took 3 reprints (and 6 weeks) for the correct colors.  Never again.

My new boxes arrived on Friday and the cards arrived yesterday.

Here's my updated packaging.

I went from gold foil sticker labels on my jewelry boxes to embossed boxes.

I love the new look.

That's all for today. 
Off to the studio with me!

Have a happy Tuesday :)

Something Treasured

The Snow Leopard Network Artist Team that I'm  part of is having its first monthly "talk about" blog. The topic for this month is:  

What have you created that you treasure the most?

Although we weren't limited to choosing something in our field of work, I decided to stick within the realm of jewelry.

This is the first piece of jewelry I ever created with my own two hands.  A pair of wire-wrapped chandelier earrings made of 14k gold filled wire and faceted garnet. 

I treasure these because this is what started it all for me.  

Actually, let me backtrack a couple steps. 

It was 2004, I was teaching French at the Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich, CT.  I had just discovered Anthropologie (which exists not in Canada).  

I coveted a pair of earrings but refused to pay $86 for 2 dinky beads on a wire (These days I have a love/hate relationship with that store, beautiful clothes, but ridiculously and unjustifiably overpriced, I think).  

Back to my story: A couple towns away in Norwalk was a colorful little bead store.  If I remember correctly, all they sold was beads.  

I remember being be so intimidated by that place - watching other shoppers choose their beads with confidence, while I hadn't the foggiest clue how to even pair colors together. 

Anyway, I signed up for a beginner earring class. 

Alright, I don't want to sound braggy here, but for someone who had never held jeweler's pliers before, my hands bent that wire into shape pretty darn effortlessly. 

While the other ladies in the class were struggling to figure out which direction to loop the wire, I had finished my project and my earrings looked better than the instructor's sample pair.  

Maybe they don't look like much, but I was so proud of how easily it came to me.

These earrings gave me an inkling that handmade jewelry was something I might have to pursue. 

In any case, here I am today. Happily no longer teaching (although I do SO miss my French students from Country Day), and metalsmithing full time. 

And it all started with a little pair of garnet and gold earrings. 

Please visit the blogs of some of my teammates to see their answers to this fun question:

ArtJewel Designs - http://artjeweldesigns.blogspot.com/

Jewelry by Natsuko -http://jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com/

Andes Cruz - http://andescruz.wordpress.com/

Bill Martin – Purified Art- http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/

Rosy Revolver www.rosyrevolver.blogspot.com
Metal Riot  http://metalriot.blogspot.com/

And our team's blog: - http://snowleopardnetwork.wordpress.com/

Dinner tonight - Easy, Cheap, Yummy

A friend of mine reminded me yesterday that it's been ages since I've done a blog post about cooking.  I love to cook.  Here's a meal idea that while isn't super fancy, is delicious and simple to prepare.

Oven "fried" drumsticks

Roasted teeny tiny potatoes

Sauteed Greens 

The main ingredients.

Butter makes everything better.

Greens sauteeing away.

Dinner with a little glass of Sauvignon Blanc on the side.

Recipes:

Oven "fried" drumsticks

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup Parmesan (grated)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

6-8 chicken drumsticks, skin on

1 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 400. Using a baking rack allows the chicken to get crispy all over without needing to turn it.

Pour buttermilk into one bowl and mix dry ingredients together in another.

Dip the chicken into the buttermilk. Let the excess drip off. Dip into dry mixture and coat.  Drizzle the chicken with melted butter and bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden brown.

Sauteed Greens

I used a 1lb bag of precut, prewashed mixed Southern Greens .  Usually  I just use bunches of fresh greens, but today, convenience took precedence.  You can make this recipe with Swiss Chard, too.

1lb greens, chopped in to 1" strips (any greens will work: mustard, turnip, collard, spinach, kale, broccoli rabe, etc.)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup vegetable stock

salt, pepper, grated Parmesan

In a large pot/skillet sautee the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent.  Add the greens and the vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper. Stir occassionally. Don't cook them to death.  Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Roasted teeny tiny potatoes

1lb tiny potatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Place potatoes in a small roasting pan and toss to coat with olive oil.  Roast at 400 for 45 minutes. Season with kosher salt and pepper.

I place the potatoes on the rack beneath the chicken.  When the chicken is done (and removed from the oven), I move the potatoes up under the broiler and broil them for a couple minutes until the skins brown and blister.

Here's why I love this dinner.  It's really, really tasty. Easy to prepare. Good for you. And inexpensive.

Bon appetit~!

Work in Progress Wednesday - Fit for a Caterpillar belt buckle

Hallo.

Today is Wednesday, which means it's the day that I let you peek inside my studio to see what I've been up to.

A belt buckle.
A mushroom belt buckle.
A mushroom belt buckle with mushrooms inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

I do believe this will be my last piece in my latest Alice in Wonderland series. 

Oh, I also made the belt to go with the buckle...I'll show you the step-by-step of that, too. 

Materials: leather, sterling silver sheet
etched with my hand drawn mushrooms, sterling wire. 

Cutting the end of the belt.
There's probably a fancy word for this procedure, but I don't know what it is.

Superimposing a mushroom onto the back plate via fire and solder.

Back to the leather - punching out holes.
That's a  mug of Japanese green tea there. 
...the kind with roasted brown rice that you get at a sushi restaurant.  
I bought a bag of it from my favorite sushi restaurant. I drink it every day. Yum.

Trimming the edge.

Applying the dye. It's eco-friendly, non-toxic dye.

Buckle again. Soldering on all the components on the back in one shot.

I decided at the last minute to add an extra mushroom.
This psychedelic looking fluorite stone was the perfect
shape and size for a mushroom cap.

Finished belt.
It's a super-rainy day here in Atlanta today.
The area to the right of me is the low lying part of my backyard and it will be teeming with mushrooms tomorrow.

Fit for a Caterpillar  - mushroom belt buckle and hand made leather belt.

Original hand drawn art inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

I will be listing this in my Etsy shop.

But right now it's time for SweetPea and I to don our rain boots and rain coats.  We're going outside for an early evening stomp in the rain puddles.

Hope you enjoyed this week's WIP post.

Bye for now!

Oh, P.S. - If you want to see some truly incredible leather work, go check out Allison's blog at Sunny Rising Leather.

One of the things that I love about blogging - it's allowed me to meet and become friends with some of the most phenomenally talented artisans around.  So inspirational.

The Alice in Wonderland Charm Bracelet

11 charms of sterling silver composed of

14 separate original hand drawn images (including the letters)

2 ounces of sterling silver

5 beads of Murano glass

6 hours worth of sketches

3 hours of hands-on fabrication

a lifetime of inspiration (I was after all named after her) 

The Alice in Wonderland Charm Bracelet

The objects found within Wonderland, in order of their appearance in the story (counter clockwise from the top):
The White Rabbit's pocket watch, Alice's "drink me" bottle, the Caterpillar's mushroom, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter's teapot and teacup, the Queen of Hearts and pack of cards.
....interspersed with charms spelling out ALICE

The "drink me" tag swings back and forth.

As does the teacup from the teapot it's attached to. 
The Queen of Hearts card swings, too

This opus of mine
will be one of only two that will ever be created.
One for me.
And one for you.

It will be listed in my Etsy shop later tonight (along with the Cheshire Cat and Alice pendants from yesterday's post).

For now....
I must run. 
It's past 5:30, and I've got tickets for a 6:30 show.

I'm late! I'm late!.....  :)

Work in Progress Wednesday (one day late) - Alice in Wonderland jewelry

They're finally finished!
Two pendants: Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat.

I toiled and labored over these for days...

My Cheshire Cat necklace portrays the classic Cat, as illustrated by John Tenniel in the original edition of the book published in 1865.
Normally, all images featured in my jewelry are my own original hand drawn art...but for this necklace I really wanted to go with John Tenniel's interpretation. It's my favorite.
My own hand drawn Cheshire Cat can be found in the charm bracelet at the end of this post.

As for Alice: I'm not super-fond of the illustrations of the original Alice by John Tenniel...so I drew my own. But the inspiration for my Alice comes from Arthur Rackham's paintings of Alice from 1907.  The Alice portrayed in my necklace is drawn by me, free hand, but inspired by his.  
(click on the purple words to see what I'm referring to)

My hand drawn Alice next to the unfinished etched pendant in silver.

Unfinished Cheshire Cat pendant, John Tenniel's illustration.

Finished. Patinated and polished.
Edges lightly hammered.
Hidden bail on back.

Finished Alice necklace.
The back of the pendant is stamped with a quote...

I don't much care where...

...so long as I get somewhere...

You know I love adding famous quotes
and little secret hidden elements to my jewelry.

I chose this quote of Alice's because I love what it signifies:
It's not the destination, it's the journey.
Sometimes we get so caught up in our goals and ambitions,
that we forget to be present in the moment.

The Cheshire Cat is so philosophical...

"we're all mad here" says the insightful Cat in his most famous quote.

Out of all the characters in Wonderland, 

he is the only one who is aware of his madness.

There's a lot to be said for self-awareness, don't you think?

And that's not all...

Components for Alice in Wonderland charm bracelet.
Original hand drawn art, etched in sterling silver.

Coming soon...as in tomorrow.
I'm waiting for a delivery today of special ordered Murano glass beads for this charm bracelet.

and

Mushroom belt buckle. Original hand drawn art, etched in sterling silver.

...coming soon, too.






All these delectable pieces of art jewelry will be availabe in my Etsy shop tomorrow.


Yes, I timed it for the release of the movie :)

Weekend recap and a new look

Happy Monday to you

and Happy March!

Do you notice something different around here?  

Yes, on Sunday my blog underwent some major reconstruction. It's been years overdue.   Here's what it used to look like up until yesterday: 

Aww, goodbye to my colorful banner of hand-drawn poppies.  I loved those poppies, but they did nothing to represent what this blog's about. So they had to go.

A few more tweaks next weekend. I'll be adding a blog roll, and an "Older Posts" button.

 

I really like the new look.

Do you?

...

I got no work done again this weekend. This has become a bit of a pattern. I'm thinking it's a good thing.  Jonathan took most of the weekend off work, too. We spent lots of quality family time together.  That's what weekends are for.

Friday night was Girls' Night Out. It's a monthly event that my "Mom friends" and I look forward to - they think it's funny that I call them that because they're actually my friends and don't need to be qualified with the word Mom, but I think it's funny.  We went to The Melting Pot for dessert.  After 3 pots of chocolate fondue, none of us were ready to call it a night, so we ordered 3 more pots of cheese fondue.  Backwards, funny, but delicious nonetheless. Always a good time.

This is flambeed Swiss, I think.

Ok, this weekend re-cap is all over the place. 

On Saturday.....

On Saturday morning I discovered that the piles of sterling silver bench scrap that I've accumulated over the past 3 years of silversmithing amounted to almost 4 pounds.  Happy me! I had no idea how much I had amassed. I turned it in on Saturday. The current market price for sterling silver is $16.40/ozt.  There are 14.58 troy ounces in a pound. I'll let you do the math... 

Off to turn in my silver scrap.

You can't see my face here, but I'm squee-ing :)

Have a great start to the week, everyone.  

So glad you stopped by.