Meet me in Chelsea, Manhattan!

My first public show in Manhattan (also my 6th show!) will be at the Crafts In Chelsea Festival. Come visit my booth and check out the new collections from Harlequin&Lionhead and Bunnies Can Dream ;)

Date: Oct 15, 2011 (Sat)

Time: 10am-5pm

Location:
West 21st Street btw 8th and 9th
Chelsea, NYC

Getting there:
A/C/E trains at 23rd St 1/2 trains at 23rd St.

If you have been reading my blogs, you will know that I have a new collection called "Whirls" coming up. The polymer clay necklaces will be available at my Bunnies Can Dream shop, and the metal version including rings and earrings will be available at Harlequin&Lionhead shop. These new items will be available at my booth so come take a look. I will post a sneak peak here later this week.

Also, I will have a few pieces of the "Elusive" collection available at the booth, together with a few more pieces of rose gold plated items from the "Rose" collection.

Next to me at my booth will be Hans-My-Hedgehog by Jessica Boehman. She was there with me at the Astoria Market in summer. She does the most adorable illustrations in pencil and her art prints in various sizes, and creation of greeting cards will be available at the booth. It is a must have for the holiday season.

For more about the festival, check out their official Facebook event page HERE.

Recent Features

Time for some eye candy from my fellow Etsians. These are a few features showcasing my jewelry with other talented handmade artists.

This is created by MulryJewels, 

featuring my Adjustable Rose Ring in sterling silver

This is created by KeyElement, 

featuring my Adjustable Rose Ring in sterling silver

This is created by LeatherAndRoses, 

featuring my Rose Pendant and Necklace in gold plating

It's meant to be - Whirls

Being a single child in the family, with a pretty straight mom who works long hours to support our family, I was always alone. To keep myself companied I listened to the radio all the time, and chatted with my gfs on the phone. My hands would be idle and I always played with Blue Tac as a kid. I never really developed my skills later as a sculptor and I never thought one day my little Blue Tac project would become a real piece of jewelry.

Fast forward 20 years later, that is last week, I started playing with my polymer clay, thinking I'll make a mold for my next collection and use it as a base to shape my wax pieces when I work on them at home. But voila, a new baby is born completely unplanned. 

I think the shapes I created looks quite like a whirl of feathers. But because the way I make these shapes they come out completely random and organic, it is very hard to make them identical. I thought the ones above would work for me as earrings, I personally prefers the differences but not sure if my customers will. So I worked on a ring prototype instead.

I think it will make a good model for casting. Imagine this in silver oxidized. I think it will be quite attractive. I tried also making a few other smaller pieces for pendants. The first pic of this post is meant to be a hanging pendant over a chain. And the one below will be a pendant hung from a wired necklace. It is the same technique but used to create a chrysanthemum instead.

For mold making, I would have to make brand new ones. These are going into my private collection as white polymer clay. I like them like that. A little fragile, and looks like porcelain. I will be introducing them in my other store "Bunnies Can Dream" but only as pendants. Polymer Clay after heated in oven becomes hard so it's good material for necklace and earrings but I am not confident it will be good ring material, no matter how many Etsy sellers think otherwise. 

So, a line that exists in both Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin&Lionhead. I think both of my worlds are merging finally. 

Angry bunny - Here comes the Elusive

The thing with Etsy or any fashion or design item is that you have to go into market asap. Or someone else gets to go onto a page being promoted. And honestly, I wasn't too keen on launching Elusive because it is not the most innovative shape in the world. It is interesting because of the concept - that I use recycled sprue metal pieces from casting to create new jewelry so I don't waste anything and you get a lovely piece with quality metal.

But I'm so mad today seeing this piece on Etsy Find email blast.  I thought, "There you go, now people will think you are a copycat!" But of course, mine has a concept more than just a design. But still...So I thought, what the hack I will just kick off the Elusive collection. Call it a destined launch because if I have a choice, I would launch the whole collection together, with all the other pieces. But that means it may be next year given my snail paced production.

Hey look at it this way, theirs costs $253, mine is just $60. Maybe it will work for me better :P

Make my day, go "favorite" my ring on My Etsy Store.

Meet me in Dekalb Market, downtown Brooklyn

This will be my last show in August. I will be at the Dekalb Market this coming Saturday, August 20 from 10am - 7pm, showing side by side with Bunnies Can Dream (my other shop) and MyCinta, a talented jewelry maker who makes customizable lucite bracelets and rings.

Come visit us and enjoy the lovely Dekalb Market. 

Bear Silhouette Pendants - Animal Asia Special Edition

Animal Asia is a charity organization aimed to save moon bears from cruel hunting and harvesting in Asia.  My friend, Madeleine Truax, is a the NY volunteer worker for the organization and she is helping them host a dinner gala and silent auction in August to raise fund to save moon bears. She turned to me earlier to see if I can help source donation of jewelry for the silent auction. I figure what would be a better jewelry piece than a little moon bear for the bear lovers?

So I designed and created 2 pendants and necklaces for the event. One is the standing moon bear above in sterling silver with a swarovski crystal eye on a 17" sterling silver chain. The other is the sitting moon bear below in brass with 24K gold plating, also with a swarovski crystal eye, on a 17" gold-filled chain.

These are donated to the organization. These are not for sale in my shop right now so if you want them, either contact me at harlequinlionhead@gmail.com or join the Animal Asia silent auction on August 21, 2011.  Click HERE to find out more. 

If you are interested at custom ordering these from me, it is valued at $70 each. Rose gold plated version is also available and all profit minus cost of production goes to Animal Asia.

A recent feature

I have been working a little hard and didn't even post any feature updates. Well here is an elegant one created by LeshasWorkshop, featuring my silver Adjustable Rose Ring.