We Met At Crafts In Chelsea

Last Sat, I was at the Crafts In Chelsea market on 21st St between 8th and 9th Ave. It is a bi-annual event that comes around every May and Oct. The lovely block was filled up with booths or tables of great handmade products. This event is organized by PS11 to support the school and local artists. This year it is managed by New York Etsy Team (a.k.a. theNewNew Etsy Team). If you are interested at participating as a seller, you can reach out to the school or the New York Etsy Team. I hope to be back again at this block in Oct.

You can see more pics of the event on my facebook page here.

Meet me at Hester Street Market, a little gem at LES Manhattan

Date: May 12, 2012
Time: 10am - 6pm
Where: Hester Street Market, corner of Essex and Hester
http://www.hesterstreetfair.com/

You have to fall in love with this little corner at the outskirt of the heart of fashion in Manhattan. Great accessories, interesting fashion finds, and some yummiest cookies you can find in the city are all here.

Hester Street Fair was taken into Henri Bendel last year and took over the 2/F for its vendors, while UNIQLO camped their mobile cube there for the fall. This past Sat when I was vending there (for the first time, though I've frequented this spot last year all the time as a shopper), Macy has a pop-up shop there - Bar III took Hester Street Fair as its first stop of their nationwide tour of America's best flea markets.

I will be featuring my Whirls and Rose collections there, at an exclusive Hester Street Fair discount.

Selected products from my other shop, Bunnies Can Dream will be available too. Come check my table out. I will be sharing with the very talented Jessica Boehman of Hans-My-Hedgehog again this Sat. And she is debuting her new plush line with some new illustration prints. So don't miss it.

Start from the heart - The making of the Whirls #6 Large Pendant

Like all creation, it starts with a thing that pulls your heart's string. In this case, it was Alexander McQueen. Not surprisingly, the show at the Met was an inspiration for a lot of designers. 

I have always been fascinated by feathers and the idea of flying. In high school, for awhile, all I drew were wings. You could see it on the blackboard (now you know my age, it was black and then green and then white...), on my textbooks, drawing pads...The original idea for the Whirls #1 ring was a pair of wings spread in a distorted way on your finger. Then I saw the Horn of Plenty dress at the show. Not only was it made of feather, it has the most interesting shape one always omits when looking at a pair of wings, though it stares back unmistakably at you - a heart shape.

Two wings closed and perched on the back forming a heart shape is what we see everyday looking at birds at parks. And McQueen amazingly took it to adorn the hip area of the dress. I adore the elongated curves of a heart. So I thought I'll combine the beautiful shape with dramatic texture of feathers and make a large size pendant. I started with polymer clay, as for the whole Whirls Collection. I created a heart shape as a foundation (1st image of this post), then developed the feather on top of the foundation to form the pendant, separated the pendant from the heart foundation and baked the clay to harden it.

Then the clay model was sent to my mold maker to make a silicon mold. From there, it generated a wax model, which I used to hollow out the back side further and reduce the weight of the wax model. Then it was cast into brass and soldered with a ring on top for a chain to go through.

The heart feather pendant was still very heavy. I think it was first over 2 troy ounces in weight. I had to hollow out a couple times to bring it to within 2 troy ounces. Imagine casting it in silver, it would be quite an expensive piece. So currently I'm keeping it in brass. 

After I polished the piece to a matt finish, I oxidize it to create an antique look. This pendant measures 1.5x2.25 inches in size and looks stunning on the front with the layers, and interestingly eerie on the back with the heart muscles and veins around the little heart shape in the hollow chamber. The oxidation is achieved here in the picture with liver of sulphur, which changes metal color into shades of yellow, blue, green, pink, purple and black based on heat. The purple here is quite a random result and it needs to be protected from air with a sealant to be preserved. The 30-inch long chain is also brass and tarnished the same way into a vintage looking dark color.

This is my current Whirls Collection. More to come, watch out for it!

2012 Fashion Trend from Spring/Summer to Fall

Being in US, I look to the New York Fashion Week for inspiration and reality check. Jewelry usually plays a supporting role and my fear is the more exaggerated the clothing, the less interesting can the jewelry pieces be. Afterall, it accessories instead of fighting for attention.

BUT, I design for everyday women, not the runway. Similar to you, I look at the runway for the big trends, and internalize it so not only can I wear them off the runway (and during the day!), but also keep to my style and call it my own.

Spring 2012 from Elle.com

So here they are,
a quick snapshot of how the year panes out from spring to fall for you girls.

	Spring/Summer	Fall
Silhouette	40's inspired feminity, esp PEPLUM (also a big trend at the Oscars)
	20's inspired flapper/Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby with drop waist and sequins. Thus long strand necklaces and art deco inspired floral shape jewelry are in	The Iron Lady. Layered, regal, tweeds, shawls, even brocades
	50's Don Draper's women. Floral, sherbet hues/pastels (also seen in the Oscars), even princess-like.	Modern military. This cannot be more different from spring - from softness to strength. But more refined than 2011 military. Almost a hint than literal
	Safari influence. African tribal including stacked large bracelets; bird prints	Global aristocrat/elevated nomad. Ethnic/eastern influenced, exotic and royal, with mbroideries, textile patterns. Blanket coats and even street-look inspired
	Sports couture. Hoodies and mesh etc used in a sophisticated way	Chic sportsman/outdoor preppy/hunting heritage, with fur and feather accents
	Bauhaus. Architectural; Geometry, e.g., asymmetrical shoulder or skirt length; Color blocks	Matrix! Minimalistic using black and leather
Color	White(Everywhere at the Oscars!) and bright orange
	Pastels	Black and burgundy
Other Specifics	Earrings! Especially dangles and statement pieces
	Yellow gold is back!
	Lots of lace, stripes, print on print, knit dresses, tailored short suit, center part hairdo, furturistic accessories and shoes, retro funky sunglasses	Mini-florals, strong collars, ultra cropped jackets and vests that are textural and cool, surprising makeover of suits by mixing prints and unusual fabrics, wrap dresses, gold glam with sequins, bigger belts, statement hats or hairpieces, and elegant long gloves

Fall 2012 from FrontRowMag.com

Show us your take of the trends with what you have in your wardrobe! Post pics on my FB here.

My new studio!

Another one of my to-dos this year crossed off. Finally I used my salary from a part time job and put up a home studio area!

It has everything I need for polishing and a little more. Although it may be a little more technical than my other posts, I feel so proud I want to indulge myself with just one post on what my babies are.

First off is the work bench you see here. It is what they call a "butcher top" bench with a heavy hard wood top that can withstand most everyday torture we put to the table, including sawing and hammering. And with proper insulation, we can even solder on the table. In the front is a bench pin that sticks out, where we do most of the work without the obstacle of the table top so we can move freely in 360. The 2 rectangular shapes in the front can be pulled out to support my arm when needed.

On the wall I put up printouts of 2 images I used to have on my dorm room wall at college. It is my favorite time of classical peroid, the Pre-Raphaelite. One is the Ophelia of J.W.Waterhouse. He is absolutely my fav. The other is the ever haunting Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt.

This is the amount of polishing wheels I have to go through on a regular basis to prep my pieces before they go to a lathe and get final buff with finishing compound. These little wheels will be used with a device called the flex shaft, which is an extention from a motor.

This is a little cute desktop lathe for finishing. The industrial versions are huge and expensive. But mine is a Foredom as well though much slower and less powerful, the speed can be adjusted and it does basic job well.

I have to get a seperate filter which so far I am very pleased with. It is a little inconvenient because I have only one so I have to move it around. My husband used to complain about me smelling like metal after a few hours of polishing work but not now. And it comes with a super bright LED light and a PVC shield. So I really cannot complain about this compact little baby.

Now this is a little embarrassing. My small firing station. I use a little creme brulee torch but it is really way too low to do a soldering properly. So it is more for emergency fixing rather than a set up I can rely on.

OK, before final finishing, we would usually "tumble" the pieces in a tumbler, which kinda looks like a blender but with steel shots in it. In the foreground, the one that looks like a rice cooker, is a ultrasonic cleaner, which makes diamonds sparkles! The little crock pot on the side is also for cleaning, but with pickling solution to clean the oxidation from firing a piece of metal.

This weird device is a ring stretcher/reducer and it works literally. Not good for stone set rings but works like magic otherwise. I have been dreaming to have one myself and finally made up my mind and bought it!

Phew! OK, I am done showing off. Back to work ;)

My new homepage!

I am very excited to announce that my shop has its own homepage! It has been long overdued. I got around it for so long using my blog and my personal portfolio page. But it can be delayed no more. And I got my domain name - http://HarlequinLionhead.com

I went with Moonfruit.com for my website. Their partner for the domain and hosting service is very affordable. It is Gandi.net and it is only less than $30 for 2 years, with private registration. One thing I learned is that if you do not get private registration service, all your personal information like name and address will be published on a public domain name search website called Whois.com. In this digital age where everything is published and available for scammers, this is really important.

The page I like the most right now, but still need to continue to work on is the section on my story behind Harlequin&Lionhead. I will continue to update the page's images. But I like the fact the juxtaposition of the things that inspired me, and the final products. The story section came from a conference I entered this past weekend managed by the Rosen Group, which founded the Buyers Market of American Craft and the Arts Business Institute. My blog posts collectively give you all an idea of what I do and why I do, but I finally have a place to tell my perspectives on one page. I hope to add some pictures of my work in progress at the bench in the future, now that I finally have a nice workspace at home!

Talking about that, the next post I will be updating you all on my new gadgets at home at my work bench! It is really sweet to have my own mini-studio!

A new year. A new beginning.

Rabbit Artwork by Jeral Tidwell

Being a Chinese, it is only appropriate that I post something for Harlequin&Lionhead to celebrate the new year of Dragon. If you have not read about my personal goals in 2012, you can find it here. 2012 will be a very dear year for Harlequin&Lionhead.

Back in 2010 when I first started the shop with my first collection of sculptural roses, I was hoping to bring a few new collections in 2011 immediately, and possibly expanding the Rose collection to include stone set pieces. But 2011 turned out to be a year less about design but more about marketing and production. It took me a long time to establish a support network and accumulate retail experiences, learned some important but hard lessons on production timeline, and started identifying my suppliers. And inevitably, my focus turned a bit more to the more established shop of mine, Bunnies Can Dream. The only comfort is that I at least managed to launch a new collection, Whirls.

And I received my first custom order with the Rose collection. I was commissioned to create a rose cross in sterling silver. The little elongated cross is about 1 inch long, made of 6 roses in wax with a little loop on the top, then cast in sterling silver and oxidized in the middle. I made a little one for myself. It is quite amazing that it took me 20 years and an order from a stranger to bring me back to my Christian root...

But then I digress. 2012 will be a year for Harlequin&Lionhead. Yes, it will take up hopefully majority of my creative energy. My goals this year for this shop is to give it a more constant retail exposure through wholesale and consignment with retail establishment. I hope it will not only get the name out there, but it will give me the necessary capital to get a sales rep and PR/marketing help for the brand.

And for those who love the Rose line, the long await rose bracelet is finally coming. Click here if you have not read about it yet.

And I have decided to include the big rose as my first haute couture made-to-order jewelry piece. It will most likely be either a corsage bracelet, or a brooch. Or if you are really keen on a heavy (literally) statement necklace, this could be the pendant for you.

The Whirls Collection will continue to grow. The new Whirls #4 (pendant and necklace) was actually available but previously only at my table at the handmade markets. Now it will be available for purchase at my Etsy store. And it will be available in 3 plating options, white gold, rose gold and 14K gold. So you have something to wear with my #2 earrings. I am still working on the Whirls #5 which will be a bangle.

In terms of new collections, I am hopeful that I can introduce a couple pieces of my new Sea Life collection by summer. Right now the designs are mostly for rings. But it is still at an early stage so we will see ;)

And lastly, the new flower collection featuring lilac and other wild flowers is still in my sketch book and needs more trial and error before I can get it to where I want it to be. But it will get here and most likely become my first line that is set with stones. That's a big target for me this year but I am hopeful I can somehow make that happen.

The year of the dragon is a year of vitality. I will need every ounce of my energy and optimism to make things happen this year. This has been a magical journey for me. Thank you for all your support and I look forward to sharing with you more of my creation and I hope you will get a lot of enjoyment out of them.

Taken from here. Wish I know the creator...