Turquoise Mania

Seems like every year when spring rolls around I get this intense need to use a lot of color in my designs. After having received quite a large number of turquoise heart cabochons, I set out to make some charming items.

Turquoise Heart Earrings

Turquoise Heart Ring with etched 11mm wide band.

I guess there will be a few more turquoise heart items in the coming weeks. I am waiting on more agua nueva cabochons. Hopefully customs won't stash them away again. Last december I had custom ordered some and it took 2 months for them to get here. Every single item here from outside the EU goes through customs. So, the wait can be quite long at times.

Turquoise Heart Necklace

I also made a couple of other items such as these:

*SOLD

Etched Silver Ring with beautiful ornate pattern

Constellation Earrings  in oxidized silver

More small etched lace necklaces with aqua chalcedony.

In between my bench sessions I often go and take a walk. Lately we've been having such fantastic weather with spring temperatures of up to 22 degrees celsius. It's quite a change from a Norwegian winter, which of course, also has it's charm.

Blooming nectarine tree in our yard.

Just planted some primroses in all sorts of beautiful colors.

Daffodils are in full bloom.

It's 3pm and I should get back to work. I have a couple of custom orders I'd like to finish up before dinner time. 

I'll be listing a couple more items for the Etsy shop sometime tomorrow!

Enjoy your day everyone!

I'll be heading here, to my dirty bench:

Cheers!

-Sabine

Starting my day

The benefits of living here in the south of Germany is that spring generally starts quite early. I love to go running at 7a.m. almost every morning. I find it extremely serene at that time. My run usually takes me through a wooden part and through the vineyards which are aplenty behind our place. It's quite charming hearing the birds chirp in the woods so early in the morning. This morning I even heard a woodpecker which I had not heard in years.

Running clears my head. It's almost some sort of therapy for me.

My days at the bench usually start around 9a.m. after having had my breakfast and a good dose of either green tea or coffee. I had never been a coffee drinker in the past, but since having moved here I  can't seem to stop. 

My week has been great! Been having a good few days behind the bench. I have been working on a cohesive line of simpler sterling silver jewelry which, if everything goes as planned will make it's debut sometime this spring. Those items will be in a separate shop though. It's been fun melting my silver scraps to try to use them in my new designs. All of my ring shanks are entirely handmade, from start to finish. I love my rolling mill. Well worth the investment!

Pansy Necklace

Spring Blossom Earrings

Kingman Mine Turquoise Ring

Lotus Pendant Necklace with Gorgeous Druzy Stone

These are just a few of the items I made this week. I'm taking a day off today. The weather is fantastic and I need to be outside. We are off to the Italian ice cream parlor. Can you believe that they actually have marzipan flavored ice cream? Delicious!!

Have a beautiful sunday and thanks for reading!!

-Sabine

I'm back!

Yes, you heard right, I am back blogging!

One of the major reasons I haven't blogged is because since having left Canada my english vocabulary has declined. To you it may sound silly to not blog because of this, but I am a perfectionist and always prided myself in how good I was writing and speaking English. I made it a mission that while living in Canada that I will learn the language properly, which I did. However, not interacting with english speaking people all the time, makes it difficult at times to uphold the vocabulary. John and I mainly speak English, but also Norwegian, which I don't want to forget either. And since living in Germany I also find it important to help John learn German.

For those of you who are new to this blog, I'll quickly summarize what I have been up to.
I am a German citizen. I had lived and worked in Canada for 15 years, and in 2005 I moved to Norway to be with my then boyfriend, John ( who is now my husband ).
We lived there for 8 years, and last year we moved back to Germany to be with family. My dad was very sick at the time and he was one of the major reasons for having made the move. Sadly he passed away on October 31st of last year.

The transition moving here from Norway has not been an easy one. I had almost completely forgotten how intricate and rigid bureaucracy seems to be here. It is not easy at all to be a self employed artist here. I, for the first time since being a artist, had to hire a tax advisor. I could have never figured out how to fill out all the tax forms and such. It is one of the most intricate and complicated systems in the world.
I have to smile sometimes when I see people's negative reaction when they find out what I do for a living here. At first it bothered me, but now I really don't care anymore. I stay true to myself and my work, and most of all I do what I love, which most people do not. It's been hard work to get to where I'm at now. I am super grateful for being able to do what I do for a living! It can be quite scary, especially when sales are slow for a period of time, but that just means one needs to evaluate the designs and perhaps make some changes.

I would like this blog to be somewhat personal and real, but also a fun and interactive place where I can share my thoughts about what uplifts me,what turns me off, and, of course, share my love of jewelry making and to showcase other artists work.


Below you can check out some of my recent work. Right now I am obsessed with statement pieces and bold colors.

Kingman Mine Turquoise and Carnelian

Sterling Silver and Prehnite

Druzy Titanium Agate, Labradorite and Sterling Silver

Lotus Bloom Necklace in Sterling Silver and Carnelian

Kingman Mine Turquoise and Sterling Silver

Birds Nest Necklace With Gorgeous Titanium Agate and Rutilated Quartz

They are all available in my Etsy shop! Hope to see you there!

Thanks so much for reading!

-Sabine