Let's try this.... again

It has been a long, long time since I did blog around here.
There are actually two reasons for this:
In the last two years things shifted in my professional and personal life, and left me with very little time to be creative. The other reason, I haven't had a properly functioning camera for nearly 2years. Which is beyond frustrating and meant very little photographing happened, except on my iPhone.
I've been however reading just as much as always... and am still part of the Closet Geeks.
So a few weeks back I kinda decided to start Nomad's Dwellings- where I will share recipes and other food stuff, all about travelling and my street photography. Basically a lifestyle blog. In fact I've been asked to share recipes and travel tips for many years, but somehow never was sure if I wanted to do it.
Since I am going spend more time in my studio in 2015, so I thought I should resurrect my good oldie blog.

I have decided to do another 365 this year, on my iPhone. I shall share them every Mondays, cause the Review of my Week is back.

Week 1

So 2015 has been good so far. I am looking forward to all it brings.
How have you been? What have I missed?

My Creative Space

 

Busy with gilding the porcelain pieces for some new jewels....

Then its back to the workbench again

visit my creative space for more...

Review of my year

2012, I am afraid to say was really not my year. In many ways it was rather a difficult year. Around here I have been a total slacker last year. I am however hoping to do better in 2013- and not just as a blogger.

Despite many obstacles there have been plenty of good moments in 2012! Which is what I wanna keep in mind.
One of the greatest gifts in 2012 was an e-reader. It changed my reading life! Gone are my long quests and waits of finding certain books in Cape Town. Because let's face it I do live at the end of the world- a great end it might be, but when it comes to books, not that fab. One click and a couple of minutes later I can read a newly released book. Tuesdays have become great days! I've been writing a book blog for the last few months. 2012 has been an interesting journey through 150 books...
My last travel adventure in 2012 was to the oldest desert in the world. It's been an amazing trip and I will spill the beans over at Nomade's dwelling in the next few days. Naturally I took hudreds of photos...
At some point I felt a bit stuck with my photography in 2012. I did get a second hand DSLR, finally. Which changed my entire photo experience. I did finish my 52 project and am pondering if I should do one for this year as well, just keep the blog and keep posting?
This was also the year I tried my hand in porcelain. It has been a challenging but increadibly interessting journey. One of the least forgiving but most rewarding mediums I ever worked with.

I kept not one single New Years resolution in 2012- so I made just one this year:

Live in the moment and BE grateful!

Naturally I do have a few projects lined up,  as well
Hope you had a good start! 

Happy 2013, 

xo  

Spring!

It's Daisy time in the Western Cape, also known as spring in other areas of the world.
So I am snapping and sketching the living carpets of colour and gorgeousness as often as I manage to. (oh and yes: this is a warning! lots of flowers are gonna make its way round here in the next couple of weeks)

Inspiration

Ginkgo

I have been spending a lot of time watching, photographing and reflecting on my favorite tree this week... I think it is one of the most elegant and beautiful plants on this earth. Love the way the leaves bend and move in the wind., the shape of the leaves and always thing of Goethe when spend time admiring a Ginkgo.
I want to in-cooperate it into my designs at the moment- so been sketching leaves (trying to sketch is more accurate actually)
Oh, and do you see the fading and small yellow dots? Well, looks like autumn is slowly making its entry into the cape...

Photography

In Company Gardens

The last couple of weeks I have been trying my hand on a new material: Porcelain. While I am turning some of my work into jewellery I also have been making bowls... with a rather slow progress since I manage to break around 30% of them before painting or firing... Porcelain before firing I discover (over and over again) is extremely fragile before firing. But I am loving the discovery of a new material and learning to work with it very much -let's just hope some of these bowl will make it through all the processes and end up as finished porcelain ware.

For more creative spaces visit here

Bench Mess

This week on my Jewellery Bench:
Simple organic shapes- different finishes, textures and materials...

Photography

Around the Mother City

My creative space...

Patina

In the Studio it's all about Patina at the moment.
I have been playing around with it for a while, but I never been completely satisfied with the results until finally I got the above result.
It's a brass ring, pieced and forged and then patinated and polished.

Here is how to:

• Clean piece from all fats and oils
• Dip into diluted Nitric acid (H2O: HNO3 - 2:1) for a few minutes
  
• Rinse with water
• Put in a airtight plastic container with a cotton ball that has been soaked with Ammonia -leave overnight or at least a few hours
• Remove carefully and let it dry for 48hours or more if need - putting it in the sun (if you can find any) does speed and help the process
• Seal with beeswax

I am pleased with this result but I am still enjoying my discovery journey of patinas. There are still many different processes to sass out. So hopefully more good results but definitely a few more failures on the way.

For more creativity visit here