Thursday, May 19, 2011

unseen paths, unknown choices














What would happen if you took another path? Is there a right or wrong path? Where do our choices lead us? Do we think we are travelling in a certain direction, only to find ourselves somewhere else, doing something unexpected? Has the right path ended badly, and has the difficult road lead to unexpected treasure?

Quite a few years ago I found myself on a harsh road and wondered how I got there. I didn’t choose that way at all. I had to cut away the branches and get back to the inner core of my true self. The journey pushed my creativity and reserves of strength and I began making jewellery. The path has led through forests and over mountains and been a source of continuing inspiration to me. And now I realise that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that difficult path.

This collection was inspired by my reflections of this journey.

 























I’ll be listing these pieces in my Etsy store tomorrow night.  They’ll cost a little more than my jewellery usually does, not because I’ve suddenly increased my prices but because the price of sterling silver has increased by such a lot in the last few months.   Michele x

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Monday, May 2, 2011

blue







Last week we went away for a little break.  We drove over the Blue Mountains to spend a week in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere. The scenery was beautiful and so inspiring.










I went to a gem show while I was away and bought some boulder opals from people selling  stones from their claims in outback Queensland.  I fossicked through lots of rocks and bought some amazing cabochons.  I love boulder opal, it’s one of my favourite stones, I love the earthy browns combined with the iridescent blues, greens and purples, the colours looked beautiful shining in the sun that day.  I’ve bought opal cabs from the US before, it seems crazy that when I finally sell the piece of jewellery with the opal in it, the stone has travelled from Australia to the US, back to Australia and then often I’ll sell the finished piece to someone in the US! That's one less flight the opal has to take!







Blue Mountains, blue stones ... blue metal!  I spent the day at an anodizing workshop yesterday.  I made some earrings and then turned them blue and green!  I’m so excited about using these coloured metals in my new designs!