Manika Jewelry Gallery

Last week we made a field trip to a local gallery called Manika Jewelry on Maiden Lane here in San Francisco.

The gallery is filled with handmade jewelry done by a lot of local artists as well as ones from other places of the world. If you're in the Bay Area, it's definitely worth visiting, or you can check out their website at http://www.manikajewelry.com/

These past weeks have been overwhelming. I am learning so much each day, it's unbelievable. It's exciting but at the same time it stresses me out a bit. The end of the course is near and I have to go back to reality. I am still thinking about how it's going to change my style and how it's going to influence the wire wrapper in me. I know I still want to do wire wrapping, but now that I've learned soldering and bezel setting (which I love!!) it will definitely change the way I design.

I also want to work now in solid gold, it is so nice to work with but sooooo expensive! I wish I could go back in time and buy a lot of gold when it was only $300 an ounce.

I think 14k gold looks nice and is the cheapest of the "fine gold", but do you think it's worth it to pay for 14k gold or would you rather spend some more money and have an 18k or more piece?

Have a great weekend everyone.

My first pieces at Revere

Here are the first pieces I fabricated here at Revere. I had no input on the design, it was all about technique, learning how to make it right.

This ring was soldered then carved with a saw all around, then filed.


These are actually 3 rings which I wore stacked for two weeks. Two silver square bands and a copper wide one, all soldered. I am now wearing the two silver bands with the carved ring ^ in between.

These earrings (which were supposed to look more like old wooden wheels, but I say they're slices of oranges) were pierced with a saw, domed, stamped with a sterling stamp and then I soldered the post to them. Kind of tricky trying not to melt the post :)



My first bezel setting. I had lots of fun learning this one as I love the bezel setting.


And this one was a project I wanted to make on my own. It's something you'll hopefully see me doing more as I love how it looks. I wanted to make sure I did at least one like this so that the teachers could help me in figuring it out. Oh! And I made this one with Argentium silver which I LOVE. It doesn't need to be soldered, it just fuses! So easy to work with.

A small pink spinel, bezel set with argentium silver.


I'm gonna see if I bring some of my stuff home for the weekend so that I can take more pictures. Today I learned how to repair a box clasp and how to set a 4 prong solitaire! It was all fun and challenging.

Have fun!

Classes @ Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts

I know I said I was going to be able to write more, but it turns out it wasn't as easy as I thought. I've been having a blast here in SF, learning lots of new things in my classes.

Here are some pictures of the Studio at the Revere Academy:

This is the classroom where we've been doing polishing and finishing, stone setting and casting.



And this is the studio where we've been doing all of the fabrication. See the lunch pack on the shelf on the left? That's my spot :)


Tomorrow I'm gonna post pictures of some of the pieces I've done so far.

Hope you had a nice Halloween!

San Francisco so far...

Well, I am in San Francisco right now. I am loving it so much!!

This past week was my first week at Revere Academy's Jewelry Technician Intensive Course. I've met some really cool people and made some new friends. I just got my camera this Thursday, so I will be getting some pics to post soon. The Faculty there are amazing as well.

I've been learning so much that it is overwhelming at times. When they say the course is intensive, they really mean it. In one week I've learned how to solder bands, solder a twist ring, solder a bezel to a sheet of wire, then setting a stone in it. Also how to saw metal, to make a pair of post earrings. I've learned how to properly file, sand, polish and burnish metal. I am so happy with this course it's ridiculous.

Today is the first day I'll be sleeping in San Francisco. Before, I was commuting to my classes everyday from Fremont but now I'm staying at my cousin's place in the city. I am excited about it cause it will give me a chance to get around the city more. It will also give me more time for blogging and making new things.

Because I'll be in the US for a couple of months, I decided to bring most of my jewelry and list it on Etsy. I won't be able to do custom orders, but I can offer what I have now. I'll be adding things almost daily as I brought a lot of stuff, some of which still need photographing.

that's it for now, have a great week!

At MIA waiting to go to SFO

Today was the start of my newest adventure. I got up early to go to the airport and board a plane to fly 4 hours to Miami. I am at the Miami airport waiting (have been waiting for the past 3 hours and have one more hour to wait still) to board the plane that's going to take me to San Francisco.

I will be taking the two month Jewelry Technician Intensive program at the Revere Academy where I will learn all (or most) of the things I've been wanting to related to jewelry making: soldering, settings, fusing... I am extremely excited, not only will I learn many new things, I will meet many new people. I'm so lucky to have the opportunity of attending this program and elated that it is in such a beautiful city such as San Francisco.

I am so convinced that this is exactly where I am supposed to be doing right now, even if it has meant making some sacrifices: leaving my boyfriend, my 7 month old puppy and my business, especifically, the christmas sales and commissions.

I came to know about the Revere Academy when I went to Bead Fest Philadelphia and met Michael David Sturlin who recommended it to me. I wanted to take a course like this, but I hadn't found anything that fit my needs regarding the duration (2 months was as long as I'd go) until I heard about Revere. When I contacted them about the availability of space for the course they told me that it was full for this year and that the next one was in May 2010, but since there were a lot of people on the waiting list, if I confirmed that I would definitely go, they would open a new group for the program, which they did.

I have family in Fremont, CA which is close to SF and my parents already had plans to visit them for Thanksgiving, so I will be seeing them in late Nov. One of my cousins that was studying in Cleveland is currently making medical research in San Francisco, so I will be staying with him for the duration of my course. On top of all that, my 2 favorite music groups are having concerts while I am there: Hanson and Dashboard Confessional. I've been a fan for 12 and 7 years respectively and have never seen them live before. Of course, I already bought tickets and I can't wait to see them, it will be a dream come true for me ;)

Well, it's time for me to board the plane, I will write more at the end of this week.

Have a great day!

Show results and pictures

I have to admit that I had very low expectations for the latest show I did. I had even lower expectations as I started to see the people settle in. Thank God I was pleasantly surprised with my results. Well, also, thank to the wonderful lady who spent over $400 in my pieces ;)

Besides the monetary outcome, the show was good. There was a good turnout of people, I'd say not as many as they were hoping, but it was good. What was very good for me was that most of the people there, I'd never met, so it did help me a lot with self-promotion (too bad that I'll be dissappearing for two months, but hopefully they'll still remember me after that!)

Last week me and my boyfriend decided to sell our much loved Canon Rebel Xsi camera so that I could buy a new one (The Rebel T1i that shoots HD video!) while I was in San Francisco. And can you believe that it sold after a day of promoting it... exactly on the morning of the show??? So that left me without a camera to take my own pictures. The pictures I show here I borrowed from one of the Rotary volunteers ;)

Here's me with my table, although you can't see it complete. I look tall because I was wearing like 5 inch heels! My feet were in tremendous pain. I am so happy that I've learned I should always take two pairs of shoes. Some pretty flats for the setup and then nice heels for the actual show. I was extremely happy about those flats when the show was over as well. I could not wait to change into those again!




And here are two pics of the models during the show. The models were some of the volunteers' daughters and I think they did a good job.



I would've loved to have some more experienced models, but they were wonderful for first-timers.

I've been super busy with packing up all my stuff to go to San Francisco this coming Tuesday. On top of that, I had two last minute orders to do this week. I have no idea how I am going to fit all my things in two suitcases. Wish me luck ;)

I've become obsessed with...

The Rachel Zoe Project. I watched an episode online just to see what it was about and I was hooked. I am a huge lover of fashion and style and this show has it. On top of that, Rachel is a big big fan of jewelry and she has access to so many luscious pieces, "I just DIE!!" LOL

For those of you who don't know who she is (I didn't know much before the show either) she is stylist to some big name stars (Demi Moore, Jennifer Garner, Debra Messing...) So her job is making them look great from head to toe for the various events they have. To achieve that she meets with famous designers, they send her some fabulous dresses and then she chooses the perfect accessories to go with the look. It's a show filled with Eye Candy :)

You can catch the show on Bravo TV, I don't know the day or time since I don't get BravoTV and just have to deal with watching the show online.

Tomorrow I have the fashion show and ladies afternoon. I am very excited because I had to choose the music for my show, I got some suggestions off the internet and then I decided in which order they should go and my wonderful boyfriend made it all into one 30 min long track. I know the women attending probably won't care about the music, but I am eager to see how well it fits (or doesn't fit!) with my jewelry. I have decided that I will be more relaxed for this show and that I will take the time to take good pictures!!!

After tomorrow's show, I will make two more custom orders and then I will focus on getting everything ready for my trip to San Francisco. I need to decide what to take, what I need to buy once I get there... Also, I need to leave all my stuff here organized. I am going to be leaving my room and studio for two months, I need them to be tidy.

Well, it's 1am here, I should probably get some rest.

Have a good night!