thanks mom!

i hope everyone has a great Mother's Day today.

it's not easy for some parents to be supportive of their child being in the arts - but my mom has been one of my greatest and most vocal supporters. she has faith in me even when i'm weary of believing in myself. she won't let me get discouraged, and she is a huge reason why i'm still doing what i love.
 

so thanks for all your love mama :D

this week has been kind of crazy. you can now purchase my jewellery at The Devil's Workshop in Toronto and i'm very excited to see my work in their display cases once it's all set up - they have a nice open showroom with a lot of natural light. thanks Sarah and Shawna for inviting me!

there are many instances where i find that i work on a piece until it's about 95% done, and then leave the tedious bits unfinished til the last possible second - so i spent a few days enameling unfinished/broken pieces, soldering jump rings, sewing, doing repairs, and adding/shortening chains.

i was originally going to leave this piece in mint green but i was moving stuff around, dropped it on the floor, and promptly ran over it with my chair. after i filled in the cracks, i decided to add a sprinkling of butter yellow at the top - i'm more happy with it now and i think it became a happy accident in the end.

i also started a new job and managed to sprain my thumb - one of a jeweller's worst horrors. so instead of working on jewellery for the next few days i think i'll ice my hand and find non strenuous things to do - like breathe and watch movies :p

have a wonderful day readers!

the one ring

i just came back from lunch with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday that just passed. happy birthday dad! 

i always like to make things for those i love. but for some reason my dad and my brother always ask for the plainest, most simplest things. like plain band rings. like this one. some are polished, some are matte, some are textured, but they're all plain. guys can have such little imagination sometimes :p 

art is everywhere

well i had a nice family filled weekend. i hope you all did too.

i found that carving with purple wax is so much better than blue wax, you can get so much more detail. i did a test with the blue wax first, and it ended pretty badly. you'll see the details soon. i'll make sure to take photos before i send the ring off to be cast in sterling silver.

i went out for sushi with some friends and family in the past week (one of my favourite things). and i found myself pleased to see the sushi displayed in the shapes of hearts and flowers. oh the Japanese, they put art in everything.

long weekend

i'm off to see family for the weekend.
but of course i will also be working on some wax carvings.
hope you all have a good one!

supported

i'm really lucky.

being involved in the arts is hard - harder than you may think. there can be so much rejection, so much disappointment. it's hard to make plans, because you always seem to be waiting on something, waiting for someone to say yes.

it can be disheartening. it can make you lose your confidence. it can make you give up on your dream all  together.

but i have been so blessed. i have been consistently supported and encouraged in all my artistic endeavours by those near and dear to me, and i think that has made such a difference in what i've been able to do these past few years.

it's actually really hard to believe in yourself and what you can do - to believe in a future that seems so far away. 

so thank you all for being there for me and for having faith in me. you're why i'm still doing what i love.

a busy week

this week has been very tiring, but also very productive. 

i tried indoor rock climbing for the first time on sunday with some old friends. it was really fun and made my upper back really sore for a couple days afterward. my friends complained of having sore fingers, but mine were fine. at least being a jeweller gives you strong hands! here's one of them climbing to the top of the 60ft wall. i was surprised when i grabbed that top rock myself.

then on monday i was off to teach art with my friend Connie. this week the kids worked with pastels. Clinton Public School has a really good art program for kids - a program i wish i had when i was their age. the parents are extremely supportive of the arts and consistently organize fundraisers to keep the program active as well as art nights to keep the work appreciated. i was astonished to find that some of the kids are learning silk screening, paper making and ceramics - things that i learned at OCAD for $500 a class.

on monday's and wednesday's this summer i'm the class assistant to Gillian Batcher's casting class. it's really good to have her as part of our faculty. George Brown tends to teach jewellery a bit differently and more intensively than OCAD, so whenever we get an instructor who was educated there we tend to happily learn more tricks of the trade. i've already learned a couple of things i didn't know about casting just from assisting her for two classes.

on wednesday and thursday i went to yoga (i really needed that). and then i spent part of monday, wednesday and friday, as well as all of tuesday and thursday sawing, filing, and forming some of the jewellery i plan to have for the toronto outdoor art exhibition (exciting and tedious).

i also ran some errands, went chain shopping, and had a mini meeting with a friend i'm entering a european design competition with in august.

i am pooped.

but i still have to go to a family gathering and spend the rest of the weekend enameling.

someone get me a coffee :)

some free time for once

it was such a beautiful day today! i couldn't resist a walk outside since yesterday (another gorgeous day) left me stuck inside because of work. it was about time for a leisurely walk with simba. he was ecstatic to say the least. 

a going away party

my grandmas is going back to the Philippines next week :( *tear tear*. so my extended family had a going away party for her, which, surprise, mainly consists of lots and lots of food. Filipino parties are like that, food and talking. lol.

my mom brought over these fresh lumpia rolls....SO GOOD. i'm still thinking about them.

i miss filipino food...someone make me some.

vacation!

well I'm off to a much needed vacation with my family.
I can count the number of days I've had real rest and relaxation for the past year on one hand.

maybe i'll come back inspired and pumped! let's hope.