Going swimming next month

It's a fun play on words for my venture into wholesale tradeshows.  I'm so nervous and excited that I'll be going to Las Vegas next month to participate in Pooltradeshow.

They say that you have to take risks when you run a business and this is one that I'm praying will pay off.  Sometimes it can be very tricky to know where to invest your money when it comes to shows; as you know I learned alot last year from participating in smaller craft shows. 

This year my goal is to broaden my market and get directly in front of buyers.  So here it goes, next month I take a big trip to the city of Sin!

Here is a fun poster I designed for the show, with my booth number.  And psst. if you're a buyer maybe I'll see you there.

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A couple of exciting events happened these past two weeks.   I received the UK Glamour May issue featuring The Hunted bronze owl talon ring in their shop section; which was really exciting, I've loved Glamour magazine since I was in my early teens. 

The Hunted owl talon ring! So exciting to see it in Glamour

And the silver owl talon ring featured in the NJAL Origin FB promo page.

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featured in French Elle magazine

Yesterday I received  exciting news, The Hunted Crow Claw ring was featured in the January 2014 issue of French Elle magazine! This is the first, major publication feature for Eilisain Jewelry and I could not be happier that it'd be in the pages of Elle, one of my favorite fashion mags.  

Below is the clip of the feature.  This comes from the wonderful partnership with Boticca, they have a showroom in Paris and invited fashion and accessory editors to view jewelry from their designers, and I was one of them!

The Hunted sterling silver crow claw ring with amethyst.  

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Vespa Collection coming soon

Earlier in the summer I found a tiny wasp nest and then a bigger one, and it had seemed that our apartment had a perfect setting for wasps to make their nests.  Of course I thought, let me cast this little nest.  And I did, then I began to study the nest and noticed it had a five wall pattern, a pentagon.  

Then I began to play with the shape in the studio, I initially wanted to incorporate the cast nest into structured pieces but it just didn't go together well.  And the further I played the more the pentagon became a shape that I wanted to repeatedly use.

Thus, the Vespa collection, vespa is the latin term for hornets.  The name stuck with me and I decided to call my fall/winter collection Vespa.  This collection, ironically enough is perfect for the black and gold exhibition/jewelry in motion fashion show I'm co-producing for Art Avenue.  

I'm releasing the jewelry on Monday, September 2nd.  I don't think I've ever been more excited about a collection, I think it's because it's a bit of a departure for me from my previous collections and barely has cast elements which gives me a break from the process (as much as I love it)!

Here is just a teeny sneak peak of the collection....

Vespa ring, faceted citrine and sterling silver.  All rights reserved.  Photo by Lisette Fee

Vespa ring, faceted citrine and sterling silver.  All rights reserved.  Photo by Lisette Fee

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Werk it

I still can't get over how sexy and glamorous this photo is of my customer Anja of Germany, she looks gorgeous and the ring is perfect on her!!!

Anja wearing the silver triple crow claw ring with black tourmaline chip.  Available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

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Gettin' there

As you know, I've been working very hard on getting my jewelry out across the country in shops and boutiques.  And I'm proud to say I've got a couple new places my work is being carried.

Ghost Gallery in Seattle, Washington.  Laurie Kearney carries limited edition prints, small scale sculpture, miniature works of art and of course jewelry.  

Not Just a Label is a UK based company that primarily sells online exposing small and independent designers to the public, especially stylists and fashionistas.  Check out my shop on their website.

The Eilisain Jewelry pieces sold on NJAL are exclusive and not sold on my website.

I will also soon be selling my jewelry on Eide Magazine website, a company based out of Atlanta, Georgia that celebrates all culture and art based in the South.  

The Hunted owl talon ring in bronze.  Just took a new photo of this ring.  

 Stay tuned as I've got some more up coming projects in the works.  So far, the year is going pretty good!

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Black Friday SALE

 

It's here: BLACK FRIDAY!

And I'm joining in on all the sales and offering the biggest discount - 30% off

Use coupon code: BLK30 for today ONLY.

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artist statement

So I finally finished and edited my artist statement. I'm pleased with it and think it reflects who I am as an artist.

Let me know what you think!

I can vividly recall, when I was a young girl, asking my mother if I could play with her jewelry and then ask her where she bought it. Perhaps it was a silver chased brooch she bought in Thailand or the ruby, pearl and gold earrings that were her aunts from Panama. Stories and memories are carried through her jewelry. My work expresses my own journey and conversation with the material. My habit of collecting natural and found objects such as shells, coral, tagua nuts, deer antler, seeds, and rough stones reflect where I’ve lived and what I experienced at the time.

Body adornment is a significant part of our human culture and history. Archeologists and historians have uncovered a wealth of information from the jewelry and body adornment left behind by our ancestors. I translate my own life, ideas and thoughts through the jewelry I create.

There is a wildness and foreign sense in my jewelry, as if it was found in a remote and undiscovered part of the world. For example, the Epona necklace evokes images of a matriarchal huntress wearing it proudly at a ceremony and my Rebirth ring conjures visions of female anatomy; a ring that perhaps a shaman would wear. My work reflects my own desire to create a world full of fascinating and intriguing ‘artifacts’.

Thanks for reading.
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my new obsession

Deer antler! One of my bench mates in the undergrad studio had been working with deer antler for awhile and I asked him where he procured them. Well, luckily, he gets them from another undergrad metals student, Luke Price. His family does alot of hunting (what family in North Carolina doesn't?).

So I spoke with Luke and we did a trade; a pack of smokes for two antlers. Deer antler has this beautiful ivory/tree grain quality, and it's soft. So I began cutting it up and found that the antlers worked really well with my starfish cast pieces.
And above are 3 of my pieces for Casting I class...I still have 2 more to knock out before tomorrow...so I plan on making earrings. That makes 2, right?
I hadn't really seen any of Luke's work until this morning and I almost had a heart attack from the beauty of his 3 brooches for Mi-Sook Hur's Jewelry I class. Luke also used antler, he carved them into 3 cabochons, of varying sizes. I really, REALLY, want one of these brooches. Luke also used wasps hives...at first I thought they were beehives. Aren't they gorgeous? Pin It

sized my first ring!

I was really excited Friday when I sized my first ring! My good friend gave me an old ring that had lost it's stone and I decided to size it from a 5 1/2 to 8. The reason I sized it so big was to practice with more metal. And I was successful!

Ellis, the 'Jewelry Doctor', showed me a great technique for fitting the silver wire into the shank.

First measure the length, saw and file it, as well as the shank itself, in the center and then create a V-shape to the shank and for the piece to be solder the opposite shape (a V inverted to the left) so that the shank and piece fit like a puzzle.

I did this and voila! It's funny what we metalsmiths get excited about! Pin It