Moonstone and pink shell chain earrings

The perfect Spring & Summer chain earring  -  Moonstone & shell.

Mala mania

Can't stop making malas over the past week or so - heres my latest, rose quartz, pearl and rustic wooden beads. Maybe I'm trying to kickstart another summer of love!

Hippielicious!

I've been working on more new mala necklace designs since I got back from Bangkok. Inspired by Spring, Summer and Strength!

Market Day!

This is what I bought at my local farmers market this afternoon; asparagus, peas, birds eye chillies, limes, cilantro, and the most amazing tiny heirloom cherries - I'm a lucky lady! Everything is incredible quality, tasty and SO fresh, the only thing I really miss from home is avocados. 

Great feedback

What makes your day? At the moment I confess that my highs and lows are pretty driven by whats happening in my Shop. Anyway today is a good one,  my latest review came in and its a goodie: 

'The crafstmanship is impeccable; there is tiny knotting between every 2 - 3 beads which adds to the structure and also shows a lot of delicate labor involved. I will not hesitate to order from this artist again."

Having happy customers is wonderful!

Shopping trip!

Some of the new supplies I picked up at the Palladium Mall in Bangkok last week. This is a really great jewellery supply market on the basement level that is open all week (unlike chatuchak, which is only open on the weekend), it is also all indoors and that means air con!! There are tons of amazing stores with supplies from as far afield as the Middle East. It was honestly all I could do to hold myself back from spending hundreds, thankfully I will probably be back within six months so used that as an incentive not to go too crazy! Prices are good, the wooden and glass beads you see were around 50bht (about 1.50usd) and the gemstones about four times that. There was also a lot of other supplies at higher and lower price points - hopefully next time I will have a little more money in the kitty!

Mala necklaces

Here in Dali, Buddhism has a long and important history. This was the gateway to the southern silk road and one of the pathways of Buddhism into China. Because of the famous and ancient Three Pagodas, many pilgrims still make the trip to Dali and Mala necklaces and bracelets are a very popular item. Many of the local designs are made of wooden beads both simple and highly refined from a few dollars to hundreds for rare woods and hand carved beads.

My Malas are inspired by these designs. I have used the traditional 108 beads with a distinct spacer every 27th bead and a 'guru' bead and tassel to mark the beginning and end. I have used pearls for these ones as they are of course my favourite!