Big news

Hello dear friends, sorry for such a long silence.  After you hear my big news, you'll understand better why its been so quiet on the blog front. I'm happy to announce that I have two big Salons coming up this merry month of May!

I'm very excited to take part for the first time at the Unicrea Salon in...(drumroll please)......Switzerland!! Yup this show's going on the road.  This is a very special salon which reunites about one hundred artists, from painters, designers and sculptors to those like me who create jewelry from all over Europe. Its a great line-up and I'm very happy to be part of this year's spring edition. Not only is it going to be full of wonderful creative people, this Salon will take place in the gorgeous Chateau Morges, along the shores of Lake Leman.  How is that for a setting? Did I say I was excited already? I'm fairly jumping out of excitement!  The Salon starts on the the 3rd of May and runs till the 6th.  Maybe see you there?

No less exciting is the return of the Journee du Fait Main in France on the 12th and 13th of May.  I wrote about first ever Journee du Fait Main last year and I'm happy to announce that I am once more taking part this year.  It promises to be bigger than ever with 60 events (as of last count, with maybe more coming) all over France and over 800 artists! Its going to be big. The goal as always is to promote the hand made, the artisanal and the original. Everything that De Petites Merveilles stands for!

Here in Paris, there are at least three events and I will be at the Place du Richard Baret in the 17th arrondissement...

Eh voila, the exciting news from my end! Hope to see you in one of them!

Nomad's Market report

The day before Nomad's Market, I was feeling apprehensive and worried. The weather did not look promising--all gray sullen skies with a cold wind. How on earth were we going to do for Sunday?

Fortune smiled on us because Sunday dawned clear and sunny. Nothing but blue skies and a brisk wind. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just look how beautiful it was, with the Notre Dame just in front of us.

Peniche Henjo

Peniche Henjo was surprisingly large inside with room for us and the different people who stopped by.  I even lucked out on my spot which was just in front of the entrance.

Setting up a stand is an art of itself and requires lots of planning and thought, something I didn't necessarily know in the beginning. You have to have a large enough selection to give people lots of choices, but not so much that the stand looks crowded and busy.  Here's how mine looked that day. 

A selection of some of my new bracelets--millefiori from the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th mixed with some vintage french glass

 A close-up look of my sautoirs. Remember this frame? One of the frames I found in the brocantes last year.

And here's a peek out of my window. It was pretty impressive to see the boats passing by and the Seine was pretty busy that day with the cruise boats and private boats like this one..

Of course I couldn't resist checking out other people's wares and there was certainly a good and more importantly varied selection.  I loved this one....a product after my own heart. The artist, seated on the left, works with recovered materials from industrial sites and reworks them into contemporary light fixtures and lamps. Aren't they cool? I bet he spends as much time in brocantes as I do. Luckily we're after different things!

After some time, the jazz band set up and it was real party atmosphere.

There was also a stand on artisanal hand made Moroccan oils and beauty products.  I passed by and it smelled divine!

Cute baby things that I could barely walk away from...

and colorful printed slip on socks and shawls.

Nice change from boring old beige ones you stick under your ballet flats right? These ones are pretty enough to wear with sandals.

And finally, some pretty handmade bookmarks.

A lovely group of people if I do say so myself. I'm sure we made lots of people happy that day! Looking forward to the next edition!

A day on the Seine

Fancy spending the day on a boat along the Seine? Well come along and join me at Nomad's Market, this sunday, the 1st of April, 2012.   I'll have loads of pretty things for sale and there's going to be a capoeira demonstration as well as a jazz concert in the afternoon. This market is part of the city's first ever Vog en Seine-- all day long, several ports of the Seine will be playing host to different musical and cultural activities.

Sounds fun right?

Here are the details:

Peniche Henjo
35 quai de Tournelle 75005, facing the Notre Dame
75005, Paris

Brocante sunday

More often than not, there are at least two or three brocantes held in various parts of the city on Sundays. I'll often find treasure like this for example, but there are also times when the treasure comes in the array of interesting things laid out before one's eyes. This Sunday is a good case in point.

There was a ton of interesting china and household furnishings in the brocante I hit and while this isn't my particular field, I took pictures of the nicest objects I found.

Hope you'll  enjoy this selection as much as I did.

I never knew what these tiny glasses (I wanted to show their detail so they look big, but really they're tiny almost like shot glasses size) were for till I asked.  These particular ones date back from the 19th century and they're hand carved crystal. You can imagine how I took a step back after I heard that. I didn't want to accidentally knock them over while taking a photo! And they were used for very strong spirits--like eau de vie after dinner. Since they were so potent, they only needed small glasses!

Then I saw this gorgeous sewing kit made of, are you ready, ivory and silver.  It was absolutely gorgeous and heavy to boot too! Good thing I'm not much of a sewer else this little beauty would have come home with me. And now I know why elephants are now endangered since back then even such things as sewing kits used to be made with ivory!

 And this one, I've never seen till now. 19th century ladies smelling salts! Isn't it neat?  I don't know if the picture shows it clearly but the inside was filled to brim with what looked like rock crystal salt. I found it so beautiful and I could totally imagine some lady dressed in tight corsets holding it up to her nose so as not to swoon. I was transported. And tempted to add it to my growing pile of beautiful yet highly impractical objects in my house, but at 170 euros, I had to leave it behind.

 And finally a tapestry print hat bag, of a more recent vintage of course.  I totally found myself thinking of reasons why I had to bring it home.  Alas, reason prevailed once again. What in the world would I store in this thing?

Ah, but you didn't really think I came home empty-handed did you?

A delicately pretty milk pot and matching sugar bowl from the early 19th century. I got a really good deal too because somewhere along the way, the little sugar bowl lost its cover.  I didn't get too finicky about this detail because I love the way they look together with the pink and gold stripe running along their rims.  I love the way the handles curve and the pretty lip of the milk pot.  How could I pass it up?

A necklace update

Hello friends, despite the long silence I've been hard at work on some lovely new pieces.  I'm really happy to share with you this new set of necklaces.  Its different styles for different folks and tastes. They're made from different kinds of glass beads from Millefiori beads, French beads, ice beads to Bohemian beads.  Maybe you'll see something you'll want to take home with you? 

Sautoir with wedding cake beads

Silver and gray 

"Ice" beads from the 20s/30s

Faceted Bohemian beads from the beginning of the 20th century

Gorgeous millefiori beads

French glass beads

All are now available in the  shop! Stay tuned for some exciting news later on!

Chambres des poupees

 

Since I use antique and vintage beads for my jewelry I'm perpetually at brocantes and vide-greniers,  ever on the look out for materials to use. These past winter weekends haven't been very fruitful. The cold, the damp and the gray seemed to have hidden all the treasures I normally find. I didn't even manage to take pictures.

So I wasn't expecting much when I set out this weekend.  But there were wonderful finds to be found. I'm going to have to do two posts!

The Rubedo line

Cuff

To commemorate their 175th anniversary, Tiffany is not only coming up with a new line, they've come up with a new metal! That's right, you read it right-- a new metal. Its a compound mix of gold, silver and copper though the exact amount of each ingredient is unknown.  It's supposed to have all the shine and luster of gold with the flexibility of silver.  I had to take a look at their website to see this new metal.  It looks very similar to Victorian gold or rose gold and it makes for a very tempting selection. I've selected a few favorites which are shown here (pictures courtesy of Tiffany.com).

I love the idea of a new metal and this color is just beautiful.  I wouldn't mind adding the cuff or the hoops to my collection.

Hoops

 Isn't this ring so delicate?

Ring

Its so nice to see such an established house Tiffany continuing to make great strides in jewelry making. Its a good lesson to remember that creativity is an endless wellspring and that are imagination should be unfettered!