Halloween

It's Thursday, so "I-share-my-beloved-jewellery-designers-with-you-day", and it is Halloween... So I looked into my little repertoire and share with you this horribly beautiful bracelet. I am extremely afraid of spiders and have had a horrible experience when I was a child: I cycled under a pine tree and a spider with it's little spiders on her back fell on top of me and all the little spiders started running all over me... this spider with eggs is a piece I could NEVER wear!! Happy Halloween!

http://www.delfinadelettrez.com/

Mea culpa!

I have been "off" for a few days... well it is kind of the holidays, with Halloween? For my American readers, please note that we don't traditionally celebrate Halloween (nor Thanksgiving). We do go to the graveyard and visit our deceased relatives. We in return celebrate Sinterklaas (see the parallel with Santa Klaus?) on December 6th, but I will tell you all of that in due time. To finish this parenthesis, did you know that you can use burial ashes to create a synthetic diamond to mound in jewellery, or you could enclose the ashes directly into a piece as such? Don't know if that is appealing, but it exists.

So this week there is no class, and the only significant change I have to mention to my own situation is that I now have a tree in the middle of my living room... well, a piece of one. Just like the real professionals ;-) It didn't turn out as wide as I had in mind, but maybe that is better after all? It is still kind of humid, so I have to move it around, and there is no man in this house (yet, I am not some kind of man-hater). Below a pic of the tree, and on top my copper finished bracelet!

New rules

The first new rule is that on Thursdays it is my day "off" from school, and I would NOT bore you with my own studies but instead introduce you to a jewellery piece or designer I particularly like. Week after week you will know more about my own taste and hopefully discover new artists that you might also like... deal? First designer I would like to introduce is from my own soil, as I am a extremely proud to be from Belgian ;-) I pass in front of her shop several times per month and really like the piece below... green, of course... Check out her website and let me know what you think!

http://www.christareniers.com/

Cocaine will blow your brain

and ecstasy will mash your life! I have worked on the rock all afternoon and I am feeling kind of HIGH. Good news, I have started reducing my medication and my neck/arm/back is slightly better. This resulted in baking cookies with my daughter this afternoon and making really good soup! And filing on the rock. I have finally decided to trade the crappy file I bought for the stone, with my good metal file and it is indeed easier to work with. But I have yet a long way to go...

Did you see my diamond?

Another so-so day... high on my drugs went to a whole day of class to work on my bracelet. Some mistakes in there but the soldering overall went well: in fact I think soldering is so far my favourite activity in the studio! Because my nipped nerve is keeping me from pressing on a whole day, I decided to clean my prettiest ring from the brand Djula. It's is a green agate with lots of little diamonds set in pink gold. I hung it in the ultra-son and... lost not one, not two but three diamonds!! Had to filter out all the water from the machine in some coffee filters (with the help of my teacher Saskia) to find the little buggers and planning to take the ring and the rocks back to Geneva next week to file a complaint. I am kind of sad that the quality is that bad... but a friend of mine had warned me that this brand's jewellery is probably all produced in Asia and not of very good quality :-( I assure all of you that the pieces I will produce will be of excellent quality! In the meantime, see here my half finished copper bracelet:

Warrior

That's how a feel, like a warrior.. proud to have won the battle, but tired and hurting and in need of some love! I DID crawl up this morning, and drugged myself to the limits to go to class. Sat around in the studio for a while, high on some morphine derivate, avoiding machinery and still managed to get out some links for my upcoming bracelet... After a full day of goldsmith classes and pain then went to my Swahili class, sat in the front row and tried to make the most of it. Feeling proud of myself ;-) I am about to get a new dose of drugs and have a long night of sleep to be as fit as possible for tomorrow's classes, where I will finish my bracelet... and post the pictures for you!

Pinched

There I stood, at 3h30pm, crying at my daughter's bed asking her to get up so I could go to the hospital. She was ever so cute and helpful as she co-piloted me to the emergency entrance, because I couldn't switch gears properly and couldn't turn my head in any direction. I knew it was a pinched nerve in my shoulder/ back/ arm/ neck and that there wasn't much they could do, but I didn't stand the pain any longer. So it is numb and sedated, drugged in fact, and aggravated by the constant pain during the whole day that I faithfully write a little post. To say I did not do any of the work at the bench I had set out to do this weekend. And at the same time to post a picture of a beautiful cuff by a Brasilian-Irish designer... enjoy!

http://www.gurgel-segrillo.com/

Reset - Reboot

What a day. It started out pretty ok, as I didn't have to yell at my 8-year old this morning to get out of the house in time. But then, somebody pushed the roller coaster button, and it first went DOWN. Arrived at the studio, all ready for 925 silver alloying: NO oxygen... NO melting. I wasn't equipped for the plan B, so I decided to make a sacrifice and cleaned out the polishing machine, transferring the dirt from the filters in the machine... on to my clothes, face, and inside my lungs. Felt quite heroic though. Then the train went UP: Alain was there with us and he is such a good teacher! Ok, I did feel like it was back to square one, as he disapproved of most of my work, showing it flaws and improvements I should make. I put my huge ego aside and decided to Stop - Restart. I did manage to finish my sphere and realised that I am good at... Polishing. An idea for my next job: professional polisher. Would have to move back in with my mum, but would do a job I might become really good at ;-) So until the new bottle of oxygen arrives, I will be creating all my pieces once more from scratch. Sigh

Never stand still

I have to remind myself these days not to stand still! It's tempting: autumn is settling in, I have about 30 boxes of tea, 10 different kinds of chocolates, no job and a very comfortable sofa. I could just hang around BUT I am saved by my todo lists. Today on the list: paperwork (check), filing (check), bank appointment (check), take care of daughter (check), bake muffins (check), cook dinner (check), ironing (fail), cleaning (fail),... nearly got there! It's is funny how the cleaning always ends up at the bottom of the list and then gets kicked off 'till the next day. Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day as I will get to spend AN ENTIRE DAY in the studio! and I am then invited for dinner. In the studio, I will finish polishing my sphere, might re-work on my puzzle and will start alloying 925 silver for the bracelet. The best news however is that tomorrow we will be all day with Alain Roggeman, our third teacher whom until now wasn't able to come into class for personal reasons. But that... is another story! ;-)

Deep thoughts

For a shallow blond girl. I decided that after knowing how to saw, drill, file, polish, create spheres and solder I should already be able to create a small collection of jewellery... no? And although I have always dreamed of it, all that inspiration I though I had... is gone :-( But I put myself to work, because I would love to surprise family and friends with my own work for Christmas. So here are the few little drawings I have started to put on paper... unfortunately the lack of money might result in most of it being produced in less noble material, like copper. Lots of work ahead!

Unchained

I have good news and I have bad news: the good news is that I succeeded in creating my sphere, the soldering went well, I now only need to polish it pretty. I will post a pic of that as soon as that is done (Friday most probably). The bad news is that I had some words with the polishing machine when trying to polish a silver chain. Too bold to ask advise, I made a technical mistake and was lucky to only lose the chain, and not a finger. A great reminder of the fact I am working with real machinery and need at all times to remain safe... I did manage to make my medal all pretty, so that piece is now also ready for the exam. Next up after the sphere is polished: a silver and copper bracelet, so Friday I will start creating the thread for the links, from some flakes of pure silver and copper from an electric wire, to 1mm round and square threads! Exciting!!!!! Here is a sneak preview of the design ;-)

And my unfinished sphere got in the pic too!

Right foot

I got out of bed with my right foot AND Vimeo seems to have gotten my complaint message and is willing to collaborate this morning. As if that wasn't enough, the sun is making an effort to shine away the rain for a few minutes (hopefully hours)... GOODMORNING Brussels! (say that in the Goodmorning Vietnam way, for those who are old enough to know that film - yes it is better to read my blog out loud, especially if you are in an open plan workspace)

This all to say that I am going to drawn you in video material, and my teachers Saskia and Nico will become worldwide stars. I might not get the Oscar for director, as I don't even know how to edit the clips I record, but it is the thought that counts. And as a bonus you will learn Dutch!, or will have to use those eyes to understand what is going on... First one up: the little clip I so desperately wanted to share with you last night:

Click here to view the Video!!

And because I feel like it: a little though of the day!

Tired and irritated

Because the freakin' upload on Vimeo isn't working. I paid them for the professional license too, such a rip off. And disappointment, because I wanted to share some images from our class! And I am tired. Monday's are hard now, with jewellery classes AND Kiswahili lessons. Home after 10pm... but I felt guilty for not having posted anything yesterday, so I am taking my last bits of energy to tell you what I did today: I made two hemispheres, creating domes from a piece of metal with a dapping block. The video which I owe you shows how Saskia demonstrates this technique to us. The idea is that we make a perfect ball, creating the hemispheres and soldering them together. Mine are in copper and created from two circles with 2.5cm diameter. Tomorrow I might be able to solder them together... and of course, you will be the first to know! Lala mzuri!!

Ass-I-licious

Today I found out that having a build-in-cushion in my behind is good when you want to be a goldsmith. Ha! my tall, pretty, partner in crime today could barely make it through the afternoon with her skinny ass on the wooden stool, while I spend all day polishing, on my behind, comfortably. Guess some skills can't be taught ;-)

Today I sanded away for 3 hours or more, only to polish for the other 4 hours. The result is my medal, also known as the third piece to submit for my first exam. I inspected it again tonight, and guess what?... I will have to start all over, I am not happy with the result, some spots remain in the metal: sand, polish once again! You might want to wear sunglasses to check out the picture of the medal!

My medal taking a bath in the Ultrason

Dedicated to my audience

Last night I checked the statistics of my blog. First of all I would like to thank all readers, wherever they are, for taking the time to read me. I must admit I was very much surprised to see that I am being read so often in the US!! I only share the posts through my own Facebook page and I only have a few US based friends, so I am really flattered that other people there seem to appreciate my writings.

It also confirms that I would probably have to write in French for my numerous French friends to catch on ;-) hehe! 

Now, I am getting a little frustrated with the one-way traffic of a blog. I would really appreciate it if you left me (anonymous) feedback, by using the comment fields or tick boxes on blogspot, or by liking my page on Facebook (Almasi Kijani), so you can write on the posts or messages directly. I want to learn from you too, and I would like to make sure that I write in function of your interests! Anyways, today is a rest-day again, so I might come back with a post about a jeweller I like later on... Have a great day!

Akuaba

Today I worked on my medal, still drilling. The inspiration of the design comes from the Ashanti doll, which I am so used to find in jewellery in Cameroon. I was showing off with my work when one of my friends asked me about this symbol and left me without being able to answer. God knows how much I hate not knowing the answer!! So I also had to look it up, because all I knew is that it has to do with fertility and that it isn't necessarily something from Cameroon! Here you go, copy-pasted from my friend Wiki (week in Swahili):

Akuaba are wooden ritual fertility dolls from Ghana and nearby areas. The best known akuaba are those of the Ashanti people, whoseakuaba have large, disc-like heads. Other tribes in the region (f.ex. Lobi people ) have their own distinctive style of akuaba. Traditionally, these dolls are carried on the back of women either hoping to conceive a child, or to ensure the attractiveness of the child being carried. When not in active use, the akuaba would be ritually washed and cared for.

Ha, I told you so (well, more or less). We go to bed, a little more educated once again...

Bombeiros

Although my day had a relaxed start, the late afternoon completely made up for the low stress levels. I said fuck (many times), asshole (to a police man!), and even cried... all of that because the firemen decided to burn down Brussels: fuck the fucking fuckers!! My poor mum had to hear my frustration on the phone a few times, because I am a true believer of sharing ;-) After driving for 2,5hours to go 4miles, I got into my Kiswahili class much too late: Hakuna shida (I really need to learn some swear words in Kiswahili). Anyways, I am still on the jewelry blog, so let's stay focused: today, I drilled. I must say, drilling is more fun then sawing or filing. Hopefully there is no psychologist amongst you who will try to interpret that preference... oups, there goes my dirty mind again. From swearing to dirty mind: I am a bad girl today, and it is all the fault of those protesting bombeiros... Amani!

Maille Palmier (tutorial)

Long overdue, but in the end I had to pay a 60euro subscription to Vimeo to get the videos online in a decent way! The second video of my "training" in Cameroon... the Palm Tree chain. Won't spend too much words on this, I prefer you to click on the link below and watch Sani ;-)

Click here to view the Video!!

Lazy Sunday

After a lazy Saturday (I took a Four-hour nap), it is a lazy Sunday. And to sooth my guilt feelings for doing nothing I decided to work on the Rock. I think I will have to go to a regime of "filing an hour a day keeps the stress away", because this exercise is going to last forever and get on my nerves. Seriously, how the hell am I going to transform this rock into the design I set it out to be? Suggestions? Anyone in need of clearing their minds, feel free to swing by and file away for an hour. Any former coke addicts in need for some white powder... feel free, I have loads of that too. Maybe I should just get up and do some cleaning instead :-(

Theory

Well more or less... the day started out shaky as I tumbled down my own stairs half asleep and hurt about every limp of my body. Real Funniest Home Videos material, as I was lying half naked on the floor (wait that sounds like porn material instead). But I am not stoppable by such a minor incident, so I licked my wounds, took some painkillers and went to class. I didn't want to miss out on all the theory that was on the program today: polishing and alloy casting! I also was going to surprise you all with video material BUT my phone had a bad day too :-(... So you will have to survive on the two pics it allowed me to take. I will try to spoil you next week! Happy start of the weekend!

The Rock

I promised you the rock... But something more important came up tonight. I got up at 6am in France, went to Geneva, veni vidi vici-ed had lunch with a friend (and lots of girl-talk), went to the airport and took a flight to Brussels, met with a great woman, drove her home, got to Matonge and went to Swahili class... So far so good, right? WRONG! Swahili class taught me this: Kijani Almasi doesn't mean Green Diamond, it means Diamond Green. It should be Almasi Kijani instead and it really makes a difference: F*CK! So I had to rush home and instead of making my rock all curvy, I had to do some  damage control. Sooo close to printing my business cards! ok, but since I promised you the rock: here it is. It now has (after two days of filing it down) a straight base... which will have to be round too. It sits next to my bed, on the floor... still hoping for a gnome to come by ;-)

(s)Crapbook

Or better Sketchbook... I should have chosen a firmer model, seen the quantity of stuff I am sticking into it, it won't last long before the Belgian flag will refuse to hold the paper... but since I am no longer rich, I have decided to stick it out and make it work, coûte que coûte! It's supposed to be an inspiration board, a test board, a key board (was trying to think of other board words: HA, surfboard). Any nice things you will share with me might end up in there. I am fixing my soapstone with despair, as it is supposed to turn into a "voelvorm", or cuddle-stone before early November... right now it is a ROCK. Where are those gnomes when you need them? Will write about the rock tomorrow, if my first Swahili class doesn't get the best of me.

Euphoria

After the storm, here is the sun! I had an excellent day filled with straight lines (not coke) and chocolate ;-) First of all, I woke up doing some positive thinking the way the Americans do: Yes, I CAN! and then decided to focus and concentrate. Brought some good vibes in my headphones to class and got to grips with the first exercise to submit at my exam early November. And although of course it isn't perfect, I present to you: "mijn eerste plaatje dat op iets trekt!"... I am ready for a seriously perfect puzzle on Friday! Breath in, breath out... and have one more Neuhaus chocolate (the new collection "haute couture" is out NOW)