Paspaley Polo in the City

Earlier in the week our friend Helena rang and asked if we would like to attend the Paspaley Polo in The City. We said yes and were invited along. Very interesting as neither of us knew much about Polo apart from it involving men riding horses and hitting a ball with a stick (and that Charles, William and Harry all play). We were guests in the Jaeger LeCoultre Marquee. We had a great day, wonderful canapes, great Champagne and interesting people. Must remember to wear a hat and sunscreen as I have some very interesting tan lines on my decolletage today. So here are a few photos of our Day at the Polo.

Rene enjoying a glass of Mumm Champagne


Me outside the Jaeger LeCoultre Marquee


Some of the polo action featuring the Jaeger LeCoultre team






Thanks for having a look!!

Ciao for now!!

GBR Swap item recieved

Well my Great Barrier Reef swap item that I received is a very pretty pendant of sterling, coral and pearls made by Lily. Have to get a bit of chain for it to go on. Here is a photo of it.




Thankyou Lily for the lovely pendant!!!

Thanks for having a look!!
Ciao for now!

2 Forum Swaps

Well I recently took part in two swaps on the Beading Forum. The first was the summer exchange where we had to make a non jewellery item. I made a bag charm for a handbag(obviously). Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic..D'oh!!!! Sterling chainmaille with swarovski and sterling dangles.

The second one which I have just sent today was for the metal/wire sections of the forum. We had a theme of Great Barrier reef and had to make a pendant. So I used some coral, aquamarines, apatite, opalite white and black pearls, sterling silver wire and goldfill wire. Here are some photos of it:













Thanks for having a look catch you soon!!!

Ciao for now!

Sydney Bead and Gem Show 2007

Well the Bead and Gem show hit Sydney again last week. Unfortunately once again I only got to spend a rushed 1 hour there, but I did manage to grab a few goodies before meeting up with some of the Beading Forum girls for dinner. So here they are:

Freshwater pearls


Sterling Silver clasp with Amethyst


HUGE SmokeyQuartz


And here are a couple of photos from dinner plus a little video. We had a great Greek dinner at Orexi Souvlaki on Charles in Parramatta.

Sharyn and Anne


Abbey, Yvonne Bianca and?
.

Byzantine Variation

Following on from my last post, this is now the completed necklace using the byzantine triangle. The triangle form the front and the rest of the chain is regular Byzantine. I finished it off with some Iolite stones with some aquamarine rondels on top and bottom of each stone. I was able to get a beautiful Sterling clasp with an Iolite cab from Rebecca at The stranded Bead.






I have now seen another variation of byzantine that forms a cross that will be something to try oneday. I saw it on a wonderful site called www.artthouglorious.com/ You have to go and have a look at Chad and Audrey's fabulous work.
That is it for this update. Keep well and catch you soon!!

Ciao for now!

Practice

Well last week I spent quite some time looking for a tutorial for a Byzantine Triangle weave for chain maille. No luck. Today I managed to find a photo of the weave used in a chain, and thought that I may be able to just wing it. Well it worked and I am pleased to show a photo of it. Unfortunately it is slightly blurry for some reason.



So this week I cut some more rings and get cracking on a necklace incorporating these triangle segments.

Thanks for having a look and catch you later.

Ciao for now!!!

Beading Forum Swap

Over on the Australian Beading Forum we have just had our first Metal/Wire Working Swap. We had a theme of Spring and had to make a pendant for around $5.00.
I made the following pendant for Alison(Pumpkinflower).....


It is made of sterling silver, freshwater pearl and a citrine.

I received from my swap sender, the VERY talented Erin Johnson, the following gorgeous pendant....

Latest Pieces

Just some quick shots of a necklace I have been working on and a pair of earrings that only took me 10 minutes.

At the moment the necklace is a work in progress and the pendant part is temporarily hung on a Sterling Silver Chain. Turquoise and Coral:

Can be worn either side, so have not designated one as front and one as back.







And some turquoise drop earrings. Bit of serendipity with these, I had the cones already and they fitted the drops perfectly.




Thanks for having a look!!

Ciao for now!

Viktoria

IWC Cocktail Party

Last Thursday Rene and I went along to the cocktail party for the launch of the new IWC Da Vinci watches. It was a fabulous night. It was held in the marquee where the current exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci is being held at Fox Studios. The exhibition is of models made in Florence using Da Vinci's notes, drawings and ideas. Amazing workmanship in the models which are mostly made of wood.

Rene with the Helicopter Model

Rene and Mark


As for the watches....they were beautiful. Here is a link to IWC https://www.iwc.com/index-en.asp and about the Da Vinci watches here....
https://www.iwc.com/messepopup_2007/davinci/index-en.asp.
We met some friends there who also had invitations..Helena, Mark, Shaun, Julian and Christina, Teng and Robyn, Chris and more. We also had the pleasure of having a chat with 5 time World 500cc Motorcycle Champion Mick Doohan who we found out is the Australian brand ambassador for IWC. Great talking to him and being able to not only get an autograph but also a photo.

Rene, Mick Doohan and Me

Our Friend Helena with Mick Doohan


We had a great night despite the cold(only one heater unfortunately). Great canapes and lovely Moet. The real highlight of the evening was being able to hold and admire the new Da Vinci watches.

That is all for this time nice and short. Ciao for now!

Viktoria

Singapore and Hong Kong Holiday Part 2

Well back again with another holiday post. This is edition is about everything except the beads and gems.

We left Sydney at 8am and arrived in Singapore at 2pm(Singapore time). Nice and hot there. We got our transfers to the hotel checked in, relaxed a bit, checked what time our friend Dave was picking us up and then decided to head in to Orchard road. Not much had changed in the 7 years since our last visit, just a few improvements and 1 or 2 new plazas.

Did our initial reconnaisance of some watch shops and discovered that Van Cleef and Arpels had moved in to Ngee Ann Plaza. Yippee!! A new store to visit. After our whirl wind visit to Orchard Road we returned to our hotel to get ready to meet our friend Dave who lives in Singapore. We went for a fantastic Chinese dinner at The Asia Grand. Amazing food! Really delicious bean curd with mushrooms in it and garlic and oyster sauce, So much food but all delicious. After that we went for a coffee in a cafe in Raffles city and had dessert too!

Monday and Tuesday we mainly spent working our way through two pages of watch boutuques that we had to visit and found one or two that we hadn't anticipated. We also looked inlots of other shops too. Tuesday night we went to an American steakhouse called Lawry's which was fantastic, beautifully decorated like in a grand house, and great steaks(good wine too).

Rene and I at Lawry's


Wedesday and Thursday, Rene went to work for a bit and I got time to myself(see post for Part I) and got to explore on my own a bit. Wednesday night we had dinner with Rene's new work colleagues and then Rene and I went to Raffles for a Singapore Sling. YUMMO!!!! They even let you throw the peanut shells on the floor....how decadent!

Rene enjoying a real Sling!


Me at Raffles


Thursday night our friend Dave took us out for another delicious meal followed by cocktail at the Sentosa Resort. We went to Jumbo Seafood over on te east coast and hed real Singapore chilli crab, pepper crab - the crab is cooked in a wok with black pepper, hot but a different heat to the chillies in the chilli crab. Satay chicken and noodles rounded it out. We also had a late afternoon tea at Vivocity of Singapore style tea and toast with an amazing Singapore spread on it.

This was about the best photo we were able to take of Jumbo Seafood

Me at the Sentosa Resort


Friday morning we checked out of the hotel got our transfers to the airport and took the plane to Hong Kong. This was our first time there and it was a great time. We didn't do much. Lots of wondering around, took the funicular(sounds rude doesn't it?) up to Victoria Peak. Went to watch boutiques and jewellery stores. Just did a reconnaisance of the main area really. Had dinner at Hard Rock(yes we got souvenir glasses), Japanese in our hotel for lunch was great, dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, amazing steaks and fantastic service!! Saw a movie(Pirates of The Carribeanpt3) and then after that had afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel. So much food for afternoon tes that we didn't need dinner.
Next time we go to Hong Kong we will definitely be going for longer 3 nights was not enough. Anyway here are a couple of photos from Hong Kong to finish this post off.

Me at Victoria Peak


Me waiting for the Peak Tram


View from the Peak Lookout

Me enjoying a cocktail at Hard Rock Cafe


That is all for now. Catch you soon!

Ciao
Viktoria

A Couple of Little Videos from Hong Kong

Well I have just discovered how to put videos on to my blog(I am rather techno challenged!!!) So here they are. The first one is me on the Star ferry which I still have to email to Mum and Dad.



This next one is one Rene did when we went up Victoria Peak(wasn't it nice of them to name it after me except they got the spelling wrong!LOL)



Here is Rene at the Hard Rock Cafe when we went for a cocktail.



And here I am at the Peninsula Hotel before we had afternoon tea, but after spending some cash!! As you can see I went to the same school of presenting that Belinda Jeffries (From BHG) went to....have to learn not to smile while talking!!LOL I think a bit of lippy might have been a good idea too! At least I wore some jewellery I made myself.



Ciao for now time for bed!!

Singapore and Hong Kong Trip

Well we got back on Tuesday morning after having 8 nights away from home. We spent 5 nights in Singapore and 3 in Hong Kong. It was nice and hot over there and now we are back to the cold.

Anyway while in Singapore I had plans to go bead/gem shopping. I had a nice list of places to visit but unfortunately left the list at home. So I went to the drawer in the hotel room and looked through the Yellow Pages( I have some good ideas occassionally) and jotted down a few addresses to check out. So here is my list of shops that I was able to get BUSI cards for, arranged by loation within Singapore. They are all easy to get to via the MRT or take a taxi(cheap as!).

A note on Addresses: eg #03-39... the first part(#03) means third floor and the second part(after the hyphon 39) is the shop number Building number and street comes first and then the above. B means basement.

Chinatown:

These are only a couple that I visited I had a few more addresses but ran out of time to go to them.

For gem stones:


YL Jewellery - Mr Choi
1 Park Road, People's Park Complex
#03-40A
Ph +65 6220 6206


Mason Jewellery Manufacturing and Trading
1 Park Road, Peoples Park Complex
#03-K75
Ph +65 6538 1126

Swarovski and general beads and findings:

Mix and Match Merchandise
101 Upper Cross Street
#02-69 Peoples Park Centre
Ph +65 6532 0181


Hearten Beads House
101 Upper Cross Street
#B1-72 Peoples Park Centre
Ph +65 6226 3440


Peoples Park Complex and Peoples Park Centre are two different buildings.

Tools:

Kwong Seng Hardware
28 Mosque Street
Ph+ 65 6533 6951
This small looking shop has a good range of jewellers tools at great prices!



My purchases from Kwong Seng Hardware: ring mandrel, small anvil and wire gauge, this cost me SGD$59(about A$47).

There are another couple of tool shops in the area if you check the phone book.



Orchard Road and around:
Orchard Road is one of the main shopping strips in Singapore with block after block of shopping malls.

Two shops on Bencoolen Street which is close to Orchard Road:

Bead Hub
91 Bencoolen Street
#01-17 Sunshine Plaza
Ph +65 6223 3662
Website www.beadhub.com

EGems
91 Bencoolen Street
#01-10 Sunshine Plaza
Ph +65 9730 3789



Blue Chalcedony from Sancy and Peridot(3.5carats) and Citrine from EGems. SGD$185 for this lot!

Lucky Plaza has an amazing number of small jewellers shops that have ready made jewellery, unset gemstones and semi precious bead strands.


Sancy Jewellery
304 Orchard Road
#B1-102 Lucky Plaza
Ph +65 6734 6832

Gems & Gold Jewellery
304 Orchard Road
#B1-62 Lucky Plaza
Ph +65 6738 4018


Jen'sJewellery
304 Orchard Road
#B1-158/157 Lucky Plaza
Ph +65 6235 7551



Eng Tai Jewellery Trading Co
304 Orchard Road
#B1-86/83 Lucky Plaza
Ph +65 7327831



Diamond House
545 Orchard Road
#01-16 Far East Shopping Centre
Ph +65 6235 2395





Scotts Road off Orchard



Swan Jewelry Pte Ltd
14 Scotts road
#03-117 Far East Plaza
Ph+65 6734 5159



Sollani Jewellers Pte Ltd
14 Scotts Road
#03-109 Far East Plaza
Ph +65 6235 1292
Web www.sollanijewellers.com



Goldie Jewellery
14 Scotts Road
#03-68 Far East Plaza
Ph +65 6734 2725



Traders Gems Pte Ltd
1 Sotts Road
#03-09 Shaw Centre
Ph +65 6235 1789

For more addresses on Singapore bead shops visit Battra's web site/blog. Here is the link: http://www.battra.org/category/beads/singapore-beads-stores/

This was the list I forgot to take with me, I will not forget it next time!!!

This is it for part one of my holiday report
Catch you soon.

Ciao for now!!!

No Wolves on the Way to Grandma's

Had a quick trip up to my Nan's to visit her and Dad and to drop birthday presents for Mum and my Aunt. Stopped in at the fabulous LAKES FOLLY Vineyard for a taste and to pick up our box of vino. We had a bottle of the Cabernets with dinner last night and it was fantastic!!!

Ended up making a bracelet for my Aunt and put the pendant with the bracelet for my Mum as they matched really well. So made my Aunt a Euro 4 in 1 three row bracelet in Sterling and Gold Fill with a Bali toggle. Here it is:



Had coffee with Nan and Aunty Pam and heard all about Aunty Pam and Uncle Hunter's trip to Vietnam. Then went to Sue's for a few hours chatted, got to see some of the pottery pieces she is working on. Teapots of all different shapes a fanastic looking boat, a violin and some helms inspired by ancient warriors complete with "damage" from weapons. These were all in the drying stages and I can't wait to see them fired.

Also got to meet her Pugs, Don and Mrs Bourke. They were so cute!!

Mrs Bourke:


Don (on Right) and Mrs Bourke:


On the way home stopped in at Binnorie Dairy and tried some of their fresh cheeses, yummy.Bought a bottle of Labna which is a cheese made from yoghurt.

Anyway have to get ready for work. Ciao for now and hope you have a happy, and safe Easter with family and friends. Don't eat to much Chocolate!!!
Catch you later!

Busy Making Presents

Well have been busy getting some presents ready for Mum and Sue(my Aunt) for their birthdays next month. Still have to find the right clasp for Mum's bracelet and I think I might embellish the bail on Sue's pendant with a bit of wire weaving and maybe a pearl or something. I'll see what happens when the muse hits me(hopefully not with a baseball bat!!LOL)


This particular chain maille weave is called Parallel Helm. I have made these in Sterling silver and GF so they have a nice two tone look.

Not much else has been happening. Settling in at the new job and enjoying it very much.

That is it for today and hopefully Mum and my Aunt don't have a look here before their birthdays!!
Ciao for now, catch you soon!!

Last Day, First Day Plus a New Pendant

Well my last day at RSGC was on Monday. Bit sad to go as they were a great bunch of people to work with. It was nice to work in a place that has some real history behind it. Any way here are some photos I took of some of the people I worked with. I do have a few more but they are on my mobile and I have to work out how to load them onto my computer.

Amy, Alanna, Roxanne, Me and Arianne


Patricia, Nam, Amy, Alanna, Roxanne and Arianne


Loryn and Viet


Gary, Leanne, Tony and Me


Belinda, Ryan, Me, Gary, Loryn, Charlie and Leeanne


First day at the new job at Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL yesterday was good. Had a short day (9am to 2pm) met most of the guys and gals in the kitchen. Today I start in the Fernhill Bistro which will be interesting part a la carte and part ready cooked in bain marie.

And lastly here is a pendant that I finally finished last week, I did it in stops and starts over two weeks. From a tutorial from Remy at http://www.studioheath.com/tutorials.php. I really learnt a lot while making this and look forward to making another one. Here it is:

Little Miss Stormy: Sterling Silver and Labradorite cabochon......


Thanks for having a look!

Catch you soon, ciao for now!

Resigned And Other Stuff

Well yesterday I officially resigned from my current job to start a new one in two weeks. I will be taking a step up the cheffing ladder to a chef de partie position. New work place is a lot closer to home (10 minutes away) and will save a lot of travel time and I will generally be home by 930pm, YIPPEEE!

On to other news.

Made a gorgeous GF Byzantine chain bracelet as an order for Rosalind at work. This is the same as Mum's that I made for Christmas and forgot to take a photo of.....so here is the photo(still can't take a good photo of jewellery LOL)......


Work has started on the front of our house with cracks in the mortar being refilled and the corbel being straightened out. We will also be having some pretty lace work put on and some steel bars(brick stitching) placed in the wall to help it not to crack anymore. Will take some photos of the work as it goes along.

Well that is it for today catch you soon!! Ciao!!