new pieces

Here are a few new pieces. The ring is for a friend. it is made with a blue pushparaga stone. This means scent of a flower in Sanskrit, but is actually a light blue sapphire.

the earrings are the same as the elephant tale hair rings. by request i made several pairs that are now for sale..

all is well here.

ciao...

first exhibition

I had one of the two exhibitions I am going to have while I am here in India. it went really well. unfortunately, my photos were really blurry...today has been a long work day which is not over yet..I have to go back to the city to be with Kumar to finish some of our engraving work.. going into the city is always a bit draining, but I am happy to get this work finished.

more later...

THE RINGS

Here they are!!! they are stackable and they are amazing..

the first ring is the Ganesha ring with hand engraved om on one of the 3 gold plates. they are sooooooo beautiful. This is made of 20k gold and elephant tail hair (the black part) 9 are available in sizes 6-7.5

The second ring is the single Ganesha ring with only one strand of elephant tail hair, 20k gold and beautiful gold plates along the band. 6 are available in sizes 5.5-7

The third ring is the simple hammered gold band in 20k gold. I have only 12 available in sizes 5.5-7

the last ring is the double Ganesha ring with a rough cut diamond. this is the only available ring in size 6.

Prices available upon request. If interested, please reserve your ring by emailing me..

I have been getting a lot of custom orders the last few days and am excited to be making and creating while I am in India!!!

rings are in!!!

I am so excited..My rings are finished and they are beautiful.. Tomorrow, I will take a few photos and post them.

I have four kinds and they are so amazing. Also, my first two custom orders are off to Norway. The first piece is from my beautiful black basalt found in Victoria B.C. set in 20k gold and accented with a wonderful purple amethyst. the heart of Lakshmi is hand engraved on the back. the second piece is Mexican fire agate and an amazing 2 karat cat eye, with the tree of life on the back. I will also post photos tomorrow.

Today, I took a day off of work and hung out with friends... it was a great day!!

tomorrow I am going to start working on a custom order of 22k gold cuff links. I have to work on the design a bit, but these will be going to Tokyo..

i'm off. hope you have a great day!!

s

such an auspicious day!!!

Here are a few photos from my trip to Talakadu with Kumar and his family. he made me pose just like that for the photo.

Today was a very auspicious day!!! Since I have been studying and working with him for 5 years, most of my learning is through observation. Today he told me, he is going to teach me how to solder the Indian way!! I am sooooo excited!!! I said," ok, let's start today." He said, "oh no Samia, we must wait for 10 days. I must wait to teach you until the stars are aligned in the correct way. You see, if I start to teach you on the auspicious day when my stars are aligned, it will be good for both of us and you will become a sanatana gotra in the vishwakarma caste."

i am really very honored by this and it is a huge deal for him to be teaching me in this way. Basically, he is formally taking me on as a student and he said, now I will be part of his caste because he is teaching me in the Indian style. this is amazing..

Kumar's work station

a few photos of Kumar's work station. I had a very nice day with him and his family on Tuesday. We drove out to a place called Talakadu. i will post some photos later

Muni annealing and other things

This is a short clip I took last year of Muni, another goldsmith. He is using the traditional style of soldering/heating metal in S. India. The goldsmith's sit on the ground and have a small fire in a flower pot (which they consider a God) with small embers of a coconut shell used as heat. They blow into a tube to create intense heat to solder and anneal. he is annealing (softening) a piece of metal so he can hammer and shape it into whatever he is making. In this case a clasp for my chain.

Today, I had a short day with Kumar because I am feeling very tired. He said I should go home and "take rest", which I totally did. He is taking a day off of work tomorrow because there will be no moon which signifies something important (I love India). So, he is taking his family on a day trip to a place called Talakadu, which is supposed to look like the desert. He has asked me to join him and his family. So, I will meet them at their home in the morning and eat breakfast with them and then we will go.. I am very excited about this!!!

working away!!!

I have been busy working with Kumar since I arrived 3 days ago.. It is going very well and he is teaching me the Indian style of using a "compass". In the picture, I am practicing on copper. The other photo is of Kumar and Rangaswamy.

We are working on our new pieces as well including rings. yay!! Finally some rings. It is all going to be so cool.

Safe arrival and auspicious beginning

I arrived two days ago in the wee hours of the morning. After resting for a few hours at a hotel in Bangalore, I took the train to Mysore (where i will be) I got on the very full train and absolutely could not find an empty seat, I was hot and carrying my heavy bags and then I saw an older lady sitting by herself. We started talking and talked the whole two hours. I asked her a million questions about Indian jewelry and it just so happened she was wearing a very special piece. the piece in the photo was given to her by her mother who died at 94 and she had been given the piece by her mother who died at 105 so this beautiful ruby necklace is close to 200 years old...Wow!!!