Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Kumar blessing a piece of jewelry

This is a short video of Kumar blessing a rudraksha necklace he made for the guy (you briefly see in the video). Rudraksha necklaces are worn by many holy people throughout India and are considered very sacred. They are special seeds from a special tree and are very precious throughout the land.

From Wikepedia:Rudraksha mala has been used by Hindus (as well as Sikhs and Buddhists) as rosary for thousands of years for meditation purposes to sanctify the mind, body and soul. The word Rudraksha is derived from Rudra (Shiva—the Hindu God of all living creatures) and aksha (eyes). So, Rudraksha is related to Shiva’s eyes. One Hindu mythology says that once Lord Shiva became so compassionate after seeing the sufferings of mankind that He could not stop to shed tear from his eye. This single tear from Shiva’s eye grew into the Rudraksha tree. Rudraksha tree belongs to the Elaeocarpus genus of the Elaeocarpaceae family that grows from the Gangetic plain upto the Himalayas. Rudraksha fruit is green in color but turns black when dried. The central hard Rudraksha uniseed may have 1 to 21 faces. The five-faced Rudraksha seeds are the most common.

Monday, January 19, 2009

almost finished






It's been 3 weeks and we are almost finished with our first round of jewels. Oh man, I am so excited about them. Yesterday, I spent the day with Kumar. He had me engraving some of my pieces and it was so much fun. We have a good time together working and laughing. So enjoy these photos of what is to come.

Thursday, January 15, 2009






We finished our first piece the other day.. It is a beautiful, yet simple yellow topaz astrological ring. We also finished the prototype for our rough diamond rings... so, cool, but I don't have photos yet.. soon.


All is well. Today, I had to force myself to stay inside and do some compute work.. No fun, but necessary. One thing I love about being here in India, is the inspiration I get just from being out and about during the day. Everyday, I see something I have never seen before and it is really mindblowing and my mind suddenly goes where it has never gone before and creations begin...

So, with that.. enjoy the photos..
me in Kumar's shop
Rangaswami working
big chunk of gold being made into a necklace
Kumar working
the ring we made..

Monday, January 12, 2009

mehendi







Wow!! over a week flew by since the last time I wrote and it actually seems like a month. I always say, while traveling in India, each day feels like a week. The days are so full of so many things, activities, feelings, intensity, drama... etc...

Yesterady, I had mehendi on my hands. it is so cool. The last time I did this was 6 years ago on my wedding day. I had the afternoon free yesterday and decided to treat myself to the salon, head massage, followed by eyebrow threading and then mehendi. India is so great!!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

you take full rest




I have been running around like crazy since I arrived and keep telling myself to slow down and find a rythmn, a healthy pace, but alas I continue to go go go. It's fun and I know at some point I will have to "take full rest" as they say here.

I've had two days at Kumar's shop both with very little work, we have been talking about work and making a plan. We decided to officially start our work on Monday. This is good, it gives me time to sit down and figure everything out, and finalize designs. I always wait until I get here to finalize my design ideas, inevitably the energy and spirit of India inspires me to make some changes. This is good and I am very happy about it...

Some ideas I am working on are some larger light weight hoop earrings with my set stones hanging. these will be reversible so we can wear them with the engraving in the front or the stone in the front. I think they will be very cool. Plus we are going to make some rings and more pendants and earrings of course.

I am also here in Mysore studying yoga. Tomorrow our yoga shala opens and I am so excited to start that part of my journey as well.

the photos are:
Chamundi Hill temple with brass Nandi (bull)
Indian sign (I love taking photos of these)
village man washing his bull in the river.