bee's knees jewelleries

I did it. I opened a brand spankin' new Etsy shop, called bee's knees jewelleries. Pop by, have look, and let me know what you think!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade beeskneesjewelleries.etsy.com

The Ring

No, I don't mean the American remake of the Japanese horror film Ringu, though the horror film title is very appropriate for this blog post on Halloween. I'm talking about the ring I made this evening at my jewellery class.

We made sterling silver bands – sawed, hammered, texturized, annealed, and soldered bands of our very own. I pressed mine with some lace and antiqued it, giving it great texture. After all that, I have to say that I'm not crazy in love with the final result. If I were to choose a ring for myself, I would choose something much simpler with less detail, but I love playing with the different techniques. Besides, I'll probably still wear the ring every day because I made it with my own two hands, plus I stamped a little hidden symbol of love into it. Can you see it?

You say solder, I say solder.

Last night was my first of eight Beginner Jewellery Making classes at Nanopod. Our first project was working with copper. We drilled, we sawed and we soldered, and it was a lot of fun! My piece didn't turn out a well as I'd hoped, but I really enjoyed the process. So much that I'm thinking about all the tools I can buy to continue creating metal works of art at home!


my piece from last night that I cut out of a small piece of copper with a saw, filed, and soldered with my very own hands!

Random conversation about the class, had about a month and a half ago at my home, went something like this:

me (showing my cousins and the boy the nanopod website and the description of the class): I get to work with all these metals, and I get to solder!
cousin: it's "saw-der"
me: what? oh. I thought that "sole-dering" and "saw-dering" were two different things.

Sometimes, I'm really dumb.


In other news, look what I found at the cafe next door to the studio! Hell ya! Apparently they also sell a chili pepper one, but were sold out last night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they have more next Wednesday night!

Nanopod Studio

I just got an email from Akimbo about classes at Nanopod Studio. I'd done a little silver jewellery making in high school and loved it, so I've been thinking forever to take the beginner course – and now they are offering a 15% discount when you register with a friend! Now, if only I had an interested friend...

This is the email I received:


Celebrating our 2nd year on Harbord Street nanopod is offering 15% off 8 week & 3 week courses when you register with a friend!
Summer Courses & Workshops

Learn to hand fabricate & cast your own jewelry & sculptures out of Sterling Silver!

You will make a band ring,
learn one of the oldest casting techniques,
set stones, and much more...


Beginning Jewelry July 4th or July 9th
8 weeks, Monday evenings or Wednesday evenings
6:30 - 9:30pm $250 (deposit of half is required to hold space)

week #1: First evening: working with copper-safety, drilling, sawing, soldering.
week #2: Making a band ring out of silver (stamp, hammer finish, roller print, etc.)
week #3:working with wax create pieces w/the lost wax technique
week #4: Finishing wax projects, cleaning up castings> cuttlebone casting [mishka: I will have to ask if there is an alternative to the cuttlebone class. maybe more wax practice?]
week #5: bezel settings, tube settings, alternative settings for found objects
week #6: forming & findings (ear wires, pin backs, pendants), married metal > create beautiful silver beads,etc.
week #7: riveting, make another piece!
week #8: finish up projects

No experience necessary!

Updated!!

I finally updated my shop! Thanks to VeganKnitting for giving me a little kick in the pants.

And, yes - That is a Facebook tab opened behind the Etsy Shop. Add me to the obsessed.

ETA: 1 necklace is spoken for already! Thanks, my friend Summer!

ETA#2: The Magnolia cluster necklace is sold! Thanks, Lindsay! You rock!