I Can Dream, Can't I?

Via Apartment Therapy.

What 5 degrees looks like...

Inspiration: Scandinavia

(click to enlarge)

Since I am half Norwegian (my Mom was born and raised in a small town by the Swedish border), I've spent a lot of time over the years visiting the area. I think that is why I am drawn to all things Scandinavian - the food, the culture, the landscape, everything! I guess I have Norway on the mind lately as it is inspiring some of my latest jewelry designs and maybe my fashion choices too. Or maybe it's just the frigid Boston weather (it's supposed to be a high of 10 degrees tomorrow!) that's drawing me to the cozy wool knits!
1) Heist's Vintage Norwegian button charms - soon to be available in the Store
2) Fashion from NorwayDesigns via Lifeiscarbon
3) Street Fashion from Stockholm via StockholmStreetStyle
4) A wool sweater knit by my Mother

For more (mostly Swedish) products, visit Northerner.com - they even ship to the U.S.!

Introductions: SpruceHome

Last week's featured seller on Etsy was SpruceHome from Austin, TX. I always have to check out the interviews, mostly just to read the answers to their "describe a typical day" questions. I like to picture my future life (fingers crossed) of designing jewelry, gardening and taking my dog for long walks in the woods (these are the usual responses that cause me to question all aspects of my life). Regardless, I am in LOVE with some of their beautifully reupholstered vintage furniture...particularly the "Mid Century Greensleeves Chair" (second from the top).

Winter Wonderland

Last night we received 8 inches of snow here in Boston and in the photos above you can see the view from my stoop this morning. Even though I've been up here for three years, I'm still fascinated by snow and always feel the need to snap a couple photos every time we get any sort of accumulation. I also constantly feel the need to be snuggled up inside my apartment with a cup of hot cocoa! Now that I have my own studio, I also feel the need to stay in and be productive!

As you can see, I've had some success with my PMC experiments! Nothing too sophisticated or complicated yet, but I'm well on my way. The pieces above are just simple charms made from impressions of vintage Norwegian buttons that were brought back from my grandparents' house in Norway. The initial charms were made using other little charms and stamps and they will be available in the initial of your choice! It's hard to see, but the one on the right (the "t" charm) has a faux lizard skin impression for a background.

What do you think? Any suggestions? Any item in particular that you would like me to make? I'd love to hear some (gentle) feedback on these as I continue my experiments.

(Click the images above to see an enlarged view!)

Feeling the Love: Cindy

A few months ago, I got a phone call from my mother (in Miami) telling me that a girl named Cindy had somehow tracked her down and called her after seeing someone on the streets of New York City wearing one of my rings, and that she "had to have one." Well she ended up getting, not one, but two - "Cindy" and "Chaos!" Cindy ended up being the sweetest thing ever and just sent me the picture above of her rocking her rings! I LOVE IT!!!
She informed me that she will send another (more detailed) picture of the ring once she gets it, so I'll be sure to post it up once I have it...thanks Cindy!

For those who missed it...

...the Gabe Dixon Band on Jimmy Kimmel, January 7:

Studio in a studio

Well, it's official, I finally have a "jewelry studio" in my apartment! Seeing as how I live in a studio, obviously my "jewelry studio" can't be all that elaborate, but I seem to have found a good little area for my kiln (above the dishwasher), a good work surface (my kitchen counter, next to the microwave) and I've managed to free up a drawer to make room for my PMC supplies! Impressed? I am!

Up until this point, the needlepoint charms were made on the couch while most other items were made on my desk (after clearing off the stacks of paper and pushing my Macbook to the side). In other words, everything was everywhere. I'm hoping now that I have my own little work space, things will be more organized and I will be more productive!

So far I'm loving my Paragon SC2 kiln...although (of course) I promptly discolored the bottom when I fired one of the soldering/firing boards on it. Now I'm firing the second one (the proper way) and I'm hoping it's cake from here on out. But as you can imagine, I'll probably have tons of stories for you over my next few weeks (months?) of experimentation...wish me luck!

Is This Love

A while back, I posted a blog about my friend Gabe's band, the Gabe Dixon Band, and their cover of Bob Marley's "Is This Love" (played on Melodica!) that they were performing on the road last year. Well as promised, they released the official video of that song today...check it out above!

In other Gabe Dixon news, the band will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight! Check your local showtimes to catch them in action.

Website

If you head over to our website you might notice that as of today your browser will be automatically redirected to our Etsy page. This is only temporary, as our website is currently being created by our good friend, Jim. So in the meantime stick to getting our updates here or on our facebook page and our myspace page.

Moving on up!

As you know, the handmade/one-of-a-kind store, Oak, has been selling Heist for a few months now. Well, Oak is moving around the corner to 245 Newbury Street, which if you've never been to Boston means that the store will have much better exposure as Newbury street is one of the most popular walking and shopping streets in Boston. The lovely Keara (the owner of Oak) had the signs above made and posted in the window, as you can see, featuring the Scrabble Piece charms! (See the lower right window pane). Heist in a Newbury Street store window?! THAT's a first!

And here is a scan of the February Lucky magazine featuring Oak...again!

Inspiration: Katy Perry

I'm not exactly a top 40 radio kind of girl, but every so often someone comes along that grabs my attention, in this case, Katy Perry. While I'm not totally confident that I could wear some of these get-ups, I'm still finding a lot of inspiration in the way she puts herself together. Plus "I Kissed a Girl" is full of pleasant summer memories for me. The days of my wandering around NYC secretly listening to that song on full blast this past summer seems like a distant memory on gloomy, snowy, rainy days like today.


Who you calling a CHIMP? from Katy Perry on Vimeo.

A Miami Christmas Break

I know I've been kind of vague about these "new jewelry experiments" I keep referring to, so I want to explain just what it is that I've been working on. I recently discovered a material called Precious Metal Clay ("PMC") which is a clay, created by Mitsubishi, that contains microscopic particles of silver (or other precious metals). When fired, the clay particles burn away, revealing .999 fine silver. As you can imagine, the options are endless and I am brimming with ideas!

Here's the problem, I am hardly a sculptor so learning how to work with this material is quite the challenge! Well I got an informal lesson from a friend and spent many hours creating some test items, using stamps made from vintage buttons. When I put my carefully crafted items in a kiln (a very old kiln that doesn't give accurate temperature measurements), here's what we discovered an hour later:


That's right, a whole lot of nothing! Discouraging, right? Well here's what's giving me hope, the one success of this story:

So the experiments continue. First step, I have to buy a kiln. Here's the beauty that I will be ordering today:

I just need to decide if I should settle for the manual (cheaper) or splurge and get the digital version.

In other Miami Christmas break news, check out these pictures of Zero on Christmas morning, helping to open gifts (his favorite activity of the year!)



Update: I've settled on the Paragon SC2 kiln and just placed my order...completely digital and programmable, slightly more expensive, but hopefully worth it! ;)

New Years Resolution: Healthy Eating

Around the fifteenth time someone recommended this book to me, I decided maybe it was time to get down to business. I bought it and started reading and there's a good reason this book comes so highly recommended...it will completely change your outlook on the food industry and what we should be eating for dinner:

"Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain us—industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves—from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating. His absorbing narrative takes us from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories, from feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on."

I'm not completely done with the book, but from what I've gathered so far, it looks like my 2009 will be full of organic food (REAL organic food, that is).

Inspiration: Alexa Chung

New year, time for some new fashion inspiration: Alexa Chung! I love how her style appears to be so effortless...although I'm sure each one is elaborately planned. Here's to a year of effortlessly wonderful fashion!