eels all over the interwebs

I have been so lucky to be featured in a few gorgeous blogs lately, thought I'd share...

The amazing Danielle from Sometimes Sweet featured me in her regular Tattoo Tuesday post. Have a read here.

It was so great to have the opportunity to talk about myself outside of my work. It was heaps of fun to share images of all the artwork I collect on my body, which is something I haven't really done before!

I also wrote a guest post on Winter Love for beautiful mama Natalie about the love of my life, my son Cash. I talked about the awesome adventure of motherhood and juggling working at home on my jewellery business with a young baby. Find it here.

The very talented jewellery designer and artist Sophie from That Vintage also did a shout-out to me and my work on her blog recently. This is such a huge compliment, because she's a super rad lady! Have a look here.

Keep an eye out on the tenmoregirls blog too! I will be a featured artist on there very soon.

While I'm sharing links, I should also let you know that I have recently listed some new stuff on two more online marketplaces... 

The awesome new Young Republic site will be launching very soon, and I have already started listing items. The brand new site is very exciting and the Australian designers featured on there are looking brilliant. Check out a sneak preview of my shop here.

I have also joined the Australian based ethical handmade store Blue Caravan. It is a beautiful site that promotes sustainable design, locally made products, organic materials as well as ethical and fair trade production. All the stuff I love! Have a look at my shop here.

Instagram

I just love instagram! 


At jewellery college you learn photography. For a very good reason. Photographing your work well is so important, especially when you are trying to market your work and sell online. So I have a grasp of the basics of good photography and I know my way around an SLR. I also know how to use a macro lens to show the details of a piece of jewellery.


My iPhone has no macro lens. It doesn't pick up details or show how something works or its connection. I wouldn't dream of taking photos of my jewellery with my iPhone! That was, until I discovered the instagram app.


For those of you who don't use it, its basically like twitter for images. It allows you to apply filters to photos, like hipstamatic, and post them directly to your facebook or twitter profiles. People can also follow you directly, like and comment within the app itself.


The benefit of instagram is not to show exactly what my work looks like, but to give a feel for my work. I still use a proper camera for real pictures! I use instagram to take progress shots while I'm in the studio, or little sneak-previews of something I'm working on. If you use it right, you can convey an aesthetic in a really lovely, personal and direct way. This translates really well into jewellery work, as long as you follow it up with some good, crisp and clear images on your website as well. 


Here's a few of my favorite eels instagrams as an example.       


Work in progress shots...

Sneak previews of exhibition work...

Concept drawings...

Brand new work snaps, as its made.... 

If you'd like to follow me on instagram, my user name is eelsjewellery. Otherwise, I regularly post my photos on twitter @eelsjewellery


TE x

Delicious New Autumn Colours

A box just arrived full of beautiful pieces of polished water buffalo horn in the most stunning autumn colours, I just had to share some pictures before I started cutting it up, carving it, scrimshandering it and turning it into jewellery. They are so delicious looking that I can't help but think of butterscotch, espresso, toffee, mocha, and creamy lattes.

After seeing these pieces of material, I am thinking about carving images of animals. Not whales this time though! Deer, foxes, wolves, horses, birds and buffalo. I have been doing a few custom pieces with animal images carved into them and have really enjoyed it. So it looks like a new range is on its way!

While I'm on the subject of material, I thought I might also share some other pictures of the various kinds of raw materials that my pieces evolve from. In addition to the cut and polished shapes that I work with, I also use raw sheets and rods, various beads, vintage buttons, bone tools and even bone straight from the butcher.

Although these images are lovely, the true beauty of these organic materials lies in their warm tactile quality. I just wish you all could touch and feel the pieces. Working with them is truly inspiring. If you are a maker too, I'd love to hear about how your materials inspire and influence your work. 

TE x

blogging for tenmoregirls

As you may know already, this year, I am part of the tenmoregirls collective! A Sydney based group of contemporary jewellery designer/makers that come together annually to produce amazing exhibitions of concept based work. Very exciting!

I'll be blogging here regularly about the development of my work for the show this year, titled 10 Girls. 10 Colours. But I will also be blogging over on the tenmoregirls site.

I'm writing a regular Friday weekly post about the production of the event itself. I will be covering topics like; grant applications and securing sponsorship, budgeting, marketing, print design and production, building the exhibition space itself and all of the other amazing things that go into making an exhibition come together.

I find this part of being an artist and designer really exciting and challenging. Go and check it out at www.tenmoregirls.com. I'm sure you'll find it as fascinating as I do!

TE x