Sheeps Can't Dream

Etsy treasures

noreply@blogger.com (jane-martha) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:36:00 +0000

Can't believe how much time I spend wandering on Etsy to discover little treasures, real art pieces, and lots of amazing things. Since I just LOVE seeking unusual pieces, little marvels hidden sometimes in some unfortunate places, Etsy's become one of my favorite way to look at numerous different things without putting a foot outside :D

Etsy is a Goldmine, Alibaba's cave, or whatever pirates treasures you may eventually spend a life-time to find.

My First heart-stopper is Called Ivy from Edera Jewelry .

"Edera Jewelry is a luxurious collection of handmade lace and textile jewelry. Specializing in wedding designs, I create each piece in my Vermont studio using old world lacemaking techniques, luscious semiprecious stones, real gold and silver threads, and rich findings of 14k gold filled and sterling silver, for a distinctly romantic and opulent effect..."

I think I just love everything in this shop. The pictures are amazing, and no need to say the jewels themselves are absolutely breathtaking. I'm in love with this Vintage Spirit, the shape of each piece designed in the finest way, the way golden & silver threads absolutely sublime the luxurious pearls. I would personally wear that kind of jewels everyday, and would not dedicate it to a bridal or a very important event.

Ivy is just as talented as sweet, and she deserves her work to be spread : so come and have a look to her shop (here) and her lovely blog (here) !

****

I think I might blog about one talented person I discover in almost every post, and include a part dealing with my work if I don't have much to say about me ahah.

I finished the earrings inspired by one of my favourite films : Black Swan.
I had already done the "White Swan" earrings, and couldn't wait to make the black ones. I chose to make them of Soutache braid, even if the braid I had wasn't a really good quality one, made me so upset during the work-time...

I used a lot of crystal elements (Swarovski & Bohem ) as well as metallic silver beads, Miyuki Tila beads, Square beads and seed beads. I added some feathers and doubled the entire piece with a gorgeous Vintage black lace.

What do you think ?

I'm going back to my beads =) Have a nice eve

Calling Bombay

noreply@blogger.com (jane-martha) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 10:52:00 +0000

I've always been fascinated by Indian art, traditional clothes, jewelry, natural make-up and Bollywood style, even if Bollywood movies are not quite my cup of tea, except for their aesthetic aspect.

Spending a few weeks in India have been part of my little dreams for years, and I'm glad some of my best friends made this same dream come true over the last 2 or 3 years. They brought plenty of wonderful pictures, had a really unforgettable trip even if life isn't as simple as you may think through some colorful pics. Well, someday, hopefully, it's gonna be my turn :)

While waiting for such a great opportunity, I tried to make some "Bollywood style" pieces of jewelry (as you may already have noticed), trying to give them both the shiny and colorful aspect I love.
I didn't want it to be seen as a "cheap" thing, associated to "poor people" design, "weird traditional culture" and such ideas I don't want to hear about. Bollywood sense of colors, fabrics, statement pieces, shiny and noisy little details are, to me, a full part of worldwide High Fashion designs.

Chanel gave Indian fashion a fantastic tribute throughout the "Paris Bombay" collection which is, without the shadow of a doubt, my favorite collection ever. But I'll probably do a full post about it, because it's such a huge part of inspirational things to me.

So, after no less than 115 hours work, I finished the neckpiece I tried to be close to what I like in Indian art & fashion. Every detail was patiently realized , and I'm pretty glad I managed to mix both Soutache & Bead embroidery.

I bead-embroidered the central piece around an Ivory-like elephant cabochon (I even tried to give him a little crown ahah) and then did little soutache pieces I put together to make a huge statement necklace.

I used an incredible amount of beads, crystals and soutache braid, in bright colors, and backed the whole necklace with brown ultra suede whose edges are embroidered with beads.

There's also a great song that inspired me a lot for that necklace I used to listed to a lot as it provides me a huge source of energy, and I decided to give its title to my necklace : Chinese Man : Calling Bombay . I just love that band I luckily saw in Strasbourg a few years ago, it was such a great performance I had get the whole discography immediately after getting back home from the festival.

Last, but not least, some paintings from my friend Thomas reminding me the Chinese Man/ Indian universe :

Here's his Facebook Page

Etsy Shop Launch

noreply@blogger.com (jane-martha) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:01:00 +0000

Between two embroidered beads and 3 soutache braids stitched, I finally opened my own Etsy store this morning ! I'm so glad, 2 people already put my statement necklace in their favorites !

I'm pretty satisfied with the whole thing, how it turned out in the end, because I managed to make a banier (Okay, not so great a banier but that's just a start) and it looks pretty clean compared to the precedent Etsy try last year !

So let me show you a necklace I did with a little help from my boyfriend (He's in drawing and painting and He's so talented, I'm his biggest fan =) ) So he drew the Elephant and I did the beadwork.

Chant Down Babylon necklace

(Swarovski elements, seed beads, Vintage glass cabochons)

I forgot to tell you that I had something like a Facebook page you can feel free to like and share : just right here

And of course, if you want to shop something, just have a look at my Etsy store

RIGHT HERE

Colorful Range

noreply@blogger.com (jane-martha) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:09:00 +0000

Though I am not so good at updating a blog, I'm going to keep this one going, as long as I "produce" (very slowly) new pieces of jewelry each week. Well, I have to admit it's been two weeks so far that I 'm trying to finish a few projects, and I still have no idea how they're going to end up, since I still have a lot to do : but I hope they'll look as great as possible :)

If you have not noticed already, I am truly in love with everything a little crazy, and sometimes I have a crush on things nobody of my relatives would wear. I am crazy about English fashion (except, maybe, the legging worn as pants with a skin-tight short top ) especially some gorgeous designers whose collections never fail to let me

wish I had an unlimited credit card debit. I use to buy most of their stuff second-hand, and I'm glad to say my little collection is growing up slowly each year, with a few pieces I absolutely love.

Well, lets go back to the thing I wanted to show you originally. Having said I love everything almost unwearable (I know, I sound like a 85 old granny saying the same things again and again all day long), I did a FULL COLOR range of jewelry to match the clothes I like, or letting you put your hand on them if you're looking for something to give your outfits a little touch of happiness =)

Chant Down Babylon Ring( 2012)

(Seed japanese beads, stone cabochons, Swarovski crystal, Sterling Silver )

Still a Weirdo Ring (2013)

(Swarovski cabochon, japanese seed beads, metallic silver beads, Swarovski crystal beads, Sterling Silver)

Smile Statement Necklace ( 2013)

(HUGE range of different beads, seed japanese beads, acrylic & turquoise cabochons, magic beads, metallic beads, Swarovski elements)

Haute Couture inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (jane-martha) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:36:00 +0000

Coco Ring- 2012

(Swarovski cabochon & beads , gold metallic & ivory beads, japanese seed beads)

I've always been fascinated by the fabulous work of some luxury brands, especially their old collections, showed in some borrowed flats, in front of small amount of people, when it was still full of art, unique pieces, princess-like dresses and jewelry.

No need to say that my favorite over the whole Luxury industry remains Chanel, because I'm truly convinced that the artistic light is still part of the brand, and that it's been promoting handmade quality accessories, embroidery pieces added to wonderful dresses and outfits. I'm talking about special collections they promote every once in a while, making me almost dribble on my laptop keyboard, overwhelmed by the finest beauty of the whole collection.

Since I'll never been able to afford such amazing stuff (One can dream, still), I decided to take my needle and beads and create a few pieces that remind me of everything I've been dying for in the last few years, wandering through loads of beautiful pictures around the internet. My favorite inspiration source is the Vintage Chanel old collections, full of quality lace, white pearls, gold & black associated to their amazing taste whenever they mix fabric & ornament supplies.

Well, lets have a look to what I did in the last 2 or 3 months.

Every piece is Unique and took me an incredible amount of time and patience.

What do you think ?

White Swan Earrings (2012) available here

(Glass Vintage white cab, Swarovski Crystal AB cab, Japanese seed beads, Sterling silver clasp)

Coco Cuff /Bracelet (2012) available here

(Swarovski crystal, ivory pearls,glass beads, japanese seed beads)

White Rabbit Necklace (2013) available here

(Soutache, Swarovski cabochon, Czech crystal beads, Swarovski pearls, ivory drops, Metallic gold beads, japanese seed beads)

This is where the whole thing starts.

noreply@blogger.com (jane-martha) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:35:00 +0000

Chant down Babylon earring (2011)

Everything needs a starting point.

I decided a few weeks ago to create a brand new blog on which I entend to share everything dealing with my jewelry, things I love, treasures I find on the internet, inspiration and techniques.

There's a lot of genuine handmade jewelry around the world, young designers deserving more success and loads of talented people I would love to share with you on this blog.

Of course, this will mainly deal with my own & personal work.

I've been creating jewels for 2 years now, and hope getting better each time I have a new project in mind, getting inspiration from the very heart of my (sometimes) crazy thoughts and dreams.

I've always been interested in making my own personal accessories, using both beads and polymer clay when I was younger to create a lot of weird things at which I laugh today whenever I put my hand on a very old thing I did when I was about 12 or 13. I've been experiencing a lot of different techniques, and surprisingly, I've been more than seduced by those ridiculously little seed beads I used to criticize before, because of all the absolutely ugly things kids use to do with them (I have in mind the famous "crocodile" everyone had on its keys ahah but well, to be honest, I was totally crazy about making beaded animals and insane "jamaïca" bracelets... but hey, I was 12 ! ).

I found in Beads the best way to express myself and reproduce what I imagine to be the perfect "Princess necklace" or simply jewelry I can't find in stores or can't afford. Honestly, even if what I do is not perfect and not always similar to what my mind express clearly, I've been surprised by all the possibilities beads can lead to, and I've totally changed my mind about the good old seeds beads.

I love seeking for unusual stones and old beads, mixing olds & modern materials, trying new things I have absolutely no idea of what it's going to look like in the end. Sometimes it turns out terrible, but at least, I tried.

I've always been suffering from not being part of a specific identity/status/normative case. But one day, an amazingly good person full of love and hope told me that what it's called madness and irregularity is a gift I have to accept and be proud of, even if I can't already see it this way. That's why I call my jewels "Dissident", because I am aware that they are not wearable by everyone, because I know I have sometimes very weird and unusual ideas which some people may totally hate. But what I create is a very part of me, and I won't adapt my work to norms and fashion rules, even if I'm really sensitive to fashion in general terms, and that I've got loads of different influences from everywhere, because it's just a natural human behavior, at last.

So, Here it is, I really hope you'll like what I do and follow my little journey throughout little beads and other materials.