Estherly, handmade jewelry, sophistication displayed

What have I been up to?
The weekend was so busy that it just went passed so quickly!

We had a food gathering with our friends yesterday night and oh boy… we chatted continuously for 2 hours with food and drink non-stop. You can imagine how bloated we were when we finished and then, we rushed for our next-round to celebrate a surprise birthday gathering for Ed.

Yesterday morning, I went downtown to make my usual purchases of beads and supplies. I dropped by another shop to look at what they have. It was the first time I visit this shop because I just found them through the internet. Apparently they are into the jewelry business for more than 10years. However I was rather disappointed when when I looked at their product range. Their minimum order amount is also very high and the prices are ridiculous.

I have also started working on my website. Hmm… I was scratching my head to work out the technical details to start a shopping cart eventhough I have an IT background. I feel so outdated!

I can’t recall how many months I have been getting this credit card statements from this particular bank where in actual fact, I never had the physical credit card with me after I applied it 1+ year ago! The application was approved, but I never receive a confirmation letter informing me that my application has been approved or any phone call to ask me to collect the card! To make it sound even more stupid, the first statement that I received from the bank was when they charged me the annual membership fee! Sigh…

So I called them to report this ridiculous incident and they agreed to not charge me the membership fee. I told them too that I wanted to cancel the card! So, the card is cancelled. The story does not end here! Now, I still receive the credit card statements every month
because I now have $20 credit with the card. This time, the bank needs to refund me $20! And honestly, I have no idea where did the $20 come from!

When I went to the bank to close my saving account, I inform the teller about this -$20. She told me that I have to call the customer service and ask them to refund me this money. And I was like, you’re the teller, can’t you just check the records and find out what has happened and reset it back to zero and stop sending me these credit card statements?

Anyway, today I’ve been working on some sample projects that I found from magazines. The pieces that they shown are beautiful. The difficulty that I found with working with these sample projects is that I have to always read the instructions many times to ensure that I’m doing the right thing. Some are new techniques so I took some time to practise them to make sure I master them.

At the same time, I also finished Glen’s bracelet. She chose a Bali-style bead from my selections and I promised that I will do something for her. She is a simple lady that doesn’t wear much accessories. So I was taking some time flipping thru projects to find some idea so that I can do something to suit her. I’m thinking of giving her something that she can wear daily as well as during special occasions. Finally I landed on memory wire and I combined the Bali-style bead with some wired coils and beads.

I did these coils myself with my newly bought 21g silver plated wire. I got this Bali-style bead from my polymer clay teacher in Netherland. She has many special beads collection and this is one of them. She is a very nice lady to learn from because she is very open and is willing to share many tips and tricks of jewelry making and I definitely have learned a lot from her!

The first time I went to her house for class, I was just so fascinated with the surrounding. She stays in a 2-story house, small, but cosy and comfortable. The most attractive part is that it is just next to a river! In that morning, I can see boats passed by in front of her house and birds singing and flying across the sky. There is no massive traffic like in a city… it’s just calm and peaceful. The next round when I visited her, she gave me her folded chair and I managed to put it just next to the river and enjoy a moment of tranquility and my book. :) I wonder how many times in life that we can have opportunity like this to stop, sit down and read a book in such a beautiful surrounding?

Ever since I came back from Netherland, Kenji, my rabbit has been very attached to me. He has definitely grown big and fat! Thanks to Fel, her grandma and her maid! They have helped me to take care of him when I wasn’t around for that 2 months. They have definitely fed him well :)This morning when I woke up I saw him jumping around his staying area and I was wondering why. I thought he was hungry so I prepared him a big chunk of cabbage and put it in his bowl. In the afternoon when I came back home, I finally understand why he was jumping around. He has got diarrhea! And guess what, he finished his cabbages and left me with an empty bowl! I quickly cleaned him up and put him in my living hall. I, this rabbit servant, started cleaning his litter box and his area because he has been stepping on his wet stools, as a result, I can see dry patches of footprints in every corner of his staying area. Then I gave him a bowl of pellets and fresh water, plus a clean litter box with fresh hay. Ever since then, he has been sitting quietly in a corner. I did check his private area, it wasn’t watery. So it couldn’t be diarrhea… probably that jumping around is telling me to clean his litter box… anyway, will continue to keep watch on him.

Mid-morning I was out because I needed to go to the center to celebrate Fel’s birthday together with the gang. I made her a ring last night. I hope she likes it. It was my first attempt to work on a ring with baby bell flowers. I got these beads from US and they looked absolutely lovely when I combined them together with cateyes, pearls, bicones and seed beads. Well, I like the look because it’s loud and classy. It has a ‘full’ look which I purposely wanted it to be that way because I personally don’t like ring that are too simple (except wedding ring, just one big stone will do… hehe).

The celebration was a joyful one because we all gathered for lunch as well! Aunty P, the cook that I’m going to learn nasi lemak from, has prepared some fried noodles, red bean soup and some desserts. I put Fel’s ring into a small black velvet bag. The moment she got the ring out, she was literally shouting, “It’s a ring!!!” That’s because Win has been choosing rings from my selection and she always didn’t get to choose them (Win took the recent ones). So this time, she got it!!

It’s one of the fulfilling moments when something that you have created is appreciated and liken by others. I should have captured her look with my camera. She proudly put the ring on and showed off to the ladies. I’m glad that she likes it.

Even though I have much business building experience before this, but starting a jewelry business is not as easy as what people think. To me, just the suppliers sourcing (of getting the quality and pricing right) and inventory management are skills needed to be learned and brushed up, especially to organise these tiny little beads into a proper inventory system and what’s more storing them! But I enjoy doing them. No complains.