Competition time

To celebrate my 600th sale on Etsy I am hosting a giveaway through Facebook and Instagram.  

Up for grabs is an O bliss ring set (in the winners size) valued at $65. You can enter multiple times: 

1. Share on Facebook 

2. Like O bliss Facebook page (the link is to the right)

3. Repost this pic on Instagram with the tag #obliss 

4. Follow O bliss Instagram @o_bliss 

The lucky winner will be announced 1st December 2013. 

Goodluck!

Ring love

My engagement ring needs repairing, it has done for a number of years. So in its place I wear rings that I have made as prototypes for the O bliss range. Today I photographed the rings I am currently wearing (not on my finger as my hands do not make for beautiful photography).

The bottom ring is my gold wedding band that I bought from an antique shop 22 years ago. I have never bought jewellery from those big name retail chains, my preference is for unique handmade pieces and antique finds. So when it came time to select my engagement and wedding rings, I went antique shopping. I love the fact that this ring had a history before I began wearing it and often wonder who the woman was.

Next, is a plain hammered ring available from my online shop. 
It acts as a filler in this stack.

I made the third ring this week as a prototype. It consists of 13 individually faceted discs. I love it and will be listing it for sale as soon as I resolve sizing issues.

On top of the stack is a very special band. It was my grandmother’s wedding ring and since it was given to me I have not taken it off. Unlike my wedding band, I knew and loved the wonderful woman who wore this ring.

So there you have it, a beautiful ring stack that combines my two loves, handmade and antique jewellery. I think I'll be wearing this combo for a while.

Treasuring

I love creating Etsy treasuries. There is so much aesthetic consideration involved, beyond just finding great items to feature. Balancing shapes, textures and colours until the list 'sings' can often be a challenging process and then other times they effortlessly comes together. Occasionally one of my treasuries makes front page but mostly they fly beneath the radar of those elusive Etsy Front Page selectors. So I have decided to feature some of my treasuries on my blog. Hopefully you will find something special to buy in the mix.



Form and Function

Geometric items have been trending for quite some time now. I am far from bored with them and this list features some of my favourite finds.


Beauty is Simple

This list celebrates my own design mantra, 'less is more'

Country Charm

And of course I love a rustic edge - both in my own work and in others. In this treasury I have teamed some great rustic objects with a splash of plaid.

Find me at a market

June will be an extra busy month as I prepare for the Winter Design Market in the courtyard of GOMA on the 22nd. This happens to be the first day of the school holidays, which means I have a pile of marking and reporting to finalise in the coming weeks. Alas, this is the juggling act necessary to run my little O bliss venture, while teaching high school art full time.

My journal of ideas is full of new designs (as well as old ideas that have not yet been realised). This market will see the launch of new products, which will be added to my Etsy shop soon after, I promise. If you live local, I highly recommend you mark the date in you diary. This boutique market features many of Brisbane's finest artists and designers and of course, while you are there, you can explore the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art.

Sunday

Last month was my birthday and my husband bought me an olloclip (a micro, wide angle and fish eye lens that attaches to the iphone). With weekend after weekend of wet weather I have not had much opportunity to play with it. However, this weekend the sun returned to the Gold Coast and Sunday was the perfect day for a drive up the mountain to the Best of all Lookout at Springbrook  (with some family visitors from NZ in tow).  

Elite16 giveaway

I love a giveaway. This week you can enter to win 3 of my stacking rings. Just pop over to the fabulous Elite16 blog for details.

Happy birthday O bliss

Today marks one year since I opened my Etsy shop and it has been a richly rewarding year indeed. I opened the shop with the hope of making enough money to support my new silversmithing hobby. That goal has been more than fulfilled and I now find myself with both a fully kitted out studio and a thriving part time business that seems to comfortably compliment my full time art teaching job. For Christmas I rewarded myself with a long coveted rolling mill, thanks to a bumper Nov/Dec on Etsy - isn't she a beauty!

To celebrate my anniversary I am having a one day only giveaway via my Facebook page. Three lucky followers will win a pair of 5mm sterling silver studs. These have been my most popular item so it is only fitting that I give a few away. Pop on over to my O bliss Facebook page to enter.

Artist books

Some days as an art teacher are more rewarding than others. Today was definitely one of those special teaching days. I have a beautiful Year 10 art class who have been working on artists books or altered books this term. The concept is Essence, so they can basically explore any topic, but I aim to push them away from cliche responses and towards a more sophisticated visual literacy. The results are always fantastic but today yielded some extra-specially exciting works. 

This altered alphabet book is a treasure. On some pages the student has crossed out or circled every single chosen letter, on others she has stitched, or ripped, or overlapped letters. But I particularly love the cut out cover of the letter A which reveals beautiful stitching. 

Every page of this altered book was a delight so it was difficult to choose the pages to feature. Consequently these images are only a glimpse of what this wonderful book contains. The work journeys from a dark and depressed state into hope and happiness. This student has displayed a very sophisticated aesthetic for someone that is only 15 years of age.

I really don't think these images do this work justice. I love this book so much, I am trying to convince the boy to sell it to me. Every page instills wonder and delight. It is playful, instinctively sensitive and just a totally beautiful response to the concept of doorways/journeys.

There are many more wonderful books from this class and I have another Year 10 class to collect work from tomorrow. I must acknowledge the fantastic work that my student teacher Gabrielle Morosini did with these students. It is a pity she was not here today to see the results of her hard work. 

Cutest giveaway

Have you discovered the adorable soft creatures created by the very talented Olga Wassupbrother from Russia. I am such a huge fan and am excited to discover that she is currently having a giveaway. You will have to be quick though, because the giveaway ends in one day!

Check out her work on Etsy or follow her blog for great progress pics.

GOMA Markets

This Saturday I will be selling my work at the  Gallery of Modern Art Christmas Market in Brisbane. I have been attending this boutique market for a few years now and always leave with unique Christmas gifts for family and friends. It is such a privilege to have a stall for the first time this year. 

 I will be keeping company (from 9am to 4pm) with my dear friends Erin from Erinswindow 

and Kylie from Paper Boat Press.

If you live in or around Brisbane, I highly recommend the GOMA Christmas Market. It is located outside of Brisbane's incredible modern art gallery along the banks of the Brisbane River.

Etsy Feature

There has been some frantic tinkering going on at the bench in my lil' O bliss studio, thanks to a

blog feature on Etsy. 

In Etsyland being selected as Feature Shop is a big deal. How admin selects sellers is a mystery and even after going through the process, I can offer no insight.  But somehow I managed to catch the attention of the right person and for this I am incredibly grateful.

In preparing for the feature I was challenged to improve my packaging. For a while I had that niggling feeling that my packaging was not up to scratch but it took honest feedback from a trusted friend to finally facilitate change.  I think that my new packaging now reflects my shop's aesthetics.

In the midst of the craziness of the last few weeks I did find time to list some new designs. I have been wearing the prototype for these paisley earrings for a while and am excited to finally have them in my shop. 

Paisley sterling silver post earrings $60

These 'mushroom' studs were created for a customer. They are now also available at O bliss jewellery

 6mm recycled sterling silver nugget studs $28

 Extra long circle thread earrings $55

Organic circle post earrings $30

Tasmania love

So it has already been 2 weeks since I reluctantly returned home from a wonderful 6 day holiday in Tasmania and I have finally found some time to sit down and update my blog. I think I will rely on the the pics to communicate just how glorious Tasmania is.

Just a few pics of Grace and Phil's idyllic property. I could easily have spent the whole 6 days here.

Exploring convict ruins (isn't my daughter beautiful!)

and of course MONA did not fail to blow my mind!

Etsy Stalker feature

I'm loving this feature on O bliss over at Etsy Stalker. 
Check it out and find out how you can enter the draw for the earrings below.

Counting the days...

Australian Native Flowers Cards by Trees4thewoods

I am counting down the days until my long overdue holiday to Tasmania. Our flights were booked over 20 months ago but had to cancelled when my brother-in-law's house went under in the Brisbane floods. Our holiday was instead spent cleaning away mud and providing shelter for a displaced family of 6. 

Well it is now spring school holiday time (although it feels more like summer on the Gold Coast) and I am itching to visit Swallow Nest Farm on the Tasmin Peninsula. Grace is an mother of 5, an artist and grows native Australian flowers with her husband on their glorious farm in Tasmania (her lino print cards are pictured above). We visited them during winter in 2008; as a family of 5 we drove for 20 hours before boarding a ferry for a 10 hour sea voyage and finally a 4 hour drive to their property at the end of a dirt road! That was a memorable family adventure to visit our dear friends. Four year on, the boys are 19 and 17 and have plans of their own. This time around it will just be my husband, daughter and me so we are enjoying the luxury of flying down. 

We will also be visiting other close friends who joined the migration from Queensland to Tasmania earlier this year. They have just purchase 90!!! acres in the Huen Valley - double the excuse to go!!!

Also on the must do list, is a visit to MONA - a major new contemporary art gallery that I am desperate to see (and take my budding artist daughter to).

I will be sure to share pics on my return or you can follow my travels via my Instagram feed - username: breema

A giant giveaway!

Jahje from Baby Jives is a very deserving finalist in Martha Stewart's American Made Awards.  She creates one of a kind, adorable mobiles which decorate nurseries and children's bedrooms worldwide. I am thrilled to be part of Jahje's giant giveaway featuring my own work and a long list of  products from some of my favourite Etsy stores. It is so easy to enter - all you have to do is vote for Baby Jives to go into the draw. The more you vote, the more chances you have to win. With $395 worth of prizes up for grabs, it is well worth taking a moment each day to vote.

Click here for a list of prizes and more info on how to vote.

Printmaking - The real deal

Following a successful printmaking unit with my Year 10 student’s, it was such a treat to spend the morning in a real printmaker’s studio, surrounded by machinery dating back to the 1800’s. My friend Nicole is a printmaker/designer and is fanatical about typography.  Her collection of old printing presses are a sight to behold and the beautiful quality this equipment brings to her work is unrivalled by modern processes.  So I was super excited to commission Nicole to create formal invitations for me. This will be my 4^th year as Year 12 Formal Co-ordinator and each year I have lovingly spent hours hand-making the invitations.  But I think I love these invites the most – they are sophisticated and professional looking while still maintaining a handmade quality. Nicole kindly invited me to participate in the print run. After an awkward start, I got the hang of operating George  (a Gordon Franklin Press made between 1867 & 1869). I truly felt transported to a bygone era.

 Check out Nicole's fantastic graphic prints at her Etsy shop Nicoleap

Today in class

My Year 10's had a fun afternoon printing linocuts, resulting in some great Pop Surrealism art. The students were asked to combine a famous artwork with something from popular culture.

Busy in the art room

It is a very busy time of the year in my art classroom. While the school year is just commencing in America, in Australia we are about to go on our spring holiday. My senior students will soon graduate high school and have just submitted their final major bodies of work (top left and bottom right). This has meant many weeks of late nights for some and a last minute scurry to produce a reasonable submission for others. As usual, the talent, creativity and insight of these 17 year olds amazes me. But my younger students have also been delighting me with their achievements. The Year 9's (14 year olds) have been working on realistic tonal studies of celebrities. The images top-right are progress photos and capture just a small glimpse into the talent of the students I am privileged to work with. I can't wait to see how they develop as artists in the coming years. Likewise, I have taught some amazing Year 10 student's throughout 2012. They are currently completing a surrealism printmaking unit. The image bottom-left is just one of the beautiful etchings produced. 

The photos above are such a small representation of what is happening in my art classes. I have students working across such a diverse range of media, including digital photography, video art and installation art. I love the fact that senior students can choose their preferred media and develop individual responses to a given concept. The beauty of art is that meaning can be visually communicated in so many forms.  

Mamma's Market

Mamma's Market's is coming to the Gold Coast this Saturday. I'll be there with new work and my most popular Etsy items. If you live nearby come along and say hello. I am sharing a stall with my friend Nicole from Nicoleap. 

A new Etsy purchase

Resistance was futile when I stubbled across this mixed media figurative portrait by Marina on Etsy today. I was actually working with a Year 12 student, looking for inspiration for her artwork (Etsy is such a great place to send art students). The two of us were ogling at Marina's breathtaking work and I decided "Tomas" must be mine. I just love buying art through Etsy!!