Our Creatice Space...

Now that I've started to work with silver, I also needed a table that I can use without fear with fire and heavy tool. As a silver smith table is not a possibility right now with our tight budget, an old wooden table will do the tric for now. It looks nicely rustic and shabby and we didn't have to spent a cent on this new workplace which is a bonus :)

Our Creative Space...

You might remember me mentioning about the damages the storms have been giving the past weeks (some electrical gadgets got burnt and our roof got damaged). The storm also gave something back to us.

The beach where we find the sea urchins is not close by and the roads are rough so only when the weather allows we can go. After 2 months we were finally able to go about two weeks ago.

And the amount of seaurchins was amazing! The storm must have been busy bringing them to the shore.

We count ourselves lucky when we find about 100 of them, very often we only find about 20 urchins. This time we found hundreds and hundreds it took us hours to collect them and our body has ached for 5 days of this heavy exercise :) Just to imagine how big the pile is I put my hand near it, pretty amazing right?

Of course collecting is one thing, actually prepairing them to be used is a whole other thing... it took us 5 days to get them cleaned (with plenty of hand cuts and spines getting into our fingers).


Another 4 days to fill them with foam... and then again 4 days to clean the overfloading foam.

They are now in this stage, and a 4, 5 day epoxy time will begin, excuse me if I'll be a bit high (of the epoxy) these days :)

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!

Our Creative Space...

This week a peek in the urchin factory :) Some people might think that we just find the urchins and then glue them on a ring. The real fact is that the preparations are alot of work, dirty work.

Finding the urchins takes hours, often they still have spines although they are not so strongly attached anymore after they die (of natural reasons, we find them on the beach). Cleaning the spines is often painful and messy as the spines litteraly fly everywhere. Then we fill them with foam, a very dirty difficult job (this is the stage you see them in the pictures). The foam needs to be cut off once dried and then they have to be cleaned thoroughly with all kind of brushes and needles. And finally the epoxy, again a dirty messy job, which takes hours. So it takes alot of work and time till the urchins are actually useable for the things we make with them. Making the jewelry is the fun part :)

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!

New Project Finally Finished

Finally we are fairly organized in our new workplace!

It is so great, all that space, that light! It was a lot of work and we are more or less broke, but it is worth it!

May I get your attention for this amazing contraption design by our technical director, miss Estella, to solve the problem of the storage of our ginourmous chain stock:

This was no easy task in a room with practically no walls. The basis is from the scrap shop, only the wheels and rods are new. It has four pulls and rolls smoothly despite the enormous weight.

It seems an absurd amount of chain, but believe me, it is never enough.

This is the 'shipping department'

And Estella's painting corner:

The supplies, also never enough...

Work in progress...finally we can have many projects going at the same time.


Once more. So was it:

And so it is now:


The (happy) end.

New Project Part 4

Instead of a lazy sunday we have been busy with the new working space again, here the results of a productive sunday...

Everybody loves Ikea, right? In Holland we had beautiful antique furniture, which is now here gathering dust under the roof, but since we share our house and life with many dogs, we have become Ikea addicts. It is cheap, easy to keep clean and no tears if a doggie eats the legs of your table. Even better, you can buy it online!

The table tops come from the local DIY market and with Ikea table legs and drawers, the next stap on the way to our new workshop was done today.

Many hands make work light, and our good friend Ahmet came to help.

You have to love the smart construction and the easy to follow instructions. You can do no wrong!

Up till your armpits in supplies? Get yourself a new set of drawers and you can see de light again.

Still lots to do but slowly it will take shape.

To be continued...

Working like a dog

We are working hard to be ready for the -hoped for- Christmas rush. We have to, with seventeen mouths to feed! But that term 'working like a dog' ?? Ah! To be a dog in this house...

Part 2 The Office

As you know, moving our studio back to our home, involved taking over three rooms in the house. We have already showed you the atelier (workplace) itself. This is the second room, former TV room, now dedicated to office and shipping (packaging) room.

Also here we work side by side.

In this big cabinet our photo archives are stored, boxes and ribbons and in the drowers, the items listed in the supplies shop.

The TV is in the fireplace, what is fine since the house has heating and we hardly ever watch TV.

All the ceilings of the house are executed in the way typical of the region, meticulously built timber by timber. The lamp in the shape of a bunch of grapes is mouth blown glass from Egypt.

A playful touch on the courtains: beaded flowers.

Here we are right now, typing this.

A small collection of brass candle holders on the filing cabinet. On the background a ribbon embroidered piece of ours.

Bubble mailers in all sizes are stored here.

Still working on the sewing room...

New beginnings

It was a bit more than a year ago that we moved our too small workplace at home to a rented place downtown. Lots of space there and we invested a lot of energy and of course money to make the place nice and adequate to our needs. Unfortunately we got quite nasty neighbours at that place and we didn't feel safe there any more. Rather than expend more effort to make nice again somebody else's place, we decided to move back home.

Easier said than done, of course, because our house, although big enough, is already full to the nook. So a big reorganization was necessary, first moving lots of 'stuff' to the place under the roof. We needed three rooms altogether, or rather four.

For the first room, 'the atelier' (workplace) itself, a tiny guestroom and bathroom had to be joined. Those two rooms were in use as sewing room and garderobe room respectively. Here you can see a glimpse of the old situation, it took a few days to empty it:

And then the demolition fase:

The ceilings had different hights, and so did the floors.

The beginning of the building up, plaster work, tiles:

The 'painters' at work:

The moving in (which took 10 days):

And the results:

Nice, huh?

Coming soon: Fase two : The sewing room

Fase three: The Office

That is, if we survive, of course...