unimaginable creatures

19 November 2010

some recent market findings...these incredible critters are the produce of some 18th century drunkard for what I can see. Rodent legs, cat like teeth with stripes of a badger? Bendy spineless stoat? fox with orangutan face? I know we didn't have cameras in those days, but honestly, if you fell asleep whilst meant to be observing some nocturnal creatures, don't lie about it!

we found lots of cotton bags full of numbers. Some kind of game with dice I think. We thought of using them in our jewellery shop as a pricing code.

Also, for our Tokyo shop, some lovely old Christmas baubles and bird. I love the old ones, we have quite a huge collection at home!

completely unseasonal, i peeked into a box and i found these Easter decorations {has anyone ever heard of Easter decorations? not I} anyway they are beautifully made and very decorative. I might hang on to these and put them in the Bucket Tree nearer Easter!

coming up...

the biggest EVER new collection of RUST jewellery, oh yes indeed. I can't stop making and now have over 60 new items to upload to the online shop! They are still not ready yet though, but my deadline is December the 1st. Also, we are in the midst of planning some open days at the RUST workshop/shop, so you can just walk in with no need to make appointment. I shall keep yous all informed as and when we confirm the days.

Cheerio!

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RUST jewellery... some new items

15 July 2010

A peek inside our shop today!

I nice idea - thanks to Liberty!

some more lockets as they were really popular and kept selling out, now i have made a whole bunch of them! This time with a freshwater pearl or suspended on a sewn Liberty fabric strip, or silk ribbon.

This small weed is growing so well in the cup...I marvel at it's energy every morning, a bit of light and a drip of water and it is so grateful!

vintage bits and bobs as usual, a fish and a fox...

{fox & pearl necklace £85}

our engraver decorated this bangle all by hand using tiny chisels, it is amazing!

our new display involving tiny tea set! {those Liberty print and silver rose bracelets are £65 each}

1930s locket, and tiny silver scent bottle necklace with silk ribbon bow {bottle necklace £95}

silver or 9ct gold engraved disk necklaces too!

those little 9ct gold rings have small oval vintage semi-precious stones from an old necklace that had fallen apart.

the ring band is hand-faceted by me! {£210 each}

silver rose, onyx and 9ct gold chain earrings {£165}

I AM going to put these on the online shop when I can have a few minutes! Otherwise, available from our London shop {by appointment only}.

Time to start making our wedding rings! I have decided but Nao still can't make up his mind!!!

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New RUST London shop photos!

25 June 2010

Tah Dahhhh!, well, I know there is still lots more to do, like covering up that god awful gas meter for a start! But we had to open up the shop on the 3rd June due to popular demand (we had delayed it a month and a half oops), so, here are many photos, sorry about that! If you get to the bottom, you can see some photos of before (well almost before, it even looked worse than that!) so hopefully you can see why it took us soo long (also trying to run our business as usual at the same time, argh!)

our new Liberty's print collection by the way!

we made a wall of cabinets to hide our work bench area, inside each window are different collections and displays like these...

this is my desk! at which i am sitting at this present moment!

(that phone still don't work though, sniff sniff)

When we first took the workshop, it was still full of the last jewellery repair and manufacturing company's belongings (who apparently did a runner taking every ones jewellery!) which had to be ripped out by the lovely Jack, the Hatton Garden builder. The whole place was caked in jewellers rouge which is a type of red clay, it took several coats of undercoat to get rid of it, very nasty job!

These pictures are after we started painting the worst bits, believe it or not!

This is our office part where Nao and Eiko work, it looks much better now, but still haven't completely unpacked yet so no after pictures I'm afraid!

So if you made it to the end, thanks for looking! I hope you can stop by and say hello (let us know first though as we are often out and about).

Phew, done.

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finished chair re-upholstery!

5 May 2010

Hoorah, hooray! etc... etc... I finally finished THE chair! and blimey was it a job! I'm not going to lie and say this was easy-peasy, it could quite possibly be the most difficult thing I have ever done and I can't say i would recommend someone to take on this either...it was back breaking.

This chair we bought in the market a few years ago. We liked it's extreme dishevelled look and used it as a display for our jewellery, with stuffing hanging out and all! For the new shop, we are going for an all over upper class feel...as we are now selling expensive items, and when customers are purchasing diamond rings, they may need a suitable chair to sit in me thinks?

I used totally impractical fine lawn cotton from Liberty's of course! Jewellery is impractical {that's why we love it, isn't it?} so I think this chair is just right for a jewellery shop.

...and the cushion I made on the weekend was for this chair too!

Although it was hard work and took me three days...I'm very very proud of my little self for managing to at least make a half decent attempt at something I had never broached the like before!

There are a few things I wish I'd done differently, but generally speaking I'm pleased with it.