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!!!
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.
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.
This was the only picture of the chair I could find before i did anything to it...
and after painting the frame in Farrow & Ball...
...and viola!
you can see the whole story, step by step on my Fickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artemisrussell/sets/72157623996320054/detail/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artemisrussell/sets/72157623996320054/detail/
BUT, professional up-upholsterers, please don't be too judgemental, i know you will be tutting at every picture!
new RUST studio - before pictures!
20 March 2010
I can only show you a few segments of our new RUST studio/shop, because we've show a few people the place in real life and the feedback has not good!
However, Nao and I have a vision that not many other people seem to see,and we are not scared of hard work in order to get it!
The main points of renting a commercial space in London are: position, size and price. All other problems can be overcome. So we have a rear ground floor former jewellery polishing business premises in Hatton Garden. We are going to make it look like a hot house in Kew gardens!
So far, the space has been completely gutted of it's contents, and since we took these photos, it is almost completely repainted white!
It is part of a huge block of 1930s workshops, our one has a separate office space within it, with lovely glass partitioning and a small glass ceiling (covered in pigeon poo and the like).
The previous tenants made it as secure as Fort Knox so we will have to make it a design feature...there is also a huge safe that is 30cm thick!
Progress could not be started until I had eaten my Chedders and apple juice. That suit was made for a huge builder with massive beer gut, it was not a flattering look, and even worse, the paint just soaked straight through it! Rubbish.
Yesterday we ordered a beautiful solid Oak flooring, it will look amazing!
After that we have to tackle the approach, which looks like a post Nuclear bomb site, lovely...
To be continued...
meet the ancestors
11 December 2009
I went to visit my mum last weekend, she lives on the Isle of Wight where I grew up.
I found bundles of old Box Brownie photos of her and her brothers on holiday at St.Helens on the Island during the 50s. My mum and her brothers were at boarding schools on the mainland, but spent the holidays with their mum on Isle of wight.
They had a beach hut there...above, at the end is my mum and my two uncles at the other end (not sure who the other people are?)
A very cool bunch.
They had a boat too which I think was called the 'Owl & the Pussy Cat' or something of that nature!
I love this picture!
My mum sporting some fine knitwear and plimsolls, I must have inherited this gene.
She didn't like wearing dresses as a child but I'm rather liking this one and chic hairdo.
My uncle Steve sadly passed away from cancer in his 40s, but I like to remember him like this, motocross style!
Going back nearly 100 years, this is my Grandma and her mum + brother in 1915!
It looks like it could have been taken yesterday, I love those button-up boots, and those cheeks! who would have thought she'd look like this...
Looks like a movie star but she was actually a nurse/mid-wife most of her life.
And what about this pair of urchins! That's me and my youngest brother (I'm the one with the hat by the way!).
So that's a few family photos, not many men in there, as both my Mum & Grandma were divorced, but plenty of brothers!
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