Rock'n'Ruby

Ahhh the smell of success. In the jewellery world this means the wonderful smell of liver of sulphur as your nearly done piece gets dunked in and out it comes black and fabulous! I've finished my very first piece of Zobel Jewellery and it feels like a great accomplishment. And just in time for the Inhorgenta Jewellery Exhibition in Munich. Zobel will display many absolutely beautiful pieces at the show including my chain :) I've been spoiled all week surrounded by some totally awesome and very "large" pieces of Zobel jewellery as they come out from the many drawers filled with fine jewels and into boxes ready to be taken to Munich. Of course I had to touch and try on every SINGLE piece. Believe me I was having the time of my life but also feeling slightly tortured. So with most of the workshop staff gone off to Munich, there was just me and a few others left behind to continue working. I've started to make elements on a chain which will hang amongst some kind of stone beads. The technique that i'm learning to make these elements is totally awesome. This weekend is the Inhorgenta Jewellery Exhibition in Munich http://www.inhorgenta.com/, so after I cure my disco fever tonight at Pony Club, I will go to Munich as a guest to enjoy ALOT of fine jewellery. I will be there of course in support of Zobel but also Irene Wolf http://www.irene-wolf.com/, a fellow Goldsmith who I had the pleasure of knowing for a short time in Vancouver. I'm beyond excited. It's a huge exhibition with jewellery, stones, and tools. 

Until next time.....

Sterling Silver and Fine Gold Chain made By Me for Zobel

Sterling Silver and Fine Gold Chain Made by Me for Zobel

A ring that I want from Zobel

Pieces from the Rock'n'Ruby Collection by Zobel

Pieces from the Rock'n'Ruby Collection by Zobel

myself is enough

I spend much of my free time going on walks through the city and along the promenade. Listening to music or just in silence. Today I went to get my hair cut and then to the lake, ordered a coffee and sat and read a magazine in german, didn't really understand much other than that Jude Law is super fine. Picked up some groceries from a Turkish shop. I'm making the couple who i'm staying with dinner tonight. They've invited their friends and the friends son and his american girlfriend. I'm going to make Spanikopita and Greek salad. Afterwards I will go to an opening of a bar/lounge. One of the girls that I work with at Zobel, her boyfriend is the owner of this bar. I wonder if I can wear my McQueen tutu? I'm dying to wear it. Perhaps that would be a bit much. I'll save it for when my friend Shawna comes over from London. We are going to Zurich together. Sometimes I find being here very hard. I'm human, we are such needy creatures. But its the times when I smile to myself about being alone or doing something that I never imagined I would do. Those times make this very special for me. And i'm beginning to realize that myself is enough. In the workshop we blast music REALLy loud, i love it. So i've been listening to alot of Tracy Chapman which we listened to the other day. It's so beautiful. Listen to this song really loud, I mean REALLY LOUD! It's the best and only way to listen...

 I'm staying on the top floor of this building, it's lovely.

 Strolling through the city

 The pieces of fabric are hung for Carnival which is in the beginning of March

 This little alley is where my next place to live is (not in the alley of course, maybe after a few too many) Jokes! I will stay here after March.15

 Sitting at the lake, just got my bangs trimmed, coulda been better but it'll do....

 Beautiful Day

Day 1 of the Zobel Experience

Wow, when I woke up this morning, the combination of having a cold and the nerves of walking into a room filled with people whom I admire so much what they do sent butterflies to my stomach. The workshop is honestly right around the corner from the house i'm staying in. When I arrived I was greeted with smiling faces. Four goldsmiths work in the workshop, two beautiful women and two men. All young and all speak english. There is one other intern, he has been there for some time now and is from Konstanz. So we said hello and then it was straight to work. The workshop staff was blaring dub step and lots of other funky beats which made it really fun to work. There was a picture set aside for me to make a silver and fine gold chain and so I began. This work is somewhat easy for me but there is the new pressure that you are making it for someones company and with someone elses fine gold! So no room for too many mistakes! I love how they threw me right into it. I have my own project and they trust me to do a good job of it. I can't wait to see what else I get to make! There are some unfamiliar tools in the workshop, one being a laser machine which I am very intrigued about. One of the girls sitting beside me was working on two absolutely to DIE for rings (or at least sell your house for). Both with giant rutilated quartz crystals. One had diamonds set underneath the crystal so when you looked through the quartz you could see a few sparkling surprises. Could this be heaven...

 My first project- Sterling Silver and Fine Gold Necklace

 Some Art Shots of Zobel Jewellery

 J'adore

Fit For a Princess

From Munich we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and on to the next city. Fussen.. the home of the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles. Beautiful of course but the tours were short and there were far too many tourists. The walk to the castles from our hostel was magnificent though, the trees dusted with snow and people cross country skiing in the fields. Very picturesque. Lucky for us, one pizza shop stayed open past five otherwise we'd have starved. Quiet town.. 

Heidelberg.. Very quaint town with a great shopping strip along the river and up in the hills the ruins of a medieval castle. Was nice but I caught a cold and that makes it hard to enjoy everything the city had to offer. The plan was to go to Freiburg the next day but instead we decided to head straight for Konstanz, my home for the next two and a half months.

Konstanz is a wonderful city. I've never seen such well dressed people with smiles on, walking about enjoying lifes simple pleasures. Everyone seems to swarm to Lake Constance, and without question. It's giant, you could almost mistake it for the ocean. There are people playing music in the streets and so many jewellery shops and great little boutiques to keep me busy for days.

So here I am, I took Steph to the Zurich Airport on sunday night, said goodbye to her on monday morning (tear tear*) and headed back to Konstanz to sleep away my terrible cold before I go to work at Zobel. Today I got up the energy to go run some errands. It feels nice to walk through the streets and nobody knows you or where your from. It's very peaceful. ☮

city of beer

From Milano to Munich. It's hard to imagine that even at this time of year Munich City is jam packed. Every hostel and hotel in Munich is basically booked solid, which makes for a fun time. This city is full with amazing things to do and see. Deciding to be lazy and not have to use a map for a few days, I tagged along on a walking tour of Munich, learning alot about the fascinating history of this unique country and of course....BeEr. After so much talk about beer and how important it is to Bavarians, what better to do than to join a beer challenge tour! Starting at 6pm and ending at about 5am... We hopped from jager house to jager house "sampling" what Bavaria puts up on a pedistil the most. Think giant beer houses packed with picnic benches filled with smiling faces and even an umpapa band in lederhousen. It sounds really touristy but happily was not. After a short 4 hour sleep it was time to jump out of bed and off to Dachau. Not recommended when hung over but highly recommended. Chilling, shocking, and very very sad. Did I mention sad. Dachau was one of the very first concentration camps being build in 1933. The most chilling things that went on at Dachau to me was not the mass killings in the gas chambers or the sick medical experiments made on prisoners but all the small things that only the sickest of minds could create. Shelves, coat hooks, and lockers were there for the prisoners but because the prisoners were not allowed any belongings, these were put there simply to torture the prisoners and remind them that they have no individuality or belongings in Dachau. Every little thing in Dachau was about torture, whether it was physical or mental these 200,000 souls were quote "in a state of trance" cooping everyday with unimaginable torture. If you ever get the chance, go to one of these memorial sites, you leave feeling disturbed yes but also very blessed for the right to be an individual, a word that we take very much for granted. On a lighter note, tomorrow I check out the Neuschwanstein Castle. A fairy tale adventure....

 Some kitschy art in our dorm..Gotta love this.

 

I survived the Munich Beer Challenge...barely

 Prost! My very first 1L of beer

This place used to be mens only and they peed on the floors into little trenches. O the history of Munich

 Wheat Beers

 Very sad.. Some personal belongings that were taken away from prisoners in Dachau

 Torture bunkers

Crematorium

*milAno*

Hmmm what to say about MilaNo...? Not all it's cracked up 2 be. The city is so dirty that the beautiful old buildings almost go unappreciated. I've heard that Milano is the FashIon capital but i don't see a whOle lot of Fashionistas (shiny puffy jackets, jean skirts with leggings under and high healed shiny boots is not my idea of ahead of the times) or any IndependAnt boutiques. I was just about to quit trying to shop when our last resort was the Holt Renfrew of milAno.. which turned out to B much better than HOlt Renfrew. I died and went to HeavEn... Bought my first Alexander McQueen piece and some hot shoes. Spent the day walking around and in the Duomo. The worlds largest GothIc Church. It's so powerful, words cannot explain the detail. Stunning. Tried to check out another church which is said to have an entirE wall decorated with skulls and bones. Was closed :(  Headed to an old Opera houSe which was so tres tres chic and even got a sneak peek at the Opera during rehearsal. Glad i came because I got myself some life long friends, not sad to go.. back tracking to Germany where i will stay for the rest of my travels. Xo

 The Duomo

 The Duomo Square

 Taking a break to soak in some Sun

 My McQueen Tutu!!

 Bright Orange Pumps

*Lugano*

Over the Hills and Far aWay... From Zurich to Interlaken (ps never go there) heading down one day early to Lugano, and thankfully so. It's beyond beautiful here with Blue blue Skies and Warm sUn. The city rests beneath the mountains and wraps around the lake. It smells like summer here, people walk with flowers or sandwhich in hand, or take their dogs out for a walk after work in Prada shoes and red lips. I am staying at the Montarina Hostel and Hotel which are perched up high in two old mansions with wrap around marble stairs.. 30 dollars a night.. a complete and utter steal. The shopping here is hit or miss. You either break the bank at D&G or you do the walk of shame with cheap department store clothing. But the jewellery is fun. Not as special as Zurich but fun and sadly very ExpEnsive :(   I'm glad though because all i wanna do is sit here on the Promenade and soak in the rAys.

Ps.. The coffee here is amazing, I had my first encounter with the chocolate spoons that i've been hearing so much about!

*Zurich*

Getting into Zurich with dark skies can be a bit intimidating but by the next afternoon I was running around like a local. Switzerland could not be any easier for a foreigner, speaking five languages quite fluently including English, French, Italian, German, and Romansh ..which is basically just German. Walking along the Linmat River, going through all the narrow cobble stone streets, this is where all the independant Goldsmiths set up shop in tiny quarters displaying their unique creations. Enough to leave me wide eyed at 2am thinking of what my shop could look like one day.