I have had my thinking cap on for the past week or so as I have decided to participate in a 4 day jewellery event in Mirepoix, France. Mirepoix is in the Ariège and attracts thousands of visitors every year to it’s 13th Century Medieval town. The event being organised is called “Parures & Parades”
Now my dilemma is this……I am able to submit a piece of jewellery to a “public vote” which offers a first prize of 500 € then 250 € and finally a third prize of 100 €…..so what should I focus on semi-precious gemstones or polymer clay? I am split 50:50 as I believe that the gemstones offer a certain amount of class and exquisiteness but do not provide me with the “ownership” that polymer clay does. Any thoughts?
Last weekend’s Rencontre de l’art & des Saveurs was a huge success, exhibitors were happy, the public was impressed with the choice and all the food at lunchtime from the BBQ proved a total sell out. The Midi-Libre has today published a report on the event and I am thrilled at not only the right up but the profile for Luc Sur Orbieu!
Here is the article:
It always makes me smile when I think of buying gifts in France as the French automatically expect to be offered a courtesy “papier cadeau”. I have perfected the art of gift wrapping purchases and now take great pride in offering this service. It does take a certain degree of time & skill though as featured here in the film Love Actually! I always ensure however to get their money first so I can guarantee the sale! Perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt?
As a child I spent many wonderful summer holidays on the north east coast of England at Filey. Now living in France I am unable to visit this lovely fishing village on a regular basis but it still holds a special place in my heart. This photo shows Filey bay at low tide where the rock pools on Filey Brigg are awash with sea life!
Some of the best fish n chips can be had in Filey and of course the only way to eat them is straight from the newspaper! As this video suggests!
I was pretty busy in the studio last week. The oven was on most of the week and some new ranges & creations have emerged. Following on from my saffron range I now have 3 new colour schemes which I am thrilled with:
Walnut Whip
Tequilla Sunrise
Burnt Coral
I think my personal favourite is the Burnt Coral as I love the warmth of the orange coupled with the hint of blue grey / denim.
This Sunday (6 April) is my first organised event as Art & Culture President. We have 30 exhibitors in total. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that we have by far exceeded our desired number (18)!
Here is the list with website information where possible:
With the quality of exhibitors attending it should prove to be a successful event! And with free samples, a bbq at lunchtime and a Vin d’honneur stomachs won’t go empty!
Following on from my previous posting here are the finished designs. I have already sold “Saffron Ray” pictured in the right hand column of “Hot off the bench”.
The cuff and ring make a stunning combination but are also for sale separately.
The “Saffron Twist” is equally delicious, delicate & light.
Now I am in the process of trying to get my head around the Luc Sur Orbieu, blason and work out how to make a wine stopper with this emblem and the croix d’oc on!
Thank you for your continued support and comments.
Has anyone noticed that I have been away? The spammers did and it took me over an hour to wade through the 360 messages upon my return. Haven’t they got anything better to do? And then there was all the new posts which I subscribe to which needed reading. Thank goodness my Google Reader had stored them all for easy reading.
Our daughter has at long last met her great grandmother and great great uncle. We spent Easter in England with our family. A good time was had but it does feel really good to be back home. Manon Lily had her first taste of Yorkshire puddings with beef & onion gravy. My Mum had bought in some baby food jars and had chosen the Hipp organic range, I was most impressed with the quality of the food and Manon truly devoured the entire range! Seeing her munch on quite large pieces has now given me the confidence to start feeding her what we eat! Ribs and wings for dinner tonight are proving slightly tricky though!
I have spent the day with my apron on designing and I am on a high….. my mojo returned of it’s own accord and I am thrilled. I have been working with purples and greens. Having watched “A cook’s tour of Spain” on Channel 4 last night I was amazed at the colours of fresh saffron and as a consequence decided to let these vivid colours influence my latest range and at long last I have got my head back around my “puddle” design which I made using the Japanese Mokume Gane technique. Having managed to do a flying visit to my UK based jewellery wholesaler I have some stunning new forms to work with. At last I have some stunning silver ring bases and cuffs all I need now is enough time to design.
The oven has just pinged so I have been to have a peep at the new “beads”. They have all cured perfectly and the colours of my “saffron inspiration” are as vivid as I’d hoped for.
Now it’s over to Andy for buffing, varnishing & drilling! Before I get to put the final twist on the design. Watch this space for the finished pieces!
Have you ever heard bowls sing? I have. It’s stunning, haunting, moving & spiritual all in one. My good friends Norbert and his wife Françoise of Domaine de la Source have organised a concert for you to experience the phenomena for yourselves.
I remember before our daughter was born we had long discussions about what she should be called. We knew we were having a girl so at least our choice was made slightly easier. I seemed to have a longer list for girls than for boys so that was a good start.
Then our next dilemma was how to pronounce her name, being English living in France meant that any name had to be chosen from a French pronounced point of view. But then try telling the English (Yorkshire) family that the names on our short list would be a mouthful for them Océane, Aurore, Maya to name but a few. So when we came up with Manon Lily we thought it was the perfect combination.
Then there is the business name Lunes Bijoux, this name stems from living in the UK and exhibiting my jewellery on the UK craft circuit (that’s a story in itself). I wanted a name which would make me stand out from the rest of the exhibitors. When we moved to France and registered the business it was only natural to keep the English name “Lunes Bijoux”.
And then there is this blog which has seen more face lifts than I have had handbags. I knew that whatever name I chose it would need to have an image to go with it. So I began searching my stock of photos for inspiration. And this is where I came across my two colourful characters from the Venice Carnivale. I feel that these two really do represent the idea of Bijoux & Banter.
Now the only problem was finding a blog image which suited my blog and for this I have been going round in circles. At one stage the theme I was using allowed for a customizable header but the header size was too small to fit my Bijoux & Banter characters, this is where my parrots came in……
However, at long last I feel that Bijoux & Banter has found it’s identity and I like the look and feel of this theme. It’s wide enough to allow for clear blogs and I like the widget column too…..whether it will remain only time will tell. But for the moment, I think I’ll wear it!
my mojo returned of it’s own accord and I am thrilled. I have been working with purples and greens. Having watched “A cook’s tour of Spain” on Channel 4 last night I was amazed at the colours of fresh saffron 
and as a consequence decided to let these vivid colours influence my latest range and at long last I have got my head back around my “puddle” 
design which I made using the Japanese Mokume Gane technique. Having managed to do a flying visit to my UK based jewellery wholesaler I have some stunning new forms to work with. At last I have some stunning silver ring bases and cuffs all I need now is enough time to design.
Now it’s over to Andy for buffing, varnishing & drilling! Before I get to put the final twist on the design. Watch this space for the finished pieces!
“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.” Kahlil Gibran
