Study and experimentation

Since my last post so many things have happened. I've established a lil company Szépműves Manufaktúra Kft (http://szepmuves.hu ... the site barely exist yet ...) to be able to sell my creations. I went to Gozsdu market couple of times, and also to the Christmas market in 2011 Budapest. I have realized, there are so many things to improve and learn. So I made up my mind and started to attend a metalsmithing course. Once I finish the course I will able to market my jewellery made from precious metals also. But first of all I getting to know new technology, people, impressions, and hopefully I will pick up some knowledge and experience on the way...

So, new technology huh? This means tools tools and tools. I never thought they are so expensive. I have no idea how will I able to set up my workshop to make super quality work. Also I will have to find a metalsmith who will be happy to train me for a couple of weeks over the summer... Anyone out there would volunteer to this lovely assignment?

Things I was facing a lot since my last post: marketing, design, law, invoice, raw material, tool, creativity, beauty, colour, shape, culture, self definition, value, connection, quality, productivity, sense, market, gallery, customers

Ahh, customers: Where are you guys? Who are you guys? What are your needs? What is the relation between us? Is there any connection between us? Do you know me? Do I know you? Shall we? How? When? Where? Will you find me? Will I find you?

If you - my dearest reader - have any answer to any of my questions, please, please drop few lines.

See you soon... just tell me where and when! :)

P.s. 1: on the picture you can see my latest jewellery design... well on the go. Some more weeks to be finished.

P.s. 2: you remember my facebook page with my latest works on it?

On Facebook

I've created a bilingual facebook page (English and Hungarian) to update you with the latest news, creations and events. Please join to the circle of love! See you there! :)

Zodiacs

Metals, stones, materials found in the nature - we all believe in some extent they have impact on our lives. So the idea came from my colleague mentioning she would love to order an earring to her Mum, but she has to figure out about her zodiac.
From now on, I add a short description for my creations about which zodiac is matching with the the certain piece. And to make sure we are talking about the same jewel, I also give unique names of the types from star names. The one on the picture is called 'Sadachbia'... Figure out the meaning on my facebook page here

The Very First Jewellery Exhibition and Market

A bit longer than a month before my 30th birthday my very first exhibition is taking place. If you can, please join to us for a chat and of course a cup of delicious cup of hot chocolate sold by the owner of the café.

Please indicate your attendance here

Appreciation

What gives value to these artwork?
The jewellery are made by a single wire, and once the wire is bent, it cannot be 'unbent'. The material records every movement of the creator's hands. It is like a tape recording voice, but cannot be edited later. The piece has to be perfect, as any error ruins the whole work and it has to be thrown away. Furthermore there are no identical pieces. Every jewel has it's own life and feel.

Organise, organise, organise

Friday evening I managed to buy some black textile so I set up a display tray which I am using now to pin the unfinished pieces onto.
First of all this presses me to make the final touches and to upload them to my etsy store, on the other hand it makes me feel I am progressing well and motivates me to design some new jewel.

Jewel of Transformation

Finally I set up my mind to give myself a chance to be an artist at least for a couple of months. From August till October, I will work full time on jewelleries. And if you guys like what I am doing, I will give up my old life and dedicate myself to this passion of life... So heads up and visit http://ferenc.etsy.com

This necklace is the transformation itself. Originally gave home to a blue crystal which broke into pieces because of some mysterious reasons to give home to this jasper coin.

Wedding Jewellery

Never done this before, however this order is a lovely challenge to be accomplished for one of my best friend of mine. I have to take in account the wedding cloth for the design of the jewelleries to be a perfect match in colour and in design too, not to mention the taste of my friend. The original idea was something with a ***(colour)*** stone. Then we figured ***(colour)*** is already dominant in her outfit, so we stay with white and silver combination.
As I am working with new ways of creating a shape, I will experience with brass first.

Edit 28.07.2011: ***(colour)*** is secret until the wedding is taking place

Declared finished

Over this weekend I spent lot of time contemplating over my life. Did not come up anything as usual, however I managed to finish off the medal I was reporting about here last time. Used all my jasper I have got at home to take a reasonable shot.

The final design is slightly different from the original. The teardrop part of the jewell now has a small bead of jasper instead of the coin shaped one. The reason of this modification was that the bigger coin-like jasper would have been entirely covered the dense pattern of the copper base.

Hope you will like it!

Valentine's day and a romantic story

There was a long period of time I had to suspend my beloved hobby. Now I am writing from the capital of Hungary, Budapest.

We have just passed Valentine's day and a friend of mine is in love. My friend is in Hungary, the beloved is in Spain. Still they keep together and planning their life together. Silly story, however it gives me the hope that there are still deep feelings inside some people.

So the idea came from this story. A medal which is not quite finished yet, but a good excuse to post here again. The main parts are different, as two people are different. The inside of it is different as well, as we all are different. But the shape just fits together. Not perfectly, but well enough...

Unexpected discovery

Recently a friend of mine Gabor visited me in Bristol. We have not met for seven years, so there was a lot of things to catch up with. I also raised my dilemma about creating jewells for guys, and he discovered and fallen in love to this piece of bracelet, which was one of my experimental pieces.

So the bracelet for males was already in my 'collection', just we had to 'find it'.

The very first male bracelet (part 1)

For many years I was thinking that it is so strange that I can come up with a jewellery for ladies, but I am struggling to create a piece of work for guys.
Last weekend I spent my time with my friends in Nottingham and they gave me a present, which was a stunning semi precious stone.
This stone inspired me to come up with something for males.
I am sharing with you every step of this milestone - designing the first bracelet for men!
The first idea was to create something which is more like a watch (no 1. and 2.), however after wiring around the stone I realized that it would look much better if I rotate about 75% (no 3.).

Back to the roots

On the left picture: necklace made by Zsuzsanna Ilovay

On the right picture: the author (left) and Zsuzsanna Ilovay (right) around 2000 in Pécs (Hungary).

Sometimes you need to stop and look back where you came from, who influenced your life, and Zsuzsanna Ilovay is one of them.

She is not only gave me a great set of skills by sharing with me the secrets of jewellery making, but also we had long conversations about life. About fears and how to face with them.

Zsuzsanna has a brilliant imagination, she has her own romantic world which is reflected on her work as well. Reach in details and colours, reminds us to a forgotten world which we can recall from our childhood only. A world of magics.

She allowed me to express my own style, which is simple, easy to wear, practical every day pieces.

The way as the material suddenly forms a shape in my hands is totally amuse me. The process of making these items are like a conversation with a good friend. You might have something in your head you want to discuss, but you end up somewhere totally different. And it is fine. This makes it full of life.

So Zsuzsanna, if you read it, thank you for your friendship and your teach of life.

Business cards

I decided to give out business cards with my orders to make sure people will find me.

I spent half of the day to make the wording OK. My aim was to say what I do, make sure people will remember the key points, and keep everything simple.

I am not sure about the front page and the image on it, however I am satisfied with the result of the back page. What do you think?

Earrings and accessories

My order arrived from the manufacturer and the new accessories allowing me to produce more professional works.

The technique never been a problem, but the findings and clasps were handcrafted from wire as well, which are not as appealing as a nicely designed clasp masterpiece.

My first work using the items from my latest order was a couple of earrings made from sterling silver wire, lapiz lazuli beads and platinum plated stainless steel earhooks.

The whole thing would not work nicely without a camera which can produce good enough super macro photos. The Fujifilm Finepix S1700 does the job pretty well with the super macro mode. You can go as close as 2cm from your object. Impressive.

My next step is to set up my on-line shop at etsy. I am so excited!

My order is on its way... finally

To start a business you need few things. For example something to sell. In my case it is going to be the jewells I produce with my lovely hands. To produce jewells I need accessories. In my case ear hooks, clasps, beads and wire.

I have some fine silver and sterling silver wire, also I had some semi-precious stones, however the whole thing would not look round without professional clasps and hooks. And if I was there I ordered some lapis lazuli beads as well, just to brand my work with the silver and blue colour combination.

Jewellery Reloaded

In 2000 I was lucky enough to meet with a wonderful artist Zsuzsanna Ilovay. She introduced her technique to Hungary how to create magical jewellery from thin wire with very simple tools. As we become friends she shared with me the secrets of this art, and I started to design my own jewells.
For many years I was busy with study and work, but now I settled more in Bristol, enjoying the work at Simpleweb and have enough free time to restart my hobby.

With this entry in 2010 I celebrate the restart of my hobby-business.