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Posts tagged ‘moving’

I’ve moved!

20 April 2010

I swear that moving gets harder and takes longer every single time I do it. But I am safely in my new home and out of what was an increasingly bad and insecure situation at my previous address.

It’s taken me quite a while to get set up and I still feel like I’ve got quite a bit to do, but for now the new house is functional and I have both my office and my jewellery studio set up and working. Phew!

Photograph of log cabin wall with a print on it.

As for the new house, it’s great! At its heart is an old log cabin. I’ve discovered that it possibly goes back to the early days of the town I live in and may well have a very interesting history. It was most likely built from trees cut down from around the house and the enormous fireplace has been made from sandstone rocks, probably also found on the property. The cabin is now the lounge room and I love the idea of having a very much handmade room.

Other rooms have been built on over the years, with the lovely back section of the house, including the enormous dining room with its big windows being the most recently built.

My dining room. Old gate in the garden.

My studio is a large blue room with plenty of space to spare. It’s been used as a jewellery studio for quite a long time I suspect, even though it would have been built as a bedroom.

I hope to have some more photos to show of the place soon. I just want to get myself a bit more sorted out first!

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I’m moving!

3 April 2010

Just a little note to let people know that I am moving both my home and my business over the coming few days. The boxes are out and the packing has started!

I’m not moving far away at all, but of course I still need to pack up my entire personal and business life, have it all moved and then unpack it all again.

Customers should be aware that it might take 1-2 days longer than usual to turn around handmade jewellery orders. I do have all regular items in stock at this point in time, but only in very limited quantities. I will of course endeavour to post things as quickly as I can, but at some point my packing gear, printers, etc. will be packed!

Made to order items (such as rings) are likely to take longer than normal to be made as my studio will be packed up as of today and is unlikely to be functional again for approximately a week.

Also be aware that I’m slow in responding to emails and other messages at the moment as there is just so much going on! But I’ll do my best to catch up on that tonight and to keep up as the move progresses.

I hope to have some photos of my new working spaces to share with you soon.

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New: handmade rings

9 September 2009

I’ve just added two shiny new rings to my handmade jewellery shop. The rings each feature beautiful deep pink lab-grown rubies. The tube settings that the rubies are set into are connected to the ring shank by loops at the back, meaning that each setting moves freely around the ring.

Handmade ruby rings.

One version is a two settings ring with one stone larger than the other. The other features a single ruby setting. Of course both are also available in my Australian handmade jewellery shop.

Quite some time ago I made one of these rings for myself and I love wearing it. I particularly like the way the stones move as I do – and of course I can’t stop fiddling with it when I have it on!

Handmade ruby ring with two settings.   Handmade ruby ring - single setting.

The choice to use lab-grown gemstones is partly down to the fact that they are identical on a molecular level to a mined gemstone, but are flawless and beautifully coloured, while also being a lot more affordable. But also they are a more ethical choice given that there is none of the massive environmental damage that mining can cause and none of the other issues such as mistreated workers or gems being used to fund wars.

Photographing jewellery

I took the photographs of the rings today – the first time I’ve photographed my work in my new home, so it was a bit of an experiment. I’m not thrilled with how the shots I took today (including of a number of other new pieces) came out so I think I’ll have another go at them soon.

Part of the issue was down to wanting to make better use of natural light in my much brighter home, but only finding the time to take the photos on a very windy day with clouds coming and going, meaning the light level changed constantly – not ideal! But also I think the spot I chose just wasn’t quite right. I’ll see how I go in another location as soon as I get a chance.

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A time for change

28 May 2009

I have now moved in to my Blue Mountains cottage with its very pretty garden. There is still a lot of organising to do after the big move, but at least all of the boxes are unpacked and the rooms are each generally serving their intended function.

Flowers from my Blue Mountains garden.
Flowers from my garden.

I feel this is a much-needed fresh start for me in a new place. It remains to be seen how it goes as I settle in and become accustomed to a very different environment to the city.

In the spirit of a time of change I’ve also taken another big step this week, which is to resign from my four day per week job with an organisation I’ve been working for in some capacity for over a decade now. I will be continuing a relationship with them by way of a limited amount of contract work, but this still means I will finally be fully self-employed: something I’ve been working towards for years now.

So it also remains to be seen how that goes! It is a risk, especially given the current economic climate. But I feel that for me the time is right. I very much needed to change how I work and ideally work for fewer hours per week while still bringing in enough income to make ends meet and build a future – something that’s hard to do when working for a tiny non-profit organisation with a huge workload and minimal resources.

As for what I’ll be doing with the freed up time, well there are so many things I could be doing. Every year a myriad of opportunities come my way in relation to my handmade jewellery business as well as the other side of my career – web design and production. Much of the time I’m so busy I struggle to find the time to even get back to people to say I can’t do the work! Hopefully from here on in that will change and I can actually make something of many of these opportunities.

Finally, if you’re interested in seeing my new abode (or at least how it was before I moved in), there are some photographs on my Flickr. Once I feel a bit more sorted out I’ll take some more photos of how it looks now.

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Handmade jewellery on the move

3 May 2009

Photograph of rose ring.As mentioned in previous blog posts, I’m moving home and heading for the hills.

But it’s not just my personal life that is being impacted by the move as I am also moving my studio and my office, given that I work from home.

So if you’re considering purchasing handmade jewellery from me in the near future, please be aware that currently all items listed in all of my shops are in stock. However, it may take me two to three business days to post your order, particularly between 9 and 18 May.

Also I am now in the process of packing up my studio. This means that if any items are sold out they are unlikely to be remade for several weeks – it’s better to get in quick than risking the item you want being out of stock later.

I am now also unable to undertake any custom work, beyond changing the length and colour of necklaces as indicated in some of my jewellery listings.

But the good news for customers is that when I’m finally set up in my new home I should have two much more functional working spaces, which I’m hoping will lead to being much more efficient. And I’m very much looking forward to being inspired by my beautiful new garden and surroundings!

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That’s it! I’m leaving.

24 April 2009

Glory tree flower in my new front garden. … Leaving Sydney, that is.

Yes, I finally do have a home to go to after months of looking and will be departing Sydney after over a decade of living here.

But I’m not going far – just up to the Blue Mountains, a bit over an hour’s drive from my current home in Sydney’s inner west.

I’ll be living in a town in the upper Mountains which is close to everything I’d like to be close to up there. Of course living in the country will be a big adjustment, but the Mountains has so many Sydney refugees in it that it’s a bit like an outpost of Sydney and is quite urban in some ways, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock.

My new home is a mostly wooden cottage which is probably around a hundred years old at a guess. It’s quite large and potentially has a whopping four bedrooms, but I will be using just two as bedrooms – one for me and one for any visitors I may have.

The other two will function as a studio and office respectively. Finally I will have working space which is entirely separated from my living space – and enough room to work a lot more effectively than I do now. Can’t wait!

My new studio will be in a decent sized room with two big windows looking out over the very pretty cottage garden at the front and side of the house. And my new office has one good sized window looking out over the side garden. The photograph above was taken of one of the lovely plants in my new garden-to-be.

The room which will be my bedroom has a beautiful bay window with a seat in it which also looks out onto the pretty front garden. There’s also a big living room with a fire and a decent sized kitchen and dining area, plus a separate laundry. And the bathroom is a big space which has been beautifully done up – it has a big deep bath in it which I’m looking forward to spending lots of time soaking in!

At the back of the house is a garden which is so large I’m going to feel like I’ve suddenly got my own private park! It’s a lovely green space. And someone else will be caring for it, so all I have to do is enjoy it.

The house is going to be a challenge to get looking right as the walls are all painted very bold colours … but luckily I’m up for a challenge on that front!

So now I need to get into moving mode for the first time in a few years. I won’t get the keys for a couple of weeks, but there’s an awful lot to get done in that time, especially given how insanely busy I am even without the move! Keep your fingers crossed that I survive it all in one piece.

Once I’m in and have started to set up my new space I’ll share some photographs with you.

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Gosh, is that the time!?

15 January 2009

A succulent from the garden in Port Broughton. I can hardly believe that we’re already half way through January 2009! I think somebody needs to invent something which makes the world slow down a bit.

As for what I’m doing with my new year, well this time of year is usually when I try to regroup – I rest up to recover from the frantic Christmas selling season, start making plans for the rest of the new year and generally try to sort my life out a bit.

This year is a little bit different as I also have two freelance web projects to complete over the next few weeks, so those projects have been taking up a fair bit of brain space, not to mention time. It will be good to have them done.

However, I am also working on personal things, most notably going through every drawer and cupboard in my home (there are a lot of them and they’re all jam-packed!). Everything is being taken out and re-organised – and I’m being ruthless in terms of what gets thrown away, with anything still useable being set aside to be donated to charity.

This is with a view to moving over the next few months – and wanting to avoid taking too much excess ’stuff’ with me when I do. My plan is to have a go at living in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. I have a hankering to live in an actual house with a garden and space to have visitors. I also want to be in a place where there are lovely walks to go on (my current situation in suburbia is hardly inspiring in that regard!). Doing any of this within Sydney isn’t really an option for me.

I’m not positive that the Mountains will be where I will stay, but I have incredibly itchy feet and I figure I may as well give it a go. And maybe one day I’ll finally manage to figure out where ‘home’ is for me!

In addition, I’m also making plans to buy a shiny new car. I’ve managed to get by without a car for around 14 years now, having always lived in places where it hasn’t been essential to own one. However, over the last few years I’ve been a bit further from the city and it has been a pain not having a car. Also if I’m to move out of the city entirely, I really have no option but to get one. But it will be a teensy one and I still hope to live close enough to shops and cafes that I can walk to them as much as possible.

In terms of jewellery, I’ve been taking a break from making work having completely worn myself out closer to Christmas. However, in the next few days I need to get back to my bench to start catching up on stock, particularly with Valentine’s Day looming.

So that is where my life is up to! I hope all of you are having a good new year so far.

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