Silvermonk

Wiggle Earrings

2012-01-26T22:59:00.000-08:00

I know the X'mas season is well behind us. I hope you all had a wonderful time with friends and families and a well deserved rest! We had a fabulous time visiting friends and families in Melbourne and Tassie.

Tassie is amazing and i even caught a fish big enough to put on the dinner plate, this is going to be a good year.....If we ever want a sea change Tassie is the place to be!

I think i just slowly taken in the goodness of Tassie and did not start the year until the water Dragon came along......

The first out of the block is this wiggle earrings, handmade from fine silver. I also made a few variation on different lengths.

The Eveleigh artisan market is on again next Sunday (5th Feb ), come by and say Hello I have something to surprise you!!!

Cheers and have a Happy Dragon Year

Upcoming X'mas sale

2011-11-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

Just back from a quick dash to a wedding in Melbourne and visited Cousins along the way. The wedding was wonderful and I managed to find some very nice dress(?! ) for the day, thank God for the "Country Road". I will post some photos later........

I've been tucked into my home studio and making lots of jewellery for the upcoming X'mas.

There will be a news letter out for the big X'mas sale in my Etsy shop this weekend .

Come and get into the swing of the festivities.

You can always visit me at the markets and select from a full range of my jewellery.

Eveleigh Artisans Market : 4th Dec 2011, Sunday

Kerribilli Art and Design Market: 11th Dec 2011, Sunday

Handmade Canberra upmarket: 17th Dec 2011 Saturday & 18th Dec 2011 Sunday

cheers

chimin

Handmade Canberra Market

2011-09-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

Its already been 3 months passed since last Handmade Canberra Market, unbelievable!!!

We been moved back to our old new house since then and I am starting to get into the swing of things.

I have made some new designs as well as a few things with the pieces and bits from other project.

The stall will be down in the middle ( stall no.68 ), just behind my usual spot

I'll be attending the Saturday Market only and would love to catch up with you all

Come and check out what i've been up to.

Creative Lane

2011-09-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

After a long renovation and the last few months of labouring, we are now settling nicely into our new old house as though we've never left. The boy just turned 10 and have his first sleepover ever in his own room/space. We are always looking forward to his Birthday as it comes with the Spring and we all can't wait to Sprung into action again.

This Sunday I will be participating in the Creative Lane Art and Craft Festival organised by Suki Tam .

Come along and say hello if you are in the local area!

In her own words Creative Lane is " a platform for Australia local independent artist. We are aiming to create a community for local artists and the local public so to increase the awareness of local designs in inner west suburbs. Unlike most of the markets in Sydney, Creative Lane only limited to local handmade designs. "

Japan Disaster Relief Charity Art Auction

2011-03-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a Japanses Charity Auction for Japan's disaster at Yuga Floral Cafe & Gallery in Glebe this coming week. There will be Tasty Japanese food and wines as well as Koto music by Sawai Koto School, Shakuhachi, Taiko & Music by Felicity & friends. Ikebana demostration by Setsuko.

Come along and join us if you are local and spread the words among your friends and relatives network.

Date: 7th April 2011 ( Thursday )

Time: 6 pm

Venue: 172 St. Johns Road, Glebe

Cost $25 per person or the amount you wish to donate

All the cost collected will be donated to Japanese Red Cross as well as all money raised by the auction.

Auction Artworks:

Oil paintings, mix media, Aboriginal arts, photograph, family photo session, voucher, handmade accessories, Japanese cerography, ceramics, Japanese Sumie paintings etc.

Melbourne Finders Keepers Market

2011-03-22T01:26:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be heading Melbourne this weekend ( 26th & 27th )for the Finders Keepers Market.

If you are following the handmade movement. You should know by now that it is a big event with a lot of talented independent designers from all around Australia. There will be music and plenty of handmade goodies.

I will have some of my new fold form design as well as Finders Keepers special for you to indulge.

Come along and supporting your local artisans, i promise you will not be empty handed.

Me & Myself

2011-02-21T23:24:00.000-08:00

Its another one of my ring a week challenge. Yin and Yang, his and hers. A very much modern kind of ring with clean lines, I like to wear them both at the same time with my black shirt. It has one of my favourite combination of ebony wood and silver, the brass nut is an added bonus!

After a big day from the handmade Canberra Market. I am back to my work bench and experiment with some fold forming, can't wait to take some photos......

Ring a week 2 & 3

2011-01-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

Another 2 rings from my ring a week project.

Raw 2 was inspired by the cute and the bronze colour of the miniature brass hex head nut and a determination not to use the gas tank for soldering. The nut act as a functional and an decorative element.

Raw 3 was made from a broken part of another ring riveted onto a sterling silver band and finished with a brass hex head miniature nut as a decoration. It has been a while now of wanting to do something with the broken piece.

I am glad that the broken piece has a second life and it all came together in the end.
I am at my best when there is something to start with, not very good with a bland canvas.

Both rings are made from sterling silver and has been oxidized.

Australian Day Sale

2011-01-25T02:39:00.000-08:00

To celebrate Australian Day (26 Jan),

I am having an Ausday sale in my etsy shop

All items will be 20% off!  

Coupon code: AUSDAY 

until midnight January 31, 2011

cheers

Chimin

Ring a week

2011-01-19T22:11:00.001-08:00

I have join a group of artists on Flickr to kick start this year with Ring a week project.

This is my first RAW (Ring a week).

The ring has been sitting around for ages unfinished ( in a different state) on the other side of the work bench.
I also have these leafs that I collected 6 months ago and it had not change a bit since. You probably have seen them in a few of my jewelley shots.
I really love the little leaf, the colour and the texture, it just so elegant, the leaf i meant!

And it evolved from there....

I figured out all i need to do is get myself to the work bench and get out of the way at the same time and let the magic happens.

Hopefully i will get inspire, make some incredible rings and have lots of fun along the way........

Call for Help-Flood Fundraising

2011-01-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

Let"s give the Queensland people a helping hand when they starting to rebuild their lives after the flood......

There are two etsy appeals running at the moment. Australian Flood Appeal run by the Sydney etsy team, and HANDMADE ARK run by the BriStyle. You can help through donating items, buying items or helping with promotion.

Through January, 10% of SilverMonk's sales in Handmade Canberra's Upmarket will be donated to the QLD Flood Relief Appeal. And the Shop will match all contributions, Lots of other designers are participating too.
Come on Canberra lets shop for a cause!

You can also donate directly to the Premier Flood Relief Appeal

Every bit helps.

Chopin Nocturne No2-Yundi Li

2011-01-06T18:13:00.001-08:00

Let the mind rest and the spirit soar........

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

Wishing you full of FUN filled and NATURE Inspired 2011

See more of our holiday photos here

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

Fern Earrings

2010-10-06T01:49:00.000-07:00

I know its not what you would normally expect for fern foliage.
Nevertheless, its a fern from my childhood memory.

When i was growing up in Hainan Island. There were plenty of Fern around behind the village. They were good source of fuel for cooking, or for starting up the wood fire.

While i was saw cutting my new design, something happened and my design was ruined!

When i saw the new shape that i've cut out, I thought it got the essence of Fern!

What a happy accident

My new X'mas Bauble Earrings

2010-09-29T03:15:00.001-07:00

BaubleE, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

I went to the Myer city store the other day and yes they already have the Christmas decorating out ...........

So i went home and get stuck onto my work bench, just working to build up my christmas stock.

And out came this cheerful Bauble.........
It combined my love of spiral and red coral!

Spring is here......

2010-09-02T23:47:00.001-07:00

and it's time to bring out your bush walking boots and wondering in nature........

You can always come to Eveleigh Artisans' Market on this Sunday to celebrate Fathers' Day and buy Dad a unique handmade gift!

Epiphanies Art Exhibitiion

2010-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Epiphanies- " a revelation through art and beautiful things".

The Epiphanies art exhibition will held in St Charles Borromeo Church this weekend. ( opening Friday 13, 7:00pm). After I have set up my table, I walked around and was presently surprised by the beauty and quality of the art works displayed.

The ever friendly and energetic Michelle Hillyer is the Jewellery & Craft Convenor. I am honoured to be part of the exhibition

Come and join us this weekend

Opening celebration-Wren Handmade

2010-03-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

Wren Handmade Is a new retail space specialising in unique pieces crafted by Australian artists and designers. It is run by the wonderful Sarah . I am very honoured to have my works displayed in there. If you are in the area, why not come and join in the celebration ..........

When: Saturday 27th March 2010

Time: 9.30 – 11.30 am

Where: Mezzanine Level, Manic Organic(Shop 1, 409-411 Princes Hwy, Woonona)

Zen Bird Collection

2010-02-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

Imagine a bird soaring through the landscape,
just to enjoy the peace and calm......

what a great way to start the year with my Zen Bird collection.

There will be Pendant and Bangle in the series............

Prince William Visiting Down Under

2010-01-24T03:05:00.000-08:00

Prince William was in our neighbourhood the other day visiting Redfern.
We were there of course.......

Uncle Max was there to hold the smoking ceremony!
The Prince went inside the Redfern Community center to have a cup of tea with the Aboriginal elders, read story and played table tennis with the kid. He made a good impression on his visit.

Uncle Max came over for a cup of tea tonight and said he can sense a good spirit in Prince William when he shook his hand. I think this is the best compliment the Prince or anyone can have......

I hope Uncle Max will be invited to his Wedding one day!

With the Loyal on our door steps, 2010 looks promising!

See more photos here

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T17:48:00.001-08:00

Happy 2010, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

2009 was a blur............
Thank you all of you for stopping by this little corner with wonderful comments as well as the friendly faces visiting the markets through out the year!!

Wishing peace and clarity to us all for 2010!

cheers
chimin

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T01:02:00.000-08:00

We all wish you a peaceful and Happy new year!

EVELEIGH ARTISANS’ MARKET

2009-12-04T01:13:00.000-08:00

Come and Celebrating an Australian Made Christmas with Handmade designs this Sunday.

There will be Workshops running all day!

10.30am - Recycled Material Baubles

11.00am - Christmas card making workshop @ Eveleigh Market

12.00pm - Cross stick Weaving Decorations

12.30pm - Mrs Claus’ Bling

1.00pm - Christmas Delights

1.30pm - Christmas tree angels

drop in and say Hello!!!!!!

Ranger's apprentice

2009-10-29T16:45:00.001-07:00

Ranger's apprentice, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

For the Halloween Day in school.
"Ranger's apprentice",Youngman's new favourite book series.
( We are just happy that he finished with the Star Wars theme and on to something new......)

Youngman found the bed sheet
Mum made the bow,
Dad sharpened the arrow
Mum & Dad cut and hand sew the hood,( while the sewing machine sitting on the stairs from last Christmas, still in the box.........)

All happened at 7:00am ready for school at 9:00am...........

OUR COMMUNAL TABLE

2009-10-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

October is a busy month and SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL is here!
There are a lot of food events around town and I am gladly invite you to the "OUR COMMUNAL TABLE" -A FOOD for PEACE EVENT in our neighbourhood. I've cut and paste their media release below:

"Dear Friends and Happy Gardeners,

We, at the Custodians Garden, are very excited about OUR COMMUNAL TABLE - a FOOD for PEACE event at the Sydney Morning Herald's Sydney International Food Festival.

Our Communal Table is a festive Sunday family lunch to celebrate Mother Earth's generosity and the farmers, producers, and culinary artisans who enrich our community.

The kitchen team, lead by Executive Chef Amanda Young, the first Australian and the first woman to ! win the Mondial des Chefs de Collectivities en Autogestion trophy in Paris, and Indigenous chef Matthew! Cribb, a recent delegate to Slow Food International's Terra Madre in Italy, will create a grand family feast using surplus produce collected from producers, providores, and restaurants across Sydney.

FRESHWATER will uplift our spirits with their traditional and contemporary Aboriginal songs. Children will enjoy activities especially designed for them.

You will also hear the first hand experiences from some of our project partners, including Indra and Khadijah owners of the Jungle Inn, in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra, and Carol Pringle, Founder of Natural Steps Pre-School in the Hunter Valley.

OUR COMMUNAL TABLE is one of the main ingredients in our PEACE CANOE PROJECT. People of all ages and from all cultures are invited to this convivial celebration. When we come together in peace, exchange stories, connect with the land, and share a meal, something beautiful happens, we discover, nurture and celebrate our sameness and uniqueness.

TIME & DATE: 12pm. Sunday, 18 October 2009

VENUE: Yaama Dhiyaan, 255 Wilson Street, Darlington NSW 2008

COST: Adult $50.00 Children $25.00

BOOKINGS/ENQUIRIES: Robyn: 0401.839.888 E: robyn@custodiansgarden.com

Also, if you would like to join us and contribute as an EVENT PARTNER and as part of the Kitchen and Media Team, feel free please contact me: 0401.839.888

We look forward to sharing yummy food, fun and laughter with you on Sunday.

Have a happy weekend.

Robyn"

Hope to see you there!

cheers
chimin

Sydney Dust Storm

2009-09-23T04:02:00.000-07:00

I knew a storm is coming before we went to bed last night. What I did not expect was this
amazing orange and almost sepia tone sky when i woke up this morning!
We thought it was another bush fire near by as summer is come up in this part of the world.

It turned out Sydney was hit by once in a 70 years Dust Storm..........

Cold, windy
And rather excited!
Just like watching a movie.

I mean i've experienced earthquake and typhoon, but this time nobody gets hurt!

not to mention everything is cover in a thin layer of red dust.........

Piet Mondrian - A Journey Through Modern Art

2009-09-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Music: Philip Glass-glassworks

Mondrian Bangle, my tribute to the great master!

Keep Dreaming.......

2009-04-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

..... it will come true one day!

Beautiful tree house from baumraum

Spirallllllllll..............

2009-03-04T02:35:00.000-08:00

I've always love the simplicity of drawing and the traces of simple lines on paper.

The "Out Of The Blue Pendant" and the "Spiral Ring" combine my love of spiral and line......
The pendant is 20mm X 40mm.
They are quickly to become my new favourite.

Last Sunday's Eveleigh Artisans Market went really well for me. I have a lot of good chats to customers and locals.
And met some lovely people from Etsy. If you are around the area come and say hello.......

I will have a stall in the Kirribilli Art and Design Market again this Sunday, If you are around the area come and say hello.......

Butterfly.......

2009-02-24T21:02:00.001-08:00

I have to admit i was off balance a bit lately. With the country flooding in the North and bush fire in the South we all feel the hit......

With a brand new Market coming up this Sunday, I sit myself down on the workbench and slowly get into creative mode again.

It's a bangle with hammered butterfly wings as a focal and a freeform organic shape that can be adjust slightly.
The 3mm thick square wire made it quite a substantial piece.

I also made a matching ring. The photo is taken just after the soldering and i love the rustic feel of it........

The new Eveleigh Artisan Market is just around the corner from where i live.
I am really looking forward to this Sunday!

Spiral Heart

2009-02-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Valentines day!

Red coral: My stone

2009-02-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

School started.
Music class is back on the radar.
New soccer season is registered.
And I am back to my Blogland and work Bench

It is amazing how much we organise our time around the school term these day!

My Silvermonk.net are now in Australian dollars, which made it easy for my Aussie customers. You can still pay by other currency if you wish and there is a currency converter on the site.

This new pair of Fancy coral earrings are perfect for

Happy Chinese new year!
The year of OX!

memory fruit among other things

2009-01-13T03:32:00.000-08:00

When i saw this yellow fruit sit on top of the piano today,
I thought i better took a photo before it all gone funny........
and i should also tell you a bit about our trip down Melbourne.

I had to warn you beforehand though, when i am telling a story or anything involve time, my grammar will be all over the place.
So on the safe side, i am not going to tell you the detail story of the next door neighbour's garage on fire at midnight........
or the caravan that we stayed in went live at on point...........
( the important thing is nobody was hurt and that's end of the story!)

What i would love to share with you is we had an incredibly calming and relaxing time catching up with friends.
The flys were incredibly easy and fast. it took only an hour and a bit instead of taking a whole day to drive down.
I figure out if we can plant more trees next time we will do it all over again!

To play with May and Conor's computer games( Conor is a game developer) and Kung Fu practice weapons is a dream comes true for young Gabriel!

My favourite part was walking around the lane ways of the Northcote neighbourhood with Kerry and her daughters.
Throughout the 1950s the area became home to a large number of Italian and Greek migrants. One of the things these groups of people did was planting fruit trees in their backyards. We spent a good 2 hours walking the Suburb picking and testing fruits hanging out the fences. A true urban hunting and gathering. I love it!!!!!

At the end of the gathering trip, Gabriel said he need to take a memory fruit home and here it is sitting right on top of the piano.

New Year Celebrations 09

2009-01-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

We were back in time for the New Year Eve fireworks in Sydney.
The photos were all taken from the balcony in our apartment.

By now, mr. silvermonk had urged me to pull out my tripod ( Christmas present from Mr. Silvermonk) to take some crispy shots of the fireworks.
But then, who has the time, the fireworks only last for a few more minutes.........
I enjoy the un-predicted and abstract effect anyway, do you happen to see the peace doves effects......

We wish you a very happy and peaceful 2009!
cheers
chimin

Christmas Spirit

2008-12-19T04:40:00.000-08:00

Today is Youngman's last day of the school year and he will be in year 2 next Feb. The School Report has been sent home and Youngman was cool on all key learning areas. The teacher's report said that he set a good example for his peers. He has already opened some of his Christmas presents and now he can just be himself and play with his Legos and make up his own storys.

The P&C put on a little drinks party after school, after a few snacks and beer, I am officially on Christmas vacation and off line......

We are heading down Melbourne . Mr. Silvermonk bought some carbon credits to plant trees so that we can all fly down this year to spend sometimes with friends and relatives.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

cheers
chimin

Ps: we will be back in Sydney for the New Year Eve firework!

Carols in Victoria Park 08

2008-12-15T15:28:00.001-08:00

Carol in Victoria Park 08, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

We've been to the Carol in the park for a few years now. It was organized by the St. Barnabas church The Park is a beautiful place with the city as the back drop.

We were having a very enjoyable time with children playing tips ( chase ) and the magnificient fire works to finish the night! We raised enough money on the night for the Habitat for Humanity to build a house in India.

We also seen the biggest full moon slowly creeping up behind the stage......

Well, after a hectic week of working on the bench, ( which end up drilling a hole in my thumb....)
I am glad that we had a relaxing and peaceful night out in the park.

We will be in the City tomorrow to choose some big Lego toys for the Youngman. He's been a real good boy this year apart from watching too much TV.

Best Ever........

2008-12-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

The Finders Keepers Market was the best market i've ever participated in.
Lots of cool stalls, 10 minutes walk from our place, all the neighbours were there and every single one of the young and old handmade groovy people from Sydney were all there, even a lady from Chicago was there and got a present from my stall for her daughter, I was busy..... very very busy and tired and happy!

The organizers should be congratulated on putting such a wonderful and successful market!

The best part of it was seeing all these people with a beer or wine in hand while relaxing, browsing and supporting handmade!

See more of the photos of the night!

The Market!

2008-12-04T04:23:00.001-08:00

Dear friends,

The finders keepers market is on........
If you are planning a night out, this is the place to be.

There will be clothing, accessories, jewellery, art, homewares, lighting, stationery and more......
And of course, there will be music and food!

It is held inside the foyer of the contemporary arts space "CarriageWorks".

I am having a stall there as well, so come and say hello.

Finders Keepers will be running:
Friday 5th December 6pm – 10pm
Saturday 6th December 12pm – 10pm

click here for direction.

100 Sales!

2008-12-01T01:50:00.001-08:00

My jewellery shop on Etsy reach a little milestone today! A small step in terms of statistic, but a big step in my adventures into the Cyber space.

The 100th sale is my Cross embedded with love, how wonderful is that!!!!!

A big thank you to all my customers.
Your support is much appreciated.

cheers
and more to come!

Christmas Sparkle!

2008-11-28T02:47:00.000-08:00

Just want to pop in and say Hello!
I've been a bit busy with the Christmas orders and making lots of jewellery for my up coming Finders Keepers market.
You can click on the side bar for more info.

Also thank you my fellow Aussies greenOlive and Pominoz for putting my fine silver earrings in their treasuries.

We are going to the Star War opening on Wednesday.

cheers and have a nice weekend!

BUY HANDMADE THIS CHRISTMAS!

2008-11-17T01:44:00.000-08:00

Couldn't believed it, its only six weeks to Christmas!

I am in love with kraft paper at the moment and redesign my new earring tag and Christmas packaging.

FREE SHIPPING worldwide until Christmas in my Etsy shop .

If you would like to purchase from my website, Just enter FREESH15 upon check out to get 15% discount on your purchase. (Not to be used with other discount code!)

Old Darlington school

2008-11-16T02:43:00.000-08:00

The Old charming Darlington School is all fixed up with new beautiful roof and new surrounding landscape.

It quickly becomes our favourite walk after dinner, the only thing missing in this picture is a dog........I wish we live in a house with a backyard.

There has been a lot of opposition noise about the expansion of the University. I personally don't mind that at all.

DaWanda World 2009

2008-11-13T02:58:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am going to give away all this beautiful jewellery......

A group of online sellers from DaWanda organise a new promo called "DaWanda World 2009" /"Happy New DaWanda Year 2009".

"The idea is to bring together a variety of shops from all over the world representing Dawanda in this "Dawanda World 2009" promo campaign.

Each shop participating in the campaign will send 10-15 items, which will be put into the bags and can then be bought from a few nominated shops on Dawada .

The sale will start on January 1st 2009 and the money from the sale will be donated to an organization which is still to be nominated."

Creative advertising

2008-11-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Don't you love this?!

The council has been putting heavy fines on people putting poster on the post......
( you could see the lamp post next to it is all clean!)

So someone come up with this great idea and i think they will get away with the fine.

The cool thing about it is the bicycle is chained onto the (legal) new bicycle stand, how appropriate!

Stretch your brain

2008-10-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

( Anna~my sister in law sent me some interesting emails every now and then. This is one of those i want to share with you!)

This is not a test - just a phenomenon. All readings are explained.

Read out loud the text inside the triangle below

More than likely you said, 'A bird in the bush,'! and. .......
if this IS what YOU said, then you failed to see
that the word THE is repeated twice!
Sorry, look again.

Next, let's play with some words.
What do you see here?

In black you can read the word GOOD, in white the word EVIL (inside each black letter is a white letter)

What do you see here?

This one is quite tricky!
The word TEACH reflects as LEARN.

ALZHEIMERS' EYE TEST
Count every 'F' in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT
OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...
(SEE BELOW)

HOW MANY ?
WRONG, THERE ARE6-- no joke.
READ IT AGAIN !
Really, go Back and Try to find the 6 F's before you scroll down.

The brain cannot process 'OF'.

Incredible or what? Go back and look again!!
Anyone who counts all 6 'F's' on the first go is a genius.
Three is normal, four is quite rare.

*****************
More Brain Stuff .

From Cambridge University .

"Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!"

The last test is quite interesting because Gabriel is in the mist of learning to read, write and spell!
And there is this big debate of "Whole Language learning" and " Phonics learning".

What is amazing is that Gabriel ( he is almost finish year 1 ) can read the above paragraph without any problem.

What I've learnt from Gabriel's learning experience is that, some kids are very good with whole word learning and they learn to read (out loud ) in no time, and that is just part of the story ( of learning to read and write). To complete the picture ( to write and spell), you need phonics and grammar.

At first, Gabriel's reading progress very slowly, he's a bit reluctance to say the word out loud ( to read ) if he did not know how to. Now that he learns the phonics his reading and spelling skills just take off........

I am no expert in all this and i probably need Mr. Silvermonk to check the grammar, but i am sure you know what i meant ( hopefully most of the time?!)

I find this quite useful.

Up dates .........

2008-10-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

~The" Explorations '08 " is over and I am very happy to report that the displayed piece "Spiral Dream Necklace" has gone to a good home. Good news is they are still available in my shop.

~ Watch out for this month's (November) newsletter with big discount code for the Christmas season!

~I am in the process of adding new designs to my shop in conjunction with the newsletter.

~If you see something on my Blog or Flickr that you like and is not currently listed in my shop, just let me know and we can sort something out!

Sculpture by the sea 2008

2008-10-26T04:49:00.001-07:00

"Sculpture by the sea" is held every year along the coast between Bronte and Bondi Beach. The event marks the arrival of spring and the farewell to the unwilling winter. ( This is especially true this year, the weather has been exceptionally cold last week!)

This year the " Harmony with the breeze" by Kozo Nishino really caught our imagination......

Its delicate titanium wings flag gently and rhythmicly in the wind. It's so elegant and poetic and beautiful. I can just sit there all day and contemplate.
It has to be my all time favourite!!!!!!

If you want to see more of the sculptures in the walk, I found a set on flickr, just clicked here

More Sculpture by the sea photos post on Flickr

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

2008-10-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Every parent with a young child in school would enjoy this video!

What Sir Ken Robinson said in the video truly rings a bell.

...................

The sun is shinning again after a few days of rainy and cold weather.
We are heading for the beach and the "sculpture by the sea".

Have a nice weekend, my friends!

International Organ Day

2008-10-19T16:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the International Organ Day. More than 250 concerts was held around the world to showcase the King of the instrument! We were there in the Great Hall of Sydney Uni.(I was graduated in the same Hall 9 years ago) for the " Introducing the pipe Organ" to the kids! I've always love the majestic sound of the Organ and really enjoyed it! Youngman even had a play on the Organ .......

The Quardrangle of Sydney Uni. is such a beautiful place. They have one of the only two Carillons ( the largest by itself weighting over 4 tonnes) in Australia. We are very lucky to hear and then see the 54 Bells in action!

See more of the phots here

Songlines Castle Ring

2008-10-15T02:57:00.001-07:00

I love my Songlines Ring and wear it quite a lot. The only problem is that the ring band is slightly too wide for my finger. I decided to do something about it. I held it in my hand yesterday and they started to grow on me and evolved into something of its own.
Within minutes I started to cut out 3 strips of silver from the rims and soldered them onto the open side of the ring........and there you go, looks just like a castle.

Mr. Silvermonk said Castle Ring sounds a bit too Colonial.

I thought, Wow, from Songline to Castle, that sounds very much like the Australian ( natural/cultural) landscape........

Honestly, I just really like the sculptural feel of the newly reincarnated ring.

I feel blessed!!

Casper the friendly ghost.......

2008-10-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought the Ring looks like ET, but Mr. Silvermonk said it looks like "Casper the friendly ghost". I like the fact that ghost and friendly go together, at least in this case!

I have been in a bit of La La Land and made a few unusual rings lately and this is one of them! They just came out of my hands and took me by surprise........

I will be in Kirribilli Market tomorrow, come and have a chat if you are around the area.

cheers and have a nice weekend!

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

2008-10-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

Very inspiring!

I hope you enjoy!

Want to know more, click here.

Nicholson Museum Collections

2008-10-03T20:09:00.001-07:00

Don't you love these earthy ceramics! They are as old and as modern as you can get. What i mean is they are very old and at the same time have a very modern feel and look about them ( i do not have the date and where its from on my finger tips, i was too busy to take photos and just literally blew away with their beauty and simplicity!).

Its all part of the Nicholson Museum Collections at the Sydney University. We drove pass the Museum several times a day on the way to youngman's school everyday........ and we never visited the place!!!!! Or more precisely, we did not even know its there!

All i really want to say is they are so beautiful and simple............
Worth a visit if you are in Sydney next time and their school holidays programme is excellent and it's free!!!!!!

See more photos here

Sydney Children's Festival

2008-10-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

It's the much needed school holidays again.........

We normally go to the Power House museum, but this time the Sydney Children's Festival just literally around the corner from our place and its all happening in the Carriageworks !

We went to see the Jungle Fever and really enjoyed it!
There are lots of other free events and activities happening in the main foyer as well.

We might pop back in again next week..........

Talk about Carriageworks, they are planning a market on the site and you know how much i love having a stall in the market.
I've already put my hands up and hopefully they will get it all organise and in time for the X'mas season!

Did I just mention the word X'mas, I am not joking, the big department store in the city ( Myer) already have their decorations out.....

OK! OK! That's enough for today!

WWW.Silvermonk.net

2008-09-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I have been working on my new website www.silvermonk.net for a while now. I am very excited to let you know that it is all ready to go......

One of my favourite features on the new website is I can hand out discount coupons ( code) whenever i like.....
And here is one for my fellow bloggers, just enter the discount code "BlogLove15" upon checked out to get 15% off on any purchase! (valid until 28th Oct. 08)

Thank you for celebrating this milestone with me, your ongoing support and comments is much appreciated!

cheers
chimin

Shaun the Sheep and his friends

2008-09-25T03:23:00.001-07:00

Man! I did not know that Shaun the Sheep is so well loved around the globe!
I thought it was only happening in the house of Silvermonk! Youngman and his Dad really enjoy watching the show. They have a good time laughing their head off.

While I was making this pair of earrings........

Shaun the Sheep and his friends just jump out of my hands and here they all are.........
They put smile on my face!

The moral of the story is " I need to loosen up a bit more and have a laugh ever now and then........."

More Storage

2008-09-21T05:32:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for storage unit for a while now.
Ikea is on the list, but none come close to this one by the nightwood

Their upcycle philosophy and "down to earth yet airy aesthetic and sensibility" is my kind of thing.
One for youngman's toy collection and one for my work bench..........

Exploration '08

2008-09-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

I am excited to be part of the "Exploration '08" jewellery exhibition. It is held by A&E Metal Merchants at Gaffa Gallery, Surry Hills in Sydney from 19th-27th September.

My Spiral Dream Necklaceis in the show.

This is the first opening ( with one of my work) we attended since Youngman was born.
The opening was cool, lots of people and free beer.......

After a few beers, we all let ourselves loose and drove around the city and the Harbour bridge and the Opera House......

I want more!!!!

( I will be back to the exhibition this weekend and take more photos )

I will not be in the Kiribilli Art and Design Market today!

2008-09-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am still recovering from a Flu and would not be able to catch up with you in the market!

Take care and have a nice weekend!!!!

cheers
chimin

Some new works

2008-09-13T03:24:00.001-07:00

Up In The Cloud Pendant

SongLine Rings

Autumn Earrings

Tree Earrings

Along the River During the Ching-Ming Festival

2008-09-04T20:29:00.001-07:00

Along the River During the Ching-Ming Festival, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

The National Palace Museum of Taiwan is a good place to visit if you ever travel to the Island. They have a phenomenal collections of ancient Chinese treasures!

Here is a famous painting from around AD1200 China. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the picture and little windows will open up to display animation.

click here to watch the animation.

Control the speed of picture moving with your mouse.

Enjoy!

And the winner for the August mailing list is.........

2008-09-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

.......... Sally Cooper! Congratulation sally and i will email you shortly with the details!

Thank you for all of you joining my mailing list!
You can still join now if you haven't.( joining button is on the right hand side bar)
Watch out for news about my new website........

Thank you youngman for playing " Midnight snack" by Sonny Chua.

Red Around The World

2008-08-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

tactileeclectics has been travelling around the word to put this beautiful red treasury together. I am glad that she came all the way to down under and including my Inner Peace Red Coral Pendant.

www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=4933

I jumped into the Fantasy tree and found myself in Norway surrounded by beautiful illustrations.........

Ps: I will get the email draw ready as soon as youngman back from school!

Give away!!!!!!!

2008-08-27T22:29:00.001-07:00

Spring is here in my part of the world.

To celebrate the abundance of universe, I am giving away this fine silver half moon earrings.

Comment on your favorite item from my shop and enter into the draw, It is currently held in the giveaway blog run by Katie.

check it out and have fun!

( until 4th September)

cheers
chimin

I am back.....

2008-08-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

.........from the Olympic Dream! To be more precise the whole Silvermonk family came back from the TV land.

I was always a very sporty person and love just about any kinds of sports. In my school days, i used to play volley ball, basket ball ,soft ball and table tennis. I probably would not survived my secondary school years without table tennis. When the bell rang, i would be the first one rushed out of the classroom and sweated over the little white ball. In any kind of sport, there is a beauty about the movement of the body when it strikes a balance and i really enjoy that moment when it comes.

My best memory about playing table tennis was when i went to the training sessions at night in the late 60s and early 70s ( in China ). After each training, they would served us a bowl of hot rice soup loaded with sugar ( made from sugar cane). In those day, food was not as abundant as today, and that bowl of silky rice soup was indeed food from haven and i doubt i ever missed one training session. I still remember the sweetness of the rice soup until these day.....

A sporting event like this is a good place for people to know each other, we watched every single country that paraded into the stadium and wonder where they all came from and we found them on the map......

Now that the Olympic curtain is drawn, I better chain myself to the work bench and seriously playing with the new materials and some gemstones that i just got......

In the woods

2008-08-04T04:54:00.001-07:00

After Mr.Silvermonk took the whole family for a site visit, Gabriel suggested we go for a little adventure in the bush.
It was only 20 minutes drive across the Harbour bridge. You would not believe it is in Suburban Sydney.

The winter sun was so beautiful and just lightened up the whole bush.

A secret path......
A pleasant walk....

See more of the adventure photos and video here

Join my Mailing List

2008-07-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right!

Just want to keep you inform of my new designs, sales and give away.......
All it needs is your name and e_mail address, nothing more and you can always unsubscribe from the list!

I promise I will not flood your inbox with marketing junk. If i get my act together, then it will only be once a month newsletter affair........

And if you join in the Month of August, you are in a run to win a $50 coupon to spend in my online shop.

I will let the Birthday Boy (Young man turning 7 in August ) do the Lucky Draw and the winner will be published here!

The joining Button is on the right hand Side Bar.

----------

You can watch Youngman learning his new piece here

"Local River" Mathieu Lehanneur with Anthony van den Bossche

2008-07-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

How cool is that!
Love the whole concept, the music, the video editing, the herbs, the glass tank .........

but not the eel though........

I will definitely replace the eel with a different type of fish if i am installing one in my living room!

Click on the Title to go to the Artist website!

Web banner

2008-07-24T18:03:00.001-07:00

I have been contemplating of redesign my web banner for a while now. My style have been changed or should I say "evolved" quite a bit since i first started. I found out from Etsy forum that you can use power point to made a web banner, and here it is!

After i uploaded my web banner to my site and have a peek at the Etsy Treasury and I was surprised to see this beautiful Treasury by abbagesandkingsArt. My Songline pendant is among all those wonderful pieces. Go and check it out .........

As you can tell Charcoal and Orange are my 2 favourite colour combination at the moment.

Thank you cabbagesandkingsArt !

Up lifting experience

2008-07-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

I was contacted by Melissa from the Wesley Mission in Sydney to make some necklaces and badges. It was a very simple commision piece, simply just use their Dove Logo.

The Dove is such a simple and beautiful image. It was a really uplifting experience to make the Dove badges and the necklaces.

I used 1 mm thick sterling silver sheet to cut out the shape and the wing span of the Dove is about 25mm! I also made two different Dove necklaces just to have a different feel of the piece!

Years ago, I took Rod to Wesley Mission's Sunday service in the City for his father's day present and there you go. Who would think that i will have the chance to work with them years later......

Its all good!

Cockatoo Island-Biennale of Sydney 08

2008-07-20T06:38:00.000-07:00

The 2 weeks school winter break almost zoom passed just like that...........

I am grad that we managed to have a fun trip to the Cockatoo island.
It was a great day out, the weather was fantastic and the kids ran wild on the island, just don't ask me about the art installations.........

well, on the way to one of them, we were warned that it was not child friendly........
The one with the sails were cool, but the kids were warned that "no touching........."
We were closly followed by a lady with a walkie talkie when the kids were a bit over excited about the upside down boomerang boat.......

So we decided it's time to go outside and the kids were having real fun throwing rocks into the harbour!!!

Honestly, Cockatoo Island is full of industrial characters and if you love heavy rusty machinery, it is for you, they are just as good as any art installation.......

Flashfilm interview

2008-07-10T06:08:00.001-07:00

My interview with the Japanese based web magazine Flashfilm is out today. Flashfilm is the online magazine for international fashion and lifestyle. You can see the full interview here.

Many Thanks Flashfilm!

Inner Peace Pendant

2008-07-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the slide show, i can not wait to finish the Inner Peace Pendant!
It has three components: the chocolate brown Ebony wooden bead, the sterling silver ring stamped with peace on the inside and of course, the red coral beads!

I did not go to City, but instead i searched through my pieces and bits of sterling silver and found the missing piece, just what i needed.......

I remained very content and happy for the rest of the day!

For a change , i use a Spanish marble tile as the background for the photo shot.

Etsy Front Page

2008-07-03T17:11:00.001-07:00

It is such a nice feeling to wake up with an e-mail from our fellow artist duckduckgoosestuff , she let me know that my Organic Charm earrings is on the Etsy front page this morning........
go and check it out if you are in love with red and coral like me!

Thank you Celesterfrittata for such a beautiful list!

Coral has been my all time favourite for a long time now,
I just can't get enough of the vibrant Red......

Actually, i am making an Inner Peace Pendant with coral as part of the components, just need to finish off with a piece of sterling silver bail.....

( that is something that is missing and i need to go to the metal supplier in the city to get it!)

Nice Surprise!

2008-07-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

It was a very nice surprise when i opened our kitchen cupboard the other day and saw these beautiful images dancing on the wall! The images were from the light reflected off the new steel plates (a present).

There was another nice surprise that i kept for a little while now, Ok, Ok, it was only 2 weeks. I was approached by a Japanese web magazine called flashfilm and they wanted to interview me...........
They are based in Japan, but the website is in English. I was really impressed by their graphic interface as well as the content!

It took way longer for me to do the interview than to design my new Retro Ring........
My reply is very short, way too short and it's just me.
Its all good and i will post it here when it is out on the net.

My new Reto Ring

Pure Metal, Pure Joy

2008-06-18T03:59:00.000-07:00

By now you should know that i love my spiral, i just can't stay away from spiral, It is such a timeless symbol!
It is fun to make and i can assure you that it is fun to wear too!
With a bit of patina and polish, it catches the light beautifully.

Oh My Goodness!

This pair of earrings has been recycled and soldered together from bits and pieces cut out from my other projects and it all came alive under the intense fire........
It is so unique and full of character.
I love this a lot, the texture and the organic feel of it.

That is what keeps me going back to my work bench day in and day out!

Purely inspired by the metal strip that i just got. I was going to get something narrower for something else but they running of the stock, so i said i will take that.....!

It can't wait to came out of my hands and made its presence.
I suppose the metal spoke very strongly, with a cool and industrial accents......

I need to warn you that i have another pair of spiral theme earrings sitting on my work bench waiting to be photographed.
I promise you it won't be boring.
i will post it here when its done.

.........to be continued.......

20-June

Here it is, i hope it all worth the waiting!

I have this little fine silver spiral charm from the Hill tribe ( Thailand) a while back.
They are small and densely pact.
I am happy with the way my chunky hammered curve ( oxidized sterling silver) complement them!

Thank God........

2008-06-12T18:56:00.001-07:00

..........there is light at the end of the tunnel!

The silvermonk family has been struck down with winter flu and end up with the youngman in the Emergency room (RPAH )in the middle of the night last week. It was just a flu that came without a warning and attacking the respiratory system, he couldn't breathe! ( it didn't help when he had a mint ice-cream before dinner; just after his music class......)

Luckily, the hospital is just a few traffic lights away and Mr.Silvermonk gone through them without a blink! We were almost the only patient there, considering it is situated in the centre of the city and next to the University ( it was Tuesday night and the city was just recovered from the weekend, the doctor said the business will pick up later the week!). The doctors were so attentive and cracking joys and adminstrative medicine at the same time. It is the same hospital where youngman was born! We were well looked after then and i just think that they are the best .

We went home in the morning with another dose of medicine to take later and angels on our shoulder!

Apart from the hospital adventure, what i also want to tell you is this beautiful table lamp that I got from the Market!

I did a trade with Simon who design this beautiful table lamp that use recycle material and all clicked together without using a screw or nail. This is the first time i trade with another fellow marketer and i love it!

It took my memory back to the late 60s when i was living in our ancestral village in the island off Mainland China. I used to take fire wood to the near by fishing port and waiting for the fishing boat to come in. I had my two hands full of fire wood and traded for fishes from boat to boat........

I LOVE TRADES!

It was a bit cold and rainy in last weekend's market, but i have a lot of lovely visitors and one of them is Leslie and her friend.

Leslie has an amazing blog where she show case her treasured jewelrys that she sought out from all around the world.........

Her support and appreciation of artistic handmade jewelry is incredible and i am sure there's a lot more out there.......

Thank you again for all my customers in last weeks market, i have a really good time!

Free Hoop Earrings

2008-06-02T17:38:00.001-07:00

With any purchase from my online shop.
Just want to encourage you to enjoy the fun of internet shopping.

This is your everyday Earrings, simple and comfortable!

Hand forged from 18G sterling silver wire and slightly hammered at the bottom to catch light!
The earrings are 2" ( 50 mm) in diameter. I can also make it with a thinner sterling silver wire (20G), just let me know in the message to the seller upon check out!

Don't forget the Art and Design Market in Kirribilli is on this Sunday, 8 June. (Under Milson's Point Railway Station).

Hope to see you all there!

2008 Winter Collection 4

2008-05-30T21:37:00.001-07:00

If you love retro, this is for you!

I have been wanting to incorporate the phrase " All is well " in my jewelry design for a long time now. ( sounds like very bad grammar, but you know what i mean!). The design just came to me when i got this beautiful, rich, chocolate brown Ebnoy wood.
It's simple, clean and modern, very Retro, just how i like it!

The Phrase " All is well " is from St Julian of Norwich, a thirteenth Century nun who had an extra-ordinary experience at the age of 30.

In one of her many visions at that time she beheld a tiny mustard seed in the palm of her hand and realized that if God ceased loving that seed for even an instant it would spontaneously disintegrate, and so does the universe.

It is about reassurance.
After all, it is love that bind us all together and in the end........

All is well!

2008 Winter Collection 3

2008-05-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

I am loving my winter collection at the moment.
The temperature is getting colder outside by the minute and i am hugging a cup of hot chocolate, and you just can't not get inspired by this chocolate brown ebony wooden ring.
So delicious.........

The Circles Of Love Earrings is neat and modern.
It's been wrapped around with a fine silver strip and the green Peridot in the middle just give you enough attention!

Etsy Front Page

2008-05-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

Good things comes twice and I am thrilled to have appeared on the Etsy front page twice in the space of 3 days!!!
(wow that was a long sentence i just wrote! Need to breath.........)

What a beautiful, wonderful Treasury.
.......so delicious, thank you WonderfullySewKnit.
My Spiral heart Ebony Pendant sitting quite happily among all the wonderful goodies.
Go and check out all the beautiful handmade goodies before it expired (27 May,7:00 pm)

I missed out to see it on live on both occasions.
Thanks for Ginger and Misti let me know all about it.
The result of a frontage appreance was i got tons of views and hearts.

It all happened while i was dreaming......
Before i woke up, i dreamed that someone stole my backpack and gone with my wallet, and later in the dream, i found my wallet.....then i was in a zoo or something cleaning up the steps......
Who knows what it all means, but what would be cool if i can do all my listings and renews while i was dreaming!

2008 Winter Collection 2

2008-05-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

These two new additions to my 2008 Winter Collection is a continuation of my Song Line theme. It was inspired by a trip to the centre of Australia a few years back.

I like the organic feel of the hand cut lines and the dark chocolate Ebony wood give the pendant a nice modern look!
The SongLine Ebony wooden Pendant looks good on both man and woman.

The SongLine Cufflinks and the SongLine Ebony Pendant are now available on my online shop.

To be continue.......

2008 Winter Collection 1

2008-04-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

I definitely not trying to confuse people, but it is winter here down under and i have my eyes on this beautiful wooden beads for a while now.
The temperature start dropping outside and apart from feeling like hugging a cup of hot chocolate, i remembered the delicious brown, chocolate kind of colour Ebony beads and rush in to get some supply. Inspired by this new wooden beads, i incorporated them with some of my designs from other pieces........

There you go, my first winter collection!
They are now available in Beehive Gallery (443 King street, New Town, Sydney), and Etsy.

Spiral Stud Earrings

Spiral Heart Ebony pendant

more to come!

My Ikea red cabinet

2008-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

My mother's day came early, we went to ikea and got this to put on my balcony studio, to show off some of my paintings, to store youngman's growing toy collections, to just enjoy the beautiful red.....

Mr. Silvermonk was very impressed with the high quality and the intelligent way that it all put together.......

A truly Intelligent Product Design!

Magic In Sand

2008-04-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

You will enjoy watching this incredible sand art video by Ilana Yahav,

Its so simple, beautiful and creative.......

Thank you Anna for e-mail me this video.

Random Act of Kindness

2008-04-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

“A time to be open, to act upon thoughts of hope and goodness”.

It was almost a year ago since I made my first custom cufflinks for a friend. I was waiting for the right moment (or the right mood so to speak) to design my very first pair of cufflink.

And here it is....

The "Random Act of Kindness"

This pair of Cufflinks has been stamped with letters spelling the phrase “Random act of kindness” The letters are arranged randomly and has been oxidized to give it an antique look!

I am very happy with the design idea and how it turns out.
I am planning to explore the random text concept further down the track.....

I promise i will not let you wait for another year for the next new pair of cufflinks!

I made it......

2008-04-09T05:17:00.000-07:00

....into Trunkt. I am sure some of you already know what Trunkt is! For those that you don't know, well, it is the "Buyer's Guide to Independent Art and Design" and "a Collective of Amazing Artists"

There are only 3 images in my my Portfolio at the moment. In the coming week or so i will upgrade my account and start to adding more images to my Portfolio! I am really happy.....

Now, we are talking, for me there is nothing more happier than just simply sitting in front of my work bench and made something out of nothing! By "nothing", what i mean is i did not know before hand what i was going to made and it somehow just happened...... Like the Surf Ring in this case!

The Surf Ring really made me happy!
I like everything about it, the colour, the shape, and the movement......

Earth Hour.......

2008-03-29T21:36:00.001-07:00

It was Earth hour last night from 8:00pm to 9:00pm. We were watching TV as usual and Gabriel reminded us that it was time for "Earth hour". We turned off all the light except the digital light from the washing machine and it was all dark and scary for the young man.

We all went to bed early ( Gabriel was excited because he got to stay in our bed!) with Mr.Silvermonk playing guitar and the Young man declared: " Nothing is going to stop me from doing Nothing...." and then he made up a very fast tempo song. Well, it was rather philosophical, a wake up call for all of us. i don't know how he work out the conundrum.

And i hope we bloody will do something now! If we are not willing to sacrifice now, his generation will suffer the consequences.

Guess what i found?

2008-03-24T03:49:00.001-07:00

on Bronte beach......

I've never seen such a big Octopus in real life in the wild.
It was just a stone throw from where we dug and built our sand castles, amazing!

At one point, my survival mode kicked in and the memory of my childhood catching crabs in the mangrove got hold of me and i really wanted to take the big thing home for dinner!!!!!

I came back to reality when Mr. Silvermonk gently reminded me that it is a protective area and that we can have fish and chips for dinner from our favourite shop across the road!

I remember once when my Mum came to Sydney and I took her to the local Park to feed the ducks ( with Gabriel). She was so excited that the first thing came out her mouth was " the duck was so big , let's take one home for soup". The next thing i saw her, she 's already caught one with her quick reflex...... I was in shock, embarrassed and had to say "let it go Mum, it's against the law, we can have a roast duck from China town for dinner!"

We will be in real big trouble if we only see the environment as a "resources" and not a source for wisdom and inspiration!

At least for now we know that the beach is healthy and that is one of the very good things to celebrate in Easter!

New Additions

2008-03-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

I am in love with my new hand-forged additions. The fan shape earrings are modern and organic. I especially like the slightly concave shape and the leave shape ear hooks. They really compliment each other! I have two versions~ one is small with mirror finished and the bigger one with matt finished. The small fan shape earrings is available now in my etsy shops.

I also made a matching necklace with turquoise on a snake chain. Its simple and looks fantastic.....
The Fan shape Turquoise necklace is also available from my shop now!

Another new addition to my etsy shop is this gorgeous pair of butterfly earrings. Its light weight and looks cool....

I had a fantastic market last weekend thanks to all the new and old customers ( your support has been much appreciated!).
Here is one of my customers visiting my stall and wearing one of my piece ( one of a kind!) she bought a while back. Does'nt it look gorgeous on her?!

I will be in the Kirribilli market again this month ( Saturday, 29 March) . My stall will be in the tunnel and if you missed out last Sunday, come and check me out.....

Gabriel's Drawing......

2008-03-13T04:56:00.001-07:00

Gabriel's Drawing......, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

Gabriel and his Dad went to The Rose Seidler House,designed by Harry Seidler in 1948 for his parents.

He got very excited about doing some sketches of the house.......

what a beautiful sketch!

We made a big fuss whenever Gabriel draws a picture because he is always busy with his Lego toys, his piano and his sports. I myself prefer making things (jewellery) rather than drawing on paper and it's all up to his Dad to encourage him to draw.

I wish i was there. i love looking at open house, the interior and how the space works.
Well, i was having a fantastic day in the Kirribilli art and design market, and i think it is good for them to have a father and son adventure every now and then!

Gabriel Play Harmonica

2008-03-08T05:06:00.000-08:00

He's got music in his body and it comes out every now and then......
He grabbed his christmas present and off he went.....
( this was probably his second or third time pick up the instrument)

We both were amazed and enjoyed his free spirit with his music.

Hope you enjoy it too and have a nice weekend form all of us!

Lunch Order

2008-03-01T03:37:00.001-08:00

Lunch Order, originally uploaded by silvermonk.

In the last week or so, the young man's school lunch box were untouched. He didn't eat a thing the whole time during school hrs. The sandwich, the drink, the fruit.......
I was a bit unhappy, but didn't say too much apart from the fact that there are a lot of boys in Africa go to school with empty stomach. Being a 6 years old, he replied why didn't we just sent them the food? Good question!

When i was a child about his age and lived in a tropical island in China ( during cultural revolution), i was constantly looking for food in the wild to fill my empty stomach. One of the thing that i did was to set lizard traps on the way to school and checked on them on the way back.......

I tried to pack something different but the lunch box still came back almost untouched.......

So i asked what's going on? Why didn't you eat your lunch?
"I am busy Mum, there is not enough time to play bull rush if i ate my lunch......"

I was fuming, but I told myself that a hungry boy will eat his lunch no matter what and if he didn't, he'S probably not hungry! By the way, he is the tallest boy in his class and looks healthy. I shouldn't worry too much!

Things got a bit out of hand when i picked him up at 3:00 pm the other day, he was so exhausted that he can hardly put a sentence together.
I rushed him home and made him banana smothie and pancakes and preaching him about the fact that his body is running out of energy and he needs to eat his lunch......

The next day, i put in a lunch order ( fish and fries ) for him so that he can at least survived the Karate class after school until 4:30 pm!

I don't know if lunch order is the way to go, but he loves his lunch order though.
To be honest, i don't like sandwich. i like hot food, give me noodles and i will be happy for the rest of my life!

Kisses and Hugs!

2008-02-23T02:37:00.001-08:00

A piece of jewellery inspired by nature, by the rock structures on the east coast of Australia.

During my Art School years, I used to take train trips down to Austinmer beach. It was a very small and quiet beach with some beautiful rock formations. I tried to find some of the photos that i took during all those trips to show you, but without any luck! Now you have to use your imagination........

Nature never cease to shower us with beauty and wisdom, in return we say thank you with kisses and hugs!

This pendant looks good on both man and woman. I really like the organic feel of it.
I think they are my new favourite until the next one.......

Hoping for Sunshine

2008-02-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

There is plenty of rain and i am hoping for sunshine.
i am all for colours at the moment.

( The dam is almost full and i can have my shower as long as i like.......)

With the young man back to school, i got my structure back and hence got more times on my hand, here are some of my new creations with colourful beads, just to lift the spirit!

These coral and turquoise fine silver earrings are kind of deep ocean creatures!
I didn't plan out to made one, they were just came alived during the process

This is another spiral of mine hand-formed from fine silver sheet. I really like to work with fine silver sheet, it is soft enough to manipulate and strong enough to hold its shape!

A big thanks to all my friends and customers in Kirribilli Market last weekend!

Heart you all the way........

2008-02-08T02:48:00.001-08:00

January went pass without a trace.The young man finally settled in in the new school term. I am glad that he got to stay with some of his friends in the new class. Now that he is in safe hands, jumping, running and learning (he announced that they are going to learn spelling in the whole yr 1 ), I sat down on my work bench happily working away.......

Love is all we need!
We need it for 365 days.
I pray that you receive the love that embeded in the cross!

These are my offerings for the February Valentine's day!
Hope you all enjoy it.

I will be in the Kirribilli Art and Design Market this weekend (sun, 10 Feb), rain or shine. My stall and most of the stalls are under cover in the tunnel As always, I will bring a lot of new designs with me to the market.

You can also join in the Chinese New Year Parade in the Darling harbour to Celebrate the Year of the Rat.

I was born in the Year of the OX. Young man was born in the year of snake! Mr. Silvermonk is the monkey in the house and he is in charge of fun!
What a cool OX, i will take all that.......

we all wish you a happy Chinese new year!
And a nice weekend!

Gabriel's favourite food

2008-02-01T21:20:00.001-08:00

The first week back to school turns out to be a bit too much for the young man. The school's air con broke down in the hottest day of the summer and there are 40 kids in a class.......

He still did not know which class he's in and they swapped the student around to get the best combination before they spit it into 2 classes. Before the end of last term, they asked each children who did they want to be in the same class in year 1. Gabriel put down 4 names and I hope they will honour that.

It all end up a bit teary before dinner, so i put my "mummy's hat" on and cooked his favourite dinner~dumplings, and finished with his favourite desert ~mango, chocolate and yoghurt........

And the world is a nice place again~afterall......

Persistant

2008-01-30T04:52:00.000-08:00

The summer holiday is truly over . it was all a big "blur" for me! We almost spend the whole time stay at home and it turns out to be the most relxaing holiday we have for a long time.

We went to Bronte beach a few times and Gabriel absolutely love it! ( In his own words: " During the holidays, I went to the each and the beach was so fun. It was so fun that I wonted(wanted) to stay). He is still too scare to put his head in the water though. We are more of a bush people than the beach people, now that the young man having such a great time and let himself lose on the beach, may be we should do the same!

The new school term start today, young man will be in year 1 and i can't wait to have my 4 hrs un-interruped day between school and classes to concentrate on making some new designs!

I live mostly in my head so structure is good for me, keep me on the ground......

"Persistant" is the word for me this year!

Gabriel's Piano Practice

2008-01-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

I practice using the video feature on the new Camera while Gabriel practice his piano.......

The recording sounds( piano ) pretty good. Gabriel said it sounds a bit like computer, and Dad said it chops off the high and low frequency ( what would i know about music!), but I am a bit let down by the quality of the video, it looks much better on our iMac.
In the end, it is still amazing without going through You tube!