A visit to Vancouver Island

This is just a quickie post to note I will be out of town for work until December 14th. All purchases can take advantage of the code 2012ISLANDTIME for free shipping to anywhere in the world!

Where have they gone?

Curious blog visitors may have noticed that some of the links to specific pieces of jewellery do not work. Why does Etsy say they pieces can't be viewed? It's because they were sold off the site, such as at a craft fair, and the listing had to be taken down.

Don't fear though - if a particular style interests you and I can get more of the same materials, I can make a duplicate! For example, the Io earrings (pictured below) sold at the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair and I made an identical pair for another customer:

Double win!

ARIA INDUSTRIES was at two craft fairs this weekend - the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair in Richmond on Saturday and the Urban Artisan Craft Fair in downtown Vancouver on Sunday! Many pieces were sold including the brand new Katinka and Lalita earrings...

As usual, there was a draw at each craft fair and I am very happy to announce the winners of $25 gift cards, which can be used for anything at aileen.etsy.com...

Steveston Christmas Craft Fair winner:
Anna Li

Urban Artisan Craft Fair winner:
Liz Hayes-Brown

I also snapped this shot on Sunday - it is of some of the event's raffle prizes and in the white box are the Xishi earrings!

Craft fairs galore!

Alright, the time is nigh! I’m back from Hawaii and this is going to be a weekend of craft fairs, from the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair on the 24th to the Urban Artisan Craft Fair on the 25th! That's why the shop is empty, but it will be restocked on the 26th. In the meantime, if you are in the Metro Vancouver area, please stop by!

STEVESTON CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR
Steveston Community Centre - indoor tennis court
4111 Moncton Road, Richmond, BC
Saturday, November 24, 2012

URBAN ARTISAN CRAFT FAIR
Roundhouse Community Centre - exhibition hall
181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC
Sunday, November 25, 2012

A Hawaiian hello!

Winter weather is upon Vancouver and I miss the sunshine so I am taking a little bit of time off for a trip to Hawaii! This means that there will be no shipments from now until November 23rd, but there is a reward for the patient! Use the code 2012ALOHA at checkout to receive free shipping at aileen.etsy.com during this period!

This is a great time to order holiday gifts and to snag the pieces you really want... Why? Because the shop will be emptied during the evening of the 23rd - all the pieces are going to craft fairs on the 24th and 25th!

La-la-la-lalita!

It has been a while since pearls have starred in any ARIA INDUSTRIES creations so please welcome the Lalita! She came from humble beginnings, but was personally selected for her beautiful appearance! All joking aside, the rectangular pearls in these feminine earrings were chosen specifically for their near-symmetrical pattern and the depth of colour of their nacre. The shape is reflected in the sterling silver chain, which has rectangular links. Altogether, this combination is unstoppable!

Urban artists

October is winding down and that means it is time to prepare for the holiday craft fair season again. This year marks our first appearance (on Sunday only) at the Urban Artisan Craft Fair at Roundhouse Community Centre and they created some pretty nifty advertising:

When turquoise met jade

Ten items have been added to the shop and instead of a regular here's-a-photo post, this one is a here's-how-it-happened piece. Twitter followers (at @ARIAindustries) will already know... First, it started when I drew a little design one day. It was a rough sketch that captured the general look I wanted to create: Then I played with the details... What kind of hoop to use? How to connect the dangling stones to the hoop? What order to connect them in? These were my two hoop options:
In the end, I went with the brushed oval hoop and separate connections in an alternating cascade via jump rings. Here is the end result:


The style is called Anjali and is available at aileen.etsy.com.

Craft fair season

It's the beginning of October, which means the holiday season is almost upon us! I'm extremely excited to announce that ARIA INDUSTRIES will be selling in downtown Vancouver soon! The event is the Urban Artisan Craft Fair and it will be held at Roundhouse Community Centre. It is actually a two-day affair, but we will only be there on Sunday, November 25th because we have another engagement the day before - the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair in Richmond! For those in the area, please come see our jewellery in person!

Sweet tweets

Do you follow ARIA INDUSTRIES on Twitter? There are lots of preview and behind-the-scenes posts and sometimes, there are also special deals for Twitter followers only! Don't forget to say hi at @ARIAindustries!

And pssssst - there's a deal right now =)

Black beauty

The first week of school is now over and I'm happy to report that I'm back in the studio (aka my kitchen) and working on some new pieces. Four pairs of earrings have been made so far and the second is a study in ovals: it consists of a pair of long textured hoops anchored by two faceted oval black onyxes. Here is a sneak peek...

Teardrops for Harlow

There are eight brand new pieces at the shop at aileen.etsy.com and one of them is a pair of earrings named Harlow. This feminine style uses a teardrop shaped sterling silver component from Hong Kong and is attached to pink chalcedony briolettes that were picked up during a trip to New York. Finishing off the earrings are delicate white pearls.

Carla and Roksanda

My most recent custom order was for Carla McNeil of Butterfly Networking. For several years, she had worn a half-black and half-white string around her wrist as a reminder that she could choose to see things in the dark or in the light, but the string broke recently and she needed a replacement. Carla liked the style of the Letitia bracelet so we reviewed stone options together and selected obsidian and black onyx for the black half, while snow quartz and white mountain jade made up the white half. Here is the stunning result, named Roksanda...

Strange bedfellows

The last several weeks have been rather hectic because I just moved! Things are still a mess, but I couldn't stay away from my pliers, wires, and gems so I made a custom bracelet and four pairs of earrings in between unpacking and cleaning. One of the earrings features these beauties, which have little in common but look strangely appealing together. The opaque seafoam coloured stone is amazonite and the translucent mustard-yellow one is chalcedony.

Big, bold, and beautiful

It's been a while since I've posted any pictures of my recent acquisitions, hasn't it? I picked up these beauties on a recent trip to my favourite local bead store and can't wait to pair up the large white agate briolettes and the aqua chalcedony coins. I think they would look fabulous with some small beads with punchy colour, like amber!

Funny Dorota

Running a shop (aileen.etsy.com) means I get many messages from potential and previous customers and sometimes I save them for sentimental reasons. This one was kept because it was just bizarre - this woman had never ordered anything from me, got my name wrong, and the Dorota earrings had not been sold!

Odd ones out

I love making new pieces and picking the exact stones for them, but sometimes this means there are stones left behind. These lonely beauties were the last of their kind and are waiting for their turn:

Salmon Festival round-up

The Salmon Festival Craft Fair always draws a varied crowd and one of my highlights was running into a friend I hadn't seen since elementary school! In terms of jewellery, the Melrose, Emlyn, and others went to their forever homes. Here is a shot of some of the earrings:


As always, a winner was drawn for a $25 gift card. Congratulations to Genevieve Hohnadel!

Free shipping voucher

The Salmon Festival Craft Fair is coming up soon and everyone who stops by my table inside the Steveston Community Centre gymnasium will get a free shipping voucher like this one, except it will have the code!

Ladies in Pink

The 2012 PINK in the City fundraiser took place at Society on June 24th and ARIA INDUSTRIES was proud to be a sponsor! The one-of-a-kind Christelle earrings were a raffle prize and all attendees at the fundraiser took home a code for free shipping for the shop. As well, the first five people who said "cancer sucks" also got a special code for 25% off any online order!


L to R: Socorro, event organizer Ying Ying of Sophisticated Adventure Consulting, me, and Hannah.

Pay in person with plastic!

ARIA INDUSTRIES is excited to announce that in addition to cash, credit cards will be accepted at the Salmon Festival Craft Fair this year! With picture ID, customers can pay for their purchases with MasterCard or Visa - this will be a trial run to see how well Paypal's services mesh with a craft fair environment. Come see the jewellery in person in the Steveston Community Centre gymnasium on July 1st!

Trio of beauties

Three of the most recent additions to the shop have interesting names: Circe was named after the goddess that Homer's Odysseus spent a year with on his fabulous journey; Damietta was named after the Egyptian port city where the Nile meets the Mediterranean Sea; and Sarinda was named after an Indian stringed instrument I fell in love with at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The last one features a large pink tourmaline in the centre of a shiny sterling silver frame, while a large citrine, lemon quartzes, and mystic pink quartzes dangle below with crystal quartzes:

Worldly Gia

Eighteen new items have just been added to the shop at aileen.etsy.com including the Gia earrings. Sharp eyes will notice they feature the same sterling silver component as the Paige and Cyrilla, but these earrings have their own style.

A true study in international collaboration, the stunning Swiss and London blue topazes were handpicked at a bead show in New York, while the sparkly lemon quartzes were found at a similar event in Hawaii. The tiny crystal quartzes were sourced during a trip to Seattle, and the chandelier components were from my favourite sterling silver shop in the Hong Kong district of Sham Shui Po. Doesn't the combination look amazing?

Christelle kicks cancer to the curb!

I am happy to announce that ARIA INDUSTRIES has donated a pair of earrings to a special charity event taking place this summer! PINK in the City combines fun and fundraising to aid research into curing women's cancers and this year's society party theme will be a blast!

The Christelle earrings were inspired by rain and will be a raffle prize at the June 24th event in Vancouver. The only way to get in is to order tickets online and there are a limited number so get your tickets now!

Coming to a craft fair!

Exciting news! ARIA INDUSTRIES has been selected for the Salmon Festival Craft Fair as part of the 2012 Steveston Salmon Festival! As in previous years, getting a table at this craft fair is by lottery because of the number of interested vendors always exceeds the space inside the Steveston Community Centre gymnasium. The craft fair is less than two months away and it will be great to debut all the new pieces!

Original Jemima

As promised last time, here is the original design for the Jemima earrings:


In the meantime, things have been busy in the ARIA INDUSTRIES studio... Several pairs of earrings have already been made including the Iris, which features turquoise and capiz shells, and the Agnes earrings, which are even fancier than the Jemima. Stay tuned for some previews of the new pieces!

Sexy Jemima

I'm back from New York, the items purchased during the SPRINGISSPRUNG sale have been shipped, and twelve pairs of earrings have been newly added to the shop at aileen.etsy.com! One of my favourites is the Jemima and I will post some pictures of the original design next time.

Escape to New York, Part 3: Gems and more gems

My trip to New York has been filled with visits to galleries and museums and one of my highlights was seeing the gemstones and minerals at the American Museum of Natural History. My absolute favourite piece was a giant faceted morganite, a stone that was named after JP Morgan, but this giant labradorite was a close second:

Escape to New York, Part 2: Whole Bead Show

In case you missed my previous post, I am in the Big Apple! My first stop after dropping my things off? Checking out the Whole Bead Show, which was in town for its semi annual extravaganza. I had been to the one in Vancouver for the past several years and was curious about the different vendors.

There were many more vendors and lots of pretty gemstones to gawk over. I stocked up on a few strands of pyrites, citrines, and London blue topazes as well as picked up some beautiful pairs of pink chalcedonies, Swiss blue topazes, and green amethysts. Here is a shot of a stranger checking out the show:

Escape to New York, Part 1: Vacation sale!

I've escaped Vancouver and made my way to New York City to see the sites, shop the shops, and stock up on supplies. This means all purchases in my shop will ship on April 10th. In the meantime, there is a vacation sale - use the code SPRINGISSPRUNG at checkout to get 15% off everything in the shop (aileen.etsy.com)!

Things are a-happening...

What's this? A preview? Yes! Twelve items are being prepped for the shop and these earrings are one of them. They are called Rollande and the name came from an oil-on-canvas painting I saw at the National Gallery of Canada in December. Here's a look at the smoky quartz and pearl combo:

February blues

It's been a while since my last update and I just wanted to share that I am in the middle of renovating my future home.  All my free time is spent cleaning, painting, and more.  This means I do not expect to post new pieces to the shop in the immediate future, but don't worry because I have been able to squeeze in a little quality time with my pliers once in a while.  I recently started a pair of blue earrings (angelite and iolite) that will likely be very simple, but only time will tell!

Another pair of earrings

2012 has fully kicked in and I am currently working on a pair of chandelier earrings with findings I picked up during my Asia trip in the fall of 2011. The stones will be pyrite and turquoise (both purchased during my last stop at my favourite local bead store), along with teeny tiny faceted smoky quartz and hematite. For a sneak peek at the approximate look, check out this tweet!

First earrings of the year

I have been a busy bee and plan to post a number of new pieces soon. To whet your appetite, here is an in-progress picture of the amethyst, blue topaz, and peridot earrings named Hollis:

Winner winner

Happy new year! The arrival of a new calendar year means there is a new gift card draw and this year's winner is Joanne Belda! Her entry was based on her purchase of the Zora earrings and she now has $50 to spend on anything in the shop! Congrats Joanne!