The countdown begins!

There is now under one week left to June, which means there is still time to snag a deal at aileen.etsy.com. All earrings are discounted during the 10/15/20 sale and the same discount applies to bracelets and necklaces purchased at the same time!

The Salmon Festival Craft Fair is just around the corner so be sure to mark July 1st on your calendar! All of the jewellery in the shop will be available for viewing and purchase in the Steveston Community Centre gymnasium from 10am to 5pm so please come by and say hi! Several items will make their debut at the craft fair including this understated citrine necklace, called Diana:

New to the shop

Seven items have been added to the shop including the Cadence earrings, which sold mere minutes after they were posted. A new record!

Also added to the shop are these beautiful chandelier earrings... Featuring prehnite, peridot, pyrite, crystal quartz, and mystic blue topaz, the blue and green colours of the Yara earrings evoke a watery vision:

Pink'd!

Want to know how to get this beautiful pink quartz, peridot, and citrine necklace?


Aria Industries is donating to the Pink in the City silent auction, set to take place at Canvas Lounge on Friday, June 25th! The event is a fundraiser for women's cancers and the Violane necklace will be one of many beautiful items available. Find out more about the event and purchase tickets here!

10/15/20 sale

For the first time ever, Aria Industries is having a 10/15/20 sale! What does this mean? During the month of June, all online purchases at aileen.etsy.com enjoy this deal:

Purchase 1 pair of earrings, get 10% off
Purchase 2 pairs of earrings, get 15% off
Purchase 3 pairs of earrings or more, get 20% off

There's more - necklaces and/or bracelets purchased at the same time get the same deal. This means an order of two pairs of earrings and a necklace gets a 15% discount!

For this to work, all items have to be purchased and paid for at the same time before the end of June. Customers may do the math themselves or wait for an adjusted invoice before sending payment - either way, a confirmation of the total will be sent within 24 hours of the order.

Please note the discount does not apply to shipping and items cannot be held during this period. As well, this deal expires during the evening of June 30th because all available items will be taken out of the shop in preparation for the Salmon Festival Craft Fair on July 1st! But until then, shop away!

Shop in person, part two

Here is the display case showing off my jewellery at Inner Fit Studios!


At the moment, I am working on a bracelet with dark jewel tones. There are four stones in rotation - garnet, vesuvianite, andalusite, and iolite - and I have to say they look pretty good together!

Shop in person!

I've got exciting news! Four of my pieces are currently on display (and are for sale) at Inner Fit Studios in Richmond. The four items comprise of three pairs of earrings (Pippa, Cherie, and Yasmin) and one bracelet (Paloma) and will be rotated once in a while. This means they have been taken out of the shop for the time being, but will be put back when I switch items.

To see the jewellery in person, visit Inner Fit Studios at 128 - 12838 Clarke Road in Richmond. It's by Jacombs and Cambie Roads, which is really close to Ikea! And I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the owner, Rachel, is my trainer and her studio offers excellent personal training and bootcamp sessions!

Earrings in development

Since the last post, I have attended another bead sale and picked up a ton of beads: some green tourmaline (new to my stock), melanite (also new to my stock and super duper shiny), andalusite (one of my all time favourites), blue topaz (hands down the jaw dropper of the bunch), several strands of labradorite, lemon quartz, and more! I am incredibly excited about the new items and they should start showing up when I post new pieces to the shop.

There are currently three pairs of earrings in the works and the first pair to be completed will be short and delicate. Named Portia, they will have only white materials - moonstone, pearl, and white topaz. Then there are the Lalani earrings, which are grander and more intricate. These were inspired by something I saw on the show Spartacus: Blood and Sand, but the design ended up completely different from what Lucy Lawless' character was wearing. The main stones will be smoky quartz, garnet, and amethyst. Lastly, there is another pair of earrings that are just itching to be made and they will also be chandeliers like the Lalani. The Yara earrings will incorporate one of the sterling silver findings pictured in my previous post and the stones will be mystic blue topaz, prehnite, peridot, and pyrite. The colours remind me of water, which is perfect because the name means "water lady" to the Tupi people in Brazil.

New stock

The Whole Bead Show is in town for it's annual Vancouver event and I stocked up on supplies! Here is a peek at some of the stones I got:


I also bought some sterling silver findings such as these:


I wonder what kind of earrings I can make with these goodies! I should add that I have been busy with a cake decorating class, but the last class (for now) is tomorrow morning and I expect to have some more time to make jewellery soon.

Goodbye Elaine

When one of my coworkers informed us she would be leaving us for a job closer to home, the rest of us wondered what departing gift to give her. We knew she loved necklaces so it did not take long to decide! We hammered out the details: it would be a little bit like the Carmen, but would use smoky quartz, green amethyst, and crystal quartz. These are the notes I made at the time:


When I started to work on the necklace, I realized that having two smoky quartz beads next to each other would not look great because there would be too much darkness surrounding the crystal quartzes. Thus, the design was modified and the resulting Elaine necklace has alternating light and dark elements with beautiful green amethysts added to the mix:

What's in a name?

Over the years, I have been asked many times where the names of my creations come from. And the answer, I always say, is everywhere! Sometimes I name things after people in my life or those who custom ordered the piece, other times it is celebrities or something from the entertainment world. Recently I named three pairs of earrings after Olympians, but most often, I am completely stumped as to what name to choose. When that happens, I will visit baby name websites for ideas. Ultimately, I like to choose names that fit the personality of the piece. I have compiled a list of all the names I have ever used for my jewellery and here are a few tidbits about names that were inspired by popular culture:

Carice: I watched the movie The Black Book as I made the necklace and the protagonist was played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten.

Romilda: These black hypersthene earrings were named after Romilda Vane from the Harry Potter universe because I always pictured her with straight black hair.

Margaux: The prestigious winery Château Margaux was the inspiration behind the name because the earrings' garnets were wine coloured and the cluster style looked like grapes.

Lydia: The purples and blacks in these earrings reminded me of the girl from the Beetlejuice cartoons.

Fiametta: I had just finished reading In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant, and that was the name of the title character. Also, the pale blue calcites in the earrings perfectly complemented the colours of the book cover.