Friday 31 December 2010

Merry-Go-Round - Collaborative swapping project

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.
Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).
If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...
This month,
we all swapped supplies to play with and see what we could create out of our comfort zone....



Sorry I'm so late...
I'll expand later, but here are the photos, starting with an old beret in need of some patching up and the gorgeous wool sent to me by Sara, of Sara's Texture Crafts.

And then there is also this rather spectacular but unfortunately floppy red capeline I intended to alter but didn't have time to...















Saturday 25 December 2010

Friday 24 December 2010

^_^

Thursday 16 December 2010

Pas magique!


Je viens de recevoir un message me prévenant que le Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (depuis 1941) est susceptible de m'attaquer en justice si j'utilise le mot "champagne" dans mes descriptions de bijoux. Grande amatrice (?) de vin de Champagne, je me servais effectivement du mot "Champagne" comme symbole de la vie luxueuse que je vivrais bien volontiers , en buvant plus souvent du Champagne, par exemple, et en portant ce bijou qui comporte un breloque manifestement en forme de coupe à Champagne.
Et ben non !
Je suis forcément une voleuse de droit et d'idées et quelqu'un de bien malhonnête pour voir une différence entre ma description qui utilise les termes appropriés et quelqu'un qui concocte un vin blanc à bulle en RPC et le vend comme du "Shampagne", du "Cahmpagne" ou même carrément du "Champagne".

Je n'existe pas depuis 1941, il est vrai, et pourtant, j'ai toujours bu mes bulles dans des coupes à Champagne (ou des flûtes à Champagne, d'ailleurs), sans guillemets, mais je devrais peut-être me mettre à utiliser des "coupes à méthode champenoise". Et encore. Est-ce bien légal ?...
Le Champagne, j'ai le droit (?) d'en boire, j'ai le droit de le payer (!), mais je n'ai pas le droit d'utiliser le nom de ce liquide pourtant bien spécial et irremplaçable dans mon esprit à moi aussi, pour décrire un objet qui n'a de sens qu'en association avec cette boisson-gazeuse-qui-ne- se-fabrique-en vrai-que-sur-un-seul-terroir-et-seulement-dans-ce-beau-pays-qu'est-la-France.
Ou alors, il va falloir que je revois effectivement mon standing à la hausse et que je m'organise pour nourrir des avocats.

Je ne veux pas sortir les violons et parler de liberté artistique, ni discuter le point en droit. Il ne s'agit que de cette toute petite chose : le sens commun.
Aujourd'hui, je me sens vraiment très particulièrement fière de vivre dans un pays où des milliers de gens crèvent de froid et de faim, où des petits, des sans grade (pas une citation exacte et puis lui, de toute façon il est trop mort pour m'attaquer) se font bouffer la laine sur le dos tous les jours par des parasites spéculateurs et autres patrons voyous, où des grosses entreprises s'engraissent encore en permanence grâce aux idées des autres, et où des gens sont occupés à veiller farouchement à ce que moi, dont le chiffre d'affaire n'est pas même minuscule je n'utilise pas le mot "Champagne" si je ne suis pas en train de vendre du vin de Champagne mais en train de mentionner sur un site commercial un objet usuel (on peut toujours rêver) en rapport indissociable avec le Champagne, pour décrire un bijou qui ne peut en aucun cas se comprendre autrement qu'en rapport avec le Champagne et ne peut aucunement se faire passer pour du Champagne ni entrer en compétition avec ce nectar déposé.

Un sommet du bon goût à la française.

N.B. Bien sûr, j'ai obtempéré.

Monday 13 December 2010

A la Fabrique!

Depuis cet après-midi, quelques-unes de mes créations sont en vente à l'Atelier-Boutique La Fabrique, au 87bis, rue du Loup, dans le centre de Bordeaux (à deux pas de la cathédrale, place Pey-Berland).


Il s'agit d'une boutique de créations artisanales (bijoux, vêtements et décoration), tenue par Cristine Ram, dont la ligne de vêtements (somptueux manteaux de laine, ravissantes robes de soie, pantalons au très beau tombé etc.) s'appelle Charme. Tout un programme...


Cette très généreuse créatrice résume ainsi son concept de boutique : c'est elle qui paie le loyer, mais c'est la maison de tout le monde.
A chaque créateur, donc, de se créer une niche représentative de son univers. Euh ! Pour moi, c'est en cours...


A noter : aujourd'hui aussi s'installait, à l'étage, l'exposition de Madeleine Lemaire :
des impressions photographiques sur toile, à partir de photos souvent prises à Bordeaux et dans la région, mais aussi en Indonésie, à New York... De l'art décoratif à portée de toutes les bourses...
Le vernissage a lieu samedi et l'exposition devrait rester en place jusqu'au début du mois de janvier.






Just to say that, as of today, a few of my designs are now to be found in a Bordeaux boutique: La Fabrique, 87bis, rue du Loup, right by the cathedral, place Pey-Berland... Wish me luck!

Saturday 27 November 2010

Merry-Go-Round - Take Care!

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.
Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).
If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...
This month's theme:
How to take care of your art— information for buyers.

Because of the variety of crafts I dabble in, there cannot be one answer to this, except to point out that anything extreme (temperature, activity, fingering... or even cleansing!) is going to be potentially damaging.

So, first things first.
When you buy jewellery from me, you're going to be aware of the materials used, because I always give as much information as I can in my listings.

If you buy pearls— since I tend to use silver or vermeil with them, but not glue— a little soft soap and warm water once in a while, followed by thorough rinsing and immediately by light-handed dry padding with cotton cloth, is going to revive your pearls for as long as you love them.
My more whimsical jewellery often involves the use of glue. This entails that though you should be able to rinse it (it will survive rain too!), soaking is an absolute No No. My motto for cocktail rings: "No shock, shower, no dish washing!"

Anything that involves several elements shall definitely come apart if you try it...

The good news is that most of my pieces can also be mended.

As for textiles, I like my own possessions to be washable, so most of what I make can be washed. But any handmade accessory, especially embroidered and embellished ones, will have to be hand-washed, just to be on the safe side. I use nearly no synthetics, so, yes, the fabric will age, as we do. Careful storing and moth-repellents work well...

Thursday 18 November 2010

Interview sur DaWanda


Pour trouver les réponses aux questions que vous n'avez sûrement jamais osé vous poser sur Meherio68 et Le Bar du Vent : le blog de DaWanda.fr

For all those answers to questions you never dared to ask about Meherio68 & Le Bar du Vent, look up the blog on DaWanda.fr (so in French).

Friday 12 November 2010

Projet Noël à Londres / Christmas in London— excuse #1


J'ai toujours eu envie de passer Noël à Londres et maintenant, c'est le mois de décembre entier que je voudrais y passer, ne serait-ce que pour pouvoir assister à ce marché artisanal de Noël organisé par We Make London : Chelsea Town Hall, le 4 décembre.


Check out We Make London's Christmas fair: http://bit.ly/T9Ko. Some fantastic sellers Chelsea Town Hall 4th December. One more reason why I wish I could spend the whole of December in London. Still considering spending a few days there over Christmas anyway...

Sunday 7 November 2010

CONCOURS / GIVEAWAY sur / ON Facebook





Une autre bonne raison pour trouver et "aimer" Le Bar du Vent sur Facebook : laisser-vous aller à rêver votre cahier, carnet, journal (secret ou pas) à vous et racontez-moi ça sur Facebook, et vous pourriez bien le recevoir au printemps prochain...

Yet another reason to seek and "like" Le Bar du Vent on Facebook— dream up your very own journal or notebook, tell me about it on Facebook and you just might receive it next Spring...

Friday 29 October 2010

Merry-Go-Round - Comfort Zone(s)

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.
Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).
If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...
This month's theme:
Get out of your comfort zone and try something new.


"Comfort zone"? What's that?!!

I don't think I have that in stock.

First things first— I should apologize for taking my seat on the merry-go-round a bit late this month.
Excuses: yesterday evening, I had planned to finish knitting a cashmere jacket. I am not a terribly competent knitter*, but I have knitted, on and off, for over twenty years. For some reason, I knit a lot during heat waves. Don't ask... I don't know.
So anyway, being only moderately competent, I make mistakes. Bad ones. Yesterday, as I was finally trying to sew the pieces together, I realized I had made one of those bad mistakes. "Bad" means I have to unmake. I had to. Quite a bit. So I unravelled the whole collar and the top of both front pieces [yes— I had bound off on the wrong side].
And I re-made them. Well, I had to go to bed before I had quite knitted the collar again; So I had to do that today.

But this morning I had to do some paperwork and this afternoon I was going to the bookbinder.
To learn bookbinding.
I started taking lessons from a professional bookbinder a month ago. It's something I have long wanted to do and now that I don't take upholstery classes** anymore, I have decided I could make time for bookbinding.

Yes, I am supposed to make jewellery and I do have plans to explore silversmithing and artclay again, but I am an uncurable Jane of all trades. Mistress of none, but never bored...
I swing from one craft to another.
Mixing and matching materials and crafts.
Exploring life and the world as I go.

That sounds good, doesn't it? But really it's pathological— I cannot stand the idea of living just one life....

Plus, just you wait until you see the wonderful notebooks and accessories I am going to turn all this discomfort into! Not sure you're going to have to wait, but I know that in the meantime I won't be bored.


* Rather better than at crochetting, but I am working on that.
** Still have to finish covering a chair for my mother

Saturday 9 October 2010

Promotion— You scratch my back...

~☀~~☀~
Trouvez et "Aimez" Le Bar du Vent sur Facebook et je vous offre les frais d'envoi sur votre commande suivante, partout dans le monde. Offre cumulable avec les soldes et autres promotions.
~☀~~☀~
Find and "Like" Le Bar du Vent on Facebook and you get free shipping on your next order— worldwide!— even during the sales.
~☀~~☀~

Thursday 30 September 2010

Nouvelles Nouveautés Exclusives sur A Little Market !

Parce que tant qu'à faire de la bijouterie fantaisie, autant être un peu fantaisiste, non ?



Saturday 25 September 2010

Nouveautés Exclusives sur A Little Market

Pour célébrer l'ouverture de ma toute nouvelle boutique sur ALM : tout nouveau, tout frais.




En exclusivité sur A Little Market

Friday 24 September 2010

Merry-Go-Round - Flying colours

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.
Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).
If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...
This month's theme:
What is your favourite colour and how does it come into your work?

This is both easy and difficult to answer, I find.

My favourite colour is red. Mostly. And then there's black. Together and separately, they make up my comfort zone.

I look at red and black and I see beauty.

When I reupholster chairs I like, they turn bright red.

When I make a Jag ring for myself, it's deep red (maroon).

When I knit a cashmere jacket— for myself, you bet!— it's deep red again ("merlot", yummy!).

When I want to pick a shirt to wear, long- or-short-sleeved, black and red are the two colours most represented in my "wardrobe".
They are my feel-good colours on any day.

When it comes to creating jewellery, strangely enough, it doesn't really show. If you go through my shop on DaWanda or Etsy, it won't be obvious, I don't think. The necklace in the photo is a rare example. And I recently gave it to someone who had the good taste to like it...

But then I guess that comes from the fact that jewellery, like accessories are small "islands" of colour and texture that you add to your "mainland". They come to complement and compliment your main colours. Well, mine anyway.

So I realize, now you make me think of it, that I have been working with colours I wouldn't have "given the time of day" before. Also colours that I can appreciate and enjoy mixing and playing with, once it is not all about me and my complexion.
I recently made several all-black pieces, but that was because I really needed to take a day-trip to my comfort zone...

My other colour, the colour I just need around me, is green, and you'll definitely find much more of this one in my shop. And in my photos!
Blue is for my dreams...

I've also noticed that when I look at a red bead (plenty of these), a black gem, or a green leaf, or the very green eyes indeed of my cat, with their black eye-liner, I lose all critical sense: I see beauty and I'm dazzled. Probably why I use so little of my many red beads. Mmm. Shame that. I'll have to take another look... ;-)

Tuesday 21 September 2010

SUPER SOLDES D'EQUINOXE - MABON SALE!!!


Sur DaWanda, Le Bar du Vent est en soldes pour fêter l'Equinoxe et les Moissons, du 21 au 24 Septembre.
On DaWanda, Le Bar du vent celebrates Mabon, the second harvest, the equinoxe— with a great sale, from 21st to 24th September.
Enjoy!

Sunday 12 September 2010

Alice ?

"High Tea". Bientôt à votre cou.

Soon to be listed— "High Tea"— more dazzling than High Noon, ain't it?

Under the influence.

Pas pu m'empêcher...

Couldn't help myself. *.*