finn and my lomo lca+ (part 2)

kids change quickly and all the time (part 2)

finn and my lomo lca+

kids change quickly and all the time (part one)

 

Finn's firsts....

first time to meet uncle sean all the way from ireland.

first time in the brand spanking new osprey back pack (thanks taljaard family :))

first time hiking in the silvermine mountains.

first time to take his dog for a walk. 

massive milestones people, massive.

did you know we sell our things here?

Kalk Bay Co-Op

there's 2 kalk bay co-ops in kalk bay, we are selling our jewellery and porcelain cups in the one next to the train station. it is a lovely shop filled with natural light. 

some of the people/designers displaying their art/craft/clothing in our shop is Keri Muller

Daya Heller, Lo-clothing and many more.

the other co-op is on the other side of the road and they have some cool local designers like 

Take Care and Adriaan Kuiters

 some pics of kalk bay co-op 2, where we are selling our things

the pick below is our display

 above and below some of keri muller's work

 below some of daya heller's amazing resin and fynbos hanging sculptures

 the two pics below some detail of Lo-clothing's space

family

ship shaping things at the studio

we are busy re-arranging, changing, cleaning and ship shaping things at the studio. 

here's a couple of pics of the work in progress.

back at work

work has taken a bit of a back seat while rory and i have been getting used to finn.

its been a full time job taking care of him, but somewhere along the line we need to get back to work.

having a baby has also made me realise how much i love to go to work. 

i've missed it a lot. 

i kinda set up a make shift enamelling studio here at home, but i only get like 30min here, an hour there, etc. it's really hard getting things done when you also have to take care of a baby.

 cutting shiny transfer papers to go on our enamel "panga" pendants

 all the little pieces are individually cut, making every pendant totally unique and one of a kind

 ready for firing in the kiln

 after the kiln firing and cleaning, ready to be put on chains

you also realise how precious your time is, so there is no more time for procrastination, lying around watching season after season of this and that series. 

(i find this very depressing, because i used to love just lying around watching series on cold wintery days, or any weekend day or week night for that matter......sigh!!! no more dexter, boardwalk empire, game of thrones....and and and)

recently rory and i have been taking turns to go to work. 

it's been a slow re-start to our working days.

besides working i'm also finally getting around to changing our shop and studio. its been a long time coming and it needs a change. so much has changed, so it feels just right that the shop/studio changes. 

i will keep you up to date with what it looks like.

it still feels like it might take a while for me to get it the way i want it.

but when it's done i really want people to come and check it out and to come and shop. 

i know muizenberg is not cape town, but its not that far out the way.....

besides coming to us, there are many rad creative things happening here that people need to see. 

i think that might be a cool series of blog-posts...the people that live and work in muizenberg. 

i just had a brainwave. i'm definitely going to do this!!!!

anyhoots, here's some picks of work/studio and what i've been making. 

 bending brass wire for bangles and cutting out bangle shapes to be soldered onto the wire bangles

drilling holes in thick brass triangle shapes, i will solder a silver pin in the holes for a chain to hang on

prepping brass and silver rings for soldering

 the finished rings

some other nice rings we are making. i like them a lot. the brass bead moves around the silver wire shank. but when you put it on, it sits flush with your finger.

and finally, i'm not crazy about africa pendants. i find them a bit of a cliche, also because the conventional tourist trade in SA killed them in a bad way.
but the tourists like them, so we have made our very own enamel version with transfers.
the biscuit mill market is supported in a big way by visiting tourists and we have found that they all want some kind of africa pendant.
we hope these will go down well with them and make us some kasheesh.
tell me what you think of them, or do you think we're sell-outs?
i'm keen to know....it's always a hard one, making just things that you like and think are sooper cool and also making things that you think will sell cause you really need to make some money.
i think it's a nice debate, so if anyone's got some view on this, please comment.

Hello blog! tell me how you're doing

woweeeeee, it feels like years since ive been here. well....it has almost been a year. 

i can't frikkin believe it. 

i have been missing my blog soooo much.

i got a bit bored with it, because i'm a bit graphic designery/computer challenged. 

i got sick of the photo above photo above photo layout and i

don't know anything about photoshop or indesign to change it. 

i've been thinking about going for a couple of classes to learn about layout, etc to try and refresh the look of the blog and to also keep things interesting for me. 

it would also be helpful work wise to be able to list products in more interesting ways.

besides not really blogging, i've been very busy with other things. 

the one and most amazing thing is my new baby boy Finn Ronan Mountjoy. 

he is just over 3 and a half months old now. 

tooo cute for words, but a handful.

i had no idea how hard it would be to be a mother and have changed my view of women and especially mothers and mostly my own mother completely.

women are rock stars. 

women kick ass. 

women are sooper-human. 

women all over the world are now heroes in my eyes. 

i think being a mother will change my life in ways i can't imagine.

i feel i still have no idea of how dramatically. 

but i feel it under my skin and as i deal with my day to day survival of being a mom it is revealed to me in glimpses and in constant reminders that the only way to deal with it is to be in every moment and to constantly let go of everything. 

this is life changing to put it mildly. 

now enough soppy realisations, here he is, the one and only Finn: 

 too damn cute i'm telling you!!!