Kathleen Robins Jewellery Design

In my studio today...loving the colours! #kathanddaisy #jewellerydesign

Really enjoying my time in the studio!

Just a wee design I did awhile back but the pictures are poor so I’m working on this! All rights reserved.

A bit more progress today. I’ve added more butterflies to the design as I’m worried about running out of the green tiles I’m using for the background. Given they are made and we’re purchased in Brazil I’m thinking getting more might be both tricky and costly. Easiest fix more butterflies for my Butterfly Garden! Kathleen

Well, In light of my mom’s frail health I’m sticking close to home. As a result I have dug the mosaic out of storage and am determined to finish it! A bit of progress today until the sun got too hot and as I’ve no pool or ocean to cool off in I’ll call it a day. Kathleen Robins

So it’s been too long and so far none of my jewellery designs have made an appearance but I’m planning to set up my photo box this week. And then I’m thinking I might look at Shopify as a platform. I’ve been doing some research. In the meantime, here are the pictures of the 2 mosaics I did in Ravenna, Italy this past October. I wanted to learn from a master and so I attended the Atelier of Luciana Notturni at the Mosaic Art School -Ravenna Italy. It was amazing and here are ...the mosaics I produced. The first is a reproduction of an ancient Mosaic and was a piece done completely in the traditional method using smalti and some marble. It’s a bird, not a whale as two friends have seen! And the second was done using smalti and marble but in a more modern style and technique. I had assistance to get the first one done in the time allotted but the second I rushed to finish on my own. I’m very happy with both and am planning a return to study micro mosaics so I can look to incorporate into my jewellery designs.

Hello to all of you who wait so patiently! I'm back in my studio and getting my hands a bit dirty and warmed up. The studio is still a work in progress as I need a transformer for my kiln but next week I hope to organize that. Trouble with moving countries is that all my equipment needs to be adapted! So in the meantime I've been making things with my vast collection of beads and stones. I've a wonderful collection that spans thirty years of collecting and it includes gorgeous vintage beads as well as many one of a kind beads. So as soon as I take pictures I'll get some posted! Thanks for being so patient. Not sure when I'll be up and selling or whether I'll go the Etsy route or maybe on Facebook. If you've any thoughts I'd love to hear from you.

Latest creation is my first attempt at fused glass! It was fun but soon I'll be in my studio making jewellery after a too long break.

Sorry folks but I've not posted pics of the mosaic in progress as I'm not working on it at the moment! I'm leaving Brazil at some point and rather than leave it behind I'm going to take it to parts unknown! Not sure where its eventual home will be but its not my current garden in Brazil. I'm going to have pictures of jewellery soonish!

I have been working steadily on the mosaic and am starting to feel like at some point I will actually finish this project. Can't wait because then the focus can be jewellery! So here is the latest picture at the end of today. I have made some changes to the stems and leaves as I wasn't happy before and I think they are better now. So provided I ordered enough tiles I should be home free!

Wow, back at it but OMG it is slow going. I'm too much of a perfectionist for mosaic! I'm cut and fitting all the pieces to fit around the design. Yikes it's fiddly. I just looked at two days work and then back at the last picture. Now I'm feeling really bummed. Will I ever finish this bloody project?!?!??!!! Here's the latest progress pic.

Well, last day to work on the mosaic before Christmas in São Paulo and more progress has been made. The progress has been slow in the last couple days as I am having to carefully shape pieces to fit around the flowers. I'm finally to the point of liking the design! As I have never done anything of this size and it's only my third mosaic I was feeling a bit iffy in the early stages. So here is it today and I will return to finish it in the new year. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and may 2016 be a year filled with joy, health, and prosperity!

Well, the border is complete and now I'm doing stems, leaves and background. I was hoping to finish it before Christmas but I'm running out of green tiles. Here are a few pics!

Progress on the mosaic has been slow but have started on the border finally! I'm hoping that the infill goes quickly once the border is complete. I think I may need more tiles but fingers crossed I don't! So a couple pictures with the new roses and the border on one side completed. All feedback welcome. :-)

Have found some of the floor in the studio but progress is slow! In the meantime I have been working on my mosaic. We had to move it and some bits got broken so those have now been repaired. I also took out one of the roses and did it over. It was bugging me so easier to change now than look at it in the future. I am ready now to fill in the background. I'm just trying to decide what approach to take with it. Will post some pictures once I get some more of it done. I am taking Portuguese lessons now and I am having to study a lot as it is challenging to say the least. For all my Canadian friends just think back to French classes at school. As a result, I have a bit less time for creative endeavours just now.

in the studio today...trying to find the floor! it is a start!

New project started! I'm sewing some skirts while at my mom's place. Pictures to follow soon. One of these days I will get into the jewellery studio!

No mosaic progress for the next three weeks as I have flown to Calgary to visit my lovely mom! Perhaps other projects will be posted in the meantime! Hmmm!

The roses are doing my head in but I'd love some feedback from all you creative friends, you know who you are. Should I lose the middle rose? It's the first one I did and I think the others are better. I have entirely list perspective on roses at this point!

Here are the latest pictures of the mosaic as it progresses! It's been very slow going...I no longer like roses! It took a whole lot of broken tiles, much unpleasant language and the better part of several hours yo do one of six roses! Redrawing those darn roses to make them easier for this rather novice mosaic maker.