Necklaces

OK! Time to show a bit of what I've been doing lately! The necklaces, as mentioned on my previous post.

My 2 first necklaces were made of plastic beads, during my course. I learnt how to bead with nylon, and how to make pins and assemble a necklace only using metal chains. I also learnt a basic knot using a cotton thread for a more casual look.

Here they are:

Used nylon on this one...


On this one, I put beads together with eye pins and links, no thread.

So, these were my first ones! They look very unprofessional though, due to the quality of the beads (plastic, training purposes!), the fact that they were my first ones, and also the extremely poor quality of the pics themselves. If I don't have my tripod with me, I am at a loss, I must say. Also, having Mark to help me is essential, no?

To another one now... This one was remade from an existing necklace: not using all the beads, not following its original design (and bad finishing, by the way!), and adding completely new beads. That means I recycled a necklace that my Mother had and never used it. There are some nice Murano beads on that one, as well as wood, metal and crystals. No plastic! I liked the results and so did Mom...

Redesigned and recycled.

On my friend Marcia.

Unfortunately, this time I had to use the mobile camera, which is a very low res. This is because I had some problems trying to open the battery compartment on my camera and ended up by locking it up, d'oh... But it gives an idea.

Another one is an Antica Murrina pendant, also belonging to my Mom. The only thing I did here was to add some metal and black Murano beads and a gold-plated S-clasp. I reused the ribbon that came with it and shortened it a bit. My Mother has threaded the beads for me, so, I just redesigned it, no hands-on:


You can see the beads (Murano and gold-plated tubes) and new clasp.

I have also remounted a big Tibetan necklace for my Mom, that was completely broken. That took quite a long while, I must say, mostly because of the tiny chips of turquoise and jade. Could not get any decent pictures though, they were all completely out of focus. Again, the lack of a tripod (and probably old age too) is to blame. Hhhhmmmm...

Anyway, this was a long, long post.

(Tomorrow, I will publish the pictures of my newest necklace, that I made last Sunday.)

Back from Rio!

I am finally back from Rio, where I stayed 2 months, ie, since Aug'29th. I arrived last Wednesday and, since then, I am feeling a bit down - but it's always like this when I come back from my home town. I miss it lots!

By the way, Rio is still pretty and the weather was quite gorgeous - the way I love: not too cold, not too hot, just mild, breezy and perfect.

News in brief:

- Diet - I am on a diet since, dunno, July maybe? And all is working and going well. My Dietician is great, dr. Mary, here in Blackrock Clinic, I love her.

- Gym - along with the diet, I am going to the gym, here in Dublin and also while I was in Rio. That helped me loads too. I mean, helps me (present tense). However, since I came back, I did not go yet. Ha ha...

- Weird stuff (aka, "shit happens") - the day after I came back, I went to my local Post Office and when I left, I fell on the floor, face down. Yeah, I kissed the ground. Literally. The only thing I saw was people coming to help. Two lovely ladies brought me to their shop, where they helped me cleaning my face (blood everywhere) and gave me sweets. It seems I fainted, and it happened again inside the shop. Well, I cannot remember much, but it's true that I was a bit dizzy (as quite usually nowadays) and did not have breakfast, so... I am lucky that I did not break any teeth or nose though. Well, I am bruised - but even that is starting to clear up now.

- Jewellery - yes! That is great! I made a very basic jewellery course while in Rio, in a shop where I used to buy my own necklaces and stuff before! It was very good, and I was loving it. Well, I still am loving it because I've been making some nice necklaces and buying some beads and findings out of eBay lately. Next step will be a more detailed, advanced course if I can or perhaps a good book. I am super-interested in the materials that can be used and mixed: gemstones, glass, crystal, wood, porcelain and so on. No plastic though. I love the weight of real stones and glass instead. Wires and threads are also interesting me deeply right now! Anyway, will post some pictures of what I've done later tonight - or more certainly, tomorrow.

More new stuff...

When Mark came back from Toronto this week he brought me a lovely Murano necklace, from the Antica Murrina. It was even on my Wish List, although he did not know about it:

One of the things I love about it is the clasp, in the shape of the "ferro", or the bow iron of the gondola, an incontestable symbol of Venice. You can see it in the picture above, at the left-hand side, easily recognisable.

The necklace itself is made of multicoloured silk threads. I just love it. Anything Murano. Really.

And, finally, I have some pictures of my Dior Kitties that I have mentioned some weeks ago. They are really big and super-cute, measuring 1.5 inches - quite big for a mascot. They wear some of Galliano creations for Dior (Spring/Summer 08, I believe, the latest for sure).

The makeup is also amazing: you can see the new eye liner tendency, very marked and in bold colours, à la Amy Winehouse. The one that looks blue in the picture is actually purple. That outfit is really purple, not blue and I don't know why it insisted in turning out cobalt blue in the pics... Ah well... Another thing is the details in strass on both pairs of shoes and the orange dress. Gorgeous indeed. I am going to use it with my new mobile, of course!

My New Phone

On a whim, I have decided to get an upgrade for my phone. I was tired of my old Samsung, with a very crummy user interface and awful ringtones - and limited capabilities.

Went back to Sony-Ericsson and managed to get a W580i in Pink!

And it's a walkman too, which is more than welcome for me. I use it a lot in the gym, since I hate the songs they play there anyway. Mark even got a 8GB memory stick in Oslo for me, which makes it even better.

What I love about it is how easy it is to send and receive emails. The sound is also very, very good. I even downloaded the "One Missed Call" ringtone (Japanese version of course), and have Ai Enma (Jigoku Shoujo) waking me up every morning!

It's got some cool light effects too, as you can see on the pictures below. If the screensaver is purple, so will be the lights on the side and so on... VERY pretty!

And my current strap/netsuke is that super-kawaii Robot Kitty. Mark thinks it's a bit creepy though...

Hello Kitty Japanese Hairdo (pretty!)

Etsumi Kawashima is probably the greatest hairdresser in Japan and has been proposed to make a "bald" kitty become a beautiful hairy star! Well, a star she is already, and below you can see her hairdo variations, all to die for! Kawashima-san has been nominated by Sanrio, the official Hello Kitty hairdresser! Kudos to him!

They are arriving - Dior Kitties!

Yes, they have finally been released!

The Dior Kitties designed by John Galliano are already available in Paris! Please check the Colette website for more information! They are super-lovely.

And mine are already on their way to Dublin!

(Official picture by the Colette website)

Little Fragrance test (just for fun)...

Your Fragrance Profile

The best calming fragrance: basil The best fragrance for everyday wear: cinnamon The best fragrance to boost your sex appeal: musk The best fragrance for energy: eucalyptus

What's Your Fragrance Profile?

Manga to Love - "Cat Eyed Boy"

Cat Eyed Boy Vol. 1

This manga is deliciously trashy! I can also detect a big Tezuka influence here, by the way, just in case you appreciate that "old-school" manga style.

By referring to it as "trashy", however, I do not intend to minimise its importance by all means, but just to relate it to the aesthetics of some American horror films (and even ads) from the 50's and 60's. As an example, check out this text on the back cover:

"A CHILLY CONCOCTION OF DARK VIGNETTES DRIPPING WITH THE MACABRE, THE GROTESQUE AND THE ABSURD."

Reading it is pretty much like being carried away in a delirious ghost train ride, in a black-and-white amusement park of yore. And, as such, a delightful experience, and almost nostalgic.

Cat Eyed Boy is a horror manga, written by a master of the genre, Kazuo Umezu.

The hero (Nekome kozo, that is, yours very truly Cat Eyed Boy) is a very interesting character: half-monster, half-human, feared by the former and hated by the latter. An outcast in both worlds.

Wherever he goes, tragedy and horror ensue. But in spite of all that you cannot but empathise with him. He is cute, agile, and witty. You even feel like calling him "kitty"...

Some scenes (as expected from a horror manga) are quite disturbing and grotesque, but the story is nicely told through a very bold and strong artwork - almost old-fashioned at that. Some of the situations portrayed end up being quite funny as well, with the protagonist taking turns between hero and villain, in a sort of creepy ambiguity that even makes him look (almost) human.

It's a big book, this first volume of the series, with more or less 500 pages and published by Viz.

Cat Eyed Boy is not your usual, run-of -the-mill manga and, precisely for that reason, worth reading and highly recommended.

Cat Eyed Boy Vol. 2

This sequel to Cat-Eyed Boy is quite good, but not as great as the first volume, in my opinion.

Equally big (again, 500+ pages), it has a special "bonus": some coloured pages from the middle onwards.

The tale The Meatball Monster deserves a special mention here: utterly freaky and dark, you can almost "smell" it! (And that's not necessarily a good thing, I'm afraid).

If you enjoyed the 1st volume, you need to put your hands on this one as well, even if it does not live up to its predecessor.

Sony, yay!

We just bought a Sony hifi system! It's this one here: CMT-HX90BTR. We will be picking it up on Saturday, it just arrived to our local Sony store now, but we need the car to carry it home, I think.

It looks great:

Lovely Film - Kamikaze Girls!

Yesterday's film was the amazing Japanese comedy Kamikaze Girls, aka Shimotsuma Monogatari. That could be translated as "Shimotsuma's Tale", or "Shimotsuma's Story". Mark and I watched it and it was brilliant. Lately, we have been watching loads of Japanese films, since they are my favourite, and this one was such a nice surprise... I took ages to get it, and it was a real treat.

It tells the story of the very unlikely meeting of two Japanese girls from completely different backgrounds: Momoka is the goth-loli sweet and dreamy girl, who wishes she was living in the Rococo era, and thus dresses up in frilly outfits and lacy headbands. The other girl is Ichiko (in reality, Ichigo, but she hates being called by her real name). Ichigo is a "ianki", or a rebel (juvenile delinquent, I would say!) and member of the infamous Ponytail (poniteiro) girls motorbike gang from the Ibaraki region (where their hometowm, Shimotsuma, is located).

Their fashion sense is very diverse, although that is the exact thing that ends up by uniting them. Momoka commutes to Tokyo almost everyday to buy her frills in the most amazing Goth-Loli shop: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. That is her salvation from the local Jusco (oh that so makes me think of our local Tesco here!) supermarket mega-store and their dull, suburban outfits. She lives with her Dad, an ex-Yakuza, and her Granny (who plays the senile lady when convenient). Mum and Dad are divorced, and the whole story of how they met and how and where they ended up is hilarious. At any rate, her wacky Dad is an entrepreneur: he produces counterfeit goods "by" Versace (VersaCH, ha ha!) and Universal Studios (that he understands to be Universal STADIUMS) and sell them in the streets.

Momoka, in need of some money, advertises them in the Internet and that's how she meets Ichigo - who was desperately needing an amazingly embroidered jacket for the Gang's leader wedding.

Well, the plot from then on will revolve around a mythical embroiderer, the discovery of Momoka's hidden talents, visits to Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, mopeds X motorbikes, pachinko parlours, Ichigo's first (frustrated) love and a near-death experience, none the least.

Amazing characters, beautiful colours and cool effects that make this movie seem like a "moving manga". No, not an anime in this sense, which would be too obvious, but a how a manga would look like if it was in colour, and real life and flesh. Brilliant, funny, and light.

The girls change quite a lot after meeting each other and it's great to see how they exchange their own distinct experiences and tastes, and how their friendship is reinforced by their differences and ideals.

Kamikaze Girls is based on the novel of the same name by Nobara Takemoto, published in 2004, and the author was twice nominated to the Mishima Prize of literature. He is also a clothes and accessories designer for Baby, The Starts Shine Bright that are now opening their first store in Paris. Yeah, it's a REAL store! Takemoto-san also creates some Gothic-Loli outfits for the Hello Kitty series, and I have some of his designs in my collection, as you can see below:

Very pretty, no? This is exactly how Momoko would dress herself up in the film! If you click on it, you'll be able to see a picture if Nobara Takemoto as well, quite charming (in a dark, gothic way that is!).