Log-in
Search
 

Introducing our guest blogger, Reese Herrick

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Harlequin&Lionhead
Reese Herrick, the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director of CHAOS Magazine will be my guest blogger in a series about fashion and accessory and gifting tips for the fashionable. The series kicks off tomorrow and will be posted every other Thursday. So subscribe to the RSS feed now!

Reese is also a fashion stylist and an art director who splits her time between SF and NY. Known for her edgy and raw aesthetic, she has worked with various photographers in both US and Europe, as well as their top modeling agencies. 

I am very excited to have Reese here on my blog! A round applause and come back tomorrow to see her first post!

Also, remember to sign up for my mailing list on the left hand side of the blog to receive a 10% off your first purchase ;)

Continue reading →

My Trunk Show at Henri Bendel

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Harlequin&Lionhead

Come visit me on the 2F at Henri Bendel in Manhattan. For those of your who have received my previous email, the date has changed so please note!

Date: July 12 - 14, 2012
Time: 10am - 8pm
Location: 712 5th Avenue, New York

Meanwhile, I'm working like crazy to get things done. These are just the Rose collection pieces. The Whirls are still on the pipeline. I'm counting every minute to make this collection complete by the trunk show!

To add to the excitement, I'll be in the Asia attending a jewelry show, a fashion accessories exhibition, and the HK Fashion Week.


So my Etsy shop will be closed from June 18 - July 7. You can visit my homepage while my Etsy shop is closed. Please let me know if you need anything now or I'll see you in July!

Continue reading →

Meet me at Hester Street Market, a little gem at LES Manhattan

Posted on May 07, 2012 by Harlequin&Lionhead
Date: May 12, 2012
Time: 10am - 6pm
Where: Hester Street Market, corner of Essex and Hester
http://www.hesterstreetfair.com/

You have to fall in love with this little corner at the outskirt of the heart of fashion in Manhattan. Great accessories, interesting fashion finds, and some yummiest cookies you can find in the city are all here.

Hester Street Fair was taken into Henri Bendel last year and took over the 2/F for its vendors, while UNIQLO camped their mobile cube there for the fall. This past Sat when I was vending there (for the first time, though I've frequented this spot last year all the time as a shopper), Macy has a pop-up shop there - Bar III took Hester Street Fair as its first stop of their nationwide tour of America's best flea markets.

I will be featuring my Whirls and Rose collections there, at an exclusive Hester Street Fair discount.

Selected products from my other shop, Bunnies Can Dream will be available too. Come check my table out. I will be sharing with the very talented Jessica Boehman of Hans-My-Hedgehog again this Sat. And she is debuting her new plush line with some new illustration prints. So don't miss it.


Continue reading →

Introducing the new Whirls Collection!

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Harlequin&Lionhead
Some of you may have read about it on my facebook page. Yes the long awaited Whirls Collection, a crossover between my 2 jewelry online shops, is now available at Harlequin&Lionhead.

First off the bat are my 2 rings, now available in 4 different plating options - 14K yellow gold, white gold, black gold and rose gold. It is also available in silver and can be custom ordered to be made in other precious metal. You can email me for a quotation on that.

#1 Ring, shown here in black gold plating
#2 Ring, shown here in silver
#2 Ring, shown here in 14K gold plating

The "Whirls" Collection features clusters of organic shapes that inspires imagination. Someone may see it as feathers, flowers, leaves or even coral. It is edgy but still with a subtle sensibility. There are more styles coming but the beautiful organic shapes are always accompanied by my signature twisted bands. The larger rings and bracelets are supported by double bands.


The line featured here is made of clay models except for the bands. Architecturally, the bands are quite difficult to make because the back side of the ring is not flat. It has contours that follow the shape of the "feathers" in the front. And the half bands are not soldered together because I want it to look more fluid and sleek. To top that, the band is sculpted out of round metal rods and it is diagonally twisted from one side to the other (flat at the bottom so it feels comfortable wearing it). That way the band carries the same "whirly" DNA from the shapes on the front, without being too literally. And it can still be supportive without being overly dominating and clunky. It was so hard to create, and even harder to re-create it in different sizing. I am very proud of it and I think the end result looks fantastic. It is unique in the marketplace.


The line featured at my Bunnies Can Dream store is made of the original clay and are all necklaces. They are all statement pieces that will go very well with the metal collection here. It will be available offline soon in New Jersey. More details to come. For now, you can find them here.

So how are these pieces created? It is a complicated and long process...

I created these in clay models first. The polymer clay is hardened through a baking process, which makes it stable and can be used for moulds.
The polymer clay pieces are then made into silicon moulds. From there, I can get a wax model and continue to work on the piece.

The wax model then needs to be "hollow out" so the final metal piece will not be too heavy. That is why the back of the rings are contoured. Here, they are not a "ring" yet.

The wax model will then be casted into metal and from there, I add on the bands. And that will be polished up and become my prototype for a second mould. I like working with the rods in metal because they can be made "sharper" with the angular twist. The issue is that after the bands are criss-crossed they cannot be resized or reshaped. So the piece has to be made perfect and wax models are NEVER perfect. Coming out from casting they always have to be worked upon more. So the key is to get the wax models as perfect as possible coming out from mould. So the original mould needs to be 200% and that is why I finish the bands at metal stage for all my prototypes.

Here the prototype will then be used to make a final mould. From that mould, I will generate wax models for casting for production moving forward. And this is only for one ring, one size. Imagine each ring will come in size 6-10, this process will need to be repeated 5 times per ring model. Now I have 2 rings, so 10 times. And the process is pretty much the same for bangles...Keep counting :P So seriously, this is my sweat and blood.
Now if you subscribe to my mailing list,
you get a special discount off the Whirls rings. 
Click here to subscribe ;) 


Continue reading →

It's meant to be - Whirls

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Harlequin&Lionhead

Being a single child in the family, with a pretty straight mom who works long hours to support our family, I was always alone. To keep myself companied I listened to the radio all the time, and chatted with my gfs on the phone. My hands would be idle and I always played with Blue Tac as a kid. I never really developed my skills later as a sculptor and I never thought one day my little Blue Tac project would become a real piece of jewelry.

Fast forward 20 years later, that is last week, I started playing with my polymer clay, thinking I'll make a mold for my next collection and use it as a base to shape my wax pieces when I work on them at home. But voila, a new baby is born completely unplanned. 


I think the shapes I created looks quite like a whirl of feathers. But because the way I make these shapes they come out completely random and organic, it is very hard to make them identical. I thought the ones above would work for me as earrings, I personally prefers the differences but not sure if my customers will. So I worked on a ring prototype instead.


I think it will make a good model for casting. Imagine this in silver oxidized. I think it will be quite attractive. I tried also making a few other smaller pieces for pendants. The first pic of this post is meant to be a hanging pendant over a chain. And the one below will be a pendant hung from a wired necklace. It is the same technique but used to create a chrysanthemum instead.


For mold making, I would have to make brand new ones. These are going into my private collection as white polymer clay. I like them like that. A little fragile, and looks like porcelain. I will be introducing them in my other store "Bunnies Can Dream" but only as pendants. Polymer Clay after heated in oven becomes hard so it's good material for necklace and earrings but I am not confident it will be good ring material, no matter how many Etsy sellers think otherwise. 

So, a line that exists in both Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin&Lionhead. I think both of my worlds are merging finally. 

Continue reading →

 
Scroll to top