Every woman wants to be the center of attention during one of the special day of their life- wedding day. Every eye will admire every single detail of a bride’s appearance while walking in the aisle. And this is what our featured artist look forward to in very glittering and exceptional jewelry she made. A woman who is in love deeply and sincerely with gems and crafts turns them into a wearable art piece.
Photo courtesy of http://belleebrides.blogspot.com/
The Blue Dreams earring above settled in a lapis briolettes design. A mixture of generous smattering of gemstones such as aquamarine, moonstone, apatite, lapis, prehnite, chrysoprase and iolite gemstones with a plain sterling silver earstuds. A bride will definitely looks stunning with this one.
Photo courtesy of http://mybeadz.blogspot.com/
A straight forward long necklace of an enormous 21mm x 21mm London blue quartz briolette is the Bianca Necklace. A divine confection of red hot garnet, cool sage blue quartz and peaceful freshwater pearls.This can be worn long or wound 2x in any way a woman wants.
Photo courtesy of http://mybeadz.blogspot.com/
A 28" long necklace in shades of silvery grey, amethyst and jet is the Helene necklace. Faceted with czech glass beads and sterling silver chain. Deeply suited in every occasion that match perfection
Photo courtesy of http://mybeadz.blogspot.com/
A hot favourite of all earrings is the Celia one. Striking emerald tone quartz with a keishi and small round pearls to accompany the brilliant green triangle brios. This is a completely requested featured that the artist had magnificently made.
Now, let's turn our interest to Belinda Lee for an interview.
Jane: Tell us about yourself, your location, your job and your goals
Belinda Lee:I'm married with 2 adult children. I'm a stay at home mother/wife. Time is now on my side - no more driving the kids to school, activities, wherever. I live on a beautiful island called Singapore with my husband and children. We're all born and bred here though we've travelled a fair bit, mainly for work, vacation or for education as in the case of the children. I would dare say, that at this point of my life, I have achieved a fair bit of my goals.....own our home, raised 2 wonderful children, in a loving marriage and have embarked on a hobby that has made me lots of friends from all parts of the world that I would never, ever in my wildest dreams imagined I'd ever touch base with. In other words, I feel I've made a little dent in a growing and competitive culture otherwise known as jewelry crafting.
Jane: How did you start doing jewelry (or beadmaking) as a business?
Belinda Lee:It was never a 'business' decision. When both the kids were 'mobile' (meaning they had acquired their own drivers permits), I was at a loose end. Everybody could do their own 'carrying and fetching'. Out of the home, I was relieved of my 'driving duties', I had a lot of time to kill. I've always had a creative streak. As a teenager and when I started working, I used to crotchet and knit my own clothes. My mum is very creative - she sewed matching dresses for me and my sister when we were growing up, stitched all the drapes and upholstery in the home and was and still is very artistic. I guess it was a natural spinoff from the Mommy. Before I embarked on jewelry crafting, I used to change the color or theme of the home decor, reorganise the furniture in the house on a regular basis, much to the dismay of the family who'd leave the house in the morning with the TV set in one location, only to find the family room 'moved' to another location by the time they got home in the evening.
When my daughter was away at University, I used to buy and mail to her little pieces of costume jewelry just to 'lift her spirits' and to stave off any homesickness she might be experiencing. This became quite expensive especially when the pieces started to tarnish, break off. Whilst trying to 'repair/restore' a piece for her, I accidentally embarked on the process of reverse engineering and realised that it wasn't rocket science after all and that with the right tools and equipment I could probably do the same and hopefully do even better. The rest, I guess is "history"
Jane: Every artist has a personal "creative process", can you explain yours?
Belinda Lee:I'm attracted to elegant but simple things....my dress sense, house decor, food preparation....its a natural inclination. So my personal creative process would be just that....simple elegance....I don't do fancy stuff in the sense that I like my pieces to be admired for their quality gemstones, their color, the craftsmanship.
Jane: When people start doing jewelry, they tend to try a lot of different things before settling down to something that resonates with them, tell us how has your jewelry work changed since you began?
Belinda Lee: My style has not changed only the method and skill. My designs still resonate straightforward simplicity. My craftsmanship though has evolved and changed. I now use semi precious gemstones and gold fill and sterling silver findings/wire. I dare to venture and say that my workmanship has moved up many many notches although I'd still not say I've reached perfection. Artistry in anything is an evolving process. An artist is seldom satisfied and would rarely sit back and say "thats it, I can't do better" rather a true artist gets easily bored, constantly striving for improvement. Its a natural thirst to learn a new style/method. I'd like to believe I'm the latter. I set aside each day to scour the net for unusual jewelry findings, gemstones, researching tutorials for tips on fine tuning anything I'm unsure of. When I first started using wire to make bails for pendants, I used the narrow tip of a chopstick to twirl my wire. One reason being, jewelry making tools were'nt readily available in Singapore. About a year or more after I got featured in our local newspapers, did we see a sudden sprouting of jewelry craft stores. Similarly, hoardes of others suddenly deemed jewelry crafting/business as a money spinner. Many jumped on the bandwagon, many succeeded, many fell off. Some are still struggling.
Jane: Can you share with us some jewelry making or design tips?
Belinda Lee:
a) Be inspired but don't be a copycat. Sadly, many think that just because something you do is
popular, they jump in and expect the same to happen.
b) Be meticulous with your wirework. I can't believe some of the poor craftsmanship I see on sale
at prices that are so ridiculous that sometimes I think "she's just trying her luck".
c) Never doctor your photos. My photo taking skills suck and that works for me because 10 out of10 times the customer will come back and say the product is way superior to what was shown in the photos. Remember, reputation is 90% of this game! The other 10% is the generosity and goodwill of the customer, who is ALWAYS right. Show them a fantastic photo and deliver a poor quality product is as good as a death sentence for your business. With the internet, chat rooms and forums can sound the death knell for your little business because word on the internet spreads like wildire. 80% of my customer base is made up of customers who have been with me for more than 5 years!
d) Always be one step ahead of your perceived competitor. I see many crafters, locally, cloning each other's designs, mine included, right down to acquiring the same findings as I do, not necesarily the same quality but definitely the same style. It doesn't work that way. You can teach someone a certain method, or style but certain skills are a talent, you either have it or you don't. You can't teach someone to be talented. They either are or they're not.
To see more about Belinda Lee designs of jewelry,please visit her sites:
Website: http://mybeadz.blogspot.com/
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