tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-180154462011-04-21T21:33:03.840-04:00Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-32700075390384293682009-01-06T12:40:00.000-05:002009-01-06T12:40:30.903-05:00

Aside from making jewellery and accessories, my other current job is doing minor watch repairs (ie. changing batteries, sizing watch bands). I also take in jewellery repairs, and send out all watch repairs to the watchmakers at our head office that I'm unable to do on my own. Unlike most teenagers, when I was younger I didn't work in retail much, so I have been learning a lot at this position.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-17309069069122710872008-12-26T10:40:00.003-05:002008-12-26T10:45:41.039-05:00

Lately, I've been working on making things out of resin besides belt buckles. I've made a bunch of Tiny Pins, cuff links, and also the earrings pictured to the left. I hope to have more new and interesting things coming soon. Any other suggestions? I'd love to hear what you'd like to see from my shop. Please leave a comment here.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-79713447916302941682008-11-14T12:51:00.000-05:002008-11-14T12:51:26.040-05:00

On December 6th, Alene Couture Jewellery & Accessories will be participating in the Holiday Makers' Market on James Street North in Hamilton. (See the poster to the left for more info! You can click the image for a larger view.)

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-12592766842590555792008-11-11T11:29:00.007-05:002008-11-11T11:46:09.598-05:00

I've made lots of updates to my Etsy shop over the last month, and it may be more full now than it has ever been. Please checkout my latest listings here.The picture to the left is an older belt buckle design that I have revisited. Hey, people like it, so why not? As all of my resin pieces, this one's a little bit different than the others.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-23075331299810601992008-10-09T19:22:00.006-04:002008-10-11T20:05:38.417-04:00

If you find yourself on James Street North in Hamilton this Friday (October 10th), keep an eye open for some of my work in the window of Hamilton Jewellers. "Sorry About that" was design by local artist, Andrew McPhail. I constructed it out of sterling wire and chain this past winter.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-55097641161719628642008-09-17T18:45:00.001-04:002008-09-17T18:46:09.898-04:00

Here's another project from my fourth semester at George Brown. I made this pendant in Metal Forming B. I utilized two different metal forming techniques to make it, the first being the Plunkett fold. The bottom part was die formed with the use of hammers and a die that I made specifically for this purpose.This project stood out from the others for me, because I found the class to be much more

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-33864594985899936282008-09-02T14:06:00.000-04:002008-09-02T14:06:43.981-04:00

Starting with my next listing on Etsy, I'm going to offer free shipping for the first week after I have any new item listed (this won't apply to most re-listed items). Hopefully, this will succeed at keep people interested and coming back to my shop on a regular basis. Stay tuned for a new barn swallow resin brooch coming soon. The barn swallow brooch design has been quite popular in the past,

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-46657922686254011042008-09-01T21:38:00.001-04:002008-09-01T22:20:58.243-04:00

I thought I was trough with making resin belt buckles, until I finished this particular buckle the other night. It turned out just great. I just ordered a bunch more metal findings, so I can start making more of them again.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-30720272826364052572008-08-24T00:04:00.004-04:002008-08-24T00:16:44.774-04:00

I had planned to share more of my school experiences on here shortly after leaving GBC, but just kept procrastinating. Finally, I’m here. I plan to talk about at least a couple of other projects that stood out for me. This particular ring was not something I made initially, but something I made better in repair class by reconstructing the bezel and polishing the band. In the “before” photo

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-46495375620747948702008-08-10T19:27:00.000-04:002008-08-10T19:27:58.960-04:00

You can now become a "fan" of Alene Couture Jewellery & Accessories on Facebook by clicking here.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-31988558346736870432008-06-13T16:22:00.005-04:002008-06-13T17:05:49.822-04:00

My photo link has been updated. To see a slideshow of my work, please click here. I also updated my online shop a couple of weeks ago and then again today with some beadwork.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-21554988319104921722008-05-18T12:28:00.000-04:002008-05-18T12:29:09.846-04:00

I thought it would be interesting to share some of the work of at least one of my classmates from George Brown College. Robert Chen is a graduate of the Jewellery Arts Program at GBC, a program that differs from the one that I took in that it runs a year longer and students have the opportunity to focus on perfecting their design skills as well as their technical skills. The award-winning rings

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-63996424297789435322008-05-15T10:48:00.002-04:002008-05-15T12:45:24.478-04:00

If you've ever been to etsy.com you would have noticed that there's always a colourful collection of items on the front page. These items are chosen from a bunch of lists that people who frequent the site make called Treasuries. I made a Treasury the other day featuring a few of my favourite Canadian Etsy artists, including a couple from Hamilton and this morning it made it to the front page of

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-4543106910434413352008-05-07T12:01:00.004-04:002008-06-12T23:24:20.494-04:00

It has been way too long since my last (new) addition to my online shop. I finally added this brooch this past Sunday.I carved the main body of the bird for a class project in Model Making I. I added the branch at a later date and then had it cast in sterling silver. I also set a small stone in it for added interest and sparkle.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-89353626643441636562008-04-23T20:15:00.001-04:002008-04-24T20:59:21.413-04:00

My full-time career at George Brown has come to an end. The college was kind enough to give us a week of free time in the studio to work on our own personal projects, so over the next week I will be back and fourth between home and school working on a few small things. On Monday, I will be cleaning out my bench and hopefully getting back all of my projects from the past year. I look forward

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-538179685453666012007-12-18T15:51:00.006-05:002008-08-24T01:23:05.101-04:00

Once again I have found myself way too focused on school work over the last few months to think about any projects outside of my assigned work. Since I don’t have many new things to first talk about, I would like to take this opportunity to share this older piece, it was a one-off "experiment" (from sometime in 2006). It’s a brooch that was cast from epoxy resin. It features a 4mm purple cubic

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-55161123453818021432007-08-19T22:55:00.000-04:002007-08-19T20:00:43.918-04:00

This past Saturday, along with my sister Jill, I registered a table at Christ's Church Cathedral in Hamilton to sell some of my jewellery and Jill's marbled clutch purses. Makers' Market is an "Outdoor Art & Organic Food Market" which showcases artists from this area. There was some locally grown, organic fruits and veggies available and a few vendors selling vintage items. Unfortunately I

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-58063639743419903962007-05-12T10:45:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:07:40.928-05:00

Over the past year, I haven't had much chance to post any of the projects that I made during my full-time studies at GBC. We mainly made and polished practice pieces in copper and brass to get a feel for the jewellery making process with less expensive materials, but nearer to the end of the year we were able to work with sterling silver as well as 10 karat gold (something that most first years

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-53507992370413372262007-04-15T21:38:00.000-04:002007-12-18T19:48:16.918-05:00

This is a custom piece that I recently made. It's a brooch made out of silver clay. I made it by first carving a stamp into a piece of linoleum, pressing that image into some clay, and then further refining it and carving in the centre symbol with a metal scribe. I'm quite please with this method and was honestly a little bit surprised at how well the brooch turned out.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-76257920013122169362007-03-10T19:06:00.001-05:002008-05-18T17:43:48.472-04:00

Two weeks back, I had a week off from school. Of course I managed to spend just as much time on campus as I do when my regular classes are in session. I spent a lot of time catching up on work and I also took a mind opening workshop on acrylic plastic taught by the internationally recognized jeweller, Adam Paxon.The workshop consisted of a little bit of demonstration and a lot of

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-67747290740040017442007-02-28T00:34:00.000-05:002007-12-18T19:55:28.815-05:00

Since I don't have much of my own stuff happening right now, I thought I'd show off a few of my favourite items from etsy.com that have been posted by other sellers.a) nervoussytem's radiolaria lines pendant (white)I love plastic and can't help but be impressed by everything that the creators of this shop have done. They laser cut polystyrene plastic into interesting shapes. "The pattern

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-13873954033976300272007-01-02T22:21:00.000-05:002007-12-18T19:56:25.720-05:00

Well, I made it through my first semester at school. I learned a lot and am happy to say that my skills at things like soldering, sawing, and finishing have improved quite a bit (although I still have a long way to go). The work was always very challenging and there was never a shortage of it. There were times when things got very stressful and I thought that I wasn't doing very well, but I

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1162616253524660082006-11-04T03:07:00.000-05:002007-12-18T19:57:38.770-05:00

With my busy school schedule, I've had very little time to sit down and make anything that wasn't related to some sort of assignment over the last couple of months. It's probably pretty obvious that I haven't had much time to update this blog either (see the date of my last entry), but the event that I'll be taking part in this Sunday in Hamilton seemed like too much fun to pass up so I will be

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1154198415957024542006-07-29T18:14:00.000-04:002007-12-18T19:58:02.297-05:00

I'm very excited to say that I will be returning to school this fall (in just over a month) to study jewellery making full-time at George Brown College in Toronto. It will be nice to get to work on a real jeweller's bench again and have access to so many good tools and equipment. I'm also very excited to hear that I'll be able to work with other precious metals aside from silver during my time

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1153172546150224002006-07-19T17:39:00.000-04:002007-12-18T19:59:05.415-05:00

Although Etsy is has a great set up to its shops and it's a great way to market my work, I've also been selling a lot outside of my shop there (or at least "a lot" in relation to what I thought I'd be selling). I've done a couple of custom buckles (two of which were talked about in previous posts) and I've also sold one of the more creative buckle that I've come up with. Hopefully the trend of

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1151185414829316202006-06-24T17:42:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:02:15.553-05:00

Only a day after uploading photos of the bird broach to the left on my etsy shop, I sold it! This was probably due to the fact that it was featured on the main page of the site. I'm unaware as to how long it was up there, but during that time quite a few people took notice of the bird and my shop too! It was a very nice and unexpected surprise. I'm very proud of this pin, I just hope the buyer

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1151027789032510142006-06-23T01:01:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:00:38.382-05:00

This is not the sort of thing that I plan to sell (I'm not even sure if I could if I wanted to, because it's someone else's pattern), but I'd thought I'd post it anyway to show something else that I can do. I knitted this little purple handbag as a gift for my boyfriends niece for her second birthday. There's no picture, but the inside is lined with a light blue fabric so nothing falls through

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1149641832608552602006-06-07T01:12:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:01:15.356-05:00

I haven't been updating much lately because I've been focusing on my Etsy shop. Most of my latest projects have been put up there for sale. I've branched out from making a couple of custom resin belt buckles to making some more artistic ones of my own. I've also continued working with Precious Metal Clay and I'm starting to get better at it! The picture on the left is of one of my latest PMC

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1147651199683355142006-05-14T19:59:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:01:47.973-05:00

The moderator of the Trinkets and Jewelry Board on Craftster.org has chosen to feature my project (ie. these buckles). Here's the link: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=42079.0

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1146964980217597272006-05-06T21:21:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:01:58.628-05:00

I now have an Etsy shop! Please take a look here: alenecouture.etsy.com.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1146869843485389002006-05-05T23:55:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:02:51.174-05:00

Unfortunately, while trying to fix up the last Ride Theory belt buckle, I made it even worse! Here's another attempt at using the same logo. This time instead of just using one piece of paper, I cut out the logo into two different parts and also backed it with another white square. I like this version a lot better. You can take a closer look by clicking the image to the left.Here's another buckle

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1145230402056747992006-04-16T23:24:00.000-04:002007-12-18T20:03:27.010-05:00

I made this belt buckle by first modifying one of the logos by boyfriend uses for his band (with permission of course). I then printed it on photo paper and set it in resin. It has a stainless steel belt buckle finding on the back... well, it had a stainless steel belt buckle finding on the back, just before taking this photo it snapped apart. I still have to figure out how to smooth down the

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1143506536700256462006-04-02T19:34:00.000-04:002006-04-02T18:20:01.963-04:00

I just want to say that I really appreciate all the comments that friends have left on this blog (and elsewhere). Constructive criticism is good too! Always feel free to me know what you like and what you would like to see more of.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1143413835394631882006-03-27T16:25:00.000-05:002007-12-18T20:04:17.786-05:00

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started this ring, but I decided to go with it anyway. It's not perfect and I kind of like it that way, but there are some things that could be better. The inside is pretty unfinished, and I'm not sure if I soldered the ring onto the top part very well. Either way, I like the look of it over all. More Photos: 1, 2

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1141253722292489642006-03-01T17:45:00.000-05:002007-12-18T20:04:29.043-05:00

I've been experimenting with Easy Cast Clear Casting Epoxy lately. It's pretty popular among crafters and it seems like an excellent way to make cost effective, uniform pieces. Unfortunately, both of my first attempts at using this process have failed (I tried making a belt buckle today and I can tell already that it's not going to work out) but I'm starting to understand the nature of this

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1139695849281413002006-02-11T17:09:00.000-05:002007-12-18T20:06:59.498-05:00

This is the second and last project that I made in the same course as the previous pendant. It was created through a process called lost wax casting, a process which allows for a lot of fine detail. Unfortunately, not all of the detail of this piece can be seen in the photograph to the left. Taking photos of jewellery has been much harder than I thought it would be, but hopefully with a little

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18015446.post-1133122754581400862005-11-27T18:53:00.000-05:002007-12-18T20:05:25.359-05:00

I made this in my Jewellery & Silversmithing class. It's my first pendant and my first non-ring project. The techniques I used were saw metal piercing and sweat soldering.

Alenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10749405714299171117noreply@blogger.com5