More interweaving

Foe those of you following my interweaving topic, here are some more samples when gold filled beads meet my wide crochet ring.

For those of you wondering, the sporadic model is proving itself to be a big hit, a friend of mine that got one from me to her birthday came back from work with a list of orders for many of her colleagues.....

I created naturally this ring also in silver but could not yet find the time to take photos and edit, and beside the sun has been a little tricky on me lately, showing up and Disappearing in un convenient hours...

cheers,
yooLa

Violet, purple & lavender

I'm not sure if its the weather, my personal mood or current fashion trends.... its so hard to tell when things actually come from within our inspiration and when it was planted in our heads/eyes/hearts
Anyway violet, purple, lavender and their extended family related colors are the stars of my current designs.
Here are some samples.....

Featured on Coolil.com

I'm featured on this great place, you are welcome to read :
Less Is More – Crochet 3D Jewelry By YooLa

by Noa Levy on November 26, 2009

Israeli designer Yael Falk designs for her brand “YooLa” clean geometric jewelry and small home decor pieces. The softness of the metal wires creates a feel of serenity and quiet, originated from the perception that “less is more “.



Yael’s jewelry are combined of 3D structures and surfaces using fine metal wires such as 14k gold filled, silver and copper. The work is done using a tiny crochet hook and nothing but the designer’s bare hands. The basic technique was learned in Montreux, Switzerland a couple of years ago and since than designer Yael Falk has developed unique patterns and designs based on that technique.



Yael has over 15 years of experience in the field of an industrial design and product development. She finds a lot of resemblance between the complex 3D forms she builds on the computer and the elements she creates with her own hands in her jewelry collection.

YooLa’s collection is currently presented in galleries in France, Singapore, USA and Israel.

www.yoola.etsy.com

www.yooladesign.blogspot.com

Christmas Inspiration

December is one of my favorite months, its the month of my birthday , the month my kids were born in and even my wedding day... naturally it is associated for me with Hanukah. But inspire of all that, I so much envy the bright wonderfully decorated trees of Christmas...
so here is a little design inspired by Christmas color scheme, red coral beads interwoven into my sunflower design to create a red star.

Interwoving stones into my designs

For some time I've been "fighting" suggestions form people that do care for me and for my deigns to integrate semi-precious/pearls/swarowski into my designs.
Its not that I dont like it, at least I could say that pearls and stones I defiantly do like, though I have a lot to learn about it yet, swarowski on the other hand I'm not yet sure what is it that makes half the world crazy about it....

Why I've been fighting it? I think because I'm trying to maintain my unique "bare" look, or maybe because I conceder it as decorations and would like to think the structure itself is interesting enough and does not require decorations. Maybe because decorations are considered in my design world and language as "needing to cover up for boring design".

So you see it is not as simple as it seems, not the technical side of course but the conceptual one.

Nevertheless I decided to keep it in mind and explore it, I started by adding a single pearl just hanging there casually saying, I'm hear but I'm not really part..... I just poped by.
But then about a week ago, by chance or maybe not, a very dear client asked me if I could integrated into my wide band silver ring some turquoise beads.....
I felt it was like a sign for me, that it was time.
I suddenly was inspired and it felt so right, you can see for your self, at the moment there are 3 designs, the sporadic, the graphic and the graphic with chips I hope you'll like it too.

Thank you Stephanie :)

and the lucky winner is......

Hi all,
The weekend have passed and it was time to throw the dice to see who won the pears step by step tutorial, I prepared 21 scraps of paper and marked each one with no 1 to 21.
Put it all in box (sorry, didn't have a hat...)and asked my hubby to pull one out,
the no. that came out was no. 5 meaning the winner is Aik, it is such a good feeling to announce a winner maybe i should look for an opening in the lottery....

Anyway - A BIG Thank you to Stefa, BittersweetPunkin, I bijoux dello Stregatto, Colors Of Joy, Aik, Ayala Levinger, Debbie, AG Ambroult, FashionTouch, Tanya (indigomuse), Spacejams Vintage, Roberta, Kim, Shanti, Clare, ♥ Mommy ♥ to R & R, yarnabees, tractorgirl,fleurfatale, missknits, Rosalinda for participating :)

Great giveaway for the coming holidays

The holidays are almost here and hunting for Christmas gifts is on its way, for those of you who love to give presents they made with their own hands I offer to try and win this fab tutorial for making my exquisite Provençal pears.
A pear or several will make almost any adult appreciate the time and effort you took in making them a present and will probably also be happy to put it on display :)

How to participate? brows my shop and pick your favorite item, post it here and by the beginning of next week I'll draw a number out of a hat and let you know who is the lucky winner.....

Thank you for participating :)

YooLa at Gallerina

Hi all,
I often get asked where can my items be seen other then on the net....
I admit I don't often do craft shows and don't direct my marketing efforts towards representation in galleries.
So for those of you that are interested , my current collection is on display and also for sale in "Gallerina" , a charming rustic gallery positioned in Bat-Shlomo in the north of Israel.
Its a great place to meet for a cup of coffee and a cake, the scenery is fab and there are always great items to see in the gallery.
Opening hours are a bit tricky, note its open Thursday & Friday 9:30 to 16:00 pm and Saturday 9:30 to 17:00.
My designs will be on display during November and December.

My first Youtube video presentation

I'm very new at this so every advise is welcome...

As many things publishing videos on YouTube sounded like the most complicated thing i can put myself into, but this week thanks to the advise of bouji and nouna and the help of lilyja I decided to make the jump and try it.
I admit it wasn't that bad, although I still have a LOT to learn :)
you are welcome to have a look :)

enjoy :)

The figures behind my 750 sales

I remember how as a newbe on etsy I was walking in the dark trying to understand what are the good days in a week, what were the good days in a month....and so on.

I tried finding info in the forums and the blogosphere but came up with not much.... This made me start accumulating my own figures, I built some excell files in which I put my sales figures, with the details that interest me to follow.

So - now that I feel my shop is running long enough , and doing pretty well (knock on wood), I want to put mu penny for all the great info I did find on the forums and on etsyiens blogs and share my personal statistics. it may help some of you to decide what times are best to renew , good days for show cases etc...

SO- week days statistic show all days are approx the same.... , the exceptions are Thursday and Friday that are 3 % higher and Saturday that is 2-3% lower


days in a month : pick days are around the 3-5th, 14-17, and 26th.


My clients origin pie looks like this : 66% USA, 21% Europe, 8% Canada and 5% far east and Australia.


My hours stats looks like this just don't forget I'm in GMT +2 time zone so you need to convert the hors to match yours. :

I hope this helps someone to better plan their renewing, listing of new items and just hanging around in the right hours...... :)

Funky Filigree - featured on Boticca.com

Read what Meieli from Boticca magazine wrote about my designs in specific and about the filigree touch/look for the coming autumn and winter.

Queen of Hearts

Time to present what has come out of the hearts study I recently shared with you, as expected it has matured into jewelry, the pattern has stabilized, I made sure I can make many more and not only 3.... wrote down the prescription so it doesn't fly out of my hands and mind.
Sometimes I get so self assured about doing a certain model that I'm SO sure I'm not going to forget it, but when I need to repeat it it is suddenly not there...
Of course I usually find it back but many times it may take a while and cause pain.
SO - since these sweety hearts took their time finding my hands, I made sure they don't fly away.

My first dilemma when progressing with these hearts was flat or bulbed.... decided not to decide and let time and customers decide for me (cowered.... I know).
Its just that the bulbed are more clever looking and the flats are more straight forward (as hearts of course).


Second one was, another charm? or maybe a first brooch? I have a dozen sterling brooches lying in my supply box waiting very patiently for the right design to come.
so here it is both as a charm and as a brooch, as many of my new designs the first collection is in my favorite warm shades or red, orange, bordo and purple..

NEW tutorial - Corals floating in a tube necklace

Some of you may think it took me ages...... and I would have to agree :)
but finally I'm publishing my 7th tutorial, 7 should be a lucky no. not sure according to what belief but im ready to embrace it.
Anyway its here and its not the last :) as my previous tuts it is very detailed and have photos and illustrations to demonstrate all work stages.

About a week ago I tought my very talented 13 year old (sorry, couldn't mention her without the compliments...) how to make the sunflowers, she understood it very quickly and i had the feeling it was much easier to explain her then to photograph+writ+edit a written tutorial.

This made me realize it might not be a bad idea to take it one HUGE further step forward and record the instructions on video, I assume some people will prefer it this way, while others not...

My pro's are :
- maybe more clear instructions = what you see is what you repeat
- maybe more tempting for buyers that are not sure they will be able to follow written instructions.
My cons :
- might be difficult to produce (but not too much to push me away)
- too heavy to be sent via email (will need to figure a download function)
- cant be printed and carried around to your favorite sofa
- might not replace the current format....
All I can say (to myself and to you) is that I'll start and see how it goes...

meantime you are most welcome to give me your tips and advise :)

Autumn collection

A couple of days ago I shipped out a very colorful autumn collection to a gallery in France. The color combination (picked by my client) filled me with so much joy that I was inspired to take some arty snapshots of this color celebration.
These are of course only a fraction out of the many snapshots i took and the items i sent.... but it I hope it does express the joy.
when I will find the time I want to combine the photos into a short film that in hope will show the items" dancing",or i other words a new item on my to do list was just born....

Hearts study

Last year just a little before Valentines day I decided a girl should have at least one heart design at her shop, I tried and I tried, came up with something that didn't turn out to be a hit....
The only one enjoying it is my 12 year old. I put it aside and decided when it will come, it will come and apparently Valentines isn't a good enough excuse for my creativity to come up with a pattern.

Yesterday or actually the day before in the middle of all these wonderful "getting ready to Christmas" wholesale orders that started coming in, it hit me..... I felt I have a direction that needs to explored.

I made one, then another one then another one..... and the forth one I'm wearing right now.
So - I feel I tackled this 3d form in my crochet technique, not sure jewelry wise if and how yet but I'm really happy with the results, especially before I take off the "needs to be cut" wires, isn't that a fun photo?
enjoy :)

New Line of dream-catcher charms

Not so long ago I found a photo I took about 20 years ago when I was preparing my first portfolio for applying to design school.
It was a red empty frame I made out of carton, sometimes a frame tells the whole story, this led me to designing this series of flowery empty circles, that focuses on the outskirt rather then the center.

The first was actually red but I didn't take a snap shot of it so you will take my word for that :)
When it was finished I struggled a lot over a name, frame sounded odd, empty sounded bad, I decided to call it a dream catcher, it reflected the dreamy and mysterious feeling it gave me it was ready, but now that I write these thing i wonder weather outskirt could be more interesting....

Vintage touch

As a designer I've been struggling for years between admiring vintage and brocante while being involved in the development of new products on a daily basis.
On one hand developing new products add interest to our eyes and lives and hopefully improves it and on the other hand old stuff has it charms and the weight of time.

My hubby that is a designer as well solved his inner conflict by collecting vintage tools and small objects (I do not approve for large ones that will block the house, which is already packed as it is).

I'm still looking for mine....
In the spirit of vintage I decided to launch a line of oxidized silver jewelry, I started with my hoops, sunflowers and drops but will continue with more with time. The oxidization gives the silver depth thanks to the different shades of gray and visual weight.
Tell me what you think, I'm curious to hear....

My tuts now also in French

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I LOVE French.... who doesn't?
A couple of years ago I wouldn't even dream to be able to speak or understand this super enchanting language, BUT as life often make the plans for us better then we would have done ourselves, I found myself on a relocation period in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

Not only that for the first time in my life i did not go to work... but also I was in the perfect place to learn French. Any French speaker would tell you that it's not really French what they speak because it is soooooo sloooooow, what could be better then this for a beginner?

But this is not what I wanted to write about, I got carried away...
From time to time I naturally get both jewelry orders and tutorial purchases from French speaking clients, and to my good fortune (in continuous of what I wrote earlier about life bringing us what we want or need), a very nice French girl bought some time ago one of my tuts. We started chatting as it often happens and she offered to translate it into French. I was of course thrilled !! to be able to read my instructions in French was delighting (I of course could understand it but could have not dreamed of writing it myself).

My French angle is called Agathe Majou
I believe thi is a good opportunity to thank her :)
You are welcome to visit her blog : http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com

The first tut I'm publishing is the pixie beads or as it called in French :
"Perles en Filet d'Argent" sounds heavenly, doesn't it?
More will follow shortly.....

You are invited

Hi all,
I'm having tomorrow a summer sale together with the fashion designer Orly Linkovsky.
It will be held in a VERY nice house in Moshav Beer-Tuvia (see map).
I will be presenting both my silver and gold collection and of course my poms, pears and lampshades.
you are all invited:)

The Paper Pomegranate

The Paper Pomegranate summer issue came in the mail this morning, it was my first issue since I only joined the guild lately.
When I joined I sent some info and photos about my wire pomegranates to the editor, apparently he found it interesting enough for the other guild members and put half a page editorial mention of me and my work, I was and still am SO excited about it.

Although I'm not religious and don't consider myself a traditional person I feel somehow connected to this guild.

For those of you that don't know the guild it has a website where you can read more and maybe join too.

here is a short quote from the website :
"When members of the Pomegranate Guild sit down to stitch, they are making more than just table linens and wall hangings. They are reviving Jewish traditions through their work with textiles. Some create their works as heirlooms for their children; others stitch to recreate memories of ceremonial objects or perhaps of family members lost in the Holocaust. All their works are expressions of their heritage and their religious faith."

Here is the scanned editorial about my work:

NEW Giant and Jumbo hoops from yoola

It all started with a very dear client of mine that leaves in Texas, she was the first to challenge me with these scales of hoops, not sure I would have gone there if not for her...

When she first ordered the jumbo hoops as a special order I thought this was definitely the biggest I can go, I of course loved it and made a pair for me as well....
Then a couple of weeks later a biggest challenge came in the form of even bigger hoops.
She told me she would wear the jumbo (silver and gold) during week days and the giant on weekends.

The jumbo are 2.4" (6cm) and the Giant are 3.1" (8cm), and I have to admit it is "bigger then life"... but SO chic/unique, impossible to ignore.

If I could through a dime and make a wish I would love to see Penélope Cruz
wearing my giant hoops, who knows it might happened , maybe if i wish hard enough :)

My new Goldilocks earrings

A new design was born during this weekend, as usual i did not plan finding it i did not even go on a search, the contrary, I was "manufacturing" more of the same in order to produce some inventory.
But this is what happens when I repeat (the hardest thing for me), I cant resist it and start experimenting....

Sometime new designs are born sometime not, sometimes I think I have a new one but later on I realize it was only a step toward the one I really love.

SO - these are my new Goldilocks earrings it is made of 14k gold filled wire, using a crochet hook (what else...), at the end it has a small pearl bead to mark the end.

I've been wearing it for a couple of days now, it is really fun to have curls :)
I feel this is going to be a successful item , but only time will tell...
I would love to hear what you think of it :)

How to turn your grey silver back into pure white

Ever since I started making jewelry I've been fascinated with metals in general and silver in particular, a friend of mine that checked my Chinese astrological map told me its no wonder, this is exactly the material I lack....
But back to our topic, of all metals I LOVE silver the most, I LOVE hammering silver and love crocheting pure silver, but I've always been a little concerned about the fact that it tarnishes.

I didn't like to see my pretty white designs turn grey and hated to think it would happened to my clients too, and maybe they wont like it either, I know some people like it but some don't, tarnishes do give silver some depth and ages it but takes away the brightness and pureness.

Working with 14k gold filled gave me some relief, I tested it for months and learned that it is very reliable and doesn't tarnish at all.
The only slight little problem was it wasn't white...... and for white lovers yellow just wont do.

Occasionally I tried experimenting with baking soda, salt, warm water, cold watter, boiling water, n o t h i n g, tarnishes are tarnishes are tarnishes.
Yesterday while checking my inventory and going through some of my items that turned grey, I though I may tackle the problem from a new angle, start a new line of my designs in oxidized silver.
To this purpose and since I don't have formal metal smithing education, I started searching the net for information.
Rather quickly I found a forum where this topic was discussed along side with my well familiar opposite question, how to take away the greyness and make my silver designs back white....

I read all sort of suggestions and decided its time to experiment again, went to have lunch with the kids at home and in between preparations I DID IT !!!! and it worked !!!!
and this is what I did:
- I took a flat plastic dish
- lined it with aluminum foil
- poured in regular salt and some backing soda (never measure, don't know quantities)
- located the earring I wanted to clean on the bottom (touching the aluminum)
- poured boiling water
- let it lay there for a minute or so
- took it out and rinsed it under cold water.
- dried it.

I experimented with only one earring so I will be able to check the differences, but there was no need, it was so shiny white when I took it out that there was NO DOUBT.
I was so thrilled that I immediately tried it on other silver items that I had.
It worked faster on the knitted parts then on silver surfaces (solid rings for example), and the solid surfaces also needed some gentle wiping, but really gentle not scrubbing.

So this is it for now, I'm sorry I was so quick and did not take before and after photos, you will just have to believe me.

My other experiment, the silver oxidizing is still not finished but when it is and if it is successful as this one I promise to share it too.

Tween pod hoops, Too crazy ?

What do you think ? is it tooooooo much?

No title

I'm not in a writing mood today, so just enjoy the photos of a bracelet I made for a good friend of mine for her birthday.

1st etsy anniversary celebrations

As you can understand I'm celebrating my 1st and incredible etsy anniversary, to this occasion special offers are published on my shop and even more special offers were sent to returning customers that joined my clients list....

SO come and celebrate with me :)

Black is Black

A treasury I curated made it to etsy Front page his morning, great timing for Us west coast clients, heard it even brought some of the shops great business...

1.Summer Rasta by lilyja
2.Blue Steel Dog Hat by Beantown
3.Blessesd to be a Women apron by ellaklara
4.Piano Keys in Charcoal by TimelessPaper
5.Black magma pebble belt by dafnadagan
6.delicate but strong by knitalatte
7.PLEATED TUBE DRESS in jersey knit by Lirola
8.Ceramic Astronauts on Nose Cone Salt and Pepper Shakers by modernfx
9.Dancing in a White Bell Skirt by Terminy
10.Black Onyx earrings by Anakim
11.Flying High by teaforbini
12.Innamorati by gufobardo

YooLa's first art fair

Here are some photos for everyone that couldn't make it,
A big thank you to those of you that did make it, it was great meeting you.
It was a very successful event and very good experience for me both as a person and as a designer, I could really feel the reactions to my designs, I was blushing the whole day long.
I was really surprised how many "non sellers" knew my shop from etsy and how many people read our forum on TAPUZ.
The preparation as well as the day itself were really exhausting but I can say now it was worth it.

NEW pattern shop on Ravelry

Hooray !!!!
My new patterns shop on Ravelry is now open, there are some cool things about this shop :
A. the buyer downloads him/herself the pattern
B. It can be downloaded more then once
C. I can add "buy this" buttons on my blog (not sure how to do this yet, so be patient with me).
C. Here we come to the best part, whenever I update the pattern or write a variation for example I can let all my buyers of this specific pattern know about it and they can download it if they want to.
Isn't that fab?

All I have to do now is see how to draw some traffic there ..... :)

Art Fair (this Satuarday)

Only a couple of days left for my first art fair (and maybe my last), as expected I haven't finished preparing everything I wanted to, especially since I always want to do more then its reasonable to do.

I have no idea what sort of experience this is going to be, will it put my HIGH or LOW, I try to prepare myself for both, I tell my self its not a "real" design presentation for a real client, only a hobby in a friendly gathering. This is all true but yet I may get disappointed...
if only few people will come....
if they will not appreciate my work and ignore it or just be polite....
if nobody will buy anything (did i just say it out loud ?)....

Then I tell myself I do it for me :) but I dont really believe me...
So - bottom line, if you are local (= in Israel) you are welcome to visit, if you are not but know friends that are, you are welcome to let them know about it, and if you are neither I promise to post here photos of the event, If I'll survive it.

Date :16.5.09
Hours : 10:00-20:00
Place : Shvil ha-no-te-a 9 Even Yehuda
Point No 19 in the event signs

NEW tut....... My Exquisite Provancal Pears

I finlay published last week (or was it the week before? hmmmm )
my Provencal pears tut !!!!
So, for all of you asking about it, it is available now and even some first feed backs can be found on my etsy shop from th first fast buyers.
It is as detailed as my other tuts with step by step photos and illustrations where required, I also give further explanations if you run into trouble....
I'm already thinking about my next tut.... not sure yet which one should it be, you are welcome to advise me :)

A special design for a special day - happy birthday ISRAEL

Did you ever ask yourself how many "vertexes" does a pomegranate crown have?
Well I have…. and apparently the number varies between 3 to 7.
The interesting thing is that when there are 6 , a star of David appears at the top of the pom .

These finger size star of David poms were created from a coated copper fine wire, using a crochet needle, one is in blue and the second in silver,
Its actual size is : 1.4 X 1.4 X 1" (3.5 X 3.5 X 2.5cm)

keep it simple - Tiny Lace circle Stud earrings - 0.4 inch

A new design I've been working on the last couple of days.

My "Keep it simple" stud earrings are a knitted lace ring made of 14k goldfill to which a stud is attached, each hoop is 0.4" (10mm) , it arrives with silicon closures.

This model can also be ordered in pure silver (999).
The silver for day time and the goldfill for the evening....

I think its time i put my torch back to work, I have so many ideas that would require one.

The Invisible Spool Knitting

Ever since I started publishing my work on the net people kept asking me, but how do you do that? is it crochet? is it knitting? what instrument do you use? how come your loops are so even?

I of course could not explain it with only words, some of my items I called knitted, some crocheted, no matter what title I used I kept getting friendly convos telling me na na na you are obviously using the wrong term.

Some people say that because I use a crochet hook it should be called crocheted, others say that although I use a crochet hook it should be called knitting.
I needles say that some were VERY confident about which term should be used.

I kept apologizing that I wasn't an English speaker, as if it wasn't clear.... and that maybe they were right. To be honest it wouldn't have been anymore easier in Hebrew, my mother tongue, or maybe it would have been because in Hebrew you use the same verb for both techniques =(SRIGA).

But I think that all of this in the past now, yesterday while I was discussing this issue with a very experienced lady both with crochet and with knitting we came to term that actually I was working on an invisible spool....
I immediately fell in love with this term and decided to adopt it, I wonder how it will be accepted. I hope it will be clear that it is NOT real spool knitting (personally I don't really like spools, especially with metal).
I would love to hear what you think.

From the Desret to the Ocean

I came back from a super wonderful vacation in the Israeli desert straight to this ADORABLE treasury I was included in. Isn't it stunning? i knew it will hit FP. and it did.

Many thanks to walrustusk Check also her blog

To add or not to add ? this is the question

For a long time I limited my designs to wires and structures, tried to avoid the beads/pearls/stones road. I’m not sure if it was out of fear (I don’t know nothing about these little creatures), or wanting to stick to my PURE STRUCTURES CONCEPT.
or maybe its because I cant shape them but use them as is, don’t forget I’m a designer and want to actually "mold" my designs into my will.
This week I decided to start exploring this path and see if it works for my eyes, i started by adding pearls to my drop earrings and some more "free" hanging glass beads to my Sunflower designs.

here are the outcomes, love it ? don’t love it? you are welcome to vote :)
the truth is I feel not ad about it, only time will tell.
Now that I read the title I think I see the problem, defining the stones as something you add and not something central in the piece may be wrong.....

NEW Tutorial

It seems like it took me ages, but finally I'm happy to present a NEW tutorial.
This would be my 5th in total that I published so far.
I choose which tutorial to publish next according to my readers demand, so feel free to influence which of my design would be next by commenting here....
I hope it will be popular :)
New Tutorial

Some of my weekend fruits

During the weekends I try to find the time to take photos of new items and share it with you...
Here are this weekend fruits :

Blog Awards

Who doesn't love to get awards, especially on a new blog :)
Thanks Sari!!! It's a wonderful surprise !!! (Give her a visit - she makes fantastic glass beads and jewelry and is very nice to chat with)
As part of this award I need to share with the world five of my addictions before passing it on to 5 other bloggers i appreciate.
My 5 Addictions are:
1) Old Towns
2) getting lost in places I dont know.
3) Good books
4) Making Jewelry and my other knitted items
5) Sushi (only good one)

5 Bloggers: Helis, Galit , chicada , Yaelfran , chaincreative.
Thank you Sari I think your blog is fab !!!
Love,
YooLa