After a lovely holiday we are back home. You can find our pictures here, but the report is not finished yet, Filip is working on it.

Here is a look at the materials I bought.

I'm going to Morocco for a couple of weeks. I hope to find a lot of new inspiration and then it's back to work. You can reach me through e-mail to subscribe for the workshops.

Here is the invitation of the exhibition about the use of paper and text in jewelry design, in which I participate. This exhibition takes place in Sydney in Studio 20/17.

Yesterday I went on a field trip together with the students of the jewelry department of the academy in Antwerp. There were some extra seats available on the bus and I was very pleased that I was welcome to join them. Sadly I forgot to take my camera with me, I found all the pictures that you see here on the internet.

In the morning we visited the company Layerwise in Louvain. This company developed an amazing technology in collaboration with the university of Louvain. You deliver them a three dimensional computer design and they print it out for you in metal! This is done with a laser that heats layer by layer of the object in a recipient with very fine metal powder. With this technique they can create objects that were impossible to make out of one piece up untill today. This technology is mostly used for technical and medical employment, but there are some artists that are already using this technique aswell. Bathsheba Grosmann is one of them. The company Mgx Materialise specializes in design objects made with this technique. They mostly print their objects in nylon and polyester. They showed us the machines to do this, but unfortunately they were not printing. I never liked working on the computer. But the possibilities of this technique encouraged me to go and study 3D design on the computer.

In the afternoon we visited the tinfactory Riskin in Tongeren. This was located in a very beautiful old chocolate factury. They showed us how the pewter objects are manufactured under high pressure. I really liked the colour of the pewter. The production price of a series of objects is quite low, so I will be trying this technique within a few months!

It has been a while since I posted some pictures of new jewelry, but it's coming! I am working on two collections for the moment. The new commercial collection is named Floris Mirabilis and contains a lot of pieces already. The starting point of this collection are organic little flowers. Most of them are made in silver with the lost wax technique, but now I am also experimenting with polymerclay.

Wednesday a friend is coming over to pose for the new pictures (hopefully the sun will be shining), I will put the new collection online next weekend!

I don't have a name yet for the new artistic collection. This one will probably consist of 5 necklaces. I found inspiration in old renaissance and baroque jewelry this time. Here is a little preview.

This blog now has an RSS feed. This means that if you have an RSS reader, you can get automatic updates when there's a new blog post.

A friend of me is teaching a project about art in fifth grade. She asked me to come to class and talk about my work. And so I did. I had a great time, the kids were really interested. Besides talking about jewelry and showing my work, I also gave a demonstration in the lost-wax technique.

I had a very busy weekend. I drove to The Netherlands to visit a textile fair close to Utrecht. It was the first time I was there and I had a really good time. I found a lot of information at the fair, some really good books, did a workshop and... I bought the skin of a ray, which I had been looking for for some years now. Look at the pattern it has, I can't wait to start working with it. The salesman asked me what I was planning to do with it and he gave me a weird look when I said I was gonna make jewelry out of it! :)

I also discovered the work of artist Anna van Bohemen at the fair, which I really liked! Check out her website.

The next moring I enjoyed a sunny walk around the town center of Utrecht, which turned out to be a very pretty city. When I arrived back home, I couldn't wait to try out the new technique I learned in silver and gold wire. And I really love the result...

After six days of hard work at the fair "Sfeer 09", I'm starting to feel relaxed again. It was a great experience to be at the fair, my first close encounter with a big audience. The reactions were very positive and there was also a lot of interest for the workshops, so I am very satisfied. Next week I wil be busy preparing all the orders and sending out the packages. I also urgently have to put the pictures of my new collection online (floris mirabilis was already exhibited at the fair). I am still looking for a model for the photoshoot, so if anyone feels like volunteering ... I also have to update my webshop. I will not get bored.

To get back in my working-rythm I just started studying braiding techniques. That has been on my to do-list for a really long time now.

Today we installed Lotte's booth for the design fair Sfeer 09. I uploaded making-of pictures, and here you can see the final result...Sfeer 09 takes place on 14-16th and 20-22th March. You can find Lotte's booth in hall 5.

Signed: Lotte's-clumsy-webmaster-who-dropped-one-of-her-show-cases-so-she-had- to-fix-it-and-as-a-result-doesn't-have-the-time-to-post-this-herself-now.

Some really good news came through my letterbox today. My necklace "Dejamé que me calle con el silencio tuyo" was published in the Belgian design magazine Kwintessens.

Kwintessens is published by Design Vlaanderen. Twice a year, they select young designers who are then included in their organisation. My necklace was published after my sucessfull participation in the autumn selection in 2007.

Works of the 13 designers selected in 2007 will be shown during the summer in the Design Flanders gallery in Brussels. More information will follow.

The first series of workshops is officialy closed now. Yesterday evening, we held an exhibition of all the work of the students. I was very happy with the results. Everybody managed the techniques quite well and there were some really great pieces! You can take a look at all the pictures of the lessons, the finished jewelry and the exhibition. In the mean time, I've also put the new programme online.

The fair is coming closer and closer and I just couldn't find any displays that I liked... so I am making them myself. And I think they will do just fine :)

I just picked up the jewelry made during the wax workshops and I have some very good news for the students. All the pieces survived and they look really good. Here are the first pictures. Once the jewels are finished they will have a very different look. Here are some of my pieces that I had made as a test. Unfortunatly, they were not able to make moulds from my models, but I am very happy they were able to cast such fine jewelry!

This weekend, a mineral and gemstones fair takes place in Antwerp at this location: Business & Computer Center Metropolis, Groenendaallaan 394, Antwerp.

Opening hours: Saturday 21/02 from 12h till 18h

Sunday 22/02 from 10h till 17h30

Meer info vind je hier.