Who Said Men Don't Wear Mokume Gane Rings?

So who said that men don’t wear Mokume Gane rings? Men like jewelry too, and when the jewelry is right, it looks great. Take my husband for instance, whose figure is posing in these very attractive photos :-)

A Mokume Gane ring can be considered ultimate jewelry for men, as it combines a number of colors and creates a unique pattern the wearer can identify with. It looks as if nature got involved in the forging process, and created a pattern through the forces of nature itself. Mokume Gane is hand crafted, creating a unique piece each time. A piece of art with a classical Japanese design, these rings hold a statement of style always relevant.

This Japanese technique where metals are pressed together to forge a unique looking piece I learnt in goldsmith school, and really fell in love with it when I moved to Japan, where I lived for 4 years and fell in love with the mokume gane galleries and artists. I decided I'd become one myself, and you can find a number of items in my collections. You can find many his and hers sets…

Today, I'd love to hear about your special other's jewelry… what does he wear? 

All my LoVe (and really soon a merry Christmas!)

Hila.

Memories from a trip to Kyoto

Once upon a time, while I lived in Japan I went on an enchanted trip to Kyoto.  I was determined to see some Geisha, a dream I had since reading the book "Memories of a Geisha"…so I went to Gion, where they work, and There I met these beauties. Aren't they wonderful?

I was sure these where girls, but to my surprise they turned out to be dress up guys.

A little shock at first, but as I love to draw it inspired me to draw this 

picture… 

I had wanted to see Geisha, and asked some Japanese as to their whereabouts…it turned out it was their day off, but I could not wait around for evening, what a pity.

After that, all was left was to relax… Here I am, riding a rickshaw. A rickshaw (riksha) originated from Japan and means man-powered vehicle. As you might be able to see, the guy pulling me around the streets of Gion is quite muscular, which I found a bonus, though I not sure he has the best job, hot humid and sticky, but he put a smile on for the photo none the less ;-) 

All in all, a great day! 

The sweet memory of this trip resulted in these fan earrings, layered with color, like the layers of a kimono.

Special rice paper imported from Japan creates this effect of layers, and adds the color of Kyoto to these gold plated fan earrings. 

All my LoVe,

Hila.

<div id="ScribCode416404118"></div>

My Animated Life :-)

Anime, I love it. If I could animate life it would be great, just make everything possible. I still like the physical world, I like feeling the materials and creating things in 3D in a 3D life. And thinking of it, how could I be a jewelry maker in the 2D world, should I make a jewelry app to make people happy

I found this great zebra dress for 500yen in a recycle shop in Japan (recycle shop sounds so much nicer than a second hand shop, doesn't it ;-) 500yen is about 5$, I got the lace skirt at Zara for about 25$ and then the boots from Ebay for 38$ postage included!
the necklace is my own work: 

I had my good friend Eliya Tsuchida To animate this photo for me as I just love animal prints, he and his wife are amazing artists. You can see their work here.

I think I'm going to my studio now; I need to feel my materials after this post!

All my LoVe

Hila.

The Sushi Spin Off

Those who know me know there are some things I am really passionate about, among them you will find Sushi and recycling.

Obviously Sushi can't be recycled, and the temptation to it fresh is leads to eating it. Though I can't eat raw fish, even after years in Japan, and even though the raw food movement is growing steadily… just can’t do it.

It's quite a challenge to find vegetarian Sushi in Japan, especially when you're new at it, as most menus show you only the popular fish variety. It's only when you get to know it that they stop staring at your curly hair (if that what you have, and I do) and let you in on the secrets of inari, tamago yaki, kampyo, kappa maki and the like.

The easiest way to get the sushi you want (while in Japan and searching for vegetarian sushi) was to make it myself. I would not recommend tasting my first attempts, but friends taught me, I practiced and got quite good. These days it's easier, and I even have a friend who teaches sushi in Israel (if you're here, I do recommend her sushi workshops ). Most of the time I just take advantage of any offer to go eat sushi… oiishi desu ne!

Back to the recycling issue, as I guess you'd like to know, I started collecting the Hashi -  the Japanese chopsticks, actually I have a great collection of both hashi and ware-bashi  which are the disposable type. As I prefer to recycle, not dispose of things I thought of something cool to do with them and this is the result:

If you liked this, I invite you to have fun and share with us. Go to my Facebook page and share 

photos of recycled projects you've done with Sushi or Chopsticks. The most popular ones will win a special offer discount for my Etsy Shop! :-) 

All my LoVe,

Hila.