What's New with Geoflora Jewelry

Sorry we've been mia lately, we fell off the blogging wagon this summer!  We have been focusing on finding new venues and stocking up for our first holiday season.  This season we will be selling at Vintage Charlotte Holiday Market in the Fillmore for our first market experience and we're beyond excited.  Our dear friend Alice Holleman will also be selling her illustrated goods there as well so if you're in town be sure to come say hello to us! Since our last update we have also sent work off to Emerge Gallery in downtown Greenville, NC as well as participated in Aurelian Nights, a jewelry/fashion show in Greenville.  We've been busy bees playing catch up with some custom orders and trying to stock up our inventory in anticipation of hopefully a great first holiday season. As always thanks for reading and we pinky promise to keep you more updated!

Geoflora Jewelry

New Venue!

Geoflora Jewelry is happy to announce that we will be selling at Beadlush in the heart of Plaza Midwood in Charlotte, NC.  We are excited about this new venue that doubles as a classroom/ learning environment.  The store is primarily a beading supply store.  Recently, they have added an artisan section to support local artists in the area.  We are very honored to be chosen to fill the space! Here are a few pictures of our work in the display area.  Thank you so much for all of your support and as always, thanks for reading!

Geoflora Jewelry

Giveaway winner and news!

We are excited to announce that Kat Humphries is the winner of our second giveaway. In other news, we are celebrating Geoflora Jewelry's first birthday by releasing a limited edition line of jewelry! The line will be exclusively available on our Etsy shop and will be in limited supply. We're gearing up for the release of our Spring/Summer 2013 line and will be gradually posting photos and adding pieces onto Etsy and Obaz as they are completed! Make sure to check for updates on this new, exciting jewelry and as always, thank you for your support and for reading!

Geoflora Jewelry

Giveaway Time!

In celebration of Geoflora Jewelry's upcoming first birthday we're showing some love! We're giving away this pair of 'Ruby' Semi-Precious earrings! To be eligible, simply like our Facebook page, follow us both on Instagram (@margarethinrichs and @isntthatswell), and repost the image onto your own Instagram. The lucky winner will be announced on Geoflora Jewelry's birthday, June 1st, along with some other exciting birthday news! Be sure to use the tag #geoflorajewelry when you repost the image so we can find you! 

https://www.facebook.com/Geoflorajewelry

As always, thanks for reading and good luck!

Geoflora Jewelry

Moving on Up!

Since our dual graduation this past Friday, Geoflora Jewelry has been busy making moves for our future!  For one thing, we are currently working on our first website for our business and its about time!  The site isn't live quite yet but we should have ironed out all the kinks by the beginning of next week.  Geoflora Jewelry is about to have its first birthday June 1st and we have some fun news to announce as part of the celebration.  And finally, now that we're both out of school and into the real world, we are designing our first Spring/Summer jewelry line and will be working hard to release it in a timely fashion!  For the moment, all items on our Etsy shop are 20% off in celebration of our graduation and to make room for new jewelry!  Use coupon code GRAD20 at checkout for the discount.  Stay tuned for more exciting news in the coming weeks and as always, thanks for reading!

Geoflora Jewelry

Inspired By... Chromat Garments

We are inspired by the bold, graphic lines of Chromat Garments, the gutsy clothing brand founded by Becca McCharen.  McCharen studied as an architect and urban designer and used this education to inform her choices in fashion.  She was inspired by scaffolding and the infrastructure of buildings and translated that into the foundations of a clothing line.  She plays with boning and zipper details to create a new kind of garment that is both edgy and graphic.  Her smart garments have been seen on Beyonce and in a plethora of fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle, and Nylon.  We love the striking look of all that Chromat has to offer! Check out there website to see the full line and as always, thanks for reading and for all the support!

http://chromatgarments.com/

Geoflora Jewelry

Exciting News!

Geoflora Jewelry is excited to announce that we are now represented at The Overland Gallery in Kinston, NC! This gallery has a wide range of local artists and mediums as well as some non local art and studio spaces.  This newly renovated space used to be a Jeep manufacturing building and sales room, hence the old Jeep parked out front!  The gallery enjoyed a successful soft opening during the recent BBQ Festival on the Neuse this past Wednesday through Saturday.  Tomorrow, the gallery will officially open, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4 pm.  We are very exciting to be attending this event tomorrow with our good friend and fellow jeweler Lisette Fee of Eilisain Jewelry.  As always, thank you so much for all the love and support!

Geoflora Jewelry

Personalized Packaging Round 2!

Round two of our post on personalized packaging!  We recently redesigned our packaging to make it more cohesive with our business cards and we'd love to share some tips and tricks.  First off, we sketched out a design we liked that incorporated both a floral and geometric style into the overall packaging idea.  We did some research on sites like Pinterest to narrow down the aesthetic that we wanted to achieve with our new packaging design.  Next, we scanned in the designs and cleaned up the line work and line weight.  Since we really liked the thin and precise line work of the drawings, hand-craving the designs out of linoleum didn't work well this time.  We actually tried to see if we could achieve the look we desired using that method to save us some money.  The result turned out less than desirable and not nearly as delicate with the line work.  Since we ruled this method out, we decided to send our designs off to a company to make stamps for us.  We opted for a clear mount so registration would be easier.  We also ordered several different sizes of our logo so we would have variety for the different box sizes.  Next came the fun part! We stamped our designs in white ink in rows on our otherwise boring cardboard boxes and voila!, beautiful boxes!  We stamped our logo on the inside in red orange ink for an extra surprise for the customer!  Below is the link for the Etsy shop we used to make our stamps and we'd highly recommend them for their professionalism and speed.  As always, thanks for reading 

Geoflora Jewelry

https://www.etsy.com/shop/stampoutonline?ref=pr_shop_more

Symposium Series: Kathryn Osgood

Kathryn Osgood teaching at ECU

For this post in the Symposium Series we wanted to talk about Kathryn Osgood and her enameling workshop at the ECU Symposium. Kathryn is an assistant professor at College of the Albemarle in Manteo, North Carolina. She has been to visit ECU before, as we are very close to the coast, but this time was different because we were able to have an extended workshop and discussion with her which is always a treat.
Sitting in on her workshop was so interesting because she showed us the many different methods she uses to enamel; including using glass beads, micro beads and mica powder. Not only did she bring sample pieces of these techniques but she also brought finished pieces for us to see up close. Seeing her work up close is so inspiring because her work is so complex and yet so simply put together, often just using simple prong settings that she incorporates into her designs. Below are some photos of her sample work and completed pieces. For more information, please visit her website at: http://www.kathrynosgoodjewelry.com/

Geoflora Featured on Curio Road!

We're excited to announce that now through midnight of March 11th, Geoflora Jewelry is featured on Curio Road!  The shop offers discounts on our jewelry as well as a few exclusive items only found on Curio Road!  We're starting to sell out so hurry over and check it out before its gone and as always thank you so much for supporting Geoflora Jewelry!

http://www.curioroad.com/shops/

Symposium Series: Jennifer Wells and Liquid Enamels

Next up in our Symposium Series is Jennifer Wells' Liquid Enamel workshop!  This workshop was a great experience and full of interesting insights.  Both of us have done a fair amount of experimenting with liquid enamels but she had some new tricks up her sleeve.  Her work is characterized by elements of wire wrapping and small painted details that end with a sweet product.  Liquid enamels love wire but sometimes get clogged up and loose some of the detail.  She used a key board cleaner, a small can with a straw spray attachment, to gently blow the enamel off the wire in areas it was clogging.  She also used   Pearl Ex pigments in her enamel work in combination with graphite to add a unique look and some shine.  Those she fires in as the last coat for a shorter amount of time.  Her workshop was full of her joke cracking as well as helpful tips!  As always, thanks for reading and supporting!

visit her website and see more of her work at: http://jennwells.com/home.html

Geoflora Jewelry

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone that participated in our first ever giveaway! There were many contestants and many sweet and supportive comments, but after drawing names out of a hat a winner has been decided! Jackeline Davila has won this Pantone  2013 inspired resin necklace! Thanks to all that participated! :)

Symposium Series: James Thurman's Thurmanite

 Next up, James Thurman and Thurmanite!  We found this workshop very interesting and entertaining.  Thurman showed us what Thurmanite is and how he's come to adapt it into contemporary jewelry.  As I mentioned before, this symposium was heavily focused on mixed media approaches to contemporary jewelry as opposed to more traditional takes.  Thurman's workshop showed a quick video going through the steps to make Thurmanite, a registered product, made up from a resin mixture layered between papers.  Once hardened, you can apply techniques similar to wood working, such as carving , sanding, filing, and sawing into it to finish it.  This process produces an incredibly strong and durable product.  I found his work particularly interesting because he mimicked a wood grain look but could control the colors or lack thereof.  He can also then apply his knowledge of metalsmithing to turn these objects into wearable objects of adornment.  Below I have attached the link to his website where you can check out his awesome work!  Thank you so much for reading as always :)

http://www.jamesthurman.com/James_Thurman/James_Thurman.html

Geoflora

Symposium Series: Jillian Moore Resin Workshop

As you all may have read in the previous post, we attended ECU's 4th Annual Material Topics metals symposium.  This year's group of artists including workshop leaders and presenters were of a different breed than those of the years past.  Jillian Moore, much like the other artists, is known for being a masterful metalsmith as well as a mixed media maven!  In her three hour long workshop, she told us all her deep dark secrets about working with resin and pigments to achieve an other worldly wearable.  We were pleasantly surprised with how much more there was to be learned about resin since we've worked with it some in the past.  One of the most interesting things about her work is lightweight quality is possesses while totally fooling the eye.  Most of her forms are created by layering resin and pigments around a foam base to provide structure but avoid excess weight.  Jillian has an incredible imagination and her work is fantasy come to life.  Below are the links to her etsy shop, where you can buy all her beautiful things, and her website, where you can check out her amazing work and bio!  As always, thanks for reading and for participating in our giveaway!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/phlaznatch?ref=pr_shop_more

http://www.jillianmoore.net/index.html

Geoflora Jewelry

ECU Metals Symposium Time!

We are excited to say that starting tonight, we will be participating in the 4th annual East Carolina University Metals Symposium!  This is our third time attending and we cannot wait for the festivities to begin.  Tonight will begin the symposium with several different show opening as part of the downtown art walk.  Tomorrow begins the first day of workshops and lectures led by a great group of artists in the field.  The artists on the list include Loring Taoka, Jillian Moore, Christina Miller, James Thurman, Autumn Brown, Jennifer Wells, John Stuart Gordon, Alison Baxter, Kathryn Osgood, Carrie Longley, Rachel Timmins, Gary Schott, Jim Cotter, Dianne Reilly, Joost During, and Keith Lewis.  Fibers, ceramics, and wood working are also included in the materials used by these wonderful metalsmiths.
We are extremely lucky that our school hosts an event like this since it allows us to not only expand our skill sets with new materials and new teachers,  but also as a way to begin networking within our community.  That being said, we have to go prepare our apartment for our guests this weekend but thank you for a taking a minute to read our blog as always!

Geoflora Jewelry

*here's the link to the blog if you'd like to check out what you're missing this weekend!
http://ecusymposium.wordpress.com/

Exciting News For Geoflora Jewelry!

As of yesterday, Geoflora Jewelry has been invited to sell on Obaz.com, a great new online shop!  We're very excited about this new opportunity to sell and expand our reach.  Obaz offers jewelry, clothes, accessories, home decor, and more.  It also supports small and handmade businesses such as ours!  Be sure to check it out and explore the shop once its finalized.  Thank you so much for all your encouragement and support as always.

Geoflora Jewelry

 click here to shop Obaz!  https://www.obaz.com/shop/hot

Geoflora Jewelry's First Giveaway!

In honor of the new year and the 2013 Pantone color of the year,Geoflora Jewelry is having a giveaway on our popular Emerald Resin Necklace! All you have to do to be eligible is like our Facebook Page and comment on our blog:
http://geoflorajewelry.blogspot.com/The contest winner will be decided at the end of the month so get liking people!