A little sneak peak

These earrings are a little sneak peak of some of my upcoming designs I was talking about in my last post!

Brrrr...its cold outside

We've been having some crazy snow storms for the past two days here in Tromsø. I will have to take some pictures and post them here.

How has everybody's holiday been? Mine was great, very quiet and cozy, just the way I like it. John and I actually don't really get that much wrapped up in the crazyness of christmas. We just like spending some quiet time together with great food and some good drinks. I am usually so busy up until the holidays that I really appreciate it when everything calms down and I can chill by baking some goodies watching some movies or cooking a great meal while sipping on a glass of red wine or milk and Bailey's ( which is my favorite drink ).

I'm waiting on some new supplies so that I can continue with my new collection of brass and oxidized silver. I'm pretty excited  and all my sketches are finished.

I am also working on some more bezel set cabochons. Cabochon work is one of my favorite things to craft. It is so detail oriented and requires a lot of patience and accuracy. I love that. 

I'll be out taking some pictures later and hopefully, if the weather allows I get to take some great shots of the the northern lights and some of the fire works around town. 

Happy New Year everybody!

xoxoxox

Sabine

Baking pictures

Happy Jolly Holidays!

It's been ( again ) a while since my last post, but by the end of the day I was just not feeling creative enough to write. Been having tons of custom orders that needed to be filled before christmas. There were days when I spent 12-14 hours in my studio this past month. I loved every minute of it though. I must say that I feel quite humble and incredibly fortunate to be doing what I love to do most, jewelry design. It just warms my heart every time I make a sale and I never ever take that for granted. The great thing about being a jewelry designer for me is that I can constantly evolve, to better my craft and to stay in the present moment.

So, for all those of you who have supported my craft I thank you from the bottom of my heart! I am truly grateful, more than you'll ever know! Just know that every piece I make, I do so with utter joy and excitement!

Oh it's christmas eve today and traditionally we celebrate on this day  here in Norway. I am excited to be cooking Pinnekjøtt, a traditional holiday meal. Pinnekjøtt are basically smoked Lamb ribs who have been salt cured for a couple of months. One has to soak the ribs in water the night before to get most of the salt out. Then they get steamed for about three hours, or until the meat falls off the bones. It is truly my absolute favorite meal. It is cooking as I'm typing this and the smell is bringing a smile to my face:-)

The pictures on top show the Pinnekjøtt ( translated= Stickmeat)  ready to be steamed on top of Pine sticks.

I have finished the last bit of baking as well last night and am quite pleased with the assortment. My gift to friends is usually a gift basket filled with all sorts of  home-baked goods which I am going to have to deliver before dinner is ready today.

We here at the Isvik household wish you all a very happy and peaceful  holiday season!

xx00

Sabine&John

Hazelnut-Vanilla Melts and moist Chocolate cake

I managed to sqeeze in another batch of cookies plus a chocolate cake today:

Chocolate Truffle cookies with Nougat

Chocolate Truffe cookies with Hazelnuts

Finally

Here I am again, back from the dark abyss of jewelry making. Naw, just kidding! I have been having so much fun with some custom orders that needed to go out so that Santa gets them in time to deliver them. That took quite a bit of time and work to get them out in time. 

I realize that I haven't been posting many new items in my Etsy shop lately, however, that is going to change soon, I promise!

I have also been spending a lot of time on new design ideas that I usually sketch out first to get a better idea of the overall look. When I first started silversmithing I just went about it without having any prior sketches ready. That didn't always pan out for me and in the long run cost me a lot of money to mess about with precious metals. Now I am way more organized.

I'm excited about my new designs. I am still waiting for some supplies to arrive before I can continue. There will be a lot of Cabochon work involved. I absolutely love setting my own bezels. There is something very satisfying about it. The end result when taking the piece out of the tumbler....the shine and purity of it...makes my heart skip a few beats. It might sound a bit nerdy or weird to some of you, but I can't put it into words how much pleasure I get from my job. I feel so blessed to be able to do this and hope that I can continue on this journey, to grow and never stop learning. That's the fun part for me.

Nuff said, I am also in a cookie-baking frenzy. Baking= another one of my passions. I used to be a pastry chef a few years ago and still love it, just not as a professional anymore. Too much stress and odd working hours.

I will be posting some pictures in the coming days of my cookies and such.

Today I made chocolate truffle cookies, one batch with hazelnuts and the other with nougat ( which is one of my favorite sweets)

If you want the recipe, let me know and I will post it!

Now I must put my tired eyes to rest and get some sleep. I am having to go for an early morning post office run to get some bling send off!

Hope everyone is doing great and is enjoying this fabulous season!

See ya tomorrow!

xxx

Sabine:-)

Tromsø

Here is a little video of downtown Tromsø: Click here