Category Archives: Quest

Getting Ready

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I’m going to move this blog elsewhere… My life has made a 180 again in a good way and I feel it’s time to let go of this domain as it is a constant reminder of a past that should be just that, a past. I have moved on a long time ago and though the years I lived in the UK will always be a major part of my life, I don’t wish to make it bigger than it actually is. I’m focused on my future and have been for a while so those old posts have been archived and will remain there like old books on a shelve collecting dust until one day someone decides to clean and read them again.

I’ve been looking to buy an apartment, in a different part of the Netherlands where tourists are still sparse, where it is quiet in the streets at night, where I can make a home and unpack my boxes and all the surprises I’ve kept in them for years now. The other day I realised that I have been living out of boxes since 2006. Yes I’ve sorted them all out and I’ve given half of it to charity shops but still, I haven’t used my own things since 2006. Thirteen years altogether so it’s about time that I’ll move to an unknown place to start anew and be closer to where my current assignment is.

I’ve saved enough money to get a perfect home, replace all the things that I had to give up on when I moved to the UK. I’ll need a bed, mattress, fridge/freezer combination, wardrobe, TV, and a lot more. And looking at things online is half the fun already. I’ve checked websites and found cool furniture, even cheaper and nicer than what I had in mind when I started this journey. No prefabricated stuff but furniture made by a designer/artist with an industrial touch and a practical design as I will use two of these to set up a studio so I can neatly store my jewellery supplies.

I’ll need a small sofabed so I can have visitors stay over, friends from Amsterdam or family from Belgium or … I’ll need lots and lots of plants and a few Persian rugs on the floor, warm colours like taupe, red, grey, brown, to reflect my oriental/colonial style interior design. A moss green styled bedroom that induces a relaxing atmosphere and lots of zen energy. I could dream about it all day long if I have to and I’ve designed each and every room six times already ;) But first things first and that’s finding the perfect ‘home’ where I can have an inspiring studio to work on my jewellery.

But you see, thinking about this and going to apartment viewings makes me happy, it is something I have wished for for a long time and I’m finally at that point where I can take time to decide. Tho I am impatient too, but I should try to find that one space I can really call ‘home’, so far after all the viewings in January, there was one apartment that actually felt good, but it wasn’t ‘the one’… I have my eye on another and I’m waiting a few more weeks to see if the price will get down. If not I’ll make an offer and see if they’re interested in selling. It has the perfect space and layout.

So this is why I’ll move this blog elsewhere, I’d really like to focus on the future and getting another move done within the next six months hopefully. I’ll trust my gut feeling and I’ll trust the Universe to have it all planned for me. And when the time is right, everything will come together, like a puzzle it will fit and the missing pieces will be found and added. I can’t wait… :D

Quality Time

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Life was bliss for three weeks. No rushing, no nagging, no disturbance, just peace and quiet and dealing with an extremely hot summer. It was the best three weeks off I’ve had in a while because I didn’t have to share my time with anyone else. It was just me and it felt awesome. I took the goldsmith course which was an amazing experience as well. Especially when the person teaching -a professional goldsmith- tells you that you have the skill set, patience, creativity and the exceptional natural ability to do this kind of work. I was flattered because she was not the kind of person to give compliments. I’m sure she must have noticed my passion for designing and making jewellery.

The friend who passed away about a month ago, used to be a goldsmith as well. Her ex-partner gave all her tools to me when he heard I was going to take this course. I didn’t use them yet as they were in a small flight case and I had to go through all her stuff first and clean it. It took me three days to sort it, clean it and give it some extra TLC. I had to sand down the inside of the flight case as there was glue stuck allover. After sanding it down I painted it white and cleaned all the aluminium edging and corners on the outside. It looks so much better now, it’s ready to be used. All I need to add over time, is a proper desk, gas torch and tank, hoses, saw, hammer and ring mandrel.

I’ve bought a Garmin vivosport activity tracking device a while ago and have been keeping an eye on stress levels since. They were extremely high, especially in May and June this year and although I didn’t feel stressed most of the time, it was telling me that I really had to slow down and try to reduce this. These past three weeks levels had dropped significantly which was a real eye-opener. I’ve started working again so I’m curious to see what will happen this month. The fact that temperatures were extremely high and I was forced to take things slow must have contributed to lower stress levels as well. I’ve been craving for some serious long spells of rain and thunderstorms for weeks now!

I’ve met up with friends for dinner and really enjoyed their company as I hadn’t been able to see most of them for at least six months, some for over a year. We had lots of stories to share! I’ve updated my jewellery business website and added more pictures in the portfolio section. And I’ve been playing with electroforming but that didn’t go well, I was expecting better results. I’ll have to look into things and see what is causing issues. I think I might have contaminated the bath as I was experimenting with fabric on gemstones. Because of the heat my conductive paint dried waaaaay too fast and I’m guessing it didn’t seal parts completely, also the liquid rubber I’ve used was a new technique.

I’ll try to fix it this weekend. Going back to work was kind of hard because it was 32C at the start of this week and 29C in my office space, too hot to focus on things that need to be done. Today I’m working from home and have some extra time to get chores done and write a blog in between. Still there’s too much on my plate, I can’t seem to focus because of the weather and not sleeping very well. Summer is great but these temperatures are driving me nuts. Last week the government announced an official drought and shortage of water, because of this trees and plants are dying, use of tap water is still fine and not restricted (yet). Thunderstorms and rain is expected tomorrow, we’ll see…

First things first, let’s get some work done ;)