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I’m working on giving the website a new look.   There is a new theme and I have added a lot of new images and layouts, with many more to come.

Let me know what you think… feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks!

 

Varanasi Jeweler

We arrived in Varsnasi around 1:00 in the afternoon after a 14 hour night train from Agra, dropped off our heavy bags at the Hotel Divya in the Assi Ghat area of Varanasi and had some lunch (we were starving after the long train ride).

Then we headed to Suneeta Jewellers to meet with the famous sixth generation jeweler Agam Narayan Singh. The meeting went great. Agam is a joy to work with and an incredible jeweler who prides him self on creating quality jewelry.

The samples of my custom ordered framework components as well as bead caps for the saree and fabric wrapped beads will be done in a few days. We will then go over the components and place the order. I will pass back through Varanasi in a few weeks and pick the finished work. I am very excited to be collaborating with Agam and to unite two worlds through the art of jewelry.

 

Leap Day in Agra

We spent Leap Day on Agra touring the Taj Mahal. It felt surreal to have this amazing temple in the background. We met up with our friends Brett and Elise and enjoyed several roof top cafe’s with views of the Taj. Fantastic! Here are some more photos:

 

Paper Wrapped Bead Workshop Saharanpur India

It cost us about $0.60 each for a two hour train ride from Haridwar to Saharanpur. Our first train ride!

We arrive and our wonderful contact, Lima, picked us up from the train station and took us to the workshop location where we had chi and coffee and discussed the workshop. Saharanpur is known for their wood and paper production, nestled on the north western corner of India. So Lima’s wife and I took a rickshaw into the market to look for paper. I was thrilled to find some incredibly beautiful paper in the market.

The markets here in India are laid out with all the paper sellers in one section, then all the fabric sellers together and so on.

The two day intensive workshop went very well. There were about 8 women in the workshop and we worked from 10:00am to 4:00pm with chi breaks and a lunch break each day. The beautiful paper I was so excited to use ended up being quite difficult to work with. Luckily the women were very patient and by experimenting with a few different glues we were able to make them work.

I am very excited about these new handmade, recycled, fair trade, global beads. It has been a great experience. I am excited to share these beautiful beads with you.

 

Haridwar

Hello From India!

We just arrived in Haridwar after a LONG night bus ride from Jaipur. We are taking a two day break here on our way to Saharanpur for the second bead workshop, which starts on Saturday.

Here are some photos of our adventure here in Haridwar.

Sorry, the iPod doesn’t take the best photos sometimes.

Here we are after visiting the holy Ganges River:

I got my first case of travelers diarrhea here. It only lasted 24 hours… All is well.

 

Saree Wrapped Bead Workshop

The saree wrapped bead workshop went great. All of the women were so wonderful to work with. It has been a great experience. Thank you to the young women From Udayan for being part of the workshop and for being my translators! Thank you to all the Anoothi women for doing such a great job creating these new beads. I will upload mode photos when i get back, but for now Here are a few photos from the iPod.

 

Udayan

Taking it easy today at Udayan. It is so wonderful here – everyone is so kind and welcoming. Here are a few photos of Udayan.

 

Jaipur India

Hello Friends,

We arrived in Inida late on Friday.

Our first day was spent exploring Jaipur, THE PINK CITY!

What an amazing day, I have already found some beautiful gemstones. The bus ride back to Udayan was the perfect touch to a most interesting and unique day!

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White Tiger

White Buffalo Turquoise

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Smokey Quartz

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Bronze Freshwater Pearl

Traditional Style

three stands in gold

 

 

Backround: Dylan Lauger’s Concrete Panel

Photo Taken At: Plum Bottom Pottery

 

Dan’s Travel Photo’s

Here are a few of my traveling partner, Daniel Luedcke’s travel photos from Thailand, 2007.

Stay tuned for new images from INDIA!.

 

Fabric and Paper Wrapped Beads

These are the example necklaces for the bread making workshops in India. We leave in four days! Wow