Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Next Stop - Columbus Avenue Holiday Pop-Up Market


Finally I have all the info for my next market. The Columbus Avenue Holiday Pop-Up Market organized by the Astoria Market. It will be at the beautiful Church of St. Paul the Apostle, where the Radio City Rockettes practices during the week ;) And it is just steps away from Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle and Central Park.

Date    : Dec 10, 2011
Time   : 11am - 5:30pm
Where : Columbus Avenue (9th Ave) btw W59th St & W60th

45 plus vendors that will be featuring their unique handcrafted and vintage wares out of the spacious 9000 square foot auditorium. You’re sure to find amazing holiday gifts such as art, jewelry, toys, body care, handbags, clothing, stationary, scarves and hats, pottery, and more!

Read more about the market here:
NY1: http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_community_calendar/events/#18957
Queens Mamas: http://www.queensmamas.com/queens_mamas/2011/12/shopping-made-easy-holiday-shops-and-markets-in-queens.html
City Limits: http://www.citylimits.org/calendar/15337/columbus-avenue-holiday-pop-up-market-on-12-10
Pretty City: http://nyc.prettycity.com/events.cfm
Markets of New York: http://www.marketsofnewyork.com/2011-new-york-holiday-markets-guide/
NY Free Guide: http://www.nyfreeguide.com/content/columbus-avenue-holiday-pop-market


Remember, you get special discounts when you buy from my table at the holiday markets. And you can order online and pick up at my table so you don't need to pay for shipping :)
I hope to see you soon!

My table at the Dekalb Market last Sunday, Dec 4.

The new Harlequin&Lionhead corner on my table - all of the Whirls Collection will be available and some of them are available at the market with a special 20% off. So come check it out.

Hans-My-Hedgehog will be sharing my table at the market. Get some pretty holiday cards and ornaments for your loved ones this Christmas!

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Holiday Sale and My Next Few Stops!



Bunnies Can Dream is now on sale up to 25% OFF!
Click here to the Sale section.

More exciting new items are on promotion!
Sign up for my mailing list and you get an exclusive offer ;)
And don't forget if you are already an customer,
you get 10% off your next purchase!

***

So where will I be in NYC this December? More details to come but here is a quick schedule:

Dec 4 - Dekalb Market, Brooklyn
10am - 5:30pm
138 Willoughby St

This lovely market is getting better and better. Come check out the weekend market vendors and the 24x7 retailers in recycled containers! A larger and better food court and lots of live music and art installation. I was vending there last weekend and I love the fried donuts, BBQ chicken panini, delicious ginger carrot soup and yumyum chocolate from Jacques Torres.

The shops opens around 11am though the weekend market and food vendors will be ready for you at 10am. The place does not close until 9pm I believe but as the sun goes down, lazy bunny me will be packing up around 5pm so come visit me before then.

Getting there is easy! The BDMQ line is right outside the market. Or take 2,3,4,5,G line you will be right around the area. 

If you crave from some cheesecake afterwards, Junior's is just right there.

ATM machine at the food court too but I take credit card now ;) yippee~~


Dec 10 - PopUp Holiday Market in Manhattan!

More details to come on this one but this is managed by the Astoria Market organizer and it will be at The Church of St. Paul the Apostle on Columbus Avenue between 59th and 60th Streets in Manhattan! 
I'll be selling with my pal, Jessica Boehman of Hans-My-Hedgehog with lots of holiday greeting cards.

Upper West Side, here we come! 


Dec 17 - Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market
Noon - 6pm


This event is an annual highlight of X'mas shopping! This year it will be on Dec 17 and Dec 18 though I only appear on the 17th. It is an indoor event at Littlefield, a warehouse-turned-club and each day will feature different vendors. So you get lots of choices of quality gifts you last minute shoppers!

It is accessible by R train, 2 blocks from the Union Street stop. 


Will post more later about the events as it gets closer. Hope to see you all there!

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"Whirls" Collection

Whirls Collection Statement Necklace in whiteWhirlsN_WhBig2SMWhirlsN_WhBig3SMBlackSwan_nameSMWhirlsN_Big_1SMWhirlsN_Big2SM
WhirlsN_Big3SMWhirlsN_Big4SMWhirlsN_WhC1SMWhirlsN_WhC4SMWhirlsN_BkC_Proto1SMWhirlsN_BkC_Proto4SM
Whirls Necklace #3 in black and gun metal


"Whirls" Collection
The “Whirls” Collection is launched in Bunnies Can Dream as a crossover line to Debbie’s other jewelry brand, Harlequin&Lionhead. The polymer clay version is featured at Bunnies Can Dream, while the metal version will be available at Harlequin&Lionhead on Nov 1.

The “Whirls” Collection showcases clusters of organic shapes that are perceived differently by different people. It could be interpreted as feathers, flowers, leaves or even coral pieces. It is edgy but with a subtle sensitivity. Each piece is handmade by Debbie in New York and not produced in mould, so they are one-of-a-kind with its own personality.

The clay pieces are made of polymer clay, heated to harden, and treated with layers of gloss and matt protective finishing to create different textures and increase durability.

Check out the details of each piece at Bunnies Can Dream on Etsy here.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Meet me in Chelsea, Manhattan!

My first show in Manhattan will be at the Crafts In Chelsea Festival! Come visit my booth and check out the new collections from Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin&Lionhead ;)

Date: Oct 15, 2011 (Sat)

Time: 10am-5pm

Location:
West 21st Street btw 8th and 9th
Chelsea, NYC

Getting there:
A/C/E trains at 23rd St 1/2 trains at 23rd St.
If you have been reading my blogs, you will know that I have a new collection called "Whirls" coming up. The polymer clay necklaces will be available at my Bunnies Can Dream shop, and the metal version including rings and earrings will be available at Harlequin&Lionhead shop. These new items will be available at my booth so come take a look. I will post a sneak peak at my Harlequin&Lionhead blog later this week.

Also, I will have a few pieces of the "Elusive" collection from Harlequin&Lionhead available at the booth, together with a few more pieces of rose gold plated items from the Rose collection.

Next to me at my booth will be Hans-My-Hedgehog by Jessica Boehman. She was there with me at the Astoria Market in summer. She does the most adorable illustrations in pencil and her art prints in various sizes, and creation of greeting cards will be available at the booth. It is a must have for the holiday season.

For more about the festival, check out their official Facebook event page HERE.

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Monday, September 26, 2011

20 years in the making

I hope you will find encouragement in your life after reading this.

Yoshitomo Nara, Fountain of Life
Sometimes things are tough and you don't see an end to it. Sometimes our plans go astray and we don't know what went wrong. Sometimes it just seems that the world is not fair to you. But one day you look back and you will realize they probably all happen for a reason. The road is tough but it gets you there.

It has been an eye opening year for me. Somehow it brings me closer to my self. The self I thought I have lost many many years ago.

When I first graduated from college I wanted to take a profession that would be on the creative side. I have always like to work with my hands but the young me lacked patience. At some point in my life back then, I decided that being creative and working craft was probably not right for me. Ironically, that is what I am doing now.

But back then, I did not know. And I took a detour to work in an office job in advertising. It was a tiring job with little appreciation. And after awhile, you realize that you don't really "produce" anything. Everything is everybody else's work and most of the time I was just managing expectations and maintaining a network of people. Just when I felt quite lost with my life, I met my husband on a project that required for me to work overseas in US/Canada temporarily. I decided to start a long distant relationship with him being in NY and me in HK, after spending only 2 weeks with him. After 2 years of being away from each other, I decided to move to NY and see if we could make our relationship work for us for good. And fortunately my ex-boss helped me land a job in NY.
My humble home in NY back in 2005. It was just a studio apartment but it was my first own home. 
Looking back, I would not have known my husband if I were not in advertising doing a job that I found out I did not like. My rabbits were moved to NY safely as well and at that point, I knew this will be home for me for a long long time.

But something was still lacking in my life. I still hated my job, if not more with this new company. But at this job, I found jewelry again.

My mom and I used to make our own jewelry and that was how I started working on jewelry back in HK. My boss, whom I cannot enjoy working with, has great taste in jewelry and she made some of her own beaded jewelry as well. After our office relocated to Madison Ave, I realized that I was just blocks away from the Fashion District and a station away from the Diamond District. The jewelry supplies stores were everywhere and I found a jewelry school that could teach me silversmithing during the weekends.

One day, my Japanese co-worker introduced me to a website where a famous amigurumi artist known in Japan was selling her patterns online. And that was Etsy.

I started my Etsy account in 2008, and a year later I started my first Etsy shop, Bunnies Can Dream.
My first postcard for the shop. The offer does not work now of course!

I got married and I finally decided to resign from the company last year. I took some time off and took on another full time class at the jewelry school. Then I started my second shop, Harlequin&Lionhead just for my silversmith work.

This year I joined a lot of Etsy community groups and started selling in craft markets. And through Etsy groups and selling in markets, I have met a few good friends. Some of them my emotional support, some of them taught me a lot of things that will be useful for years to come in my jewelry making life.

A couple months back, I was quite discouraged because the end of the year is approaching, and I am facing a decision if I should go back to full time work next year or not. This may be inevitable but I am unsure of the timing. Yet my jewelry business is too young to support me financially. I was forced to think that the end of the dream is coming.

I was struggling if I should get into the Union Sq holiday market. I thought if that worked out, I would not have to work in advertising again. But it was too much to invest and I decided to fold it. I have been kicking myself for not taking risk ever since. Then another opportunity came up in Brooklyn. It is a lot lower in price and could be a retail location for me for good. I felt like it is another opportunity and something seems to speak to me that I need to make something it happen for my business this year. But again, the numbers don't really work well for me. Just when I was about to give up again, I was introduced a friend and she brought me a chance to work with others and share the space. I felt like it seemed to be a message from high up that I must try harder and don't give up.

Later on this fell through (again!) I was upset but not as much as I would have been, if not for what happened just a few days before it.

As the single child in the family, growing up I was always alone. When I was bored, I played with everything in the house I could find. And I invented a way to work with my blue tac to create amazing pieces that looked like feather or leaves or just whirls of textures. I discovered recently that I could use Polymer Clay to do the same thing. And better still, the clay could be hardened and I could use it as a basis to build my jewelry models.
One of the first few pieces I created with polymer clay. The wax models using these polymer clay prototype will be then cast into metal and made into wearable jewelry. Read about it here.

When I discovered this new technique, I was so happy not only because I will be able to do something no one can, but because something I made when I was a kid, can now be applied to my business. It feels like there is a circle which I started from a point in my life 20 years ago, and is now completed 20 years later. As if it was meant to be.

One of the new friends I met at Etsy groups and at market introduced me to these amazing mold makers who are now helping me turn my polymer clay molds into real jewelry molds.

And that realization came just a couple days before I received the news that I could not share the retail location in Brooklyn with this group of people I was introduced to. Instead of destroying me, I decided that I will just have to make it happen no matter what. So I applied for weekend market booths at the same location and was accepted. If I cannot sell it there as a lease tenant, I am going to be there just as well!
Dekalb Market will be my new corner this holiday season.

My husband calls this series of events "coincidences." I don't mind that but just to think that if any of the steps along the way went astray, I may not be here writing this.

Say...if I didn't enter in advertising, I would not have known him. If I pissed off my ex-boss, I would not have found a job in NY and our relationship would have ended 6 years ago. If our company had not moved, I would not have discovered these supplies store and applied for the jewelry school. If I had not known Etsy, I would not have started my own shop. If I had not found my friends on Etsy, I would not have started selling in markets. If I had not been bored at home back then when I was a kid, I would not have been able to design my new line of jewelry today. And if I had not moved to NY, I would not have started my jewelry at all. There are so many of "What Ifs" that could have gone wrong. But they did not.

I thought I made sacrifices in my life to be with a man I love. But I gain not only him, I found a passion I have lost.  And that is why I am here. And I think it could not have been clearer that no matter what I do next year, I will never give up jewelry making.

My first fabric print design. Read it here.

Sometimes a person can only plan as much for one's life, because all we can see is the past and the present. And the future changes all the time. We get worried. We get disappointed. We complained and we doubt ourselves. But maybe all we need to know is that, everything happened for a reason. We just need to look and piece them together to see the path. And that will lead us where we should go forward to.

If you are religious, it could be God helping you. If you are not, it could be fate at work. If you don't believe in anything, then call it luck. But no matter what, don't worry too much and be grateful. It will all work out fine.



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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

My interview on the 5 Boroughs Team

HansMyHedgehog is kind enough to have interviewed me earlier for the 5 Boroughs Team on Etsy and posted it on their blog. Here is the link to the interview. Hope you like it :)

5 Boroughs Team: Interview with Deb of Bunnies Can Dream and Harleq...: This week's featured member interview is with Debbie Liu, owner of two of the 5 Boroughs Team's jewelry shops. Deb comes to NYC via the lov...

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Treasury Update - Aug/Sept

The time of the month to post some treasuries featuring my jewelry along with some amazing pieces from my fellow Etsians. Enjoy the eye candy!

This is created by BrooklynBags

This is created by Raganella

This is created by Astorknot
featuring my Little Peaches 2-in-1 necklace/bracetlet

This is created by HansMyHedgehog
featuring my Shadow of a Tree necklace

This is created by DahliaSoleil

This is created by Jordandene

This is created by HansMyHedgehog

This is created by Jennleajoelle

This is created by Newyorkclocks
featuring my Apple Blossoms II coral earrings

This is created by Sonnedoree

This is created by Candywren

This is created by Imaginepossibilities
featuring my Grapes earrings

Come back next month to check out more interesting treasuries!


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Monday, September 19, 2011

Polymer Clay experiment


If you have read my earlier post about my new polymer clay project, you will know that I started working on this interesting material to create a new line for the shop featuring feather looking pendants. Well, I have decided not only it will be feathers, it will be flowers too.

Last time I worked with Sculpey III, which apparently is not the best medium for me to work with this specific technique. In addition to the green color, the whole thing looked a little like grass. So this time, I have switched to Fimo Soft and I went with white. I was able to create more delicate looking feathers despite the thickness of each piece actually went up in double, and they attach to each other a little better as well. The white color with gloss varnishing makes the piece looks like porcelain.

So I used my old pieces to test coloring options. I can always mix clays to create the right color or even swirls of colors. But I though I'll see how the technique of applying gold foil and paint looks like.


The above shown are all made of the green Sculpey III clay, starting from R to L, original, gold foil and gold paint. None of them really worked. I also tried using sponge to apply the gold color and it just looks a little too "painted" like. I think the best way is probably to use colored clay, or to mix color paint in a white or light color clay.

After the white line I'll try the black color clay - it's X'mas after all, Angles won't mind white or black.  Maybe come spring, I can introduce a pastel color line of flowers. We'll see.

To look at more of the white clay experiment and different shapes to come in the shop, click HERE to my other blog. The white clay versions will be at my Bunnies Can Dream shop, and the metal versions in ring form will be at Harlequin&Lionhead shop.


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