THE ORIGINAL Double Infinity Bracelet with birthstones by SimplyLeilani (54.00 USD) http://ift.tt/1i9Lb5K

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Procured some sea glass from the UK. :)

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On the bench today: an anniversary gift going to the Virgin Islands! #beachlife

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How Asians do fro yo. #hawaiistyle

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My trusty assistant.

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Ready for polishing! I think my brother found this one. It’s so cute!

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My daughter’s pick at the library…

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Found this little guy while beach combing. I think he’s looking for spring too!

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The Goldsmith

If you've ever been to Bahrain, the odds are pretty good you've been to the Manama Souk.  The first time I went was in (gulp!) December 2002.  (Just a few months after the 9/11 attacks.)  The United States Navy has been in Bahrain since the late 1940's, but due to cultural differences and general common sense, I (read: any female) was not allowed to go anywhere without a "liberty buddy."  There is no way I ever would've found the souk without a liberty buddy, given the lovely, honest taxi cab drivers that Bahrain is so well known for... unless you can convince them you're a Brit, Aussie, or Canadian.  Good luck with that- the British presence in Bahrain predates the U.S., and they also see tons of Australians and Canadians in a multitude of capacities...  I guess you could just make friends with an expat or local and let them do the talking.

Manama changed a lot since that first visit.  There are lots of protests and demonstrations that gather in the area around the souk entrance in the evenings.  Since I prefer to shop alone and could easily go weeks without seeing the sun thanks to my workaholic working hours, I didn't make that many trips to the souk while I lived there.  I did enjoy my time in the souk though.  Love the noise and the bartering and wandering around slightly lost...  By the way, vendors can tell when you're lost.  But, I digress.

On my first trip to the souk, I bought gold jewelry.  Gold prices were low and I had money burning a hole in my pocket for the first time in my life.  I'd show you a picture of what I bought, but it was all stolen from my home in Hawaii, a few summers ago.  

This time, my search was not for finished jewelry, but for supplies.  There are some very beautiful stones in this part of the world, and you can still get some very good deals if you shop around a bit. 

Just some of the Yemeni agate I brought back!

A childhood visit to Yosemite sparked a lifelong interest in stones... and it goes hand in hand with making jewelry.  In all honesty, I don't wear a lot of jewelry.  If I had money when traveling, I'd buy jewelry that was either characteristic of the region, and that marked something special in my own life like a promotion or milestone birthday.  So now that my skill level is high enough to make my own jewelry, I decided to shop the souk for supplies.  A co-worker mentioned he found "a guy" in the Gold Souk with a lot of "really cool old coins and stuff with a couple of rocks like [I] was looking for."  So one day after work, we went.  Um.  The entire front display of the store was strands of beads and stones.  There was one small tray of interesting but not valuable coins.

There was an old man minding the store who offered me some tea, which I took.  (It's considered rude not to- I wish someone had told me that during my first trip!)  After chatting a bit, I asked him if he had any cabochons.  He showed me jewelry with cabochons.  I said I wanted to see plain cabochons so I could make jewelry.  He said, "Sure, I make for you."  I said, "Ok, you make for me one, but I want to practice too."  And then he lit up... "You make too?"  Out came the satchels of rocks.  I had to laugh.  If you're a crafter, you have a stash- the stash that stays in the box under the table or in the closet until you meet someone else with the same hobby... and that's when the stash comes out! 

As it turns out, the old man is a goldsmith... his family has been doing this for generations, and his work is displayed in the Royal Palace and the National Museum.  He also mills and rolls his own wire and sheet, which is just AMAZING.  So even though his English was not great and my Arabic is almost non-existent, we drank tea and looked through his collection for hours over the next several weeks.  I brought him a few of my beach glass pieces, and he was  thrilled because none of his daughters learned metal smithing.  Much of what we talked about needed pictures and demonstration due to the language barrier, but he was nice enough to help me solve some of my more difficult challenges in design.  

Near the end of my time, I picked out my favorite stone and asked him to make me a pendant.  He asked me what style, I told him pick what he thought was nice.  This is the finished product.  I typically wear VERY simple, small jewelry.  But I absolutely LOVE this piece.  The work is exquisite.  Well worth every dinar, and something I will always treasure.

Please visit our Etsy store for Hawaiian beach glass jewelry, limited edition artisan jewelry and more!

Gigantic piece of beach glass, found by my uncle.

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Day Trip to Muscat, Oman (Part II)

If we've met at one of my recent craft shows, you'll know that I did some beach combing while in Muscat.  (Yes, I walked around all day with a quart of shells and pebbles in my backpack.)  I've made a few things out of the shells.  Not sure what I'm doing with the pebbles yet, but I digress.

As you may or may not know, at this point in my day trip, I hopped on a Red Bus... it was nearly lunch time but as I'd just killed nearly 2 hours at a coffee shop, I wasn't hungry.   Here's how the rest of the day went:

Beautiful resort area.  Wish I had time to lay on the beach and do nothing for a few hours.

Driving through Muscat.  There are laws regarding building height, color, and architectural style.  The intent is to preserve the "old" culture look and to spread horizontally rather than vertically.

We got stuck in tons of traffic which put the tour bus behind schedule.  I used the time to take a nap.

I woke to a cool breeze as we drove back down the mountainside...

Driving through more mountains.  Very beautiful when you've been living on a completely flat island for a year.

Dhow.  Near the Parliament and other government buildings.

Oman's coastline has some really great natural harbors.

Residential area.  Note the turret on the mountain.  There are many forts in this part of Muscat, built hundreds of years ago to protect the fishing villages and ports.

Al Alam Palace, home of the Sultan. Breathtaking grounds in the "Old Town" area of Muscat.

An old fort up on the hill, overlooking the palace.  (One of many.)

Beautiful pass through.  You can see yet another turret in the distance.  I guess there must've been a lot of invaders.

Found a hidden harbor behind the palace.  There's another tower at the end of the ridge.

Once you walk through town and over another mountain pass, you come upon the Corniche, which is a nice walk along the harbor, with lots of shops and places to eat.

Gorgeous view of the bay as you walk along the Corniche.

Near the end of the Corniche is Mutrah Souq.  It's not really big, which is good for people like me who get turned around easily.  There were some really interesting shops including those selling lapidary and other jewelry making tools.  I bought some Frankincense, pashmina scarves, perfume, and a cool dragon padlock.

By this point in the day, it was getting dark.  I decided to head back to Qurum Beach since it's the closest stop on the Red Bus to the airport.

Back where I started, in Qurum.  Watched the sun set, had some dinner and dessert, then did some shopping and headed back to the airport.

I really enjoyed my trip to Muscat.  I wish I had time to stay over at least one night and maybe take a little more time to see some of the museums and other buildings... but hey, I had the chance to go and I did.  :)  If I'm ever over in that part of the world again, I'd really love to see Salalah.

Please visit our Etsy store for Hawaiian beach glass jewelry, limited edition artisan jewelry and more!

Yemeni picture agate with cross. Struggling to find the right lighting capture the beauty of these stones.

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A funny picture fromour last trip to the Norfolk Zoo. Might be time for another visit.

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Day Trip to Muscat, Oman (Part I)

You would think that I (being raised on an island in the middle of the Pacific with absolutely nothing else in over a thousand miles) would not be subject to 'Island Fever."  But oh man.  Bahrain is a tiny island.  It's flat.  The cab fares are insanely high.  The drivers are insane.  And when you work EVERY SINGLE DAY, there's not a whole lot of variety in the activities and experiences that are accessible.  So one weekend, I totally blew off work and flew to Oman for the day.  I left on a 2 am flight and returned around midnight.  It was exhausting but a much needed change of scenery.  First, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise on the beach, followed by a terrific breakfast at the Intercontinental.

Then, I had the hotel concierge help me negotiate a cab over to the Grand Mosque.  Cab fares are standard but not published in Oman, so you have to know what the fare is.  It's a lot less stressful of an experience than it is in Bahrain, where you never know who's going to attempt to rip you off.  (And in Bahrain, if a man calls the police on a woman and says she's been cursing or attacked him, guess who's going to jail?  Although I imagine it's the same in Oman, I also feel like it's less likely for someone to lie to the police about a foreigner out of spite.)  Anyway, this mosque is much larger than the one in Bahrain.  There is no way I could come close to capturing the beauty and intricate detail here.

 

But, it was hot and I had to wear a scarf to cover my hair, plus long sleeved shirt and slacks... so after walking around for about 45 minutes, I was ready to head back over to the resort area.  After killing 2 hours of my life trying to figure out how to do it, I jumped on a Red Bus Tour.  I pre-purchased the ticket online, because it seemed much more economical than commissioning a cab for the day.  Just so you know, you have to look for the tour agent OUTSIDE on a sidewalk at one of the predesignated meeting areas... which is not every stop... a detail that is not readily apparent on their website.  (In Muscat, stop #1 and stop #3 are the only places you can start your tour.)  Sheer dumb luck, the Intercontinental was next to a shopping area that had a Red Bus stop WITH an agent.  The nice people at Costa Coffee figured out that I was clueless and pointed me in the right direction.  I was a little disappointed to be starting on the tour with most of my morning already gone, but the self paced tour ended up being a pretty convenient option for what I wanted to do.  More on that later...

Please visit our Etsy store for Hawaiian beach glass jewelry, limited edition artisan jewelry and more!

Qurum Beach (Muscat, Oman) shell jewelry by Simply Leilani. Simply Leilani creates beach inspired artisan jewelry made by hand, using mixed media and techniques ranging from traditional Japanese arts to silversmithing. All designs are original and produced as one of a kind or very limited edition runs.

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Happy New Year! May 2014 be full of blessings and joy!

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