Thanks NBC.COM!

For including Muntedkowhai into your Holiday gift guide!!!

Fashion Incubator

I hardly ever blog about the rituals and ups and downs of having your own small business. Lately, I've been thinking about how frustrating and what a huge black hole getting into the fashion industry is. I have no degree in the arts, fashion nor business kind. I am armed with a microscope and some cells, so when I started Muntedkowhai, I was alone. Alone, with the exception of Tania of Arohasilhouettes, who, like me is also a scientist and a born again jewelry designer. There are alot of worries when it comes to producing a line and an image. What goes through our heads is "What do other people do? What do they say in emails when asked certain things? Is it appropriate to ask if stores wanting their branding or our own? Such questions run through our heads and we wonder, how other designers do it. We do not want to seem unprofessional but under that facade, we're a bundle of questions and really there is nothing we can do but go head first with common sense.

Muntedkowhai is over a year old now and looking back, I cringe at some of the emails, photos and submissions I sent to blogs and shops! Oh boy! In the past year, I've had a few wholesale accounts whereby I did not have a linesheet nor an order form for the buyer. This I found out this week, is crazily important and makes it SO much easier for you and the buyer. While making my line sheet, I realise how important it is to have a solid collection. A collection that is not big with tangent ideas but a small collection with limited colour selections. A collection that speaks volume in design and not how many pieces are in your collection. It is amazing how much you learn and how much there is still to learn from doing one aspect of linesheets!

However, the thing I find most frustrating is the magazines. The bigger magazines seem to be a black hole. I often, wonder where magazine editors or contributors scour to find their material because frankly, that's where I want to be. There are no email addresses to names you want to reach and the thought of sending in samples (which I have heard is frowned upon), leaves me in thoughts of my pieces sitting in the bubble mailer, piled up in other hopeful mail.

Sometimes, I wish successful small business jewelry designers would write a book. A book, a bible to get to where they are. But then, really, who is going to pave someone else's road for them? Unless they're wanting to make lots of money selling that book, WHICH I THINK THEY WILL!

Alas, I am not a pot full of business knowledge and the only thing I would like to impart on those who are curious, is the blog of Fashion Incubator. Fashion Incubator is a blog by Kathleen Fasanella, a pattern maker with 27 years of experience. She provides very helpful information about starting your own apparel business(which can be crossover to jewelry) and the steps required of a professional apparel business to cross over into the fashion industry. It is a good and helpful read. A most uplifting and motivational blog that sets you back on track when you seem out of whack with your line.

If you're interested in her post about Linesheets, check it out here.

Waiting for you

Hello geometry skirt, I can't wait till you get here. Nor can I wait till I can wear you in the NZ sunshine! Lydia messaged me the other day to suggest a trade. I don't usually do trades with the exception of super cool items I love! Lydia has an etsy shop called Pierogi Picnic. Pierogi upcycles to make awesome new clothes, like this skirt, it used to be a pillow case!

Rompers

I love the idea of a romper but am too chicken poop to try one. This romper made by CASTCOUTURE makes me want to jump right in! With a short sleeve cardi or a yellow one (!!), this will be perfect for NZ. Actually, it's made in NZ, Palmie to be exact. Ooooo there has been alot of things I want but don't need. Must be good. Will be good. Meanwhile, if you don't want to be good, you should check out her shop.

Romper playsuit

eeeee!

I have another interview lined up for tomorrow, with a sarcoma genetics research group in melbourne! so i ask you to please once again, cross your fingers, toes and all other things that are crossable!

Sonya Clark

I was at Borders the other day, reading magazines and not paying for them. HA! I happened to pick up a Fiber Arts magazine and found the beautiful works of Sonya Clark. Her work is not only unique and organic but attracts me in a biological standpoint. Sonya, for her roots collection, uses hair, her hair and other women's hair to form structures that symbolizes their roots and in some way, hair is the perfect medium. It is visually significant for the African American culture and in the biological sense, it is the holder of all ancestral information in the forms of DNA. Be sure to check out her website.

Sonya's hair as the hand and her mothers hair as the pearl.

Coveting

These lower case tiny minute letter earrings. Each letter is $28 (silver) or $40 (gold) from catbird. Aren't they adorable? I am this, this close to buying them! They even have a heart one so you could wear a heart on one ear and the initial of your partner on the other! Just make sure that he is worth it because at that price, it is worth finding a new boy toy with the same initial!

Weekend Summary

The weekend has been a bit of a mixed bag. Yesterday was a huge headache with changing the dates for my NZ flights and being VERY sticker shocked. I mean, I knew it would cost 250 to change but didn't know I would be qouted 600 for the difference in airfares... FOR THE SAME FLIGHT ON A DIFFERENT DAY. Oh boy I felt like NWA is really trying to short change their customers! At first it was 600, then I call once again to make sure, it went down to 460 and after I call Aaron to decide whether to still go with it (he said yes, he really wants me to go to the wedding with him. *sweet* ), the price dropped down to 315. I'm not complaining but... what the heck NWA.

Now its settled and so I will be in NZ for only 8 days instead of the lovely 19 I had dreamed of. Oh well, I don't care. As long as I still get to see that handsome face and eat pies, I'm going to be a happy girl.


Last night we popped over to Andina, a Peruvian restaurant in Portland. It is absolutely delicious. I've been there several times and everytime it is visually outstanding and very delectable!!

My conchas or scallops on parsnip bed and beetroot and passionfruit reduction


Seared octopus on a bed of mashed potatoes. Oh lord these were SO good.


Compliments of the chef, salmon with chimichuri sauce


Sangria+great food= happy Tiff


As the night wore on, the lights in the restaurant took on a different visual

After several hours on the phone with NWA and Aaron, I got to work on my orders for Tilde. If you're in Portland and you've never been to Tilde. You need to go now. It's the best place to get gifts for anyone who appreciates unique items for themselves or their home. I've never been until today when I dropped pieces off and met Andrea, the buyer. She is so sweet and gorgeous! I'm so proud that Muntedkowhai is now available at Tilde.

Another little thing I did this weekend was to sort out SOME of my clothes that I have not worn in a long time. I need to sell these clothes so I can carry my entire life in two suitcases. (Yes, two, it can be done!) So I've started another shop, Muntedtaniwha, with a few pieces at a time. I'm only selling lightly worn clothes:

Grey and Teal sweater. $20

Boho chocolate skirt. $20

Chocolate and Mint. $10

If you have any questions about sizes or material, please email me.
(puiyipang@gmail.com)
Also know that I am a size 6 (Jcrew, Banana) and a size medium.

Recombination Necklace

Last night, I made a few non-crochet, non-knotted necklaces:

"Hand stamped raw brass chains are incorporated into duller brass chains, representing the genetic recombination that creates the variety in human genetics. A visual take on how random placement creates interesting uniqueness."

Recombination Necklace

I wanted to get this BUT

Jeanswest won't let me!! For international orders, we have to call! Call!!! Oooo look, its knitted AND it has buttons on the side.

Anyone in Australia want to buy it for me? It's only 29 dollars!

(ooo... all sizes are sold out!!)

Steven

My friend Les and Kristi recently adopted a greyhound doggie, Steven. Steeeeeeven! He is SO adorable. We got to meet him last night and he is the funniest thing. Oh so cute. So regal until he plops down to rest. He'll stand there and then it is as if his feet got knocked out and hes on the ground. Hilarity.

Here is Steven, courtesy of Kristi:

The dresses to be had

Lorraine dress
from Brownbagvintage

I've been scouring all my favourite haunts for dresses that I could wear to the two weddings coming up. I can't find anything I like and I seem to get sucked into this grey hue and I think, how boring of me! I saw this vintage dress from Brownbagvintage and it's so pretty! Colourful (not boring!) and it has sleeves! I like sleeves.



Where are your favourite places to shop for dresses? I'm in need of help!!

42 days

I counted at work today. Exactly 42 days till boyfriend in NZ.
Which also means, 40 days until I stop work at Providence!

That blows my mind. My life is going to change.

Interview, over

by victor nuno

I started getting nervous half an hour before the interview. I was stressing over non science questions which was silly because he didn't ask any of those annoying non science questions. It was an all science interview which is great because I know that! It is not an open position yet but he wanted to interview me to show that he was very interested in hiring me. So that's a good sign! It's not a done deal yet but from the interview it sounds very positive. It all depends on projects and post doc inputs!

So cross your fingers, toes and whatever you've got. A job lined up will be super duper nice!!!


Now I'm going to silly myself with Bejeweled Blitz.

oh dear

tomorrow is my phone interview and I set Monday and Tuesday for my "interview prep" time. It's 11pm and I've done jack and beep. EEEP! I'm not freaking out yet but I'm realising how wrong it is.

Maybe I'll prepare at work tomorrow... which is also very wrong!



Wait, I'm beginning to dread it... am going to crawl into bed with research papers to read...

5 weeks

Last night Aaron bought my last leg of tickets! I'm NZ bound on the 1st of Dec and coming back to Portland 20th! It's 5 weeks away.


I'm 5 weeks away from

hugs and kisses

mince pies

summer

a wedding

seeing dear friends

more hugs and kisses




I SO CAN'T WAIT


I can't wait to show you NZ either. It's beautiful.

~*~ BABY CHEEKS ~*~

My sister has started her own etsy shop! Her new shop called BABY CHEEKS (which cheeks, I do not know!) sells hand made new born kimono pjs! Aren't they ADORABLE?! She only has 3 items in her shop but she is slowly stocking up. Go check out KIMONO PJs:

b a b y c h e e k s

Oh Etsy

I haven't been to the mall in a long time, malls don't have these:

Alfiero shoes
(size 4, doh!!)

Antique Reticule

Cute baby voting time

Everyone loves to vote.
Everyone loves cute babies.

My mate Eric is a photographer and he's taken some photos of our college friend's baby. (They're going to enter her into GAP kids) Eric is having a bit of a hard time choosing the best photo, you should help him out!
This one is my favourite:

Penny is a hybrid of caucasian and chinese heritage


Click here and comment your favourite photo of Penny!

Whidbey, Bay of Islands and Invers

This weekend has been cloudy and a bit rainy which made it a perfect weekend to stay in. Thanks to an awesome write up over at Refinery29, last week was amazing for Muntedkowhai. This all made me realise that Christmas is coming up very soon and I should be "ready". Especially if I'm going to NZ before Christmas, which seems a bit iffy now since tickets are SO expensive! Eeep! We will see, we will see. Other than that, I had time to make a few new one of a kind pieces:

Invers. Bay of Islands. Whidbey

Call me

Call me
$25

Devonport

It's been a while since I've made a new one of a kind necklace. Would you believe it, I think the world is running out of lovely vintage buttons! Alas, I found this beautiful vintage buckle (they don't make buckles like they used to!) and had to pair it with olive motifs to make, the Devonport:

Devonport

my toes are tingly and i love my friends

I hearted these last night

I could get lost in the world of Etsy window shopping. There are so many gorgeous unique clothing and handmade gorgeousness that I literally spent the entire night ooo-ing and awww-ing over them. Here are two new finds I wanted to share with you:

An Icelandic wool sweater coat
from Greatestfriend


One of a kind top from salvaged materials
from Joodito

What is your worse trait?

In a weeks' time, I'll have my Ludwig Cancer Institute phone interview! It is for a cancer vaccine research associate position in Melbourne and I'm starting to get nervous about it. I was talking to my friend Andrew who is also working in Melbourne and he reminded me of all the questions that are normally asked. I had two phone interviews right after graduating in NZ and they asked me questions like:

"What is your worse work trait?"

"Name one situation or problem that you had to solve and tell us how you solved it"

Eeep! Its one of those questions that you almost have to mull over beforehand because if you are too hard on yourself, it is hard to sell yourself to the interviewer! I think my answer to the worse work trait was " I tend to ask alot of questions because I like to understand the protocol/aim of the project." You always have to have an answer that begins with a negative but is also a positive in hiding!

Funny though, I have never had those questions asked when I've gone to real face to face interviews. I guess when it is a phone interview, yodon't have much to go off on except a piece of paper resume and answers to tricky questions like those!

Panel phone interviews are scary eep! I better start doing my research on their research and practicing my negative turned positive answers!!

via RAMONA

Parr locket necklace

A tan lace motif with ball locket necklace
here

BRRRRRRR

It's starting to get cold here in Portland as she gets her stereotype on. (ie gloom and precipitation) I love summer because I can wear dresses but as winter approaches, I'm discovering my wardrobe is in serious lack of winter dresses. I'm not a huge fan of tightly fitted dresses, I like a bit of tent action and so I scoured some sweater dresses that I'm adoring right now. The great thing about wearing sweater dresses? You get to wear super cute tights.

Etsy has some pretty wicked sweater dresses:

Tunic knit

Gray Knitted Dress

Pocket Dress
ok, Lyptis is officially on my watch list. These dresses look SO comfy and I love the colours!

Modcloth and Anthropologie:

A New Angle Dress

Woolen sweater dress

Soft as a feather dress

Lolland Sweater dress
(my heart melted when I saw this in the catalogue)



ah i want some!