I've been in Poland since March and will be back later in May. It's taking longer than I expected, because of my doctors appointments (healthcare is much cheaper in Poland than in Ireland, so I'm doing whatever tests I can here). Nothing very serious with my health, in case you're wondering, just some stuff that needs to be taken care of (mostly stomach issues).

Also I managed to get a few singing gigs, which is one of the most important things for me, so I have to stay until they're over.

I'm working on some jewellery while I'm here and it's been going really well, I already have about twenty five of them even though I haven't been working every day. Here's a sample:


The spring is finally here, and there have been a few very beautiful sunny days. I'm planning to do a photo walk this or next week, maybe go to the ZOO as well. I read a lot, draw a bit, play board games sometimes, have a social life every now and then, spend time with family.

Hope everything is well with you all.

I created my own handmade jewellery community on Google+, you're all very welcome to join: [link] ($deity knows it's recession and we all need more exposure).

DDs that I suggested and were featured so far:



Not many of them for now, but I try to send a suggestion every day or every other day. Sometimes I don't, when I don't have much time to browse the dA. If you wish to have your work suggested, you should submit it to the #Daily-Deviations group (if it gets accepted it will be suggested to a relevant community volunteer).

In other news, the ginger cat lived with us for only two days and it turned out he had a home from which he had escaped, so his family took him back. We still miss him, but at least he's safe and with his favourite humans. We got a black female cat in December instead, she's a very talkative middle-aged lady (photos soon).

You probably noticed that I've been working on a lot of pendants and bracelets, because I've been submitting some of them. There's also a new batch of red hearts and other nifty stuff available in my shop. I have also found a few watch pieces that will allow me to make more clockwork kitten pendants, but there will be very few of them and the price will be higher than it used to be (they're very popular and sell like crazy). Since my Valentine's Day preparations are over, I'd be willing to take some custom orders now (until March 17th, when I'm going away for a month or so).

Our music sessions are going very well, the next one is in fact next week on Friday, Club Chonradh na Gaeilge, 6 Harcourt St, Dublin. You can check the timetable for other Cities on the BreizhEire website. You're free to come and play an instrument (we have about a bazillion of flutists and really need a fiddle or a box )

That's about it for now. Have a nice Valentine's Day. I might just go out for a walk and take some photos, as it isn't raining for once.

Checked them yesterday at the local post office. These are the last shipping dates (for registered mail) from Ireland; after those dates An Post can't guarantee the items will reach destination in time for Christmas.

• Ireland & Great Britain – Dec 19th


• Europe – Dec 18th


• the rest of the world (yes, that includes USA) – Dec 7th

If you want to make a special order for Christmas or Hanukkah, or just buy something from my shop, now is the best time to do it – the closer it gets to the holidays, the longer the shipping takes!

Hi folks,
I've had some of my drawings printed as postcards. You can keep them and use them to decorate your walls or send them to someone you love.
They can be acquired in my Etsy shop: [link]

Also, I'm listing a lot of new pendants right now, so if you're looking for Christmas/Hannukah presents, now is a good time (it's better to get them early, because the postal service is crazy in December and stuff might not arrive on time).
All the best,
Ula

After a year of playing traditional Breton music together with David Le Bourhis and having a proper band name since last Spring, we decided we needed a fanpage. A friend recorded a bootleg of our gig which took place last weekend in Dublin, so now we even have some sound files to show off
Here's the fanpage that you can "like" to give us your support - [link]
Here's the music file (just one for now, there will be more) - [link]
I'll post updates and gig info as well as links to new music files onto the Facebook page.

This ginger cat has been coming over for food and cuddles for a few months. Now that it's been getting colder, he decided he'd like to move in. He's mostly asleep today. I've been keeping him separately from my other cats until the vet confirms he's ok and healthy. The temporary name is Shrimp, although I have a feeling it will stick.

For a piece of jewellery again:

Thank you guys for all the congrats, comments and likes, and to the dA admins for the DD of course.

I'm back from my long holidays, where I took some work with me so I wouldn't feel entirely useless. Turns out I made over 60 pendants I'll try to list all of them in the next few days, as well as post some to the dA. Red and purple hearts are the first though, because there have been requests for them. Grab them quickly, they'll most likely be gone by the next week. Available in the Gothic section of my shop.

I feel like I need a brief change of environment again, so I'm going on another holiday. I need my friends, family and some inspiration. I'm taking some jewellery to make with me though, and a sketchbook, so I'll be busy anyway, just somewhere else. I might submit something every now and then.

My shop will be closed from Jul 25th, so if you were planning to buy something from it, please do so before Wednesday (or I won't be able to ship it before I go).

I'm going on my well deserved and very much needed holiday in April, so my Etsy shop will be closed for the whole month. If you'd like to order something, please do it until Friday March 30th (the last day I'll be shipping things off will be Saturday March 31st).

I've received an email via Etsy, asking to donate a piece of jewellery to a sick kid, to inspire him. I was considering doing that for a short while, but with a little help of my friends and Google search engine, it turned out to be a scam. The story of illness was taken from this article and only the names were changed.

For example, the email said:


In 2006, flu-like symptoms and bruising prompted my aunt to take him to a doctor, beginning a journey that brought the family to St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee.
Here, my cousin underwent treatment including a bone marrow transplant. John contracted an infection and was put into an induced coma for 19 days.
Through the grace of God, he came through that. But the coma took its toll.
John, who had always been active, could no longer walk. He was confined to a wheelchair and had to undergo extensive physical therapy. But slowly, John began to regain his strength. Seven months after being in the coma and with treatment completed,John returned home to rebuild his motor skills. For that, he turned back to his guitar. I would sit with him and listen to dead tunes and help him learn how to move his fingers and improve his motor skills.


while the article states:


In 2006, flu-like symptoms and bruising prompted Tommie's parents to take him to a doctor, beginning a journey that brought the family to St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee.
Here, Tommie underwent treatment including a bone marrow transplant. Tommie contracted an infection and was put into an induced coma for 19 days.
"Through the grace of God, he came through that," said his mother, Lisa. But the coma took its toll.
Tommie, who had always been active, could no longer walk. He was confined to a wheelchair and had to undergo extensive physical therapy. But slowly, Tommie began to regain his strength. Seven months after being in the coma and with treatment completed, Tommie returned home to rebuild his motor skills. For that, he turned to basketball.


So please, if you're an Etsy seller don't fall for that scam and let other people know.

I have a section about commissions and a separate FAQ in my jewellery blog , and a link to my blog on my dA page (in my DeviantId), and yet I receive at least one inquiry a day about these things. Perhaps the link isn't obvious enough? What do you think? Also, there's a link to my Etsy shop in the description of every pendant that I submit to the dA and yet  get inquiries about prices and availability all the time.

I decided to post the commissions rules and FAQ here, so it may reach more people. I hope you'll find it helpful.

Commissions and custom orders

I accept commissions, but not all of them. Here are the rules:

• Please DO NOT ask me to make a piece exactly the same as one I had made before and has been sold. I only create unique items. I can however make something similar and within the same style: either the colour would be different, or the type of bead, type of wire, size etc.



• When I create the commission piece for you, I will sell it to you ONLY via my Etsy shop. It is to prevent potential payment/shipping problems and for the safety of both the buyer and the seller. I can however omit this rule if you live in the Dublin (Ireland) area. Email me and we'll figure something out to spare you the shipping cost. Also if you know me personally, you will know what to do



• Please be advised, that sometimes what people want is impossible for me to make. For example, you say "I want this but in pink instead of red", and the type of bead used in the piece you want just doesn't come in pink, so there's no way for me to get it anywhere. I'll also probably protest if what you want I think will look bad. I can give you advice as to what colours you probably should or shouldn't be wearing (on request).



• Sometimes you will have to wait a few weeks if I don't have a particular type of bead or wire you requested in your item; I'll have to order it first, get it shipped to me, and then create the piece.



• I will NOT reduce the price of the item especially for you. This is what I do for a living. How would you feel if I went to your boss and told him you make too much money and you should be paid less for what you do?



• Also, please send all commission requests by email or as a dA note, NOT as comments to this or any other page. The request comments will be removed. I do not wish to discuss my business in public.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are not only the questions I get during my online activity, but also in real life.

Q: Where did you learn to make jewellery?

A: I'm a self learner.

Q: NO WAY! You must have read a book, or a tutorial or sth!

A: Uh, no. The fact that some people use books or youtube to learn stuff from doesn't mean that everybody has to.

Q: What wire do you use?

A: Usually copper wire, plated (silver, enamel etc) or bare, 0.8 or 0.9mm for base and 0.3mm for wrapping

Q: Where do you get your supplies?

A: Various online shops, mostly Ebay.

Q: Why don't you use sterling silver wire, like all respectable jewellers?!!!!111oneone

A: Because I'd like my jewellery to be affordable. The prices of sterling silver wire and the amount of it I normally use, would make each piece over $150. Or more. And also I like enamelled wire, as it comes in many colours. Especially the gunmetal colour, which goes with steampunk style and is warmer than oxidized silver. Also, recently there have been changes in the An Post regulations (Post company in Ireland), and I wouldn't be able to ship sterling silver items abroad legally with registered mail. I want to avoid potential problems with missing shipments and no way to retreive them.

And most of all, why the hell should I do what everybody else does?

Q: Will there be more pendants of a kind that I want (hearts, skulls, cats, Cthulhus).

A: Yes, but not all in one time. I get a lot of requests for more heart pendants, and I manage to make 2 – 4 (5 -6 if I'm doing nothing else but this) per day, so please be patient and check out my shop on regular basis.

Q: Why don't you make tutorials? We'd all like to learn your technique.

A: My technique is the basic wire wrapping technique plus some imagination, and it's not the technique that makes my work recognizable, but ideas how to use it. Also, I don't want people to copy my designs, so why should I help them do it? Again, this is what I do for a living, and if everybody else was able to do this, I'd be unemployed. And anyway, everything that I do is visible on the photos, there are no secret techniques, everything is just woven together with wire and that's it.

Q: So what should I do to be better at wire wrapping?

A: As with every other technique, discipline or anything: work more, make more stuff, you'll get there eventually. Nobody's a master at the first try.

Q: Why are your prices in Euro instead of USD?

A: Because I live and pay taxes in a country where Euro is an official currency.

Q: Why are your prices in Euro cheaper than the USD equivalent and why do the prices change every day?

A: Because of the currency exchange rate, which also changes every day. You can check the current rate here.

Q: Why is the shipping so expensive?

A: I can't help that. The cheapest registered letter in Ireland costs EUR 5.17. Also, add the price of a bubble envelope (about EUR 0.40).

Q: Do you ship stuff to $my_country?

A: I ship stuff anywhere as long as you can pay with PayPal.

Q: Where did you get that item from/did you make it all yourself?

A: I paid leprechauns to make it. Or I imagined it and made it with the force of my mind. Ohno, wait, I have an Excel macro...



Seriously, did you think I would submit stuff that somebody else made?

I've neglected my dA recently, but I promise to improve. I've started to submit photos that I've been taking since September, but there are so many of them that I can't decide which ones to choose.

I haven't been making much jewellery either, just the stuff that sells most, and honestly I don't have enough energy to do everything that I want, or even to browse art.

I'm sick at the moment and decided to stay in bed for a few days and sleep until the cold goes away, which I should have done a week ago but was too busy.

Not much going on anyway, so I'll just continue to submit my photos.

People are beginning to order gifts for Christmas and something tells me I'm going to be very busy this month. So if you're planning to order something special, now is the best time to decide. Please remember, that post is very busy in the Christmas season, and they can't guarantee that items shipped after Dec 10th will reach the destination by Christmas (at least it was like that a year ago), and custom orders also need time to be made. If you can't decide what to order, there's also lots of stuff in my Etsy shop right now, that can be shipped right away. [link]

I have plenty. Seriously, it's about time I listed them, although it will take many days before I photograph them all, I have over 150 pairs (that's the effect of bead addiction).
Also they come with cheap non-registered shipping (and if you buy five pairs it's registered shipping AND a freebie!).
I've photographed and listed twenty pairs so far and it took me all day to do it but there will be more this week.
Here's the link to the whole section: [link]
Enjoy!

I've got some new supplies (lots of glass hearts in different colours and sizes!) and I'm taking commissions again, so if you fancy something similar to what you've seen in my gallery but has been sold, note me (or email me at ukapala@gmail.com) and I'll see what I can do. From what I've seen the most popular items were red and purple gothic hearts (with or without pieces of chains), steampunk hearts with keys (the aqua blue one mostly, for some reason), some steampunk pendants like Heart of Lorkhan (the ones I can make right now would be a bit smaller though, as I'm out of big round beads), clockwork cats, cthulhus and stuff made of black agate, which I still have a lot of and shamrocks which now can be available in about four shades of green and some other colours too (gold, silver, grey, teal and more) and two sizes. Some reminder thumbnails:




Please remember, that I can't copy the exact design (they're supposed to be unique), I can however make it in many ways similar to what I had made before. Before you send me a note please check out my shop, it's been recently updated and the stuff you want might just be there already.
Also, please don't ask for commissions in comments, and PLEASE don't ask me to copy somebody else's design.

IMPORTANT: Please know that I can only sell items to you via the Etsy.com website (and you need PayPal to buy). It's for the safety of both the seller and the buyer. If you live in the Dublin (Ireland) area however, we can meet so you don't have to pay for the shipping.



Some of my recent favourites:


:thumb204174876:

I've decided to get rid of some old deviations, also the ones I considered the worst. I've also moved most of the stuff to subfolders, leaving only the ones I personally like the most in the featured folder. I wrote a small description in most of the subfolders, if you're by any chance interested in what I think.

I've been busy doing all sorts of things. Playing the guitar again (got a new one for my birthday), drawing a story (takes ages), making jewellery (which is kind of mandatory now), not spending enough time learning Irish (I should be reviewing vocabulary right now), trying to find time and motivation to go for a walk and take some photos, trying to force myself to clean the house (I managed to switch on the dishwasher today!). I'm trying to keep up with all of this and failing miserably. Mostly I'm sleepy, tired, have a lousy concentration span and my reluctance to go out of the house alone is increasing every day.

Also, I miss Poland.

This project took a lot of time and money, but I finally, after so many years, have my own place to work in. All the beads have their own compartments, I've got a separate drawer unit for paints and brushes, a new easel, and even a comfy chair for visitors. The chair is also convertible to a one person bed. There's still a lot of work to be done, but I'm very happy with what I have now.

Red, brown and teal.
Enjoy!