my ring collection

If you know me, you know I have a problem, I have SO MANY RINGS! People always joke that I need more fingers, and it's getting to the point that even with rings double stacked on every finger, plus midi rings I probably have enough rings to wear a different set each day for a month, that's a ring for almost every day of the year...

It all started after designosaur, before designosaur I was the statement necklace queen (I still am kinda) but as a small business owner wearing your own jewellery is a great conversation starter, and people are really disappointed if you're not wearing your own jewels! So rings are a good way of wearing loads of beautiful jewels by other makers, as I can wear them all at once, including a few designosaur ones too! 

I wanted to share some of my favourites from my collection, so here goes!

More than thirty rings right here! The bigger the better, I find sterling silver or plastic rings the best as they don't discolour from hand washing! (always keeping it real)

From Left to right | Me and Zena - Spin the Bottle Ring | Lazy Oaf - Fun Ring | Little Raymond - Tutankhamen Ring | Partially Obscured - Green Fused Glass Ring | 

N2 - Leopard Ring 

From Left to right | Cheap Frills - Eye Ring | Rock Cakes - I'd rather be watching TV Ring | Spirit Level Ring - Carolyn Forsman

From Left to right | Me and Zena - Rainbow Knuckle Duster | designosaur - Unicorn Ring

From Left to right | Pylones - Liquid Ring | Me and Zena x Saatchi - Paint Can Ring | designosaur Lichtenstein inspired Ring | Me and Zena - Monkey Ring

From Left to right | Pussy Home Boutique - Bells Ring | Little Moose - 'Don't Be Square' Ring | designosaur - dinosaur stacking rings

designosaur - Bauhaus inspired ring

I have no idea who any of these are by! Help!

designosaur - Enamel Dinosaur Ring

From Left to right | I Am Acrylic - Cheese Ring (made especially for me!) | Rock Cakes - Squirrel Ring and sat infront of that, a little nut ring, also by Rock Cakes! (sterling silver, rose gold plated)

THE END. 

I hope you enjoyed having a nose at what hangs out on my fingers, do you have a large jewellery colleciton? We'd love to see it!

ROAR!

Karli

meet our stockists! Porta.

Want to find out more about the boutiques that designosaur is stocked in? The last one of these posts was from Pyramid Gallery. Now to back to our home town Brighton to Porta, an emporium of all that glitters!

David
PORTA
4 Bond Street, North Laine, Brighton

We are a weird and wonderful fashion boutique which tries to appeal to the quirky masses!!! We have been here for 5 years now, and we like to think that we have built a bit of a following thanks to our locally sourced jewellery range, that includes Designosaur amongst other fabulous acrylic brands.

Which designosaur design do you personally like the most?
I LOVE the Sabre Tooth Tiger necklace and the Narwhal! I'm really attached to the fact that I was one of the first people to own a triceratops necklace too!

Which designosaur piece do your customers love?
People are really in love with the dinosaurs, but recently, George the chameleon and the small glittery unicorn pendants* have become firm favourites.

Have you done anything particularly creative/ different with the way you display our products?
We are very lucky to be working very closely with Karli and Jacques, therefore we have access to their own display stands for our shop, which makes it easier for our customers to identify the brand as soon as they come in the shop. Also, I am still hanging on to the idea of having a giant T-Rex in the window to promote designosaur!

What do you hope will come next from designosaur?
We would love to see the "skeleton" range expanded to everyday animals like cats, peguins, sharks, and obviously mermaids and winged unicorns!!! cause yeah, mermaids and unicorns are everyday pets for us!

You heard it here first, mermaids and winged unicorns are everyday pets in Brighton. If you go into Porta make sure you say hey to David, he loves to chat!

ROAR!

Karli

*these are Exclusive to Porta!

etsy favourites

For those of you that don't use Etsy, you can "heart" items that you like which then get stored in your favourites.

I thought I would dig around in my Etsy favourites to show you the items on I think are totally awesome!

Whatever Crop | TOASTEMPIRE.etsy.com

Glitter Ring | jencheema.etsy.com

Ombre Tights | BZRshop.etsy.com

Toxic Monster Bag | joannaPYBUS.etsy.com

Playsuit | YeahBunny.etsy.com

Aspalt Bangle | thegoodmachinery.etsy.com

So what's in your Etsy favourites?

ROAR!

Karli


Photo Credit | All photos by the designer makers

ROAR! Meet our new Raptor!

A few weeks ago we released our little Velciraptor, he is our most requested dinosaur EVER so we had to bring him to life! The raptor is the most well known dinosaur as they feature in Jurassic Park. However in the films they were shown with anatomical inaccuracies, including being much larger than they were in reality and without feathers (but we all know that everybody prefers dinosaurs with scales, they're just scarier right!)

The dinosaur skeleton necklace is our signature piece and it's great to add another dinosaur to the collection!

Milena, resident raptor girl, modelled with this little dino (in the rain) so that you can get an idea of how big he is and how awesomely he hangs around your neck. Want to get your hands on your very own raptor? You can get him here.

ROAR!

Yellow Bear Wares

It is the final week of Etsy School Partner Program and we have been working with Claire from Yellow Bear Wares.

Claire makes amazing rings, bracelets and necklaces from vintage knitting needles.

Gorgeous Knitting Needle Ring

It has been really hard to pick faults in her shop as it is soooo good already but we have hopefully helped her out with a little bit of SEO guidance and a truck load of positive comments. 

Claire makes Crochet Hook Rings too!

I have one of Claire's rings which I bought at Craftaganza, it is an amazing beige with a red top and a number 7. The beige and red match my favourite/only jacket and 7 is my favourite number, because it was the first times table I learnt by heart...

My Yellow Bear Wares Ring

I don't really do coordinating so it's strange that I wanted this ring to match my jacket...

My baseball jacket given to me by my dad, photo courtesy of hello DODO

Claire has recently started adding some new designs to her shop, which are just as awesome! Claire is a keen climber (so I can gather from her facebook and twitter!) and has started to create a collection of rope designs with beautifully complex knots. They are really amazing designs, that have evolved from her love of climbing. They really are nothing like anything I have seen before!

New experimental design, not yet available!

One of Claire's customers modelling their purchase

Go right now and check out Claire's Etsy shop as I'm sure you'll like what you find! 

GO GO GO!

Claire's craft fair display

ROAR!

AT Openhouse

Last year we visited AT Open House (you can read all about  it here) but this year we have been invited to show there!

We are very excited to be part of the Open Houses this year and especially pleased to be in AT Open House.

The house will be open every weekend in May, I know it is a few months yet so I will make sure I remind you all! Last year there was amazing cake and the sun was shining, we are hoping for the same this year.

There are so many awesome artists and designers packed into this awesome house, here are some links and a snapshot of some of their work.

Alice Pattullo: illustrative prints

Becky Blair: paintings and prints

Dead Methods: letterpress, screen prints and books

Delicious Industries: small press, cards & prints  

hello DODO: screenprints and cards 

Inkyskipper: collage and photos

An Alleweireldt: Oxx jewellery

James Sawyer: icons, shadowboxes & shrines 

Mr Wingate: hand printed textiles for your home

Nathan James Page: drawings, prints and cards

Petting Zoo Prints & Collectables:handprinted critters

Sophie Abbott: paintings and ceramics

Teresa Stewart-Goodman: paintings, cut-out animals & collage

Toypincher: toy photography, prints, cards & badges

Winsome & Saucy: knitted accessories and jewellery

I think I'm going to struggle not to buy a million and one things in May!

Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon...

Hello DODO (www.hellododoshop.etsy.com) are our favourite crafty folk and since meeting them last year and loving each other's work this collaboration came naturally! They are clever, witty screenprinters who came up with the idea of  "The Necklace That Goes With Everything!" and so George was born.

Ali and George hanging out

George, is a grumpy chameleon. He is laser cut from very slightly green tinted acrylic, and is perched on a cherry wood laser cut branch before being hung from a 40cm long silver plated curb chain.

Ali and George are best mates

Our designosaur branded gift box has been pimped out by hello DODO with a two colour screenprint in peacock blue and metallic silver water-based, toxic-free ink handprinted on to 300gsm matt card.

Want to get your hands on your very own George? You can here: designosaur Etsy Shop

George hanging out in his tank... I mean box

PS Sorry for the silence. Hopefully this is the beginning of me blogging again!

ROAR!

SPARKLES AND GLITTER!

Everybody loves sparkles and glitter, no?

WELL I DO!

and our latest products are made of the most sparkly stuff ever!

Our little dinosaur brooches have been vamped up and are ready to rave in five awesome glittery colours

Black with Gold Glitter

Red with Red Glitter

Black with Silver Glitter

Turquoise with Turquoise Glitter

Clear with Silver/Holographic/Rainbow Glitter
(yeah you can see the colour but I don't know what to call it officially)

You can get each dinosaur in any of the five colours, just select from the drop down boxes on Etsy.

So you're wondering what can I match this glittery goodness with?

I've done that fashion blogger thing of finding other glittery things for you, no need to thank me.

...well I started to do that, and then I got bored, so I found three glittery pairs of shoes instead. Let me know what you think of the shoes, and obvs the brooches.

Glittery Converse

Glittery Lazy Oaf x Kickers

Glittery-and-I-own-these JuJu Jelly Shoes

ROAR!

Karli