KYOTO MINERAL SHOW has been successful !!

JAPAN has welcomed us again ...

(photos are taken in October)

This time, first time, we were attending the show 

in Kyoto City!

The city of architecture, kimono and beautiful scenery.  

I have met some happy faces, 

who happens to be my facebook friends ..

World is too small, connection (SNS) is 

too fast, too wide, too big.

www.gemstory.com.au

Continuously attending overseas show is not easy.

Australian black opal & boulder opal is not 

much available these days, 

some boulder rock is too heavy to carry and

too much paperworks involved, before we can 

even take these gems into another country ...

But not a problem !!  

As long as I keep loving & enjoying my work, 

and having some good fun in Japan

(^^)  

This show has been a great successful one for me and my partner but a bit emotional at the same time, 

because my very favorite piece of "Boulder Opal Loose" 

had been sold.

Well, still OK since I like my buyer ... ^^

He's a handsome, gentleman!! 

Getting ready for another show in Japan.

Coming December 5th ~ 8th, will be held in Ikebukuro.

Check it out ...

http://www.tokyomineralshow.com/english/

It must be really cold over there now ... 

that part, I do not like very much, hehe.

Love the sunshine in Gold Coast, my PARADISE !!!

xxxx      Malayvone

OPAL & FOOD FEVER in JAPAN !!

 

 

 

Hello from Gold Coast, Australia ♪

We have just returned from Japan, finished

another mineral show in Yokohama last month.

 

As usual, our mission was to introduce & educate many

opal lovers to see & understand the beauty of

Australian Black Opal and Boulder Opal !!

 

http://www.gemstory.com.au



 

 

 

Another good fun we had, sold quite a few

new opals and met regular & new buyers during the show ...

Lots of beautiful smiles, etc.

 

A friend, who made several opal jewelries for us

eventhough he did not have much time for himself, he still managed to sit down and completed jewelries for us, thank you.

 

A super cool jewelry designer who always comes to

say 'hello' to us, with her tight schedules ...

 

Just happy & grateful too see them again !!

    A wonderful couple with an excellent baby girl,

who's been married for only couple of years -

has ordered a 'pair ring' through us,

was very happy with their wedding rings,

thanks for sharing a good time with us.

 

Happy Customers ...

 

 

And a genius, handsome, gentleman,

who's extremely experienced in 'gem industry'

was able to find time to join us a dinner, has even given us

so much professional advices on how to expand

our businessin not far future ...

 

Always love to see this person!   (^^)

 

 

Of course, our trip to Japan was not purely for

'business' but also for 'yummy Japanese cuisines' !!

 

How could one just visit Japan for BUSINESS ??!

You've got to be crazy, if you don't enjoy all

Japanese traditional foods. 

 



 

 

 

On this trip to Japan, we started with Japanese noodles -

Ramen, then Sushi, Sashimi, Tempura (deep fried vegies & seafoods), Yakitori, Japanese hot pot, Japanese sake, etc.

 

Never order foods without a Japanese Beer ♪

Served with friendly smile & a frozen glass in no time!    

 

 

 

Some restaurants prepared their special menues,

only during this season - like this 'Cherry Blossoms' Drinks'.

Using a real Sakura to allow their guests / diners to feel

and taste an exclusive, spring season.

 

BON APPETITE !!!  

 

 

 

Another beautiful day in Gold Coast ...

love to be home  (^^)

 

 

xxxx    Malayvone

 

 

 

 

So long my lovely "second home" ...

 

 

 

It's been 10 years since we've opened our retail space

in Surfers Paradise District.

 

The very "EXCITING" 10 years I must admit ...

 

Lots of dramas (usually good), laughters, joy of tears and unforgettable memories

we shared with our beautiful shop staff

& our customer!! 

 

 

http://www.gemstory.com.au/notice.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

But that will come to an end, because we

have to move on when the Lease Contract

finishes this month. (- -;) 

 

Well, one page is ending here and another page is

just about to open, that's all !!! 

 

 

 

 

The business will stay running even without

our retail space. Now that we can concentrate

on more things such as exporting & wholesaling

to Japan, as well as to other markets.

 

With more time at my new office (my home) 

I can design new products for our

new customer and so on ...  

 

Just can't tell enough how much I appreciate all my shop staff, friend and regular customer ...

 

To those who's been supportive since year 2003.

Without you, we wouldn't get this far and be here today so "THANK YOU" sincerely.

 

 

 

I remember my very first item ( K18 Diamonds -

Solid Australian Boulder Opal Pendant )

I have designed for my USA customer in 2003 ...

Sending this item to USA was not easy due to the

 limitation of insurance value and all the rule

I was not very familian with, back then ...

 

Anyway, customer received it after waiting for

several weeks and how happy she was,

she called me from CA just to say "thank you"!!

 

This piece is special, is still one of my memorable item, hehehe ... (^^) 

 

Stay in touch, cheers!!

 

 

xxxx      Malayvone 

 

 

OPAL EXPERIMENT ...

 

 

 

For those who's not familiar with Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal, please see the link below.

 

http://www.jtv.com/library/ethiopian-hydrophane-opal,default,pg.html

 

 

 

G'day from Gold Coast, Australia. 

Our new experiment on solid opal is

"Using Food Coloring Liquid" !! 

 

 

 

Not sure what it says but it seems very strong and powerful liquid ... strong enough to get your fingers smudged easily

.

 

 

 

The chosen one (for experimenting ...)

would be these beautiful pieces.

 

 

Top - Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal (8.27ct)

Bottom - Australian White Opal (7.00ct)





 

 

 

Both to be placed in a clear glass bowl and ready to be soaked into Food Coloring ... (^^;)  

 

 

 

Remember, left is Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal

and the right, is Australian White Opal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 10 minutes of waiting ... This is what happened !!!

 

Top - Ethiopian Opal

Bottom - Australian Opal

 

You can clearly see how the whole image is changed in Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal, it sucked the coloring liquid and became another unique piece of opal !!!!! Nothing's been affected / done to Australian White Opal ... Stays the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well  .... (as expected), look what happened to my fingers. It's a small price to pay when considering what we have learnt from our OPAL EXPERIMENT and that how powerful the "food coloring" is ... hehehe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, the point here is "be careful" when you wear an Ethiopian Opal ... Your body acid, your colorful clothes and many other things can easily change your OPAL!!  

 

We will let you know what happens next, after trying to get its color and beauty back ... In the mean while, have fun today!!!  

 

 

Japanese Blog  :     http://www.gemstory.com/weblog/2013/04/post_1103.html

 

 

 

xxxx   Malayvone

 

 

Hot weather, hot story

HOT HOT HOT!!!!!
It's 35 degrees in Gold Coast!!
I am in a very happy mood because I LOVE SUMMER, but my big boss is ......(^^;)











Today, I would like to share the story which my boss wrote down on his blog.
His blog is in Japanese, so I'll translate into English.


He goes on a business trip to Japan several times in an year.

Last December when he visited to Japan, one of his customer, who is a craftman of a musical instrument, showed him these awesome jobs to him!!!!! 

The customer mainly makes a violin, and sometimes he creats some wooden works in his spare time.
He wasn't familiar with opals but once he saw our opals, he became to love the beauty of opals!! Meeting opals has stimulated his interest and creativity!!


My boss was pretty impressed by the warmth and softness of his handwork.
It was very new style to my boss to enjoy the beauty of opal, however, he loves it so much in spite of his picky taste.

 Thank you very much to Mr.S for showing them!!

Hope we'll see another works soon.

Have a lovewly night. xxx
Mayu