Here is an interview of an Aashir’s Jewellery Page (https://www.facebook.com/AashirsJewellery) fan Ms Piyali Sen Ganguly. Her love for jewelry drove her into a very unique creative hobby - creating beautiful African style jewelry which uses beads made from paper. Piyali currently lives in Australia. She shares a little about how she got into this fascinating hobby which has now turned into her profession.
Tell me about yourself and how did you get interested in jewelry making?I am an engineer by profession, but have always been an admirer of crafts. I have taken interest in different crafting projects like making soft toys, paper collage, painting, sewing, crochet etc. Like other women, jewelry always has been my passion. When I came to know about paper beads and recycle jewelry I really got interested and started playing with beads!
What are these recyclable paper beads?I came to know about them while staying in Melbourne. They are mainly African style beads. In Africa poor women used to make their jewelry from paper. The process of making the beads is very time consuming though, you need to cut each paper in thin template and then have to make each bead separately. Then they need to be coated with three layers of water resistant polish. So that they can withstand light shower or rain.I really enjoyed making beads of different color and shape!
What prompted you to make such jewelry?I truly love costume jewelry! Making jewelry for myself gave me the freedom to design anything I really ever wanted!!Learning to make beads is not all, turning them into a beautiful piece of jewelry is really challenging! I went through a workshop with an African lady who introduced me to the world of African style jewelry. I added up our Indian flavor to that and I really liked the outcome and started created different jewelries everyday! There is another reason why I started making them. Once I came to know about paper beads , I decided to buy one for myself But I found that they are not available at any shop , only I could buy them online ,but they were very very expensive!! Then I decided to learn to make them.I am keeping my jewelry price very very low compared to online shops to make them affordable to every craft lover.
Do you have a website or Facebook page where you sell your handmade jewelry?My website is on the way , but anyone can buy my jewelries contacting me from my Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/PaperBeadedJewelry I got good response from people from India and USA, who are interested in my creations.I am talking to some courier companies to keep the shipping charge low for my customers who are outside Australia.But till then , if someone is buying in bulk , I am ready to bear the major part of postage.
