Susie Kim Chong... bachelorette & wedding earrings

Bachelorette Party (Tryst)

Susie wearing a pair of tweed & loop's pearl, silver, and gold earrings

Hanna, Susie, Tweed&Looper, and Jenny at Caesar's


Susie Kim marries Peter Chong on June 21, 2009 at the LA River Center and Gardens.
Dress: Pronovias
Earrings: Tweed & Loop


Susie's Bridal earrings (pearls and swarovski crystals)

All the bridesmaids donned tweed & loop as well...

I love this shot of Jenny (sporting tweed & loop's black drop-dangle earrings) helping Susie get into her wedding gown.

beautiful people sporting "tweed & loop"

Annalisa Weiler

Ginger Gohier

Rachelle Wood & Cori Bright

Fabulous!!

I've got some seriously beautiful and fabulous friends. Here are some photos that my fabulous friend Jasmine took of my friend Cori getting married to Eli. Cori is wearing (ahem!) my tweed & loop custom made earrings! If you haven't already, you need to check out her website: JasmineStarBlog.com.

My earrings made it all the way to Costa Rica!!

You can't tell from this picture, but that white dainty thing dangling from my beautiful friend Cori's ear is a tweed & loop original!! Cori asked me to create her bridal earrings for her destination wedding in Costa Rica. Although I was sad I could not make it, I am excited my earrings found their way there!! Anyway, here's a picture I swiped from my fabulous photog friend Jasmine Star's website of Cori and Eli's wedding.

Cloisonne love...

I picked up some cloisonne beads at the SMBS (that's Santa Monica Bead Show for those who don't know...).

Here's some background info on cloisonne (courtesy of Wiki):

Cloisonné, an ancient metalworking technique, is a multi-step enamel process used to produce jewelry, vases, and other decorative items.

Cloisonné first developed in the Near East. It spread to the Byzantine Empire and from there along the Silk Road to China. Chinese cloisonné is arguably the most well known of all the varieties of cloisonne and enamel making. Russian cloisonné from the Tsarist era is also highly prized by collectors. Chinese cloisonné is sometimes confused with Canton enamel, a similar type of enamel work that is painted on freehand and does not utilize partitions to hold the colors separate.

So here are some earrings I made with my cloisonne beads:

Pictures

Euphoria!

Santa Monica Bead Show

This weekend was absolutely fan-tab-u-lous!! I got to hang out with my favorite girlfriends from college, the weather finally beautified, and I got to attend the Santa Monica Bead Show!! What more can a girl ask for in a weekend?

On a side note, I severely injured my right thumb when helping out the second year dental students with their lab work and will be out of commission for a while.

Secondly, does anyone have any insights about where I can get really cool eco-friendly business cards?

Pictures will follow in the next blog...

Crochet

It's nearing that time of year when alpaca, wool, cotton-blend, spun, and worsted become my daily vernacular. Though, living in Loma Linda, it's hard to justify that fall is commencing and cooler weather is just around the corner because today, it is 99 degrees. However, my Widget weather tells me it will be 73 degrees with a chance of rain this Saturday...

Cooler weather always makes me want to crochet. My friend Kasey, who has her ear stamped to the ground to the sounds of fashion and what's hot, tells me that crochet jewelry will be very "in" this winter...

So this year, I may be incorporating my two hobbies into one: crochet jewelry.

But first, here is a hat I crocheted for my classmate's daughter: Maddie!! She's just too cute to boot!! You can't see it in the pictures, but there's a pink round crocheted ball on the top... I call it my "cupcake beanie"

Denver, CO

I went to Denver, CO this weekend for my friend Erin's wedding. My girlfriends and I flew in from all over the place (LA, SF, OC, Seattle, Hawaii...) to #1. see Erin get married, #2. to have a mini-Whittier College reunion, and #3. to get a one of a kind pair of tweed & loop earrings... ok... I fibbed about the last one. I did, however, bring each of the girls a pair (and I think they like em!!)

No words can describe how ecstatic I was to see everyone there... except perhaps this picture of Natalie (wearing one of my earrings)!!

Here's Ginger wearing a pair of tweed & loop Belizean turquoise earrings

a close up view

I've got absolutely the most fabulous group of girls to call my friends! I am so lucky to be part of such a powerhouse! We pretty much fashioned ourselves into a pseudo sorority of sorts in college and have thus become such amazing women!

Check out my friend Jasmine's site for more info about this wonderful weekend. She summed it up pretty well (at least a lot more articulate than I did in my blog). She is the (and that's pronounced "theee") wedding photographer of all time! She's simply amazing!!

Repairs

I guess it's an inevitable fate, once you begin to make jewelry, that people will call on you with their broken, twisted, unchained, unhooked, and torn treasure troves for you to fix and make like new. I guess jewelry making is not that different from dentistry after all.

Here are some necklaces I've repaired as well as some teeth I've fixed:

Necklaces

I have begun making necklaces. Tell me what you think of them...

Here's me with Lauren's niece and nephew in front of her house. We are on our way to the airport to fly to Colorado. Our good friend Erin got married this past weekend. I made my necklace with a pendant I got from my Belize mission trip.

Here Lauren and I are at LIME (cool Mexican restaurant/club in Denver). My necklace was made with all different types of beads! I've gotten great raves for this one!

Garden of Beaden

I sometimes get these "feelings," these "intuitions" that tell me that a bead store might be nearby. These stores are usually located in really cute "mom & pop" style towns. I happened to be in Upland one day and Googled "beads Upland CA" and came across this cute little store not 2 blocks away!

Garden of Beaden
313 N. Second Avenue suite J
Upland, CA 91786
Phone: (909) 949-7107

Garden of Beaden is a small family owned and operated bead store located in Historic Down Town Upland CA.

Here are a few beads just waiting to be tweedlooped into something special one day (check out my ortho tweed loop plier in the picture)!!

denM - Redlands

Come check out my new collection of earrings (both gold and silver) at denM... RIGHT NOW!!

denM
Designer Clothing
18 E. State St.
909-792-9600

Girlfriends

Last night we went to Ruth's Chris in Pasadena to take advantage of their summer menu special for our ritual (and hopefully 'monthly') girls' night out. Afterward, the girls had a mini "Christmas" moment with my earrings at Susie's new apartment.

My beautiful and talented friends and me at our private table

Christine + June + Susie = tweed&loopers!

Thanks so much you guys!!

Annalisa... "Lissie"

I met Annalisa when I went on a dental mission trip to Nicaragua in 2006. Annalisa is Bethany's sister. Bethany is a 2nd year resident in the Graduate Prosthodontics program at my school. The two sisters are like really good pairs of jeans: always true, genuine, beautiful, flattering, go with anything, and the kinds you want to keep in your life forever! I had so much fun with you girls this weekend... Please come visit your sis more often Lissie!

Here's Annalisa wearing my earrings and... HARK! Necklace!! I am beginning to tweedloop my way into the world of necklaces... and rightfully I should since half the population in Loma Linda do not have their ears pierced!

Annalisa is now a genuine tweed & looper.

I hope your offer still stands when I decide to visit the NW!!

Steph's a fan!

Letter from my friend Stephanie:

Hey Girl,

Check out these pic from when I went Wine Tasting in Temecula.

I gave those earrings to my friend Linden. We are looking hot in your earrings!!


Thanks for the pictures Steph! You and your friend Linden are officially tweed & loopers!

HAIRAJUKU SALON

12365 Foothill Blvd.
Suite 104
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91729

(909) 463-3439

www.hairajukusalon.com

Yesterday, my hairstylist, Jesse, made her dream come true! She finally opened up HAIRAJUKU SALON in Rancho Cucamonga!! All the girls working there are absolutely fabulously cute and fun! She's doing a promo this month and giving a gift of $10 off cuts and $20 off color to launch her grand opening. Hairajuku is by far the chicest salon in all of Rancho Cucamonga that I have seen so far!!

"Hair"-ajuku is a play on harajuku... get it?!?!

For those fashion and Gwen Stefani challenged, harajuku as described by Wikipedia is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan. The area is known internationally for its youth style and fashion... The area has two main shopping streets, Omotesandō and Takeshita Street (Takeshita-dōri). The latter caters to youth fashions and has many small stores selling Gothic Lolita, visual kei, rockabilly, hip-hop, and punk outfits, in addition to fast food outlets and so forth. In recent years Omotesandō has seen a rise in branches of expensive fashion stores such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada. The avenue is sometimes referred to as "Tokyo's Champs-Élysées". The area known as "Ura-Hara" (back streets of Harajuku) is a center of Japanese fashion for younger people. The term "Harajuku Girls" has been used by English-language media to describe teenagers dressed in any fashion style who are in the area of Harajuku. These girls may be members of various sub-cultures including Gothic Lolita, Ganguro, Gyaru, and Kogal, or may often cosplay as characters from an anime, movie, or manga.

That being said, I should also mention that Jesse gave me a fabulous haircut/color and has convinced Tracy, the owner of Hairajuku and the adjacent/attached clothing boutique (Miso Fly), to carry tweed & loop earrings.

Now, you can find tweed and loop earrings in Miso Fly Clothing Boutique! Yay!

Miso Fly is located at 12365 Foothill Blvd. Suite 104 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739

The cool looking mural welcomes your arrival to Hairajuku

Jesse, me, and her girls

Paul Mitchell products adorn the walls

This is what Jesse calls her "color bar"

Here are Jesse & Amelia sporting tweed & loop!

You can see Miso Fly Clothing Boutique & Hairajuku from the 15 freeway when exiting Foothill Blvd.

Here's Tami, Miso Fly's manager

Shameless plug

Tonight was Kami & Chad's engagement party! Stephanie Bronson, party planner extraordinaire, planned the entire luau fête filled with grass skirts, leis, tiki torches, skewers, pineapples, and all things Hawaiian galore!

I, of course, couldn't help myself by shamelessly taking pictures of my favorite clients sporting tweed & loop gems!

Jen & Kami

Here's Steph (Miss Event-planner) with tweed & loop's lime & lavender hoops

Amy's wearing tweed & loop's coin drop earrings

Here's a close up

If you're in the mood to throw a big party and have no idea where to begin, or if you've recently gotten that notoriously bling ring on your left hand, give Steph a call. Check out her site for her contact info: http://socaleventdesign.com

What a good looking couple!

Custom-made

Here are a pair of earrings I made for an online client who specified that she likes silver stars and cloisonne hearts... yes, I'm beginning to work with silver... humph!

Kimi!

My roommate, classmate, pastry-chef, and cellphone talk-a-holic friend, Kimi!
Also, one of tweed & loop's best clients!

Who says dentists aren't on call?

(here's Kimi with the pager we all have to rotate through wearing overnight)

These earrings were custom made for her



This might have been my very first pair (pre-tweed & loop).

Some of Kimi's creations:
Lemon white chocolate cake with lemon curd and fresh berries... yuuummmmy!
(background: Kimi's lemonbars)

Jen & Me

Jen Hallverson is a girl I met through Girls' Night. She recently got into the Marriage and Family Counseling program at Loma Linda University, which will be her stepping stone to pursue her true passion: "art therapy." She's the artist in our bunch. Her work is both refreshing and nostalgic. She'll be coming out with a website soon... so keep your eyes & ears open for JEN HALLVERSON!

Thanks for your words of inspiration and motivation, Jen! You rock!


Here we are in my room after school (and a shopping spree at A Rolling Stone).


... what I decided to do with the crystalline rock Jen picked out. We were a bit hesitant about this idea, but it fruitioned into perfection!



This quartz piece was entirely Jen's idea... very tweed & loop, if I say so myself!

Here is Jen with one of her pieces at her Art Show in Riverside, CA
Jen is wearing tweed & loop earrings with a J.Crew necklace

This piece is called "Eve"
Medium: wood, varnish, cloth, paint, and wax

Artsy-fartsy people

Vegas Dancer - circa 1950s

One of my favorite patients used to be a Polynesian/Tahitian dancer at the Tropicana in Las Vegas during her earlier years. Today, she is a member of the Red Hat Society. I made her these earrings because she had to miss a luncheon with her "society" ladies due to her dental appointment with me.


No worries HIPAA, I got her permission.

A Rolling Stone ~ Redlands, CA

There are a few hidden gems in Redlands... A Rolling Stone is one of them... and you can find lots of gems inside as well!

A ROLLING STONE is owned and operated by a Graduate Gemologist (Leah Chapman). It is located at 320 E. Citrus Avenue Redlands, CA 92373 (909-798-2282)

They are open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.


It's a small shop, but you don't need much space to have a HUGE amount of beads!







Here's Leah with her cat and co-worker, Jagger.








The booty from where I pillage for my creations!

virgin tweeds

Here is a display of my very first collection.

I took these over to my sister Teri's house for her advice and criticism (which she loves to give freely ;P)

Most my inspiration comes from family and friends... the occasional vacation to exotic places (i.e. Belize, Brazil, Mexico, Minnesota ~ that's pretty exotic for this urban girl!)... and retail stores I adore (particularly Anthropologie and small boutique stores like DenM!).

I mostly make one of a kind earrings, but upon personal requests, I will do the dubious task of duplicating my work.

My style changes from time to time... Lately, I am really into turquoise, pearls, and rich colors (purples, greens, and oranges).

I realized this was something worth pursuing when I came home from my sis' house with 4 less pairs.

Something is in the works right now with a fellow friend about to get hitched, but I am not at liberty to post my work until the day of her wedding!

Keep posted for more on t&l

Girls' Night

Every Sunday night, in drab and dreary Loma Linda, there rises an occasion that deserves much to celebrate...

GIRLS' NIGHT!

I love that we started this and have kept it going... but most importantly, I love all the girls! We are mostly dental-related, but amongst the ranks we have an artist, pastry chef, intensive care unit nurse, event planner, physical therapist/expert biker, and a guest friend or two to round out the group!

This week's Girls' Night was fondue at Tara's house. Stephanie (super duper event planner) asked me to bring my earrings along, so I thought I'd take pictures of my most devoted clients, my beautiful friends. Thanks for your support guys!

You may find her sporting these in the near future:

I got these turquoise beads from my trip to Belize

Here I am buying beads from a Belizean vendor on Ambergris Caye, Belize

Here we (Beatrice, Clara, and I) are buying beads, necklaces, earrings, rings, carvings, and other souvenirs from San Ignacio, Belize

*necklace not by tweed & loop

This is Tara's friend, Crystal, who drove out from Michigan to move her brother to Loma Linda for medical school. Here she is with what she called my "Grecian" earrings.

Here's Shelli and her earrings (Shelli's a physical therapist and just became an "expert" biker... the next step up from expert is ----> PRO... yeah... she's that good :P)

Some of my earlier creations

Some of my latest creations...

For pricing and ordering, please email me at:

tweedandloop@gmail.com

I'm in DenM!

Come check out my earrings at the cutest and hippest store in Redlands:

denM

Designer Clothing
18 E. State St.
909-792-9600

If you're familiar with downtown Redlands, denM is located on the southside of State Street near "the Farm" restaurant.

denM has the cutest selection of... well, you guessed it... DENIM! They carry a wide variety of high-end denim for women and men. And... for those of you savvy moms wanting to adorn your tots in the good stuff too, they've got 7 for all Mankind jeans and other high-end items for babies as well!! C'est Magnifique!

In the beginning...

Hi all... this is a blog site I am setting up for my earrings, since it is the closest thing to my having a baby, or family, or any other significant relationship worth blogging about.

Those of you curious might want to know:

- How did all this madness start?

Well, it all began when I learned that a fellow schoolmate (cutie-patootie party planner and soon to be periodontist extraordinaire, Jennifer Clark) told me she was making earrings with her orthodontic pliers (which, for those of you dental-related will easily understand that we use these pliers to learn how to bend wire for orthodontic braces)... At first, I was reluctant to begin yet ANOTHER hobby because those of you who know me, know how "balls out" I go when it comes to my hobbies, but I figured, "hey, I had to purchase these ortho pliers for dental school, and I'm never going to use them ever again, so why not!?!?

As it turns out, I found myself at the local Joanns one day (yeah, I know... just happened to find myself there one day... how lame am I?) and I was surprised by how mesmerized I was!! Needless to say, two hours and $50 down the hole, I came home and began twiddling with my pliers.

The name "tweed & loop" comes from the fact that the main ortho wire bending tool I use to make my jewelry is called a "tweedloop plier." I am fully responsible for coming up with the creativity of "&"!

Please visit often to see what's new with tweed & loop!