Her name is Xue…it is pronounced as “Sch-ue” and it means snow, which she loves…imagine that since she was born and raised on a sunny tropical island …Xue Juan is her name in Mandarin (the official language of the Chinese) her combination of Chinese characters means a type of snow flower…such a pretty name!!!
This red pendant (above)is one of Xue's handcrafted polymer pendants the Chinese characters "ai" means "Love"
Xue is a talented eclectic artist, who happens to be a friend of mine…she lives in Tokyo with her husband of 14 years and two children. The first thing I felt about Xue was her kindness towards others… we've never met but words speak for themselves!
She is a self-taught artist with more than 20 years experience in advertising, graphic design, theme parties, cartoon illustrations, paper sculpture, mosaic art and jewelry design. Her designs and interest come from life experiences… living in and traveling to many amazing locations. Xue explains that she is motivated by her daily exposure to both the Western and Asian cultures in her mixed Chinese and European family.
She has spent the past 17 years living in Shanghai, New 
York, Hong Kong, Singapore and now Tokyo.
Even though all that moving and relocating could be a little unsettling with each move, came more inspiration (and Xue explains more ways on how to unpack fast…with kids, you also learn quickly, to ask for the washroom in various languages) She is a stay at home mom who also volunteers for artistic projects in her children’s school…Xue always wore her handcrafted jewelry to school and it wasn’t long before people were asking her about her wonderful pieces… and that is how she started making jewelry for others.
Xue Originals consist of bracelets, brooches earrings, lariat, and necklaces all handcrafted individually and carefully in her home. The lovely necklace to the right features Xue's wonderful polymer clay beads done in black, white and gray.
Lovely blue and green polymer beads handcrafted by Xue are the focal for the earrings above.
Dramatic black and gold is used in the focal polymer beads for the earrings on the right.
Her logo has been her identity for decades…it is both her logo and seal…she uses this seal to stamp on things that she has made such as illustrations, and 2D work. A friend hand-carved this seal as a farewell gift for her when she worked in Shanghai years ago. In Japan where she now lives it is sufficient to use a carved seal in lieu of a hand signature…but Xue chooses not to do that.
When traveling she visits local craft/bead shops and like myself buys more than she can keep up with. She enjoys creating jewelry pieces with colorful glass beads and does amazing polymer clay pendants. She often has a blast making beads with her children.
Blue is one of my favorite colors...just love this polymer clay pendant made by Xue.
Her website can be found at
http://xue-orinignals.com/, in her world of Asian and European heritage she writes about everyday life where ever she finds herself living at the time, she writes about snow, about her children, her creations and about friends…her wonderful husband of 14 years did both Xue’s website and Etsy shop
http://www.xueoriginals.etsy.com/ for her because in her words “getting started and all that technical stuff boggles me”.
Even though her
Etsy shop and website are relatively new her talent has allowed her to be featured 3 times in Etsy treasuries…Xue claims those opportunities were made possible only
because of the kind people on Etsy, maybe so but I also thing she was featured because her work is uniquely beautiful!!!
An orange handcrafted polymer clay pendant with gold speckles adorned by pretty pink flowers
Xue's latest work...aluminum card holders, for everything from business cards, photos, credit cards, personal cards...they will keep everything handy 
I'm a Scholar, top left
Linda Floats,
top right
It's Spring,
bottom right
Genie in a Tea Pot,
bottom left
Along the same lines is her compact... every woman need a compact!
Dragon flies, brown compact
Azure Dreams, blue compact
