Lily Jewelry

You remember that post, a few back? Where I said I was freaking out over getting inspiration at the weirdest times? Well, here are the results of that burst of inspiration : Lilies!


Each of these lilies are made from leather (and, for a few others, they have accents in snakeskin), off of a pattern that was a *poof* of inspiration, took about five tries to get right, and I've been going crazy with.

So, in some of those pictures, I am wearing a necklace of lilies (one or two) and matching earrings (which I thought I would not do, until my wonderful husband Chris convinced me to try for the heck of it). There are also some hair bits - I only have pictures of the bobby pins, but I've also started putting some on headbands that look really beautiful as well.

I love leather - I have no compunctions about using animal products (although I do understand people who do have an aversion to things of that nature as well) and actually prefer to do so. They are amazing materials, IMO, and too often overlooked in both costume-land and jewelry making. Not to mention, it gives me something more to do with all of the scraps I have left over from corset-work, since some of the leathers I have are just too absolutely beautiful to throw away (beautiful browns, and blues, and an amazing few hides of green doe-suede that I still don't know what else to do with, but I sit and adore whenever I can...)

I'm even contemplating cutting up my super amazing stingray hide to make myself a piece of this jewelry, but I can't quite convince myself to do it (yet), since I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be able to find another one~

Wow!

I just have to say... wow!!

Thank you so much for everyone who commented on the last journal - I really want to reply to all of them, but I'm really crunched on time at the moment, but I will just as soon as I can!

I really, really adore all of you, I truly hope you know that - you all are the reason why the Internet is a wonderful place, no matter the "bad" stuffs out there!

So, if it's still showing no visible comments, it's cuz I want to reply to them as I publish them to the blog, just so ... well, it doesn't seem so callous~

I'll be posting the pictures of that jewelry-idea binge shortly, too - we just took some pictures of myself in the jewelry for size references, and I'm going to get the individual photos before it starts raining out.

But, I just had to say thank you all so incredibly much - you are all such wonderfully amazing people, and I honestly do not know where I'd be without each and every one of you!

(even those of you who just read my ramblings or see what I do on DeviantART, it really means so much to me, too!)

♥

Inspirations at all hours

Sometimes, I wonder about myself.

See, I have this unconditional need to create. I can't fight it, and I actually think it's getting to the point of being manic... for example, last night around 9:45, getting ready to go to sleep, checking emails and the like, I was hit with an idea that I just had to try, involving jewelry stuffs and leather.

Instead of doing like most people and writing it down and trying it today, I ran down into my work space and dug out all of my leather scraps and jewelry supplies and made the necklace. It's like I cannot fight this urge to do something, and now, since the initial one last night was such a phenominal success, I'm going to go crazy this weekend and make more of them!

See? I just can't control myself. I should be sewing (I just found two wa-loli outfits half completed on a pile, when trying to find my leather for this project last night...) and I should be answering emails (I've let them go way longer than even I like them to go, and it's starting to keep me awake at night...) but I'm not!

I should also be working on my business plan more - I've hit a standstill with financials and the marketing plan, but, of course, I'm not!

I should be taking pictures of all of the stuff I've gone on random tangents to make (such as those obi belts (but Steampunk varieties), all of the miniature cocktail hats I made a few weeks ago on a similar binge, and quite a few bustles/other pieces of clothing I haven't even thought of in a week!) but I just can't bring myself to ... do ... anything but make what's in my head right now.

Is this the bane of being a creative person? Or, is there something about  me that just means I cannot sit still and just do what needs to be done? What is it?

Does anyone else out there get like this? What do you do? How do you deal with it? I worry that this may be a manifestation of some underlying problem with myself, but I honestly have no idea.

ARMADA

...which stands for Automated Remains of Mechanical Attire Debris Accoutrement is my newest line of Steampunk jewelry bits, which go along with the Elemental Alembic Phials.

The images were found along with those others a few days ago, and have just begun to be listed on my Etsy shop.

Here is my story behind those...

Sometimes, when doing very fine tasks, a bit of the machine will splinter from the whole. A smart tinkerer will collect these little pieces of debris into a small vial, and keep them for himself. He bottles these fragments up, and holds them close. He knows that these pieces contain a small bit of the soul of the machine; the magic which makes it run.

 Now, I must ask you all... are my descriptions becoming too over-the-top, or do you like having a story associated with each piece (which, I think, may aid you in building your own character concept if you do not already have one thought out...) is a grand idea?

And, because I can, here are the four phials currently listed:

• Time Lord
• Foundations
• Tinker
• Rewind

Hetalia : Russia

I have made a new resolution to myself: I am not allowed to buy more fabric until I find something to do with the boat-loads full that I already have. I could open my own shop, there is so much fabric wedged into my sewing room, bins, and on the floor behind my work spaces!

(I think I may just take some pictures later and post to show that I'm not overexagerating the amount of fabric I have hoarded...)

So, one costume I've had a lot of inquiries about has been... well, basically anything from Hetalia. I admit, I know next to nothing, other than the outfits are just awesome (and practical - I'm one for practical costumes ;P)

But, I found I had a bolt of light brown twill I found on clearance a few years ago, and thought "what the heck, this is a way to start up the new resolution with a bang!" and so it began.

I have the jacket for Russia nearly completed - it's lacking closures and a hem, but that's all, and it's really an awesome jacket! I kind of wish I had made it in my size, just to wear this fall... it would make a great regular jacket~

This has, however, given me +1 skill points in bias binding, because of all of the god-forsaken little corners on this thing! I believe I spent more time binding (and then ripping off) the little tabs on it than actually patterning and sewing the rest of the outfit!

I know, a frequent problem of mine is that I get a little too... crazy. Things need to be just so. But, this time, I think it drove me bonkers to the extreme. My floor is littered with pieces of bias strips and ugly tabs that I kept messing up on - it looks like a war zone!

But, it all came together in the end. Now, for the final leg of the project - put the closures on, hem it, and give it a good pressing.

I bet you want to see pictures, right?

Grrr... I don't know why Photo Booth likes to flip images around on me, but it truly is not backwards for the closure (I quadrouple checked it myself, cuz that is something utterly stupid I have done before...)

Photo discovery!

It pays to go through your photo library every now and again, if you take as many pictures as I do. Between pictures of my cats being silly and some plants, I found a whole host of Steampunk jewelry pictures that I never got around to posting on either DeviantART or on Etsy!

I know, shocking, right?

Well, I'm slowly rectifying that situation now, because, on a more personal note, the new medication my doctor has me on seems to be bringing back the shaking/trembling that I had problems with in the past. It makes even typing difficult, but sewing nearly impossible, so this is a good way for me to be doing something productive that isn't sewing related.

So, Elemental Alembic Phials!

I got a little... dramatic with the descriptions for them, but I do hope that it's at least a fun read. I know it made me happy to write, at least!

And, a breakdown of the name, because I'm a thesaurus fiend:
"Elemental" pertaining to elements
"Alembic" an alchemical distillation still, in essence
"Phial" a small glass vessel or bottle used to store medications [vial]

Heck yeah!

Slice cutter

Well, today was interesting, and I'll keep the long rambling to myself, but suffice to say my mother has an idea for an art project/collage she wants to work on that involves flowers and origami, and we ran around to every craft store in the area trying to find just generic punches in flowers and leaves.

With no success, we wound up at Michaels (craft store) and saw something new - a Slice cutter by Making Memories. We were debating the merits of buying a Cricut machine, which I can't justify spending the money on, especially since you need to go 3rd party for the ability to create your own designs (it's basically a giant paperweight without my being able to custom-make designs, or a "just for fun" kind of thing... ironically, I don't like scrapbooking, but that's besides the point ;P) when we saw the Slice cutter.

Now, it did everything my mother needed it to do, and I found a pretty cartridge that was all swirls (something that I couldn't find with the Cricut, either) - and, in the end, it's significantly cheaper (retail is $150 for the machine, and $40 for the cartridges, but they were all 30% off). We figured, if it worked for her art project, we'd be happy (and my swirls would just be icing on the cake!)

I am happy to say that it's quite a bit of fun. Following the instructions is utterly vital, though, as we blew through a lot of paper just trying it out without putting the goo down on the glass mat. But, it's easy to use, and fun, even if you don't do scrapbooking (hint: you'll see some corsets with heat-set vinyl shortly, methinks)

If you're thinking of it, though, buy the hands-free set that they have, too - we're going back tomorrow to see if they have it, because holding it in place becomes ... well, a bit of a challenge, to say the least.

Otherwise, I have to say I'm rather happy with this little gadget, and I hope it helps my mother with her project, too... ya know, since she bought it for her own use ;P