Updating woes

I have just realized that my site is in dire need of some attention, but I'm stuck as to how to add everything that it needs. I shall have to ponder on it some more - right now, I'm unsure if I want to take the time to add all of the leather journals (especially the Steampunk ones) I've been making (listed on Etsy) to my site, or if I should instead focus on getting all of the corsetry and clothing I have been creating up there.

You see, do I add each of the journals individually for their own little piece of the gallery, or do I clump them together and only have two or three entries in the category? And then, how do I group them? There really is next to no rhyme or reason how I go about creating them - perhaps by color?

No matter what, however, I really need to give my web site some love - my last "official" update to the gallery was well over a year ago, and so much more has been created that I should really get up there. Steampunk clothing, corsetry, leather masks, other leatherworks (perhaps I could have a category of "leather accessories?") and so much more! I'm overwhelmed!

New Steampunk top design - Needs a name!

Inspiration struck again. I seem to be coming out of this dearth of ideas, and now, I have too many little sketches (almost wholly on the back of receipts or on sticky notes) that I really, really want to get made.

This is todays prototype: a new Steampunk bodice type thing.

I've been in love with knits lately for some reason (probably because I finally have the hang of sewing them) and have wanted to do something perhaps more on the simple, versatile end (also: affordable), and this idea just seemed to do it.

Not to mention, I have about 300 of those buttons in a bag. No joke.

So, here is a quick pair o' cell phone pictures of new top. I have an original version of this one (fully lined, with a few changes) that, if anyone is interested, is a size small and I wouldn't mind selling for dirt cheap (around $20, to cover the fabric it took, including shipping) if you're interested. It's meant for someone with a waist of 24" or less, so very small.

Also, this outfit is unofficially dubbed the "I need to sell these at a reasonable price to help raise funds to get another dressform with collapsible shoulders, because trying to put these on my existing dressform is like wrestling with a cat to get it in the bath." Meaning: not fun at all. And I think I hurt my hand from it.

I am not sure when this design will be available, but I am going to make a point of having one new design available for order on my Etsy store at the beginning of each month, so who knows...!

What I need from anyone who is interested in helping : we need a name for this! I have no idea what to call it, and "Steampunk bodice" is made of fail. So, anyone out there with an interesting idea on what to call this design? I'll love you forever :3

Fleur de Steam

Well, even though it was my birthday yesterday, I still got to putz around in the morning to create the template for a new piece of leather work I've wanted to do for a bit now. I thought I'd share the design with you here!

This will be tooled out of a heavier leather, like my eyepatches. It was originally intended to be a small cocktail hat, but it will also work wonderfully as an arm badge, or shoulder armor piece - I'm doing my very best to make this incredibly versatile, so it can be used in multiple ways without the need to order multiple of them :3 I like multi-use items, and this is no exception.

I am unsure when I'm going to have the time to actually get to tooling/dying/painting this, but hopefully it will be a fun weekend project! I'll post pictures as I create it, just for fun!

Utility Skirts!

Long time, no update, I know, but things have been rather crazy here. I've been bouncing from sick to not sick to a different kind of sick, so sewing has really gotten a little lax. Not to mention, we have just about finished remodeling yet another part of our basement for me to expand my sewing studio, so I have been working to keep things sorted in the transitional period until it is all completed.

That said, another angst was that the silk noil I use for my Utility Skirts was on backorder for a very long time. Unfortunately, while silk noil is easy to find online, it is exceptionally expensive, and as it takes approximately 5 yards to make one skirt, if I were to order it anywhere else, I would have to charge even more to create the skirts than I already do. Which is something I would really prefer not to do, if at all possible. I had used up all the silk I had on hand for one custom made piece, which I'll have to ramble about in a moment...

However, a pleasant surprise awaited me last Friday - a box! A rather large box, at that. And, inside, was my last back-order of silk! Enough to make only two skirts, true, but that was what I had on order, so I was really happy and quite giddy. Called them and found out that yes, indeed, they had gotten all of their supply, too, and would be able to keep offering the noil for sale.

I am so happy!

So, I created two more Utility Skirts over the weekend, which will be up on Etsy as soon as I sort out my other problem.

As some of you may remember, I worked on a production at a local High School that my husband teaches at as the costume designer. It was hard work (and I still get a little dizzy thinking about how much work went into those dresses!), but I had loaned my main non-industrial machine to the students who made up the costume crew to use. Well, they broke it, which isn't too big of a deal, since the school agreed to fix it for me.

Now, I am really miffed. I haven't really used that machine much since it was fixed - I rely mostly on my industrial straight, as it is insanely fast - except for a few little things like buttonholes.

I bet you can see where this is going.

I go to use it the other day, and for some reason it feels like a belt is sticking. No big deal, I figure it's a new belt, and needs to just be run through a bit to get it stretched and whatnot. Well, it finally starts working decently... until I try to do a zig-zag (one of those vital stitches for creating buttonholes *sigh*) and nothing is catching. I test it out for about an hour, trying different settings, and the machine starts going slower and slower, and then speeding up again.

I have no idea what actually is wrong, but I know it's not working, and that is causing a huge pain in my ass, as all I have left to do on all of these utility skirts is the damned buttonholes on the ties! And, seeing as each set of ties requires 8 buttonholes, I'm sure you can see how much of a pain this really is.

So, no idea when that machine is going to be fixed, and I'm dreading the bill - since I didn't notice the issue within 30 days of the repair (since I don't use it all that often...) I'm probably going to have to pay for their shoddy work. Unfortunately, it's the only repair place in the area, and, after consulting with a few sewing friends who have had to have work done on their machines, the quality of the work there has just started going down the toilet. Depressing, since they used to be just plain awesome.

Anywho, that's what's been going on with me lately! Also, Etsy orders have been rather crazy thanks to Halloween coming up, which is always nice. We're looking at some holiday art shows, but who knows how that will go. Just going to keep on putting one foot in front of the other and see what happens.

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

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!