Spiral Bracelets!

 I am working to rebuild my stock of spiral rope bracelets. Midnight Meandering is a great black-on-black bracelet that will work well with a variety of Gothic styles. I really like the black-lined clear seed beads in the core, they give it a lot of depth.

Purple Overload also features lined clear beads, but in this case it's a shimmering purple at the core. This was a really tricky bracelet to photograph, those pearly outer beads tend to really reflect the light and turn into a blur in pictures. I don't think I'll be designing with them again any time soon.

But hey, enough about that! It's New Years Eve! I hope you all have a fun and safe evening. Thank you to everyone who has made 2012 a really successful year for me. I hope you'll stick with me in 2013, because I have plans. Oh yes. Plans! Bwahahahah.

More crystals!

I am still adding more crystal bracelets to my shop! Only a couple left, though, so I should be completely done with them this week until I decide to make more. I think my focus will first be on other styles of bracelets, however. My stock of spiral bracelets is quite low, and I could use some new strung bracelets, too.

Anyway, I just listed Dark Gloaming Gothic Crystal Bracelet. Tanzanite is a great color for Fall and Winter, it has a bit of a grey undertone that goes well with more understated colors. Not that the Pantone forecast for Fall is very understated, but if you're a Goth, you're probably going to stick with more muted shades like this.

Personally, I'm starting to get excited for Fall. Maybe it's because I remembered that I have green faux suede boots. Maybe it's because I just ordered an awesome new hoodie. Maybe it's because Autumn is the busy season for belly dance performances. Either way, I am ready for Summer to make its exit!

I love bats

I don't understand how anyone can not like bats. Bats eat mosquitoes. Mosquitoes eat me. Every mosquito that gets eaten by a bat is one less mosquito that might nibble on my toe, right where my sandals will rub against it. If I could have a domesticated bat in my house, I would -- although I have a feeling that the chaos from two cats and two corgis chasing a bat would be a bit overwhelming.

The other night we went out to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, because during the summer they have special Saturday evening programs. That particular Saturday was all about insects, which was super exciting. But we also got to have a very long conversation with one of the docents about BATS! She told us what species we have most commonly in Tucson, how many mosquitoes they can eat in an hour, and where and when to go if we want to see huge flocks of bats come swarming out from under a bridge. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any living bats, but there was a very cool bat skeleton. Their bones are so amazingly tiny and fine!

The bat bead in my Hanging Around Bat Necklace is so cute and detailed. It shows the friendlier side of bats, not the creepy black "turning into Dracula" stereotype. If you met this bat, you'd want to cuddle her! Maybe give her a high-five to thank her for eating so many insects.

More Red and Black

 I just listed The Hidden Heart on Etsy today. This necklace takes the popular red and black color combination and adds a bit of white for extra contrast. It's a gorgeous Gothic necklace that is ready to accompany you on a night at the club.

 If the focal pieces look familiar it's because I posted about them a while back as they were part of the package I received to use in the Earthenwood Studios Design Team. I knew that I wanted to use them for this necklace, it just took me a ridiculous amount of time to sit down and actually make it. I'm so happy with how it turned out, so I really wish I had made it sooner.

Speaking of things that are ridiculous, I am really surprised that Spiral Journey is still in my Etsy shop! Last week I made another anklet similar to it, but in black and blue instead, as a custom order. It's up to 34 admirers, so I know it's only a matter of time until someone makes it their own -- or asks me to make another custom version in different colors :)

Do I have some Treasuries for you!

It's been a while since I made a steampunk Treasury, so that's the theme that I decided to work with yesterday. Lots of great steamy items from my friends in FAETeam. I'm thrilled that RobinRed is now part of the team, because I've been admiring their masks for a while and now I can include them in my team Treasuries!

With the holidays coming (yikes!), gift guides are now a trending topic, so I decided to make a Gifts for the Bellydancer guide which in no way serves as a holiday wishlist (yeah right, I'm not kidding anyone).

Speaking of gift guides, Andrea included my Black Rose Gothic Necklace in her jaw-droppingly beautiful Treasury: For Your Favorite Gothic Beauty -- Gift Guide.

Not specifically a gift guide, but Lisa's Argh Matey is a great collection of pirate-themed items that would also make great gifts. I'm happy to have one of my steampunk escutcheon necklaces in there!

My Gothy roots

Did you know that when I started out making jewelry, most of my designs were Gothic? There were ankhs and elaborate crosses and so much hematite and amethyst! My style has changed quite a bit since then but I still love elegant Gothic designs, like this necklace, The Darkest Rose. Black, purple and silver is one of my favorite color combinations, and was in fact my very favorite before I fell in love with green.

I actually made this one a few years ago and only now got around to taking nice, Etsy-worthy photos to get it listed. It's always interesting to look over something I made a while ago and think about the ideas that were in my head and wonder why I never revisited them. This Nepal chain with crystals hanging off some of the flowers is really cool! Why didn't I ever do that again? Maybe I should come up with another design using it.

I love vintage beads

 One of my great joys as a jewelry designer is finding and using unusual vintage beads and components! I just listed these Absinthe Crystal Chandelier Earrings in my Gothic Jewelry section. They feature some of my favorite vintage beads -- those teardrops are hollow blown glass! How cool is that? I can't even remember where and when I got them, because I buy vintage beads from so many places.

However, I do remember where I got the vintage cabochon, teardrops, and bicones in Ghost Portal. They all came from this weird shop in NY that was tucked away in a warehouse-y/industrial-y district on Long Island. It was one of the must-stop-shops whenever my mother-in-law and I would go bead shopping. Sadly, the store has since been closed down and torn down, so there are no more fun afternoons of wandering around picking out weird vintage beads, but I do still have a pretty impressive stash from the few years that I did shop there.

Feast your eyes

My friend Julie the Mermaiden has been after me to take more macro close-up shots of my bead weaving and embroidery. So the other day, when I casually laid this necklace over this box to get it out of the way while I was photographing other items, I realized that this was the sort of picture Julie wanted to see. So I took it! Beautiful details. Beautiful prop. Deep black background. Not to toot my own horn, but I think it's an amazing photo. And I got some even closer, but less fancy shots as well. Visit the listing for Ghost Portal Gothic Choker to see them all! Then wander over to the rest of Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs to see what else I've been listing.

I'd chat more, but I'm off to do a little holiday shopping at the 4th Avenue Street Fair!

Skulls!

Necromancer's Mirror is all done. I'll blog more about it when I do my weekly Etsy round-up!

I really want to do more bead embroidery now, though. I think it's finally time to start Wings of the Morrigan, which will be my first beaded collar. If I start now, I might finish it in time to wear it for the gem show!

Mythical Messengers -- Crow Moon

The sunshine was perfect today, so I was able to photograph and list Mythical Messengers, my entry for the Crow Moon Art Dare. I was going to do a normal strung piece, but that wasn't exciting enough, so I dug around in my bead stash until I found this purple ribbon and black chain (the latter has been in my collection for close to 10 years now). Mixed-media isn't my strong suit, but I think this one is pretty cool.

This is a definite return to my roots, too. When I first started out, the vast majority of what I made was black, purple and silver. Goth jewelry sold pretty well on eBay back then. I may not dress Goth very often anymore (greens and browns look so much better on me than black and purple!), but I still love the aesthetic, the music, the literature, and the jewelry. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to further my Goth/steampunk cred by drinking some absinthe (Goth and Green!).

Gothic Roots

When I started making jewelry 11 years ago, a lot of my designs were Gothic in nature. This was partially because I liked the aesthetic, partially because hematite beads were cheap, and partially because those designs sold well on eBay. There are still some Gothic designs in my shops, but lately I've been leaning a lot more towards steampunk.

However, earlier this month I got dressed up for a night on the town with Chris, and I ended up pretty Gothed out. Admittedly, there were steampunk influences, but I was wearing all black and grey, and it reminded me of how much I love the Goth aesthetic, and how I need to remember to use it more in my jewelry.

Along those lines, I present Beneath an October Moon, the latest addition to my Etsy shop.

Something special

This necklace is very special, because it's for an artist collective that I'm joining! The Shelley House is a cooperative effort by a number of very talented Etsy sellers, a shared shop where each item is inspired by the previous one. Because we'll only be adding two items a month, it was decided that we should "seed" the shop with some pieces inspired by Mary Shelley (our namesake!), so that our shop won't look so empty for the first month or two.

In honor of Shelley's heartbreaking life and her most famous story, I made a Gothic necklace featuring a stitched-together winged heart. It will be for sale when The Shelley House opens on October 1st!

Oh, to be full of win!

I've already told you before that TotusMel's Wunderkammer is one of my favorite blogs ever. It's a finds blog that features dark, steamy, and unusual finds, quite different from the cutesy cupcakes and indie fashion that other blogs focus on.

To celebrate the blog's beautiful new look, TotusMel is having a give-away, and that is why I wish I was full of win, or at the very least, one of those lucky people who wins drawings. All of the prizes are amazing, but I'd really love to have the custom bustle skirt pictured above! I know, I know, I already have a bustle skirt, but this one is a totally different style. These things are important.

Would you also like a chance to win fabulous steampunk prizes? If so, you should head on over to The Give-Away Post and read up on the rules. There are so many ways to enter, and the more people who enter, the more fantastic prizes are available. Jewelry! Crowns! Sexy bustle skirts! What more could you want?

Avatar of the Moon Goddess

I'd like to have more pictures of this necklace, but I decided to go ahead and list it on Etsy today, just in case someone would see the three pictures I have and realize just how beautiful and awesome Avatar of the Moon Goddess is. It's hard to let this piece go, as I have a pair of awesome black and blue silk pants and a silver and cobalt jingly belt. All I need is a cute black top, maybe a cobalt veil, and I'd have the perfect outfit. But I can't keep everything I love, or all I'd ever have up for sale would be a bunch of pink earrings.

Yesterday I made a cute steampunk anklet, but I don't have any pictures yet, so it probably won't be on-line for a while.

But you know what's really exciting? I'm going to the Tahoe Mountain Bead Retreat! I'm going to take a class with Sherry Serafini! EEEE! I love her work. I hope I don't squeel like a fan girl! Plus Beki Haley, who is a good friend and awesome teacher, and Marcia DeCoster, who I am not super-familiar with, but I know it's going to be an awesome class. I'm so excited and I really can't wait. October is a long way away...

It's an owl!

A little sneak preview of another necklace that's awaiting more photographs. I call this one "Athena's Familiar." It features a two-sided owl pendant by Green Girl, some awesome star-shaped cubic zirconium drops, metallic blue Swarovski crystals, and some unidentified nifty stone beads. Plus clear faceted Czech glass beads with Bali-style bead caps. I have a feeling it will be quick to find a new home, what with the fact that owls are pretty trendy right now and this is a unique, and if I do say so myself, pretty wicked kewl necklace.

I took some great pictures of this one on some black pin-striped paper, but that was after the tripod broke and they were all fuzzy. But I do like this reddish-brownish faux-painted paper. I think it makes for a good dark and dramatic background. I'll probably use it for a lot of Goth and Steampunk stuff.

Anyone want to take a stab at identifying the stones, by the way? They're light to dark grey/black, with moonstone-like chatoyancy and slight translucence. I really like them and think I should have bought more. Why do I always do that? I guess it's because I stopped using stone beads for a while, so I didn't want to buy too many, but I just used them in three projects this week, so I guess my muse likes them again.

My adorable dogs!

Ok, this isn't a great picture, because the light in the hallway isn't too great, but here are my two corgi girls! The red one is currently named Daisy, and the black one is currently named Maggie, but I think we'll change both names. They're very hard to photograph because they don't like to hold still! I had the perfect image lined up, they were both sitting at my feet next to each other, looking up at me, but when I depressed the shutter button, they both moved their heads. I have lots and lots of bizarre ghost dog pictures, with blurry half-there heads.

The photography gods really weren't with me today, actually. I made these earrings, called Underworld, and I only managed to get one so-so image. I'll have to try to take more tomorrow or over the weekend.

It was fun to make something Gothy today. I haven't been doing a lot of Goth jewelry anymore, mostly faerie and steampunk stuff. It's nice to go back to my roots every now and then!

Anticraft review.

So, the other night I curled up on the couch and read through that Goth-y crafting book that I mentioned on Sunday.

The book is called "Anticraft: Knitting, beading, and stitching for the slightly sinister." This title, on a black, white, and gangrene cover, was what caught my eye as I was leaving the craft section of Barnes and Noble. There's something I need to make clear about myself: I am very easily distracted, especially by visual things. A normal conversation in the car goes like this:

Chris: So, what do you want to eat tonight?

Me: Well, I was thinking we could have -- ooh, nice, a Mustang -- sandwiches, or maybe we could splurge and go to -- CORGI! Awww! So cute! Can I have a puppy? Hey! That guy didn't use his turn signal. Oh, there's a new book store, we should check that out. What was the question?

And it's also pretty normal for us to be in a store, talking, and I suddenly veer off to look at something shiny. Chris is used to this, and doesn't mind it, except when I randomly shout out "Puppy!" or "Kitty!" and he thinks that one is about to dart in front of the car.

Anyway, I picked up the book, flipped through it, and saw that it was mostly knitting and crochet, so I was going to put it back. But then he saw Cthulhu in it and insisted that I should buy it. Note to self: carry Cthulhu post-its and stick them on anything that I want to buy, thus ensuring no arguments from Chris.

While most of the projects ARE knitting, with a little crochet, sewing, and jewelry thrown in for good measure, the book is pretty entertaining. There's a lot of general craft info, including some helpful first-aid hints for those inevitable craft disasters. There's also recipes, a guide to throwing a party, and silly comic strips throughout. Because the book is geared towards Goths, Punks, and anyone else who likes to craft but doesn't like the frou-frou pink preppie look favored by many craft books, everything is served with a healthy dose of snarkiness. And because I love to snark, this really won me over.

There's really only one project in here that I'm likely to make, and that's the duct-tape corset. I don't even know when or where I'd wear it -- maybe to Comic Con, or to whatever haunted house we go to next Halloween. There's just something appealing in the idea of being able to say that I made a corset out of duct tape.

Since I haven't tried out any of the directions, I can't say how well-written they are. There are few how-to illustrations, except for the basic techniques section in the back, which has copious photos. Even if the insutrctions do prove to be not so great, I'd say the book is humorous enough to go on the bookshelf of any "slightly sinister" or otherwise darkly inclined crafter.

By the way, this book is the product of the website www.theAntiCraft.com which I have not yet checked out, but will soon. I'd imagine that a visit to it will help you decide whether or not you're interested in the book.

Collaboration Exploration! AKA, my secret project!

At long last, my secret project is revealed! Last month, Melanie from Earthenwood Studios approached me to be part of a Collaboration Exploration. She and one other bead artist/jewelry maker would provide beads, and then all three of us would make jewelry using those beads. I love the challenge of working with beads that someone else has picked out (such as the Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure challenge!), so of course I jumped at the chance. The fact that I love Melanie's beads and had been daydreaming about playing with them some day certainly helped my decision. The third partner for this fun experiment turned out to be Pam Brisse from The Blue Between, a new-to-me artist, even more reason for excitement!

When my beads arrived at the start of this month, I was inspired right off the bat. I knew that I wanted to stack the lampworked flower, the poppy shield, and the poppy faerie to form the focal. At first I wanted to use the links as stations between sections of woven beads -- maybe a spiral rope -- but after a little bit of thought, I decided that was too obvious. Sure, they're meant to be links, but what if I used them as dangles, and hung accent beads from the second loop? I quickly decided on a Nepal chain, as it really compliments the floral theme of the beads. After that, it was just a matter of picking out the beads to use!

My first thought was to use black for the base, and do the flowers in purple and red, because I don't normally like to put green with red and purple. Then I said to myself, "Self, don't be a wuss. This is a challenge. Challenge yourself!" So green it was for the base. I've had these green metallic iris beads, with hints of red, for a while, and they were perfect for this piece.



One thing that I really like is how the lampwork spacer dangles ended up looking like pomegranates. Pam's spacers are rounder than most, which gives them the lush look of ripe fruit. I think that the whole piece has a decadent feel to it. I was going for a Victorian look that would be at home with Gothic styles, without yelling, "Hey! Look at me! I'm SPOOKY!" I think The Lady of the Manners would approve.

Partially inspired by Melanie's post earlier this week about her inspiration for the poppy beads, I've dubbed this necklace "Keeper of the Garden of Forgotten Memories."

Please visit Melanie and Pam's blogs to see their own beautiful inspirations with these beads!

(PS: The current photo is bad, but my camera is out of battery juice so I'll have to take a better one later! I'll edit it in when I get the chance)

Should I be scared now?

In case you missed the link in yesterday's post, the above image is Belen-Gaard, my own personal bat necklace. Hurray! It combines several things that I love: lampwork by my friend Lois, a bat, the color green, indicolite crystals, and sardonyx, which I have only recently decided that I love.

So, last night was our trip to Nightfall. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be "lame." It relied too heavily on strobe lighting and really fake spring-loaded plastic skeletons. Even the supposedly scariest walk-throughs and shows couldn't elicit so much as a jump-scare from us. Now, granted, my friends and I are all pretty jaded, having watched too many horror movies (and in some cases, read too many horror books), but I can say that at the very least I can be startled... and I just wasn't. Everything was too corny. There weren't a lot of actual people working the attractions, and those that were just didn't even seem to care. All in all, it was very disappointing and a waste of money that could have been spent on beads or books.

The night wasn't a total wash, though. We did all have fun hanging out with each other and complaining about how bad things were (especially the vampire show... ugh). One of my guy-friends was wearing an awesome Jedi costume; the other gal and I were Gothed up, and the two other guys, well, they just wore normal clothes, but we let them hang with us anyway ;) There were a few other people in costume, which was nice to see.

I'm waiting to receive some beads for a special project. If they don't arrive today, I'll spend a little time working on some accessories and/or jewelry for the belly dance clothes I want to wear tomorrow. I'd like to do some yarn hair ties, but I dunno if I have enough yarn and ribbon. Have to dig through the beadroom and see what I can come up with.

Queen of a Forgotten Era.

I'm so happy, I've finally made something with some of Margaret Zinser's beads! I love them, and I've been collecting them for a few years now, but I never use them. The colors are a little difficult to match to seed beads or Czech glass, and I am a stickler for matching. This time I lucked out, and found that Jet Nuit Swarovski crystals went perfectly with the black-and-goldstone coloring of this set. The vintage bronze iris faceted beads pick up the lighter sparkles within the glass, and add a touch of elegance. I call this one Queen of a Forgotten Era.

The image is a result of my continuing effort to get decent pictures of jewelry that's too dark for the black display. The beads photographed reasonably well on this board, but my gosh, is the board itself horrendously ugly! And so the quest continues... This wouldn't be such a problem if I didn't have a strong love for black beads.

I also added two new items to the Gallery today, Belen-Gaard and All Hallow's Sprite.

Last night's Nightfall trip got postponed until today, which means that I have a lot less time to get my usual Monday stuff done than usual. Off I go, more tomorrow!