Aren't weekends supposed to be relaxing?

What a busy weekend this has been! I drove back and forth across town so we could take care of Chris's friend's pets (his cat is so beautiful and soft!), we had a game yesterday, yoga today, and then Casey came over and the three of us spent just over an hour working on the game room. We got two large wall panels up, and Casey cut the drywall for 4 small panels, which Chris and/or I can put up at any time. That leaves only a couple of spots left for drywall, then it's time for tape and spackle, and after that, PAINT! The paint is my favorite part, because it will brighten the room up. Drywall is really drab and ugly without any paint.

Anyway, yoga was awesome, and all of the driving has given me a lot more confidence on the road. I almost agreed to drive the three of us to get gelato tonight, but I decided to let Chris do it. I could probably drive there, but I'm not sure how well I would have done with driving and conversing with Chris and Casey. Better to remain on the safe side.

So now it's time to grab a couple of hours of vegging out in front of the TV, watching a DVD of Psych and stringing crystals, before facing another busy week.

Driving update

Just got back from Chris's friend's apartment. We're taking care of his cat and guinea pig while he's out of town, and I've been doing some of the driving. Today I drove us there and back, my first time hitting the road in the middle of the day, with traffic and stuff. Also, my first time running a red light, because I misjudged how quickly I needed to stop when it turned yellow. Oh well, no one's perfect.

I'm almost to the point of being ready to tackle some major roads, which means I'll soon be able to drive anywhere in town, and Chris will soon take utter and complete advantage of that and make me drive everywhere. I guess it's only fair, he's been doing all of the driving for the 11 1/2 years we've been together ;)

The Evil Eye!

Why is Cthulhu giving us the evil eye? Is it because he objects to being called cute? Perhaps he's offended by the fact that he's being covered in beads? Maybe he's annoyed that I stuck my needle into his hand. Most likely, he just can't help it.

The eyes probably are the most evil part about this project. If you're not familiar with this style of eye, it's a hemisphere with a shank in the back, held in place by a sort of pronged washer sort of deal. This means that the cloth around the eye had metal or plastic under it instead of plush, which makes it very difficult to anchor the needle to stitch the beads down.

Another problem I encountered while working on Cthulhu is that the thread I was using was too fine and kept breaking, so I had to force a thicker thread through the tiny eye of the needle I'm using. But at least I haven't broken any more needles -- yet.

Cthulhu's face is mostly covered in lime green colorlined size 11 seed beads leftover from a past BFAC kit. I considered using the pink-lined lime beads leftover from this year's BFAC kit, but two things stopped me: I hate them and I hate them. Ok, maybe that's just one thing.

I'm filling the rest of the face in with the size 15 beads from the first step, as they're smaller and easier to use in the tight spaces leftover in his face. Also, I got bored of using the same color. I think there will be more variety on the rest of his head and body.

Another night in Tempe

In a few hours I'll be off on my weekly trek to Tempe for dance class. Yay! With any luck, the class DVDs will be back in stock. The problem with practicing during the week is that I have to rely on my mental image of the move, and sometimes I get to the next class and find that I've been doing it wrong all week. It also doesn't help that I don't have a mirror to work in front of -- I rely on my shadow, and my reflection in the TV screen. That problem will soon be in the past, at least, as my friend Helen is going to trade me a mirror for some dogsitting. Hooray!

I'm also trying a new restaurant tonight, one which is right next to the studio and comes highly recommended by the folks at the studio. It will be very convenient if I like them, as it will mean that we won't always have to drive around Tempe to get food.

Tomorrow I'll probably have another Cthulhu post. I got some work done on him last night and intend to do more today, in between housework and class.

Oh yes, and in honor of dance class, Spiral Journey is today's Daily Special!

Busy, busy month!

Even though I'm very busy this month, I'd be more than happy to make you a Custom Crystal Bracelet, which is why they're today's Daily Special!

I guess I must have been bored, because suddenly I have a lot going on in my life. Not only do I have dance class, learning to drive, and beaded Cthulhu to work on, but next week I'm going to start going to my husband's gym, and a couple of weeks after that, I'm off for a week in NY.

The gym is partially because Chris has been nagging me to try it, and mostly because I would like better strength and stamina for dancing. My arms especially tend to get tired really fast, and I know it will be even worse if I'm trying to work with props, especially heavy ones like my sword or my fire fans. Plus, of course, more muscle tone will make me look better in my coin bra ;)

As for NY, it's my annual visit to my in-laws, and I will be putting my Etsy shop into Vacation mode during that time. I haven't decided if I'll take any of my jewelry along to NY. I usually do, because my mother-in-law likes to shop in person -- but tighter luggage restrictions mean I may have to leave my jewelry case at home in order to have enough luggage space left to bring home whatever I buy in NY. That said, if there's something you've had your eye on, you should probably buy it now just in case I take it to NY and sell it.

Anyway, right now it's back to housework and Cthulhu for me!

Sanity-Crushing Ugliness!

Here he is, in all his plush glory, Cthulhu! And he's sporting beads upon his brow.

Why is Cthulhu being adorned with beads? Because he's (hopefully) going to be my entry in the Ugly Beaded Project contest at the Tahoe Mountain Bead Retreat in October.

When I first heard about the contest, I started thinking. While it's perfectly acceptable to submit something you already have lying around the house, I've only completed one truly ugly necklace (being a perfectionist, I'm quick to stop making something ugly, rather than trying to salvage it), and I have no idea where it was. Besides, it was ugly in a rather unspectacular way.

I didn't want to miss out on the competition, but I also didn't want to make an ugly necklace on purpose -- what a waste of time and materials, since I'd never wear it! But then I thought back to a project I've wanted to do for years -- a fully-beaded plush Cthulhu. Though the plushie itself is pretty cute, Cthulhu is a pretty ugly dude, and while he probably won't be ugly enough to win any sort of prize, he'll be something I'll be happy to have around my house long after the Retreat is over.

So far I've just stitched some matte metallic iris size 15s along his brow line. I tried to continue that down to the eye, but after breaking one needle and bending another, I decided that seam was too tough to sew beads into. Now I'm trying to decide how I want to bead the rest of the head, and what beads I want to use. Definitely lots of greens!

FAE Team Feature

I'm August's Featured Artist on the FAE Team's Squidoo lens! Thank you, Aquariann, for bestowing this honor upon me.

I'm really enjoying my membership in FAE Team. It's nice to be part of a group of artists working in different media, all with a love of fantasy, faeries, renaissance faires, dragons, and more. I've found my teammates to be fun, friendly, and chatty -- you'll see a few of them posting in the comments section here on the blog on a pretty regular basis.

In other news, I have permission to share my Ugly Bead Project on my blog, so I think I'll do the big reveal tomorrow. Are you excited? I'm excited.

Oh yes, and Summer Dragonfly is today's Daily Special!

No driving today

I planned to practice driving tonight, but it was *really* windy. Not only does this make it harder to control the car, but since we haven't had a lot of rain, it's very dry, so there's blowing dust everywhere, messing up visibility. So since Chris was at gaming yesterday, that means I took the entire weekend off from driving. Well, after the crazy ordeal Chris put me through on Friday (driving halfway across town and back on dark, narrow roads), I deserve the break.

In other news, I set a secret goal for myself last month -- to actually update this blog daily, no matter how busy, tired, or cranky I was. And I did! 31 posts in 31 days! Woohoo! I'll try to do the same this month, though the NY trip may throw that off.

It's dog time, not blog time!

This is my favorite picture of Maggie -- I love that I captured her mid-yawn and managed to get a photo where she's showing her true cuteness, instead of looking sulky.

Today Chris and I took both of the girls down to the vet for their annual check-up and booster shots, in preparation for them being boarded while we're in NY. It was a bit of a stressful ordeal for them -- the vet and vet tech were both very nice, but that only goes so far for a dog when strange objects are being put into their orifices! Maggie especially wanted no part of it, though she still licked the vet's nose while being stethoscoped, and walked up to the vet tech for good-bye petting at the end.

Since then, they've spent most of the day in a post-vet drowsy state, showing the appropriate enthusiasm for food and opportunities to go outside, but otherwise adopting a feline-like system of moving from one nap spot to the next, largely based on where I am. AJ's in the office? Let's sleep on the loveseat or behind her desk chair. AJ's eating dinner? Let's sleep under the table or on the back of the couch, the better to occasionally wake up and make sad, starving eyes at her (they got fed before I did, don't believe them!). AJ's not paying attention? Let's go take a nap on the people bed! Silly dogs.

But when I sat down to write this post, Daisy became suddenly animated, barkingly insisting that she needed attention now, then jumping up to put her paws on my leg and nose her way between my arm and body, so that I'm hugging her. This is a frequent trick of hers, and she seems very pleased with herself for doing it. Now that I've turned down her advances, she's back on the loveseat, wearing her "I'm the saddest puppy ever" face. Guess I should go make it up to her!

By the way, Gossiping Pixies are today's Daily Special. Thought I should tack that on here...

I guess it's time to think about Autumn

Autumn Flier is today's Daily Special! With my increased focus on fantasy jewelry, I probably won't be doing as many butterfly and dragonfly necklaces, so you should snatch them up while you still can!

Some of my on-line friends who live in colder climates have been lamenting that with August starting tomorrow, Fall is close on its way. I have a had time getting into this way of thought, maybe because it will be warm well into October here, and maybe because most of our trees in AZ are evergreens, so there's not a whole lot of falling leaves. Maybe it's because I don't go to school, so I don't equate the start of the school year with the end of Summer. Or maybe I just don't feel like beading in Autumnal colors yet. Maybe digging through my collection of leaf beads would help... except that most of them are green. Nevermind!

A couple of other things really quickly...

Class was awesome last night. Learned some new moves, did well at some and poorly at one. We're reaching the point of doing variations and combinations based on the moves we learned in the first two classes, which is pretty exciting. I also bought some nice new additions to my costume wardrobe.

Meri Greenleaf, frequent commentor on this blog, featured one of my necklaces in her blog's Thursday Trove post. Thank you, Meri!

Finally, brooches may be a little delayed, as I'm dealing with a bit of beader's block about them and may even decide to rip out all of what I've done and start over -- I'm not satisfied with how the beads are lying.

There was a raccoon in my yard

I don't have any pictures of the raccoon, so you'll have to settle for this image of today's Daily Special, Athena's Familiar.

So anyway, last night when people were leaving our house after gaming, there was a raccoon under the tree on the edge of our front yard. A raccoon. In the middle of Tucson. I've lived here for 15 years, and I've never seen a raccoon. In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a live raccoon ever. In my entire life. Seriously.

The raccoon only had half a tail, which made him look rather un-raccoon-like, but he was shaped like a raccoon, had a raccoon-y face, and walked like a raccoon. And to be honest, as neat as it was to see him, I hope it doesn't become a regular occurrence, and that he's the only raccoon in our neighborhood. I worry about the dogs scrapping with him or one of his relatives (let's face it, my corgis aren't that much bigger than a raccoon, but they think that they're the size of German Shepherds, except when they want in my lap, and then they think they're a toy breed). I worry about having to lock my trash cans. I worry about them making a hole in the roof of the house or game room and taking up residence there and making life difficult for me. I worry about rabies and parasites.

But other than that -- hey cool! There was a raccoon. In my yard! A real life wild raccoon!

Oh my, look at the time!

Neon Dragon is today's Daily Special!

It's not so much the time that I'm really worried about right now, but the date. Last night I realized that it's two months until the Tahoe bead retreat, and I haven't started my Ugly Beaded Project or my fully-beaded collar to wear to the reception. Somehow, given all of the other things I have to do (including a fun-filled week in NY visiting my in-laws), I have a feeling that I will not get them both done. I'll probably have to come up with a less time-consuming, but still stunning, new necklace to wear, so I can fully focus on the Ugly project, which I'm really looking forward to.

What is the Ugly project, pray tell? I can't say yet. I need to experiment a bit first to make sure that I'm up to the challenge, and then I need to find out if we're allowed to talk about our projects, or if we have to keep them secret until the retreat. I'll only give you one hint: it's not a piece of jewelry.

Segueing elsewhere, I'm a big fan of the blog TotusMel's Wunderkammer, and today she picked out an awesome cephalopod-themed collection of items. I love it!

Brooches coming soon!

Once again, Mysterious Portrait is taking a turn as the Daily Special.

Once things cooled down a bit last night, I did get more work done on my brooch, and now it's almost done. I'm going to try to do a ruffled netting edge for it, because that always reminds me of waves, and I want this piece to be very oceanic. With luck, I'll get it listed this weekend, and also get to work on one of the other two brooches.

Too hot!

Automatic Ankle Accelerator is today's Daily Special!

It's another hot, humid day here in Tucson, which means that I'm really not getting anything done. Again. Once the sun goes down, I might have more energy. Maybe I'll put some more work into my seashell brooch, which got ignored while I did other stuff this weekend. I'd really like to get more destashed beads listed this week, but that definitely will not get done tonight.

Book Review -- Create Jewelry: Stones

Create Jewelry: Stones is part of a four-book series from Interweave Press, with each book focusing on jewelry featuring beads created from a certain material. The series is written by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett, two prolific designer/author/editors.

This is the sort of book which is ideal for a beginner beader. It features relatively simple (but impressive-looking) jewelry designs, with a heavy emphasis on stringing but also with some basic beadweaving and wirework projects as well. Many of the projects rely solely on written directions, but the more complicated ones include clear diagrams. All of the basic techniques are also explained in the back, with more diagrams.

In addition to the projects, the book is full of information about gemstones. They say that the book includes a guide to the most common types of stones, but that's misleading. It's a guide to the stones that they use in the projects, and nothing more. Some of these are in fact very common. Some are unusual. Some relatively common stones, like malachite, don't get a mention at all because they're not used in the book. One other problem with this is that they use photographs of the beads used in the projects to illustrate the stone guide, and some of these beads are not very representative of the most common colors and styles of the stones in question.

However, there is a lot of fun stone trivia in this book. It ranges from useful, such as a description of the Mohs hardness guide, and the hardness rating of all the stones used in the projects, to just plain interesting, such as a paragraph on the historic importance of peridot, complete with a photo of a stunning peridot-encrusted throne. The book also includes a birthstone guide, and tidbits about the believed metaphysical properties of many of the stones.

I'm not sure I'd have paid full cover price for this book. The projects are mostly too simple and specific to be of any use to me. However, since it was deeply discounted in the hurt book sale, I feel like I got my money's worth. The gemstone info may prove useful, it's full of eye-candy, kept me entertained with trivia, and I used the directions in the back to make the wrapped loop bails for my upcycled Taxco necklace.

Speaking of stones, today's Daily Special is Celestial Celebration, which features beautiful fireworks jasper!

Snark, snark, snark

Today I'm feeling tired, overworked, and generally cranky, so any full-length blog post would probably be full of negativity.

So I'll just say that if you were thinking of buying Nomadic Treasure, today would be a good day to do so because it's the Daily Special until noon tomorrow. Yay!

In a mermaidy mood.

I must have mermaids on the brain today. Napping Treasure Hunter is the Daily Special, and I'm working on a brooch in very aquatic mermaid-y colors.

There's not too much else to say today, except that I did my first driving on an actual road today, driving around other actual cars. Minor backroads, but Chris might have me tackling street lights and traffic by Sunday. Well, that's his prediction. I'm not as confident as he is.

Upcycled Taxco Necklace

Well, I got this done sooner than I expected! That's right, my project to upcycle this broken necklace is complete.

I originally thought that I was dealing with some sort of Afghani nickel silver, but while removing the drops, I found that what I thought was a decorative design on the back of the central drop was actually a stamp for Sterling Silver from Taxco, Mexico. Some quick internet research showed that the eagle logo in the stamp had been used from around 1955 to sometime in the late 60s or early 70s, so I was dealing with a vintage piece.

Before continuing on with the project, I did some poking around the internet, trying to find out if this was a valuable necklace that I should be trying to repair, or if I could continue with my original plan. After finding a cleaner, undamaged version of the necklace for 99 cents on eBay, I decided that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to the necklace and not worry that I was ruining some priceless artifact.
And so I did! My first step was to remove all of the drops, then I attacked the darkened silver with a polishing cloth. I do like the natural patina, it gives it a more tribal feel, but I wanted to clean it up a bit so the new silver wire wouldn't stand out quite so much. Then I set to replacing the old silver drops with new green beads.

These beads are some sort of Chinese pressed glass from Michael's. I don't buy craft store beads very often, but I really liked this unusual drop shape and the variegated green glass is a favorite of mine. They don't quite look like something that belongs at Ren Faire, but they really go perfect with this top...
... which is why I chose them. The greens of the beads are the perfect compliment to the greens of the tie-dye! Later I'll get a picture of the full costume, with my floofy green skirt and teal veil. I'm thinking of making some earrings and a bracelet or two to round it out as well.

In completely unrelated news, Aviatrix is today's Daily Special.

See, I told you!

As promised yesterday, something new! I call this beauty Nomadic Treasure. It is now my favorite of my tribal-themed offerings. Too often I stick to a very simple color palette, but the mendhi designs on the focal bead forced me to use red, green and blue all in the same necklace. This makes it feel more authentically tribal, as many of the kuchi jewelry pieces have multiple colors in them, especially red, blue and green. It should be easy for any dancer to coordinate this necklace with a coin belt, or the adornments of her turban, or a nice chunky bangle.

In keeping with the tribal theme, Midnight Dancer is once again the Daily Special.

Also, I'm working on modifying that damaged vintage Taxco sterling necklace, and I hope to be done with it by the weekend, so expect a post on that soon, too!

New things coming soon

Today's Daily Special is In the Dragon Nest.

Within the next few days, I hope to have a few new things in the shop -- at least one more tribal necklace, maybe some earrings or spiral bracelets, and more destashed beads. I was supposed to list beads last week while Chris was gone, but I spent most of my time reading instead. What can I say? It's been hot, and who feels like having a bunch of lights on for photography when it's hot?

Good-bye, comfort zone

A lot of people have asked me, over the years, why I didn't drive. There have been various answers, but the big one is that I do not like to leave my comfort zone. At all. Driving seems a very scary and complicated thing -- piloting a large metal object at speeds ranging up to over 75 mph, on roads with other people doing the same thing. The very idea of having to judge whether or not I could pull out into a road in front of someone, or wait for them to pass by, is terrifying. Chris refers to it as intuitive physics, and we all know that I suck at science (if you didn't know before, now you do).

But anyway, it was finally time to get out of my safe little comfort zone and get behind the wheel. And already I'm trying to find new comfort zones and stay in them. Chris's self-appointed job is shoving me out of those comfort zones, like a mother bird flinging her chicks out of the nest. Tonight I wanted to go back to the nice, straight, empty UofA parking lot. He made me go to the curvy Reid Park parking lot, with a few cars parked in it and lots and lots of curbs to avoid, and turns to make. Then I wanted to stay in the little sub-lot with no one in it, and he made me drive in the lot right in front of the dog park, where late-night dog lovers were still in attendance.

Despite my griping, I did fine. I almost hit one curb a couple of times, but otherwise I made good progress on making turns, and quickly got into avoiding speed bumps. Hey, even when you're only going 5 mph, those things are annoying.

Well, that's enough confession and driving talk. Tomorrow it will be back to beads and jewelry!

Busy Sunday

Today was spent in a sort of catching-up mode, as Chris and I ran errands, did things around the house, and took over parking lots. Nothing really exciting enough to blog about, just the sort of day-to-day things that didn't get done while he was in TX this past week.

Yesterday, I did buy some beads to hopefully make a necklace that I'd been stymied on. Oh, how I love lampwork, but every now and then (ok, fairly often actually) I get a bead that's really tricky to match. This was one such case, made even trickier by the fact that I want to string it in a cool tribal-style necklace, so seed beads were out. Anyway, I should get that necklace made tomorrow or Tuesday.

Chris took tomorrow off, so assuming no emergencies come up for him, I'll probably spend much of the day away from the computer again -- perhaps practicing my turns, perhaps working on the game room, perhaps just vegging out and watching Netflix. But normal blogging should recommence on Tuesday.

Parking lots

Today is the day that Chris and I got kicked out of the mall parking lot, because you're not allowed to practice driving there. Nevermind that we were using a quadrant that isn't near any active stores, that no one else was in it, and that I was driving approximately 5 miles an hour. Apparently I was an insurance risk.

And that is really all I have to say tonight. Tomorrow I'll be taking my dangerous low-speed turns down to an empty UofA parking lot and see if they kick me out, too.

Dancin' up a storm!

Mr. Skully-Man is today's Daily Special. Yes, those are the same satin-y green beads from Turtle Talisman. I love them so much!

My classmates and I must have danced up a storm last night, because as Casey and I were leaving Tempe, there was beautiful lightning in the sky -- then lightning in the sky for the rest of the drive home, and pouring rain when we hit Tucson. It was quite a nice little storm, didn't dump much rain on my neighborhood, but refreshing nonetheless. And it stopped before bed time, which was good, because Miss Mags refuses to go outside in the rain. She's prissy that way.

Class last night was great, and also more than a little tiring. I learned the proper way to shoulder shimmy, which uses some muscles that weren't accustomed to that much work, and we did a lot of them. I think the first half of class was nothing but shoulder shimmies, and transitioning in and out of them. Then we had to do more at the end when we practiced everything we'd learned! Oddly enough, my arms feel fine today, and it's my left calf that hurts!

Sadly, we have no class next week, but at least I have two weeks to practice everything I just learned and get really good at it, so I'll be ready to tackle new things at the next class.

Big Discount Today

Today's Daily Special is Turtle Talisman! I've marked it down by $50, because well, the original price was really high, and I thought maybe someone out there might be looking for a deal. In fact, with the $50 you'd save, you could buy the matching bracelet and earrings and have the entire set for the original price of the necklace!

I'm just a few minutes off from needing to get dressed and get ready for my weekly trek up to Tempe. Since Chris is out of town, a friend of ours agreed to drive me, and in return I'm buying him dinner. I've found a Hawaiian BBQ place not too awful far from class that looks pretty delicious, so I'm looking forward to it. I know I'll have danced up an appetite!

Time to be social

Snowdrop is today's Daily Special. I guess it fits the whole Christmas in July thing, but it would also be so beautiful on a bride!

Monday and yesterday were the two quiet days of my week-without-Chris. Days for reading, cleaning, and vegging. The next three days will be busy and social. Today, my friend Mara is coming over and then our mutual friend Casey will join us for dinner. Tomorrow, Casey is kindly driving me to Tempe for dance class (because he's awesome like that), and Friday I'm going out with my Mom. Of course, I'll still work some reading and cleaning in on those days (in fact, I should be cleaning now), but mostly it will be spending time with awesome people.

Whenever Chris goes out of town, I always make all these grand plans of things I'm going to get done with my free time, and the vast majority of them don't get done. Faced with the choice between a stack of novels and a pile of cleaning supplies, reading is always going to win. Oh well. At least the office is looking much cleaner, even if I don't get around to any of the other chores I had planned to accomplish.

Books, lots and lots of books!

Chris is out of town on a business trip, which means that I'm spending a lot of time reading. Not only do I have three novels to work my way through (I suspect I'll only get through 2), but a great big stack of books just arrived from the Interweave Hurt Book Sale. If you're a beader or other crafter, you may want to check out the sale. Books are marked down as much as 75%, and for supposedly being "hurt" the ones that I ordered are in better shape than the ones on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.

I got a little greedy with the sale and ordered nine books. It's going to take me a while to get through all of them. I have:

200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop or Weave
Beading with Peyote Stitch
Bead Romantique
100 Beaded Jewelry Designs
Fabulous Fabric Beads
Create Jewelry Stones
Create Jewelry Glass
Create Jewelry Pearls
Create Jewelry Crystals

I'll post reviews as I make my way through the stack, reading and perhaps trying out a project or two.

In the meantime, I'm reading Mainspring by Jay Lake, and I think it's time that I crash out on the couch with the puppies and find out what happens next!

Oh yes, before I go, Unlock My Secrets is today's Daily Special!

Onward and upward!

Today's Daily Special is Keeper of Mementos. This is currently the only locket necklace I have available -- I think I need to fix that!

I just mailed off my 2010 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure project. You may have noticed that unlike the last two years, I did not make any in-progress posts or indeed, even post a picture of it. The truth is that I was not very happy with this year's bead kit, nor with the style of lampwork included in it, and as such I ended up doing a much simpler project than I would have liked. I simply was not inspired.

Now that my BFAC project is out of the way, I have a reasonably clean slate (bead-wise, at least) and I'm looking forward to attacking more enjoyable projects -- upcycling my vintage Taxco necklace (turns out it's really not vintage enough to be valuable), making some brooches for the shop, and working on a couple of projects for the Tahoe Bead Retreat in October. Not only do I want to have something pretty to wear for the reception there, but they're also having an Ugly Beaded Project contest, and I have the perfect idea in mind for that.

I suspect that things are going to quickly get much more lively around here!

Have you heard of Gypset?

Today's Daily Special is the Custom Crystal Bracelet. Crystal bracelets go with just about any fashion style, don't you think?

Gypset is a compound word, a combination of gypsy and jet-set. For some people, it's a new fashion trend, and for others it's a way of life.

I learned about it this week when my friend Marilee sent me this article, which talks about the fashion trend. A quick Google search brought me to Gypset, the website/blog of the author of Gypset Style, the book that inspired the article. This blog seems more focused on exploring a nomadic bohemian way of traveling the globe, living a stylishly alternative lifestyle.

If you've hung around my blog for a while, you know I'm not the sort of person to chase after trends, but I'm more than happy when they come to me. Looking through the slideshow in the article, the clothing featured isn't too different from what's been "in" for the past year or so, but the accessories show a definite gypsy and ethnic inspiration. First of all, I do like any style that allows you to just accessorize and update whatever's in your closet. Secondly, I really enjoy a style that meshes well with the tribal jewelry I've been making.

As such, I've tagged a few items in my Etsy shop as "gypset." As of yesterday, they were the only items tagged thusly, which makes me feel like a trend setter. Woohoo! I like the idea of tapping a new market. I'd love if my jewelry went to follow bellydancers, but I won't complain if it ends up adorning young fashionistas instead.

Learning, always learning

Hey look, the Gossiping Pixies are here to tell you what's going on in my life! Well, not really, but they are today's Daily Special.

My class on Thursday was great. Crowded, hard, but great. Dancers of various ages, levels, and even genders pretty much filled up the floor (but with enough room left that everyone could move), and got a crash course in Beginner A and B before we could move on to C. I have a few moves I need to practice, and arm cues that I need to try to remember.

One of the most fun things about being a dancer is the costuming, so of course I did a little shopping while I was there, too. I bought a pair of black Tribal Fusion pants, and found a cute sheer embroidered tie-front crop top on the used rack for only $5. I think it will look cute over my bra, or over my teal halter top. I'm going to try to limit myself to 1-2 new costume items a month, otherwise I'd go crazy and my closet would explode from all the goodies.

Then yesterday, I finally went to the MVD and got my learner's permit. Yes, at the age of 27, I'm finally learning how to drive. I've had various reasons for spending the past 11 years relying on other people for rides -- some were genuinely good reasons, others were excuses. But I've decided now that I want the freedom to get in the car and go wherever I want, without relying on husband, family, or friends. Tomorrow should be my first lesson. Wish me luck.

Why seed beads?

Marcia DeCoster made an interesting blog post today, asking "Why seed beads?" and I thought it would be the good subject of a post of my own.

Why seed beads indeed? Woven projects are so time-consuming that I have to price them so high that they rarely sell. And yet I can't stop making them, because seed beads inspire me.

One of my favorite things about seed beads is the sheer amount of colors and finishes available. I can match almost anything, from a carved stone to a lampworked bead to the ceramic pendant in today's Daily Special, Mistress of the Secret Forest.

Versatility is key, too. Tiny seed beads can be woven together to form all sorts of shapes and express different styles. They can be bold, delicate, modern, classic, Victorian, tribal... Anything my muse wants to do can be rendered in seed beads, whether it's by weaving them, stitching them down, or even using them as spacers in strung designs. They can stand on their own, or they can be accented by anything else from my stash -- artist-made focals, Czech glass, Swarovski crystals, vintage treasures, skeleton keys...

I'm looking forward to doing even bigger and better things with my seed beads in the near future -- fully-embroidered collars, more ornate belly dance bras, necklaces with multiple bezeled rivolis, all sort of exciting projects.

Dance class tonight!

Today's Daily Special is Celestial Celebration! The earthy neutral colors of this necklace really make it perfect for year-round wear. I'm hoping it will find a lovely new home soon.

Tonight is my first class at Plaza de Anaya up in Tempe. I'm so excited! Finally, after several years of being largely self-taught (working from a great foundation from my friend Helen), I'm going to go learn a codified set of moves (or a "language" as its often called) that will allow me to do choreography both pre-planned and spontaneous, and perform with other dancers.

This is the first step in my big plan for my life, which is to become Tucson's premier teacher of tribal-style belly dance. If anyone is teaching it here, they're keeping pretty quiet about it. With what I've already learned about on-line self promotion from running Erthe Fae Designs, and the sites I've discovered while trying to find a teacher, I'm certain that students will have no problems finding me, and learning to love tribal as much as I do.

My plan is to be teaching by the time I'm 30 (I'm 27 now). I know 30 is a time when a lot of people look back at their life and see what they've done so far -- and right now, I wouldn't see much. I want to hit 30 and say "I've built up the skills to do what I love for the rest of my life."

Tribal Jewelry Part 3

As promised, this third installation features traditional tribal jewelry. All three of these beautiful pieces were gifts from my dear friend Helen, who first taught me how to dance!

This style of jewelry, made from a silver-tone metal and adorned with bits of glass, plastic and sometimes lapis or other stones, is usually called Kuchi, after an Afghani tribe. It's very popular with tribal dancers, as it gives a very authentic look for a very low price (I've purchased belts of this style for as low as $25). It's also easy to get small pendants and other bits and use them to adorn bras, turbans and more, creating a unified look for your entire costume.

The above necklace is my favorite of my kuchi pieces. Though I'm not a big red-and-blue person, I love the super-long chains. When worn like a choker, the chains still stretch down to my cleavage. I am worried that I'll have to replace the red thread, though, and I might make it a little less authentic by using some SoftFlex so it will be strong and I won't have to worry about any strands breaking while I dance.
This large piece is really too big to be a pendant, and I still haven't decided exactly what I'll do with it. If I had two, I'd make a pseudo-Persian warrior queen bra. I've tried wearing it as a belt adornment with my yarn fringe belt, and while it looked awesome, as soon as I started walking, the fringes tied themselves around the chains. I should probably either use it to adorn a non-fringed belt, make it a bun cover for my hair, or decorate a turban with it.
This necklace lost a drop some time ago. I was going to move the central drop over and put something else in the center, but I've come up with a much more exciting plan. Just wait until you see the revamped necklace! So far, I've only had time to polish it up a bit, but today I'll really start to work on upcycling this damaged treasure.

07/09/09: Edited to add that it's more of a treasure than I thought. While removing the drops today, I found that what I thought was a decorative pattern on the back of the central drop is actually a Taxco Sterling stamp from somewhere between 1955 and the 1970s. Not sure about the upcycling now, since it's vintage. More updates as they happen.

I had an awesome necklace with lapis and plastic dangles with lots of chains and jinglies, but I foolishly forgot to photograph it before giving it to another friend. So instead, I'll offer you a link to TribalSouk, for all the tribal eye-candy you can handle!

New jewelry, new pictures, old beads.

Yesterday's photography session allowed me to get some new items listed today. First, Celestial Celebration which features a carved dragon pendant, and pretty much the entire strand of yummy firework jasper that I bought at the Rings & Things show back in May.

I also listed the Gossiping Pixies earrings, which I made last week while my friend Mara was stringing her first necklace.

Plus I took shiny new pictures that I added to the listings for Athena's Familiar, Automatic Ankle Accelerator, Spiral Journey, and Mysterious Portrait. I'm really happy with the shots on the black pinstripe paper. I think it's a sharp look for my Gothic designs. Definitely going to be using that one a lot.

Then I started listing items for my destash sale! Star of David beads and lampworked vessels. There's more yet to come, probably next week.

As if that wasn't enough, I also took pictures for the next Tribal Jewelry blog post, which will probably be up tomorrow! My camera and I, we've been quite busy.

Oh, and before I forget, today's Daily Special is Moonlit Seductress!

And now, a bra!

Wow, it's gotten all costume-irrific over here at the ErtheFae blog! First two days of steampunk, and now finally, my bra. Sorry about the glare, the non-flash shots didn't turn out.

So. I started out with a cheap padded bra from Target and then I put my DIY skills to use. Ribbon and trim were hand-stitched down, and I accented the ribbon with some copper sequins. Then coins, bells, and "copyrite" beads* were hung from swags of Charlotte** bronze seed beads. For a final touch, I put a round pendant in the center to cover the strip of cloth (called a gusset, I think) between the two cups, so it would look less like lingerie and more like a tribal bra.

It's photographed on top of a scarf that I intend to wear with it. I'll take some model shots of the whole ensemble in a couple of days -- it's too hot and humid today for a 10-yard skirt and makeup.

I tried to take photos for my next tribal jewelry post, but none of them turned out, so I'll give it another try tomorrow with a different background.

Oh yes! In all of the clothing-related excitement, I keep forgetting to post about Daily Specials. Sacred Clouds earrings are on sale today!

*The mysterious "copyrite" beads have tenetively been identified as chalcopyrite, which makes sense. They look about right, and it would be pretty easy for "chal" to get dropped in transit and translation.

**For the non-beaders in the audience, a Charlotte is a small seed bead with a single cut or facet, giving it a little sparkle. They're also sometimes called one-cuts or true-cuts.

More Steamy Pics!

First, a close-up of Amy's amazing work! A little too much flash, I guess, because the cream flowers are really glowing and the clock hands got a little lost -- but I still love how this looks on my head! The feathers at the front sort of frame my eyes, the peacock eye sticks out jauntily, and the entire thing compliments my brown hair very well. You can click here to see it on Flickr, where you can also view a larger image.

This image is my new profile picture on Facebook, and I might make it my profile here on Blogger, too. I know my current image is kind of small and you can't really make out any details of what I look like, only that I love green and have wings ;)

And finally, a front view of the whole costume, which shows the neat double row of (non-functioning) brass buttons down the front of my pseudo-corset. You may notice that I am trying, and failing, to look sultry. I blame my freckles.

Tomorrow I'll try to finally provide pictures of my tribal bra!

The day I steamed it up in Tempe

Today Chris and I drove up to Tempe to meet an on-line friend Serge and his wife Sue. Like me, Serge is into steampunk, and he was dressed up to attend FiestaCon/WesterCon. I couldn't attend the convention, so I chose to do what I am told is "ghosting." And to make myself easier to spot, I dressed up in steampunk gear as well. But let's face it, we all know that I love an excuse to dress up!

I'm developing a steampunk persona for myself -- a dancing girl who was abducted by airship pirates, and decided that she liked the pirate life better. It's a good excuse to combine glamorous elements like my bronze bustle skirt and gorgeous feather headpiece with the military-influenced styles of my pseudo-corset (with brass buttons) and suede short-sleeved jacket. Next I need a name for my persona. I think she'll be showing up as a character in my steampunk jewelry stories, too!

Anyway, we had a great time hanging out with Serge and Sue. We all had a lot to talk about, and we stayed in Tempe longer than I expected, only leaving because I didn't want to leave the corgis home alone for too long (Mom did come and give her "grandcorgis" their dinner and some love). It was so much fun to get out of town and kick back with some new friends and chat about sci-fi, writing, work, pets, and childfree life.

By the way, back to the costume. I love sharing my resources! The gorgeous bustle skirt is from Damsel in This Dress on Etsy. I really love my bustle skirt (I may have mentioned wearing it to the Swarovski party back in February). Unfortunately, she doesn't have any in her shop right now, but you could probably request a custom order.

The feather, flower, and clock-hand headpiece came from The Gypsy's Kiss. I clipped it onto a lace headband that I bought at Target. A gentleman at the convention even came over and asked to take a picture of it. It really is that beautiful! Amy does fantastic work, I'll definitely be buying more.

The socks are of course from Sock Dreams. I'd forgotten that last time I wore the skirt, I wore either black lace tights or my brown-striped thigh highs. I can't remember which, but knee-highs are not high enough. That doesn't make the socks any less awesome, though!

And that's about it. The shoes are just from Payless, and the pseudo-corset and leather jacket are both lucky finds from Buffalo Exchange, our local resale boutique. Plus my steampunk cameo necklace, and a brass bracelet that Chris gave me for the holidays.

I'm off to edit more photos and upload them to Flickr. I'll post links tomorrow!

Thrown off

Chris actually got half the day off for the holiday, so I didn't spend nearly as much time at the computer as I would normally. As such, I never really got around to writing a blog post for today.

Tomorrow I'm going up to Phoenix to meet an on-line friend, but I'm leaving late enough that I should have time to set up the usual Daily Special and blog post.

In the meantime, Forest Singers bird earrings are today's Daily Special. Tweet!

Fun times were had!

Today's Daily Special is Asrai!

Yesterday, my friend Mara was over, and we decided that it was time to play with beads. So I taught her how to string a necklace, with some hematite, Czech glass, and a wolf/fox head pendant. It turned out pretty awesomely, and she was very happy with her necklace. I think I've made a new addict.

While she was blissfully stringing her necklace, I was making a cute pair of earrings with some faerie pendants she found. I didn't even remember that I had them. These earrings will find their way onto the website or Etsy next week.

Just Flitting By!

I have a couple of things to do this afternoon before my dear friend comes over for some much-needed fun times, so I just thought I'd flit in and let you know that Summer Dragonfly is back up on Daily Special. Only $30. The For A Summer Day earrings shown in the image are not included in that listing, but are available for only $15. That means for $45 you could have a beautiful, perfectly coordinated set of jewelry that will carry you all the way through Summer and into Autumn.

Things that make my day

A while back, I sold this brooch, Soaring Wyvern. It was the only brooch I'd ever made. I listed it on Etsy with only one image, and I didn't even have it sorted into a category -- and it sold anyway. Yesterday, the buyer posted her "Best of Ets" blog post and gave me and the Wyvern a glowing review. I've been walking on air ever since. There's nothing quite like a happy customer to make my day, especially when they've purchased something that I wasn't sure would sell.

Ever since Soaring Wyvern sold, I've been thinking that I should make more brooches -- so that's my goal for after I finish my BFAC project. If there's a particular color or style of brooch you'd like to see me make, please leave a comment here or go over to my Facebook fan page and join the Brooch discussion I've just started.

As for today's Daily Special, it's the Automatic Ankle Accelerator! Only $25 for a gorgeous steampunk anklet.

...and back around again.

Today's Daily Special is Aviatrix, because I've reached the point where I have to start repeating Daily Specials! I only have 54 items in the shop right now, and I've realized that I can't really discount my earrings, because with free shipping, I'd actually be losing money on those.

Clearly, this means I have to start adding more jewelry to my Etsy shop. Luckily I have one new necklace ready to be photographed, and lots more items planned for after I finish my BFAC. For instance, I've noticed that I no longer have any spiral rope bracelets on Etsy. This is a situation which must be remedied! Luckily I'm making good progress on BFAC, so I'll soon be free to work on whatever I want again.

In the meantime, Monday is a boring day of laundry and other housework, as I tidy up the messes made over the weekend. Surprisingly, I find that I'm not too achey from yesterday's yoga workout, even though I didn't do nearly as well as I did last week (I made the mistake of eating too soon before it, and the heat nauseated me). I might even dance later, after the house is clean :)

I hate the economy!

Before I start ranting, today's Daily Special is Unlock My Secrets, a beautiful key necklace in earthy orange.

Now, on with the rant. While I was dancing yesterday, I got a phone call from my Mom. She was at Chivalry Sports (aka the Renaissance Store), our local Ren Faire garb shop. They were in the process of going out of business and Mom wanted to know if I wanted any of the belly dance patterns that they had left.

Now, I can handle the fact that my own business is molasses-slow because of the economy. I'm fortunate to be in a position where I don't need to sell my jewelry. What makes me mad is when awesome niche businesses have to close down because no one has any money left to spend on their hobbies.

Chivalry Sports was an awesome store. You could go in there and walk out with breeches, a tabbard, a chemise, an overdress, whatever you needed, and it would be sturdy, well-made, and in most cases, you could throw it in the washing machine and dryer. Because my tastes run towards belly dance clothes, I didn't have much of their stuff, but it was our go-to place for my husband's garb, and I also got my mirrored black skirt there.

By the time Chris and I got there yesterday, the store was pretty picked over. I picked up a few belly dance patterns and one of the basic cholis that I'd been wanting (they were out of black, so I bought white and I'll probably tea-dye it). The mirrored skirts were long gone, as were the various belly dance scarves and veils. It was depressing, as I'd been wanting to go in and shop for months, but their limited hours meant they were always closed when I was in their neighborhood.

And of course, this phenomenon is not limited to Chivalry Sports. Everywhere I go in Tucson, I see empty spaces where small shops and restaurants used to be. Some neighborhoods look like ghost towns, the strip malls empty and in disrepair. I have to wonder how many more neat little stores will fall prey to increased costs and decreased spending.

I'm sorry to be such a downer today, but I think it needed to be said.

A quick post before I dance

The above image is Tribal Cameo, which I listed on Etsy yesterday. Today's Daily Special is another tribal design, Midnight Dancer. I'm really enjoying this line of jewelry. Next up I'm going to make a necklace with some Afghani coins and a mendhi-inspired lampworked bead by JC Herrell.

Over on Facebook, I'm friends with a couple of other dancers, and as such, I keep seeing various dance troupes and organizations in my list of recommendations, but they're all across the country from me. So today I realized that I should search and see if Plaza de Anaya -- where I'll be taking classes starting next month -- was on Facebook, and I was happy to find that they have a group, fan page, and gift application. Hopefully this will help me network with other semi-local dancers, both in and out of the classes I'll be taking. I'm so excited!

The classea are in Tempe, which is about 1 1/2 hours from Tucson. It is a bit of a drive, but my Dad used to commute 90 minutes each way to work 5 days a week, and then we'd frequently make a similar drive to visit grandparents and aunts and uncles on weekends and holidays, so when compared to that, driving to Tempe once a week doesn't seem too crazy. Especially when you look at how the local belly dance class offerings compare to what's available at Plaza de Anaya. Members of the group I'll be learning from are also in my favorite belly dance troupe at Ren Faire. That pretty much made my decision right there.

Anyway, even though it's a hot Tucson afternoon, I'm going to go dance now before we have to start tidying the house up for tonight's game. And tomorrow is yoga! My days are filling up with fun activities.

For all of you steampunk bellydancers

I just listed Automatic Ankle Accelerator on Etsy today! I plan to take more pictures of it, but I figure there's no harm in listing an item with only one picture. That one image might be enough to convince someone to buy it, instead of it sitting around here, unseen and unloved.

The story that prefaces the item description is part of my ongoing attempt to build a world and cast of characters around my steampunk jewelry line. There's Professor Langstrom. Some of his inventions -- such as the Aetheric Chronology Manipulatronic mentioned in Her Airship Sailed Through Time -- are actually effective. Some -- like the Automatic Ankle Accelerators -- need a bit more work. Halcyon Greene, the lady adventurer who owns the time-traveling airship, is based on a roleplaying character of mine. Next, I believe I need a name and persona for a lady inventor, as I keep mentioning them in item descriptions as well.

I also listed Mysterious Portrait today. And today's Daily Special is also one for the bellydancers, the Spiral Journey gothic tribal anklet.

Happy Fairy Day!

Yes, today is Fairy Day! You know I can't let a day like this go by unremarked. To celebrate, I'm having a sale in both my Etsy shop and website. Lots of faerie jewelry on sale, in lieu of a normal Daily Special :)

I'm also going to celebrate by wearing my wings (as seen in my profile picture). I'll definitely wear them for tonight's game, but I'm torn on whether to wear them out for sushi. I think they might be a little too big and I don't want to get in the way of the nice waitstaff at the sushi place. As much as I love the look of BIG wings, I really need to buy a pair of small wings for when I want to be a faerie without also being a nuisance. Because I'm so happy with my current pair, I'll probably buy my little ones from Fancy Fairy.

So very sparkly!

I've just added a listing to my Etsy shop for a custom crystal bracelet. You choose the colors, the length, and what sort of clasp you like, and I make it happen. I love these bracelets! I have several in my own collection, and I've made them frequently as gifts. I've also sold dozens, and I never get tired of making them. Who could get tired of sparkly crystals?

And speaking of bracelets, today's Daily Special is Within the Waves. A great deal on a cute bracelet that would be perfect for a day at the beach.

With just a few weeks left until the deadline, I'm finally moving along on my Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure project. I got a lot done on it yesterday, in between dealing with various house emergencies that kept popping up. I'm hoping to finish it in a week or so, so that I can mail it with time to spare.

More Owl Love

There's a quirky Chicago-style pizza and Italian food restaurant a few blocks from my house that always has silly phrases on their marquee. This weekend it read "The Owls Are Not What They Seem." I'm not sure if that's a pro- or anti-owl statement, but it made me decide that Athena's Familiar should be today's Daily Special!

Not only am I happy with how this necklace came out, but Chris really likes it, too. It's sitting here on my desk, and the other day he said "I do like that pendant... in fact, the whole necklace is pretty cool." Of course, it's also far too girly for a meaty-thewed barbarian like him to wear. Some of my work is unisex, but this is definitely one for the ladies.

In other news, my abs and shoulders are hurting from yesterday's yoga work out. I like to think that my abs are in better-than-average shape, what with my love for chest lifts and rib circles in my dancing, but clearly I was using them in new and unusual ways yesterday. I'm hoping to dance tonight, and hopefully that will work some of these aches out.

Also, Up was pretty good. A little too silly at points, but I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't afraid to be sad or serious at times, it has a big airship, and lots of dog humor.

Yay, yoga.

A really quick post because we're about to take off to see Up.

First, today's Daily Special is Pearl Branch. I love this bracelet, but it's very short, so it's been waiting for the right person with the right tiny wrist!

This afternoon Chris and I went to a yoga class at his gym, and it was a lot of fun, so we'll be going every Sunday. Yoga is great for bellydancers, as it increases flexibility and balance, so I'm very happy to find a place to take it just a few blocks from my house.

And now, movie time!

Tinkering around.

Today's Daily Special is Subtle Charm. $20 is a great deal for such an elegant necklace and earring set!

I've just finished doing a little work on the blog, tidying things up, removing links to blogs that I don't read anymore, that sort of thing. I also provided convenient links to all of the places you can stalk, er, find me around the Internet. Twitter, Facebook, my writing blog, all had been strangely absent from my links. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of all this social networking.