Works in Progress

Having been insanely busy over the last week, then catching some nasty cold that has dragged me down...I thought I would share a WIP (work in progress) pic from Thursday night.

More Itty Bitty Cthulhus, along with another pendant.  These are definitely works in progress and will be polished up soon.  That is, when I can stand to sit vertically for longer than 10 minutes. ;)

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and a HUGE thank you to all of our armed forces for your service, currently serving or having formerly served. <3 p="">

Celtic Cross

I love the design of this Celtic cross.

The never-ending knots that are woven into the ends create a very elegant and simple beauty.

Pictures really cannot do justice, since the clay has a gorgeous iridescent shimmer that catches the light just right from certain angles.  I tried to capture it in this photo; it gives an almost inner glow.

You can see this pendant at The Gamer's Armory, along with so many more great gaming products, as well as items made by local artists!

Dragons & Gaming

After the appearance of the unicorn, it seems appropriate to bring in another mythical creature...in this case, an eastern style dragon.

This picture features a golden eastern dragon pendant, as well as my first attempt at sculpting a D10.

(For those wondering what a D10 is, it is a die that has 10 sides.  It is not the typical shape of a die that you see in common board games, but one that has a conical type shape.  They are a lot of fun to play with and come in every color/pattern you could possibly imagine!)

I also was playing with a different style and this dragon developed into a magnet.  

I love the contrast of blue on silver!

Both of these dragons can now be found at The Gamer's Armory in Cary, North Carolina!

You can also find all sorts of gorgeous dice sets at their store, so you can start your own collection!

Unicorns!

At least, that is always what I hear when I am working with one of my favorite mythical creatures.  I am a huge fan of Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn and had the honor to meet him last summer.  It also doesn't help that a dear friend of mine cries out "UNICORN!" in King Haggard's voice every time a unicorn makes an appearance. 

So, with all of those awesome memories of past and present, I have to bring unicorns into my craft at some point or another.  Enter, the unicorn pendants!

At least these will hopefully not release a harpy onto you.  (If you do not get that reference, please do me a favor and either pick up a copy of The Last Unicorn, book or animation.  I promise you won't be disappointed).

The brilliant purple unicorn pendant is available now at The Gamer's Armory, located in Cary, North Carolina!  You can also find my Itty Bitty Cthulhu, Cthulhu pendants, earrings and more in the store!

Give Gamer's Armory a "Like" on Facebook to see all of the awesome items they carry and the amazing events they host!

Creativity Strikes Again...

It has been a busy couple of weeks!  I am trying to get back into the swing of blogging, as well as finishing up projects and starting new ones!

Despite fighting a severe migraine this weekend, I have put the final touches on a few pieces and have started laying out the materials for the next project.

Two new pairs of peacock earrings, complete with Swarovski crystals!

I have also worked on more of my Cthulhu pendants...

Which of course, have to be accessorized with Cthulhu earrings:

These are just a few of the projects that I have been working on!  

Check out my Facebook Page for more!

My First Show!

My first craft show was a couple of weeks ago at Central NC Pagan Pride Days  and it was a success!  It was also a huge learning experience! Thankfully, Yarn Twisters and I had completed a dry run of booth set-up, table arrangement, decorations, etc. about a month before..so we were able to get everything up in about two hours on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning, we were up early (or myself, very late, running on less than three hours of sleep).  We had two hours to raise the tent, arrange everything we had left overnight, unpack our cars and get all of our items set up and arranged.  We took every bit of that time!  But, it came together very nicely!

And in perfect time, because we were very busy all day on Saturday!  We had so many visitors come through our booth and it was so wonderful to meet such sweet and wonderful people!

When we had a small break, I ran outside of the booth and sketched some tentacles on both of our display boards, highlighting our unique items!  I had Cthulhu sculptures, pendants and earrings to offer our customers, while Yarn Twisters had Cthulhu hats, dice bags and tarot/cell phone bags!  As you can tell, we created a "Cthulhu Alley" of tentacle goodness.

I had the right side of the booth to display my sculptures, magnets and jewelry on.  We also shared the rack in the back corner and mingled a bunch of items, including some of my larger sculptures and a friend's awesome bookmarks!

I missed out on grabbing an early picture before I sold two of my Cthulhus.  I also had a slideshow going on my tablet, showing previous work.

Notice the tentacle boxes, also created by me. ;)

We had inclement weather moving in, so Yarn Twisters and I had to scramble on Saturday afternoon when a brief shower moved through, protecting everything we had on display.  It cooled off nicely, though, and people lingered around after the rain passed through.  We did have to batten down the hatches on Saturday, since more storms were moving in that evening after the show.  Everything was packed into our vehicles, with the exception of the tent & tables.  I think we were all a bit apprehensive to what we would find upon our return on Sunday morning.

Thankfully, everything of ours still stood when we arrived on Sunday.  It didn't take us nearly as long to setup, since we knew where we wanted everything.  Having straw tossed down to help with any mud, it was amazing at how quickly it dried out and we had a gorgeous day!  It was cool, breezy and the sun was shining.  Surprisingly, there weren't as many visitors on Sunday, so I had time to work on some sculptures and pendants, finishing four of them before leaving that afternoon.

We had some great visitors on Sunday as the American Wildlife Refuge brought some feathery friends around to visit and educate the public.

Finally, I was informed that you haven't truly experienced Pagan Pride Day until you have consumed a Cthulhu Cake or Cake Pop.  Well, I couldn't resist bringing both home to share with my boyfriend, who was an amazing supporter through this entire journey. *heart*  

My parents were my biggest fans and I sent them pictures constantly from the craft fair!  Dad had given me the tropical fish clips that are holding down my tablecloth (there are also dolphins and orcas scattered around our tent, holding down essential items).  They worked better than any professional clips!  Mom was constantly listening to my ideas, concerns and offering constructive suggestions from her years of experience in craft fairs. Without my amazing support group, I would have never had the courage to attempt something like this. :)

Yarn Twisters and I have already reserved our booth space for next year.  Hope to see you there!

March of the Earrings

Here are some of the earrings that I finished over the weekend.

This first group includes a snazzy pair of pumpkins with green Swarovski crystals, two festival red holiday light bulbs and a dashing pair of golden witch's hats with fire opal Swarovski crystals to set them off.

This group has a pair of jet black raven feathers, hand sculpted and adorned with denim blue Swarovski crystals.  A pair of evil Cthulhu post earrings are next, along with a pair of dove feathers with blue undertones and light blue miniature Swarovski crystals.

A pair of gray earrings, featuring a heart sunburst in the center.  Two Death Star pendants sit in the middle, both featuring a tigereye polished bead.  The final piece is a pair of hair barrettes, featuring a rainforest tree frog sitting amongst colorful foliage.  The perfect accessory!

Work In Progress...

Despite a two day migraine, I managed to get a few things done late this afternoon and evening as the vertigo and pain subsided to a dull ache.  I wanted to share this pendant prototype of Cthulhu.

He is the second prototype that I have made so far.  After some final touches, he will be given a test run. He's very solid, but anytime I make jewelry, I like to test it out and make sure that the design is successful.

This Tooth Only Looks Sharp

You might remember from my last post that I picked up a couple of Megalodon teeth at a local fossil/gem/mineral show.

The one on the left will be opened by my Dad later today as a birthday gift.  Ever since watching Discovery Channel's Shark Week, featuring Megalodon sharks years ago, we have both been fascinated by these massive creatures.

This gigantic shark lived for around 15 million years, before disappearing (one could hope) around 1 million years ago.  It has been classified as either Carcharodon megalodon, which would put Megalodon in the same family as the modern day Great White shark or Carcharocles megalodon, which is an extinct family of sharks.  Prehistoric-wildlife.com has a great amount of information on the Megalodon shark, as well as plenty of other fascinating creatures!

The teeth are the only part of the skeleton of a shark that we can find, since the rest is cartilage.  You will also notice that fossilized teeth come in a rainbow of colors...this is due to the type of soil sediment the tooth lands in when it is either shed or the animal dies.

I saw one tooth at the gem show that had a lot of rust colors, streaked with black.  I asked the finder if he had located it in an area with iron and sure enough, he found it in soil that was rich with iron oxide.

Here is the smaller tooth that I wire-wrapped this weekend.  I think I might embellish a little bit with a dangling Swarovski crystal or two...but I like the beauty of the piece itself to stand on it's own.  Who would have ever thought a tooth could be so fascinating?

What's on the Work Table?

I showed you one of my projects that I have started to play around with....the miniature koi pond pendant.  I'm going to work on a few more this upcoming weekend, or at least that is the plan.

Here are a couple of other projects that you might have seen on my Facebook page:

This is a Tree of Life inspired pendant....I carved the tree into the clay prior to curing it.  I was aiming for an etching style...then finished it with clear resin to cause the colors to really pop.

This is the pendant before resin was added.

This little guy was inspired by Cthulhu...I was trying to go for an old relic discovered, but that didn't really work out for this pendant.  Obviously, not every project is a success or even comes out remotely like you envisioned it...but that's all part of the process.  I'm not displeased by him, but I have ideas on how to make this piece better. 

This probably involves not giving Cthulhu freckles in the future...when texturing goes horribly wrong :P

Work Table Wednesday

Remember the miniature koi pond that I made last fall for the state fair?

With the tiny koi, all three of which fit on a single dime?

Well, I couldn't stop just there...I had to expand...or...well, miniaturize!

Three little koi, swimming on a dime...

Three little koi, swimming in their pendant pond...

 

Three little koi, having such a fun time!

This is only the first of a few koi pond pendants that I plan to make...I am testing out some techniques and finding what looks just right.  I also have a few other ideas, but one project at a time! ;)

Work Table Wednesday

Here is the commissioned piece that I was working on for most of the weekend.

It's the Triforce from Zelda.  My friend wanted to give it to her daughter as a gift.  I'm so excited for her daughter, who will be starting pottery class this spring.  :)

Day after Christmas Shopping!

Even though I am writing this post ahead of time, I am going to hazard a guess that we will be partaking in the day after Christmas shopping.  Last year, my mom and I raided Michaels for leftover Christmas trees...I ended up with two great small ones.

This year, I really don't have anything on my list for after Christmas shopping, but I'm sure I'll find some clay or paint that I "cannot live without." :P

Here is a summary of all the necklaces I made for holiday gifts.  I still have a few holiday gifts to show you, but those will be next time.

Holiday Gifts, Part 3

Ok, technically Christmas is not for two more days, but, I am going to take a gamble and guess that my Mom will be so busy entertaining us, that she will not be reading my blog, LOL!

Obviously, this necklace is for her.  I actually used the same pattern when I created my pendant back in the summer time.  I thought it would be nice to both have the same flower, even when we are so far apart.

Holiday Gifts, Part 2

I am so excited for this evening!  A friend and I are going to see the Nutcracker Ballet!  I have always wanted to see a live production of it and have watched it for years on the public broadcasting stations while usually wrapping gifts.

I am giving her this as a surprise for her holiday gift.  She has made me three beautiful mugs in her pottery studio and she loves cats, having two of her own, so I thought she would like this design.

Surprisingly, it was very hard to get a good picture of this piece.  There are so many colors incorporated, but pictures definitely do not do it justice.  I used multiple watercolors and mica powders to add color to the scene of this cat looking out over the sunrise (or perhaps sunset)? 

Work Table Weekend

Now that I have given some of our holiday gifts out, I feel like I can share the final pictures with you all.  :)

First, the Santa Cthulhu's on their snowy drifts....though, I have to admit, this isn't the final picture.  I added snowballs to each Cthulhu and they were hilarious!  They actually looked like they were having a snowball fight with each other and I regret not getting a picture of that! :) 

I bet you can guess where the snowballs went though ;)  So, just use your imagination.

The finished unicorn went to another friend, who absolutely loves and collects various unicorns.  I used roving wool for the mane, tail and feathering around the hooves.  It was a pretty white, but when I think of mythical creatures, I think of glitter, etc.  After some pondering, I tried out some beautiful violet mica powder that I had and was able to actually "paint" it onto the wool to create an iridescent and glittery appearance.

To commemorate the engagement of two friends, I thought of what better way than interwoven rings.  I used another color of mica powder to create an antique silver finish.

Finally, a friend of ours just recently bought a farm and has been raising beautiful fancy chickens for some time now.  I thought a bird's nest pendant with colorful green eggs (textured glass beads) would be something she could enjoy.

I have several more projects I am going to be working on in the coming weeks before Christmas, so check back to see what is meandering across my work table!

Work Table Wednesday

Wow, last week was very exciting!  I have now spent the last few days, sorting through my supplies and trying to figure out what direction I need to focus on next.  I have a craft fair that is coming up the first week of November and it was requested that I make more earrings, so I had to hunt down all of my supplies that I have not touched since May.

It can be amazing what you stumble across when you are cleaning and reorganizing your stash, like this white turquoise that was given to me.

If you ever want truly exceptional stones/gems/minerals to work with, then you simply must check out CrysallisGEMS on Etsy.  Deb has the most amazing pieces and is just a wonderful person to do business with.  I received these gorgeous Prehnite pieces from her last week and it made my day!  I am eagerly stalking my mailman for two more sets of Prehnite, as well as a couple of beautiful Lapis.  So, these currently sit on my work table, waiting for me to decide just how to accentuate their natural beauty. :)

They are just so beautiful and I could not get a good enough picture to truly do them justice.  They shimmer beautifully in the light and you can practically see through them and all their layers.

CrysallisGems has several wonderful items in her shop and you should definitely check them out.  Here's just a few!

Chinese Turquoise Oval Nugget

Kwun Yum Guanyin carved Ametrine Charm Pendant, how cute!  The intricate details on this amaze me.

And these stunning Brazilian Amethyst are just breathtaking!

But, maybe you don't have time to make anything with these gorgeous items.  Well, Deb has that covered with her other shop, CrysallisCreations!  Here, you will find some of the most beautiful jewelry and wire-wrapping that I have ever seen.

Her eye for colors and combinations create some of the most unique, one of a kind pieces that you could ever imagine.  Click on any image to go directly to her shop page on that item!