Week 51

While Bob conceded that last week's controller was "cool", he wasn't really feeling the gold, so I made one more his style this week. It's just paint (and I still like the gold and leather one better), but it is more his style, and it's a complete controller makeover (skins only disguise the very top midsection).

I like the upside down picture, because I think it looks like an owl or some other little critter. The texture on this one isn't as smooth as I would like, but hopefully Bob enjoys it anyway. I don't see myself custom painting controllers for money any time soon, but they were a fun little project. The first thing Bob said though was "it's really cool...but can I have gold buttons?" men...

Again, this is what the controller looked like before:

Next I decided to try macrame on a glass. I chose a glass with a better shape for the project to make it easier, and used a bracelet for a starter ring. Unfortunately i twisted the base string too tight and half of them snapped and i didn't retie them nearly so pretty the second time. It's rough, but it was a good experiment that gave me lots of ideas. I would love to put some kind of little charm at every joint, and maybe use twice as many wires for a tighter pattern. I also think a twisted dual-wire strand good have a cool texture. Lots of ideas but for now this was my first try:

I also did a crafty little charm project just for fun. I was trying to make sort of coins/charms out of clay and paint them gold. The sculpey I used was neon orange which in theory shouldn't have mattered since I was painting them, but in practice-with the texture and all-was maybe not the best choice. They were still fun. I like the upper right one the best, I want to thread it on some pretty cord for a bookmark.

Next week is week 52 of the Xarata Project...a whole year!!! Hopefully I'll come up with something really cool for you ;p

Week 50

This week, I went for more a refurbishment than a total creation. I took one of Bob's old xbox controllers, and I modified it for a steampunk appeal.



Steampunk inspired xbox360 controller



I painted it with permanamel paint. The base color is gold mixed with brown for a bronzey color and the buttons are gold mixed with amber for a more brassy color. I also used an embossed two-tone leather/pleather, and some 20gauge copper wire coils.They're actually the same links I use in jewelry but on a much tinier/more delicate scale. I used the hook part of each link as a clamp to slide it onto the leather and crimp it on. It is isn't perfect, but overall I'm pretty proud of it.

I think it's pretty cool how well the new modded controller fits in with some of Bob's other stuff:



Controller next to Bob's favorite watch and sunglasses



For reference, these are what Bob's other controllers look like. They come white, and some people (like Bob) buy "skins"/decals to add a little more personality to them.



regular xbox controllers with decals

Pretty big difference, huh?

Week 48

This week was a dream catcher. I started 2 other projects, but they aren't working as well as I had hoped. I used to make metal dreamcatchers all the time, but haven't in years...

It's about 3" round. I'm thinking about turning it into a windchime, a hairpiece, or a belt. What do you think it should be?

One of the projects that isn't going so well is to dreamcatcher a glass, but it keeps bunching up- i might google crocheting bottles etc to figure it out. Maybe I'll macrame (sp?) one, that I know how to do :)

Weeks 46 & 47

You may have noticed that I didn't make anything/post last week...because I was on VACATION!!! (woot woot!!!)- you can read a little ditty about my vacation with a few pretty pictures in the archives on the right side of the screen.

I decided to do a little extra this week to make up for last week and keep The Xarata Project on schedule.

First, a photo of Honey's final collar- which I finished the day before we left for vacation (so... January 22nd)


She didn't want to sit still for me to take a picture, so pretty much all of them ended up blurry...



Also, some new hair flowers, because there's nothing like a tropical island to get you in the mood for flowers :)



Fall leaves, lily hairpins, a sunflower, peruvian lillies




Calla lily and an orchid
I'm not really sure how I feel about this orchid, it's a little too fake looking for me and we know i prefer for most of my hair flowers to look like the real deal- I get asked all the time if the flowers in my hair are real and I'd hate for them to be so blatantly fake.




I've had these (expensive) silk calla lillies for at least 6 months, they're really difficult to get onto a clip and it's still not perfect, but I think they'd make for really cute wedding hair (of course most weddings just use real flowers, but this way it doesn't wilt. lol)




I think leaves or fun, and there is probably a very narrow target group that would love this hair clip. I bobby-pinned these leaves into my hair and clothes for my wood nymph halloween costume last year and it would have been a million times easier if they had been on clips like this one. I'm just kooky enough to wear this not for halloween though :)




Peruvian lillies, deep from my stash of silk flowers i used to bobby-pin into my hair
Again, a little too fake-looking for my tastes anymore.




I've been wanting to make this sunflower since September, but I ran out of hairclips for making hairflowers and then i did the glass project and then I felt like nobody wanted to see more hairflowers- but darn it, I wanted to do more hairflowers. lol




These are my first set of permanently attached hairpins and I'm pretty happy with them. This particular set of lillies I like to stick into a french-braided crown hairstyle.




Too bad i don't really have any tropical silk flowers. I don't think I've ever seen silk hibiscus or plumeria flowers. I may have seen birds of paradise but i think they'd be kind of awkward... I have orchids...


I also made a sort of belt/mock cincher out of some of that fabric i originally chose for the coat and then didn't have enough of. I think it adds a cute pop of color to the Little Black Dress.

I love the paisley henna pattern and the black on wine color combo. Really, a belt like this probably needs interfacing, but I don't have any so c'est la vie.

**********

Also, I wanted to share a belated xmas present that I received right before I went on vacation- a photo stage!!! I don't have any pictures of it because I accidentally left it at my mom's house and have not gone to retrieve it yet. Basically, a photo stage works the same way that those umbrella things in photo studios work but on a smaller scale- they diffuse the light and shadows to keep everything looking professional. Basically, it does this:



Candle holder that I made in college for a wire armiture assignment- my professor photographed it on a slightly larger photo stage than the one I received for jewelry, but the effect should be the same. Cool, huh? In college, a lot of art prof.s made temporary ones out of poster board and foam core board- they'd be set up for a single day of photo-taking and then stowed away- mine is more permanent- less assembly required.



Week 44

A COLLAR:
We begin this week with Honey's new collar- which is really just another of the coiled link bracelets i made earlier in the blog. I used a burgundy coated copper wire and painstakingly coiled 70 links-roughly 26 feet of wire. She's so cute! I want to hang her newest ID tag from this one, but I need a crimp ring (just for ease of use).

 I'm still thinking about adding a fabric collar underneath and stitching it down- but haven't really decided yet. In the meantime, she's wearing it as is.

A STORY:

This week, I started writing a little children's story- Kissed by the Fairies: A tale for little red-headed children. Bob's mom always told him and his sister that their freckles were pixie kisses, and I think it would be cute to have a story for the dwindling number of red headed children in the world for why they have red hair, light skin, and freckles when no one else does. I really like what I have, but would like for it to be longer... If you would like to read it, please let me know with your email address so you can be given access to my new writing blog (which is not public).

THE COAT-Progress Report:
On Sunday, I cut out the pattern pieces and made Honey's collar. On Tuesday, I ironed the pattern pieces and cut out the shell- in a different fabric than I originally chose. I plan to sew the shell together tomorrow (Saturday) and do the lining and finishing next week.

SHOW & TELL:
I promised a little show & tell of my new "toys". I bought some flocked display pedestals last week that I'm really very excited about!

I know I don't currently do the craft show thing (and the one that I did wasn't very encouraging), but having a way to display pieces if (and when) i try again would be helpful. It also means that in future photographing, i can put these against a backdrop and have more professional looking photos (in lieu of picking a piece of furniture to dangle from. lol)

COOKING:

Bob and I only had one day off together this week, so instead of using it as a work day, we used it as a cooking/cleaning day. I made spicy onion soup, and crisped up the bacon for BLTs. They're peppered bacon, dijon mustard, baby spinach, and sliced cherry tomatoes. After a small kitchen fire, we enjoyed our soup and sandwiches on my new xmas dishes, and then made an apple pie.

Week 43

This week was more in the little details and not exceptionally challenging, but I've got big plans for next week, so little bits this week is a nice respite.

My mom told me about these metal spirals that twist into people's hair, and I saw some rennaissance faire pictures of people wearing them so i decided to start giving them a shot. I'm not in love with the first 2, but I see their potential and may try again. I'm definitely going to make a few shorter ones with charms and see how i feel about them. I like them better in silver sheet, but I don't have any silver sheet thin enough for this. (I can make the thicker sheet bend/twist, but it would be extra heavy) Preferrably something thicker than my copper sheet which gets bent too easily, but thinner than the 20 gauge i have.

The wire on this one is less than ideal (based on aforementioned lack of silver sheet), but it does have a bead dangle.

I also made a few trips to JoAnn fabrics this week, and while I was picking out fabric for a coat, Bob decided that his peacoat needed updating and picked out some buttons($25 in buttons actually). I changed out all the buttons on that peacoat so that it would be different from everyone else's peacoats. He's pleased as pie! lol.

I was planning on squeezing in one more project, but as chance would have it, i came home and took a nap today. My fingers also started tingling again today too- probably the cold- it finally snowed!

Coming next week: A new coat! (for me) A comfy collar (for my little Honey Bunny), and show and tell!(i bought some jewelry displays for bracelets and necklaces, so expect some slightly more professional looking pictures of said objects in the future). I also have a sundress in limbo (i started it in the summertime) that's been sitting halfway done for several months now (it's a shell that needs lined, zipped, hemmed, and strapped).

Week 36

This week is all about sales and commissioned pieces- ergo, glasses. My etsy site had 2 sales this week- a hairflower and a set of shotglasses. I also had requests for some painted glassware for xmas gifts, so this week i started in on the sets.

I started by finishing the set of daggers wine glasses that I redesigned in an earlier post- it is now a complete set of 4.

The set of shotglasses ordered was a set I've done before, but have since added to my own collection and used at parties, so i painted them to order.

 As you can see on the left side of the first photo, i'm planning on painting a bunch of shotglasses (as gifts), and in the bottom right you can see a shotglass i did with a tribal design on it that I will be re-doing due to poor placement of the design.

This week's doodle:

Still to come in commissioned work- a set of margarita glasses and some sea turtle wine glasses.

Week 32 -The Craft Show

Yes this post is a couple of days late, because I wanted to include the craft show...The craft show was a bit of a bust for me, I only sold 4 items. I had a lot of ogling with everyone telling me how beautiful and unique my stuff was, but not a whole lot of buying. I did have a lot of people ask about custom orders  and my website, and they took my card. One person asked about me doing a custom wedding gift set with initials and i traded cards with a vintner who just opened a winery in Hershey. In theory, my not so great craft show experience COULD turn into some great online orders. Let's cross our fingers. In the meantime, I think I'm finally going to take my inventory to the HodgePodgery and see how consignment treats me.

In preparation for the show, I did make a few things. I painted all those sets I said I would and made sure all the glasses were clean, clear coated, and washed. I also did my geekery glasses this week :) They were pretty much lost on the older crowd (a lot of people told me that 42 was their age or the year they were born), and the pi glass was my suffered casualty to the wind (though if a glass had to break, i'm kind of glad it was that one)

I also made about 4-5 more of those copper bracelets. I sold one. I took another apart to lengthen 2 of the others and used them as arm cuffs and bracelets for my goddess Halloween costume.

My Halloween party was also sort of a bust, but I ended up having a good time anyway. I said I wanted to have a party and at least 2 couples said they were definitely coming and several other singles said they might drop in. Then one couple caught the flu, several friends had visitors come in from other states this weekend, one couple had a family function, and i got a whole lot of "we have to get up early"s which I am not ashamed to say i think is a really lame excuse. All of my friends are in their 20s, and in college i'd party til 3am and be in class operating sewing machines and torches by 8am(which means i got up at 7am). I got out of bed at 8am today, took a shower and picked up the house, and then went back to bed for another hour, but I COULD have gone to work. It wouldn't have been fun, but for a once in a blue moon thing to hang out with friends, i could have done it.

However after much cajoling, one couple agreed to come play with me, and we had great fun. And since there were only 4 of us, I didn't mind using the good liquor. We played spoons,  cracked glowsticks, and threw confetti eggs (painted eggs that have been hollowed, filled with confetti and sealed back up) at both the inside and outside of the house which was a lot of fun. They live down the road and went home around 2:30am and I was glad that Bob got to meet them, because I've always hung out with them without Bob before. Honey actually took to them very quickly also, which she almost never does and made things easier- i prefer when she's kissing guests rather than barking at them.

Week 28

Well...I was planning on tonight being my big worknight this week, but then Bob went and cut himself and we've been trying to stop the bleeding for 2 hours to no avail so...i'm going to post what i have. It's not a lot, but it's fairly detailed. Two glasses.

First, a green man design- i'd like to perfect it a little further, but Bob says he calls dibs on this glass anyway.

The second glass I made this week- was my final attempt at translating the daggers design to a wine glass. I've only done 1 so far, but I will probably make the other 3 for the original commission.

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry- i had the flash off and wasn't paying enough attention and really don't feel like re-taking them at the moment.

I also made another ear cuff- i think this one is kind of fun, but i'll have to add some glue to secure the gold rings to the green beads so they dont slide around:

I may find something else to do yet in the night, but there's only an hour and a half left in the week so I think I'm just going to shoot for a heavy load next week.

Week 24

Update on the pewter front: We're fighting. Will continue to fight with it. That is all...

So...naturally I went to a tried and true project that I love- hair accessories. I did a few more hair flowers, this time I started wrapping the bases so they look a little less like i just yanked them off of a wire stem (since that's exactly what i do) You've seen the yellow, but i made another and the picture was just so cute I couldn't help myself.

After flowers, I decided to fiddle with feathers. It could have gone more smoothly- i won't be selling this one as it's messier than i would like (though part of that had to with the fact that i thought a part of the accessories was actual grass/twig/plant material when it was really plastic which meant some accidental melting was involved.) I think it's pretty. I'll probably make another. I only had the one comb to play with though so i will have to buy more.

Since I was playing with glue, I decided to make some marble magnets- you've seen them, they're everywhere- i have several from different places. I was playing with glue and silk flowers so...naturally i backed mine in silk flower- it's a cream and green marbled leaf pattern that kiiiiiinda looks like a watermelon rind:

On a side note, I obviously didn't do this (seeing as i don't have the equipment, etc.), but I had a ring plated last week. My dad gave me (and my sisters) a lot of beautiful jewelry growing up, most specifically a diamond ring when each of us turned 13. I treasure all the jewelry I have from my father, but I don't wear it very often because it's ALL yellow gold (which i just don't happen to love with my skintone, i prefer white gold). I mentioned to my sisters i was thinking of having it reset and one them told me I could just get it dipped/plated to be white gold (which had never occurred to me seeing as i don't think a whole lot people plate over gold) I got it back on my anniversary and it is BEAUTIFUL! See?!?!?See?!?!?

Also note that I am clearly taking pictures with my kodak camera- so much better aren't they?

Also- just to throw it out there- it's wallflowers season again in our house (at the first sign of fall, my house smells like cinnamon, lol) and I realized last winter that i could refill my wallflowers. I only buy cinnamon stick fragrance oil, but if people would be interested in having me refill their wallflower bulbs at $1/pop(as opposed to the $5 minimum a new refill bulb costs with the added benefit of recycling/not tossing all that glass), I'd be happy to. Obviously, it'd be best if you save your caps if you decide you'd like to start refilling them. I kept almost a dozen from last year, and bought a few this year, but wallflowers need replaced so much quicker in the wintertime with the heat and everything.

Week 22

I'm thinking about doing some consignment so I made some silver ditties this week. More of the silver lightning/tree root pendants (because i fell in love with the first one i made and well, it's mine. lol) and some ear cuffs.

True to nature, the pendants don't follow any pattern other than squiggly and directional. I don't want them to be identical (where's the fun in that?) They could maybe use some more tendrils- i may go back and amp them up a bit.

The earcuff's were originally going to be earrings (which is why they match), but then i decided that i'm not overly fond of earrings anyway and these would look way cooler going up the curve of the ear than hanging below. I haven't added the cuffs because i ordered some cool patterned half-round wire that i want to use for the cuff, but i think you can imagine them on an ear. I decided to make them cuffs before i actually made them, but also- you can see where i got a little impatient with the torch and *perhaps* melted one of the loops on the one on the right. It doesn't look bad- it just melts into a ball, and i may consider intentionally melting the others on that piece...I have to weigh the benefit against the possibility of accidentally turning the entire piece into a lump of molten metal...

I'm reeeeeally happy with this week's doodle. I did hit a point where i had to tell myself to put it down and stop adding stuff though, and this has been photo shopped to erase two little tendrils where i decided i had gone too far. I intend to color the flower periwinkle blue, but wanted a black and white version on my harddrive.

I also bought myself some birthday presents. The first thing I bought is everything I need to experiment with pewter casting. I've never worked with pewter before but it has a much lower melting temperature than silver and requires a lot less equipment. I bought the melting pot for casting and the kit that came with it including an ingot of lead-free pewter and silicone for mold making. I'm hoping to cast some pewter leaves, we'll see how it goes. I THINK i can also do wax casting in plaster (without a kiln) and i read that you can also cast in sand. It should be fun and hopefully allow me to make some of the things i really miss making.

The second present to myself was a purchase from riogrande for about 30 feet of sterling wire in different gauges, one with a pattern in it, and some beads and findings. I had a gift certificate from my catalogues (when you order a rio grande catalog, they charge you $10 for each one, but give you a gift certificate equal to the amount of catalogues you purchased. I subscribe to 2 so i had a $20 gift certificate) and Bob's mom sent me a $50 visa giftcard so it i got to buy $70 in silver fun. happy birthday to me. :)

Week 21

Last week I got on a feather kick. I told you I'd figured out how to make them even more feathery so naturally, I had to make a feather pen- see how there's no blank space in the middle:

Unfortunately the metal that i was trying to salvage last week really just does not seem to be salvageable so i started over. I added some glass beads and a hair pin and think the small one came out really cute. I broke the cheap pair of scissors i usually scissor cut with though so i tried tin-snips on this piece. The result is that the edges of the feathers don't curl.

My weekly doodle:

Outside the realm of The Xarata Project:

Bob's 24th birthday was yesterday. We went out with friends for sushi and all split a sushi boat which he loved and ate with my most favorite thing i bought for him- a pair of lightsaber chopsticks. I was so proud, because i knew he would like them but they weren't on his list, and he couldn't figure out what was in that present- shake and squeeze as he may. I also made him white coconut cake(his request) and huevos rancheros for breakfast(also requested). He spent most of the day playing videogames which kept him happy.

I ate a turnip out of my garden this week. They're still small, but i was excited.

It was kind of a lousy week. I had to replace my car's computer after a mishap with some jumper cables, and the landlord's son mowed over my pumpkin plant- again. With the rent this month, they received a short letter reminding them that the roof was supposed to be replaced a year ago- with accompanying photos of waterdamage in the house as well as a reminder that we had been told the original fencing was going to be remounted when we moved in 1 1/2 years ago, it hasn't been and any fencing that I put up keeps getting broken because they move and mistreat it. I also let them know that we had finally patched the numerous holes that were in the walls when we moved in that THEY were supposed to fix. They haven't said anything about plans to fix the roof or put up the fencing, but they did unceremoniously leave our hose on the porch (it was over with the other hoses and water hookup on the front house, because our outdoor water hookup isn't functioning and when i asked at the beginning of the summer they told me they don't know how to make it work). The landlord's son has always been rude, but if things continue this way, i will find another house. Between the leaking roof, flooding basement, and their complete ignorance of necessary repairs, i really don't think they can make me pay anything for breaking a lease either.

If anything I would leave this place in much better condition than it was when i came. I've done landscaping, put up lattice over the very rustly railing, enclosed the yard with wire fencing on one side and a gated arbor on the other, repainted the bathroom and replaced the very cheap aluminum fixtures with more aesthetically pleasing antique brass finished ones, patched and painted a lot of holes that we did not make, ripped out 2 rooms and a stairs worth of stinking and pet soiled carpet(with permission), mounted shelving in the basement and added privacy film to the lower windows in the living room so they don't have to be covered (there's no ceiling lights so light is precious). This week, I also tiled the backsplash of the stove and its awning: