9 months

2007-11-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

That's enough time to have a baby. No, I just got a job and broke my computer and completely forgot.

True and real update will be coming...sometime in the vague future.

Bottlecaps are still great. Cheap X-Mas gifts have been started. Working retail is not as bad as expected. Resin is, as always, my favorite. I can now spend $100 at the craft store without crying. I got a tattoo. And a raise. End.

At ease, gentlemen.

2007-03-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

I've made things. It's nice to be able to do it. Lethargy and lack of motivation, for whatever reasons, has hindered that quite a bit lately.

Bottlecaps:

I saw a few things while out and about that got me making these. These pictures are of the outside. I plan to put some little objects I've made out of clay on the inside and cover them in resin. The detail work could be better, but these things are tiny! And for a first try I'm quite pleased.

Bird:
This will be a necklace, probably. I made another bird-banner thing, but it broke. So I've made another, bigger, sturdier one. It's in the process of being painted at the moment. The detail on this is a bit hard to see. It's black with dark blue lines.

Ooh!
Also. I put up shelves finally. I have a workspace! My desk is not facing a wall anymore and I'm much more inclined to work at it. After seeing all over the internet pictures of books arranged by color, I put up mine this way as well. It is quite functional for me, as I tend to remember the size and color of a book more often than I remember the complete name. This isn't all my books, oddly enough. The white colored books are on the bookshelf. I'm also quite thrilled with the lovely color I've painted my walls. I started putting things up on them this week as well.

Playing

2007-02-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

I think I've figured out my making-stuff-hiatus issue. And blog-neglect. And I still don't like the banner anymore.

1: I've been upset or sick. Most of what I do is detail work. Small stuff.
2: Moved in and out. Part of the above. The room-moving thing got me. But I painted my room. And I'm getting done with painting all my shelves and such.
3: I haven't had anything new to play with. BUT I got some freezer paper yesterday. I started a bitchin' stencil to finish up one of my shelves with.
4: Homework. Damn. School.

So I'm making stuff again.
Picture soon [I hope].

Moving

2007-01-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

Well, no, not really moving.

We're getting new carpet, so I've got to box all my shit up and get it outta here by monday. Then I can move it all back in. I'm thinking of ways I can rearrange and such to make things easier.

1: Make an actual...y'know...workspace. My desk right now is facing a wall. I just can't work at it. Makes me uncomfortable. I'll turn it around and stick it somewhere, probably.
2: Storage. I'd love to have some of those tiny little cube shelve things I see all those crafters on television have in their lovely lovely "studios" or "craftrooms", which I covet. I'm thinking I might just modify the shelves I already have. I'm moving them around anyway, might as well add in some cheaply made grids. I want to nail a bookshelf to the wall, sideways. I think it'd look nice. I'd probably have to add one of those support rails to the wall first. Maybe as a headboard. I need to arrange my trunk mobettah. I might need another box/trunk/basket as well. Preferably something with a lid.
3: Tarp. Yeah. I paint. I like to paint while sitting on my floor. New carpet. 'Nuff said.
4: Refinish. My dresser is the perfect size. It's actually quite cute. But I need to sand it down and refinish it. I'd almost like to stain it a red color. Or maybe a cool turqoise. Replace the hardware with something chrome...Beautiful.

That's pretty much it. Sheeit. That's a lot to do. I'm still waay not adjusted to the school schedule. I am sleeping the same amount that I had been over break, but when I get home from school...I don't really...do...anything. Minimal amount of the making stuff. It's disappointing.

I did box some shit up tonite though.

No rest for the sleep-deprived and the crafty

2007-01-21T00:59:00.000-08:00

I've decided I don't like my new banner.

I have been making things, but not much.

School started last week. I've been suffering from the lack of sleep that has typically been a fixture of previous semesters, and it feels like shit. Of course, I'll readjust to the "regular" schedule and getting dressed everyday [read: heels and bras].

I went out and bought some fabulous rubber molding stuff with the gift card from Jen. I've made a mold to redo my first molded-resin lapel pin. I could repaint the original and it would be fine, but I'd rather have a mold that would require less work. I've been making more and more things outta clay, so I've got those to make molds of and turn into resin copies.

Lesson Learned: I am no sculptor. However, I've come up with a better way for me to turn a picture into a 3d clay template. My clay is a nice, cheap, white polymer clay. I bought it at Target when I was stocking up on school supplies. I can take my picture, draw over the lines with a pencil, and transfer the image to rolled out clay. I do this a few times. I use the first copy, on a thinner peice of clay, as a base. The other copies are on thicker clay. I cut peices out individually and shape them, attach them to the base and repeat in layers for the different bits of my picture. Then I bake them and sand them and further shape them. I work better with the baked-hardened clay than with the soft stuff. I'm less afraid of warping the image while smoothing the lines and surface.

I've got a few things I absolutely have to finish in the next few weeks for essentially just one reason. So I'll try out my molds and make some pretty things. Then take pictures.

Okay...

2007-01-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

So I haven't made much recently.

Puffy face and vicodin, oddly enough, doesn't exactly facilitate my creativity. It just makes me want to sit around and stare blankly in the direction of the television.

School starts on Tuesday. I didn't get nearly as many things done as I wanted to. I always come up with good ideas sitting in class. Plus I'll be downtown everyday and maybe that will actually make me go and try to get a job, mostly desired to finance my craft addiction.

I'm painting another tie right now, but the image is way harder than most things I would try to paint anywhere else. Plus I'm working from a black and white photo trying to get colors right. I've got reference shots, but it's still coming slowly.

I'm also trying my hand at painting metal things. Since I love acrylic paints, I'm just using my regular cheapass acrylic and I plan to coat it with a thin layer of resin, get that shiny protection. The belt buckle I really do indeed to have done tomorrow.

Anyway, there will be pictures...sometime.

Smarts.

2007-01-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

I get my wisdom teeth out.

I've been thinking of getting an Etsy.com shop.

I started on a new banner last night when I couldn't sleep for anxiety.

Nervous.
Fecking Nervous.

I'll be out for a while.

Two More Ties

2007-01-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

My first try at a Sailor Jerry Girl/Bottle o' Booze

And aptly entitled tie: Nature is Emo.

It's a bit blurry and dark, but hopefully you get the gist.

AND
I got a bento box about a week ago as a X-Mas gift.
I've really really been wanting one.
I'm way excited.
This is why:
www.bentocorner.com
www.cookingcute.com

AND
I tailored a skirt down this weekend. Triangle-skirt that was too long to be flattering as is, chopped and mended and trimmed down to a pencil skirt. Since all good pencil skirts need a slit to...y'know...facilitate walking, nearly the whole back has a adjustable slit with hook and eye closures to accomodate for walking, running...other things that skirts go up for...
Hopefully there will be a picture coming.

AND
I'm still trying to think up a good banner.
I can't come up with even an idea.
I don't really want to repeat the background image, but I've drawn a lot of things similar. Then again, I might want something completely different up there. Dunno. I can tweak colors on anything to match the rest of 'em. I just don't know. Blah.
I'll probably go with another vintage-tattoo-look thing, since I like that so much.
Maybe the birds with banners of some sort.
Probably that.
See now, writing things out really does clear up the thinking process. That took all of 30 seconds and I got a good idea.

New Year

2006-12-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

So, a part of this season is examining the past year and making goals for the coming year.

My past year, I got quite into crafting. I've rekindled my relationship with my sewing machine. I tried new things and I'm getting better at everything solely by doing.

In my next year, I have a few crafting resolutions...

1: Be a dedicated journaler:

I've already started this one. I bought a journal just before X-Mas. I couldn't wait, even though I got a beautiful one as a gift. I have a tendency to pick things up, cut things out, and generally save things that are somehow inspiring to me. I file them into a folder marked "inspirations". Well, that hasn't really worked out. I have these bits and peices of paper and junk. But for a lot of them I have no idea what was inspiring in the first place. In my journal, double stick tape is key. I'll stick my cached bit down and then write why I like it, why I picked it out of the trash can or up from the ground, why it is there. Plus all that personal stuff inbetween. There is a tendency for my thinking process to clear up when I write things down. Get it out. This is applicable across the board.

2: Quit with the wishy-washy:

This is a big one. And it is going to be applied to personal life as well. I need to make up my mind and make others make up theirs. I often start projects I don't finish. If it takes more than two hours, I'll set it aside for that "rainy day" that comes, but rarely.

3: Build a Silk Screen:

Oh My. I want to do this soo bad. It's all about time and money really. I've got the time, but I haven't got the money. It's not that expensive, but, hey, I'm a poor college student. I really hope to get to the hardware store in the coming week, but I've been saying that for over a month.

4: Shoe Paint:

This shit is harder to find than you think. It's paint that's made specifically for painting shoes. It's flexible, pretty durable, and covers well. I'd like to paint shoes with it, of course, but then there's also the many many other things it would be just fabulous for.

5: Go to California/Oregon:

Just because.

Ties and Hair Doodads.

2006-12-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

So, I painted a lovely pepper mill to be a X-Mas present for my stepmum, but I forgot to take pictures of the final product. Ooops. It had a retro-hipster-tree forest in blue. I think I'm going to make orange marmelade.

So I made these a few weeks ago.
Materials: Ribbon, glue, molded resin+paint, bobby pins.

For the flower, I started with cutting petals out of 1 inch ribbon. I like using ribbon because it gives me a good width to start from. I use the full width as the largest petal and cut down from there. I cut the petals out by size, 5-8 of each, then put clear nail polish around the edge on the back side to keep it from fraying. Then I glue 'em all together with hot glue, starting with the center first. If I'm just going for a flower, I wrap a few around each other for the center, but in this case, I kept the middle open, not very clustered. At the end I glued the little skull in the middle.

The bow was super easy. I made a loop, creased it a bit in the middle, wrapped a peice of ribbon around it. The tails are just slant-cut ribbon glued to the back. The bone, again, is a painted peice of molded resin. I glued it down, wrapped a thin ribbon around that.

Resin is fun stuff. It comes in this metal bottle like paint thinner comes in. It hardens once the catalyst is added. It stinks like hell until it's completely dry. Oh. And it can probably kill you. You can pour it into any type of mold. Once it hardens, it can be sanded and shaped, which I've done to get nice round edges, which can be hard to make when carving molds. I've been carving them until I can get my hands on some nice mold-clay. It's a type of clay that, after hardening, is still flexible without cracking.

Also. I LOVE THESE!
I got a nice set of paint for X-Mas, something which I've been needing badly. So, of course, I had to use it immediately. I've been collecting old, ugly ties. I've had this idea for a while, but never actually...done it.

Materials: Ties + Paint. Posted in the order they were made.

Also, I've been asking all my friends to send me a list of their five or so favorite things. It's a nice source of ideas. That's where the space and cigarette painted ties came from. So please, send me your damn list people.

P.S. I need a better banner image for this thing. Any ideas?

Edit: By the way, the second one down is a peacock. Not a trippy eye thing. Wierdo.

Gift Baskets

2006-12-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

My neighbor across the street and over a bit has been extremely helpful in dealing with our snow. He brought his snow-blower over and helped us clear out the driveway/sidewalk, clear out our cars, and get one unstuck from the snow this morning when we were on our way out.

So I put together a gift basket for him. Gift baskets are generally...well...shitty, primarily the pre-made ones you can buy in any store around any holiday. They're one third full of things you like and will eat/use, one third things that are okay but you'd much rather just give to someone else, and the last third is crap you're most likely to throw away.

My utilitarian holiday gift basket consists of:
One loaf of nice bread
Cheese and Crackers (organic cheddar and little toast-crackers)
An orange-fig spread
Little mini-muffin coffee cakes
Bath paints (for the two little girls)
Pack of blank thank you cards
Stamps
And all in a basket that's the perfect shape for storing holiday cards

Full of things you'd want for the holidays and that will definitely come in handy. Good snack foods, etc.

I'd also thought about putting in little boredom kits for the little girls to take to family outings during the season. Maybe a little pack of crayons and a notebook in a bag with some candy. Something of that sort. Because it can get damn boring at grandma's sometimes.

First Blog.

2006-12-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

I make things. I make many things. I think that I can make anything I truly want to. I like the idea of being able to make the things I use everyday (although I'm a few steps away from mastering the electronics aspect). I'm a soon to be an Ebay seller, once I get paypal set up straight. So, I've recently decided to start a crafting blog. I read these things damn near every day. And, for the most part, I can do better.

So in honor of the season and the blizzard, here's what I've been making...

I love this:

I made these a while ago, my X-Mas Cookies:

I've been wrapping all my gifts in these little Asian-food takeout boxes...
Momma's:

All of them lined up on the piano:

Of course, now I need to learn how to take better pictures.
Apologies.

More Later.
More Soon.