New Supply Items!

Brass Mollusk Sea Shell



Raw Brass Steampunk Gear Circle

These are the first of many supplies that I have made using the lost wax technique I'm now finally getting these made and in my shop over a year after taking the class. Both can bee seen at SacredSupplies.etsy.com

Buy an Item Get a Free Gift = FAIL

That promotion was my first and it failed I assume largely in part due to the lack of forewarning =( anyways lets get beyond the "would of, could of, should of, to the fact that this ring is now listed in the shop for sale. It's a really nice ring that takes a bit of manual labor to make and I must say I am very pleased with the quality and look of it, as I'm keeping one for myself Yar! ;)
The Ye Ol' Pirate Ring can be seen in the shop by clicking here

Buy an Item Get a Free Gift This Weekend Only!

Do you know what today is?
The day that happens once a year where you are free to release your inner pirate! That's right, It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day! See what it's all about on Talk Like a Pirate.com


In honor of this highly anticipated event I'm offering a free pirate ring with each order from my Sacred Relics Shop! Use the code "weekend deals" in the message to seller. This offer is valid from 9/18/09 to 9/20/09 Limit 1 per person.
Click har t' get some booty with yer loot! Yar!

Greek Nouveau Chandelier Earrings

New to the Shop Greek Nouveau Chandelier Earrings

Elegant and ornately detailed these earrings remind me of something the ancient Greeks would fancy. The faceted bronze czech glass fire polished bead stands out delightfully as it is captured between two brass watch gears and then framed by a pair of simple white beads. These earrings with their steampunk flare really embrace a new take on an Ancient Greek look hence they are named Greek Nouveau. These earrings measure 1.25 inches (3.1cm) in length from the bottom of the brass ear wire and are .5 of an inch (1.2 cm) wide.

These took me a bit to piece together and I am loving how it turned out. This is the first time I've used gears as bead caps and the fine detailed look they give is amazing! Although I doubt I will be making another pair of these specific earrings, I do look forward to utilizing the gears like these as bead caps in more of my creations.

New to the Shop - Labradorescence

Labradorescence Tie Tack Lapel Pin

The labradorite gemstone upon this tie tack is a sight to behold as it dances with a brilliant blue fire dances across its surface and has some nice clarity. The gemstone is set in a barrel drum which sits upon a balance wheel and a graciously sized pocket watch gear giving it an exquisite edgy look.
To make it quite simple, this tie tack is simply stunning.
The tie tack measures .7 of and inch (1.7cm) in diameter.

I really love the labradorite cabochon which was chosen to be the focal of this piece because of it's clarity and flashy brilliant blue display. I was fortunate to be able to hand pick this cabochon and other labradorite cabochons, which will be seen in following items, from a seller at one of the many gem shows that happen in Santa Monica.

Revenants

Two new items in the shop today! Actually they are slight variations of each other but I'm very pleased to be upping my game as it were with higher quality items. Both of these earrings feature gemstones of the feldspar group of minerals sunstone and moonstone.



Stunning and elegant these earrings have their own story to tell, as they honor the cross culture mythology of butterflies, which are believed to be the souls of the deceased, by having a haunting air of ethereal art nouveau, combined with antique mechanical elements. On top of that these are graced with genuine sunstone gemstones which glitter in celestial brilliance.

The name of these earrings was choosen based on mythology dealing with butterflies click here for a link to a page about it.

Here's what Merriam Webster has to say about the word Revenant:
" * Main Entry: rev·e·nant
* Pronunciation: \ˈre-və-ˌnäⁿ, -nənt\
* Function: noun
* Etymology: French, from present participle of revenir to return
* Date: 1818
: one that returns after death or a long absence"

As you can see this word is from the 1800s to give the earrings that much deserved steampunk flare.

Bringing in the new!

Fleur De Pearl - Mother of Pearl Earrings

These earrings shimmer with the simple elegance of mother of pearl that has been paired with the regal symbol of fleur de lis making this pair a fitting adornment for any occasion.

It feels good to finally have something new in the shop!
Now just 20-30 more items to go =P

Fun stuff by ArtSnark

Etsy Steam Team member and talented artist ArtSnark is doing a few portraits of Steam Team members. She took this pic


ran it through the inspirational gears of her artistic aesthetic to create this!



To say that this portrait titled "Trust Me" is pretty friggin cool is an understatement! I can't wait to see what else she creates from the other Steam Team members so keep tabs on her blog ArtSnark's Artifacts: Art & musings for the eclectic soul,
and now that you've had a taste of her work check out some more in her shop! ArtSnark.etsy.com

Talented Friends Joanna Torres

In the previous posts I had you meet Julia LoVan of Julia LoVan Dresses and Corrie Hill Sullivan of Corrie Hill Design. Now I would like to introduce you to another fellow Etsyian Joanna Cheng Torres aka JojoCheng with her Jojo's Handspun Yarn shop on Etsy!



Joanna is another person that is a part of the Mosaic Community however I know her through her husband John Torres who is a very talented musician and a wonderful friend to my husband!
Joanna lovingly hand spins yarn which is a process I really want to see! Her yarn varies from rustic to ornate with a wide range of unique and vibrant colors. The color qualities seem to stand out even more with the attributes they are named with.

This one is called EFFERVESCENCE and is a delightful almost alchemistical mix of merino, corriedale cross wool, baby (cria) alpaca, tussah silk, BFL (bluefaced leicester), firestar (glitz). With such hand spun delights it's no wonder why her shop is near empty right now! But don't fret more will surly be up soon so keep an eye on this talented yarn maker!

Talented Friends Corrie Hill Sullivan

In the first post I introduced Julia LoVan the creative mind behind Julia LoVan Dresses on Etsy! Now I would like to introduce another friend and fellow etsyian Corrie Hill Sullivan of Corrie Hill Design on etsy!

I met Corrie through Mosaic(I forgot to mention in the prior Talented Friends post that I also met Julia through Mosaic as well)and she is an energetic, adorable and amazing woman who is originally from Ireland. CorrieSullivan is her user name on etsy and she boasts a delightful mix of goodies for the wee ones. These range from bibs, onesies, baby T's, pillows and more, with fashionably handmade applique adornments such as cupcakes, vespas, guitars, butterfly's and birds. If you are an LA local at Unique LA she also offered a mobiles made of bird ornaments lovingly adorned with vintage buttons and lace. For my little girl's baby shower she presented this Corrie Hill Designed original super adorable cupcake baby T-Shirt!


Corrie's designs are a cute blend of pop culture and folk art rusticity which gives her a great style for kids and cupcake lovers. If you have a baby or toddler in the house, one on the way (like me)or are searching for a gift, take a peek at what she has to offer at corriesullivan.etsy.com

Talented Friends Julia LoVan

I would like to recognize some of my amazingly talented friends that I know in person! I will try to spotlight someone either each Friday, within my next few blog posts or just sporadically because I'm bad with blogging in general.

The first person I want to showcase is Julia LoVan the creative mind behind Julia LoVan Dresses on Etsy



The things I appreciate the most about Julia is her dedication to the underprivileged community and in addition to that focuses on being eco-conscious by being, "on the constant search to use more recycled or sustainable materials." Her day job is working with intercity kids and I had the pleasure of helping her with Illuminate that gives a safe and creative haven to underprivileged kids during the summer, by equipping them with useful artistic abilities that they otherwise would not have known.



With everything she does she gives back in some way and this is stated in her shop. "Julia LoVan Dresses operates out of Los Angeles and create products that are hope-filled. We are on the constant search to use more recycled or sustainable materials. The desire to do so comes from a passion to seek justice for our friends: the local and international poor and underserved populations. This is achieved through using fashion and networking with global organizations to create housing and jobs. Part of the proceeds goes towards the building of orphanages in Lusaka, Zambia with Breath of Heaven Children's Ministries. For more information or to partner in this endeavor, please email julialovandresses@gmail.com.
Simplicity, compassion, beauty."

Recently she has been featured on Wrecked For The Ordinary



So kudos to Julia as she is one of my talented friends that really shines!

Busyness

Last week was awesome having my best friend Kieu aka Kieutiepie on Etsy over from Weds to Sat. On Thursday was the V-tines Day gift fair at EA of which the gift fairs are well set up by Staci G. and attended by the peeps at EA. It's a great event to boost moral and help put those on "crunch time" to be reminded, and get something for their temporary neglected significant other. While at the fair Kieutiepie and I met another etsyian named Magic aka ChaoticHappy on etsy who runs the etsy shop with his wife and makes a fun eclectic assortment of plush zombies and other unique items. Here's a pic of Kieu at Magic's table


And this is a pic of me with a customer at the table Kieu and I shared.


Other then that we ended up being pretty busy with her short term testing job at Activision, the wonderful gift fair at EA, and with Jason hiring Kieu to do data entry for this big Final Cut Server Event he's putting on. So needless to say we had very limited time to fart around playing video games or make jewelry, however having her here made it a great valentines day being with the two people I cherish the most in my life.
For the most part Jason and I don't really celebrate v-tines day but we had sushi (cooked only for me of course) and then later that evening stayed home and watched "Day Watch" the sequel to "Night Watch" both of which are fantastic movies to come out of Russia and you have to watch it subtitled because of the artistic innovation used in the titles. I'm also glad that Timur is now working on the third one (Twilight Watch) as I heard rumor that it was not going to happen.

Anyways photoshop has crapped out on me, I know why I'm just not saying why and it will be resolved in a month or (groan) longer which really puts a damper on listing new items. So far I've been farting around with GIMP and it's really nice for a free program but it really messes the quality of the photos or I just can't figure out how to get it to output the same quality as PS. Anyways adding new items is going to be a pain as I may have to migrate from my PC to a mac G4 but perhaps I could use this to my advantage and swipe my hubbys G5 and use the Cannon 50D in the process.
Anyways I have more supplies to list in my Sacred Supplies shop I give you brass adjustable ring blanks!

These are so much better then the ones I've gotten before as they are solid brass, very comfortable to wear, and they have a nice ridged design going around the band and the band ends under the glue pad so it looks seamless. These were a great find for me and I will be switching to using them after I finish with the other adjustable ring blanks which require sanding to make them comfortable.
Anyways I'm fighting off an impending sinus infection V_V so now I shall nap till it's time to make dinner.

A Wonder-Full Day

The day started with a beautiful drive to downtown LA in which the skys were clear and the mountains could be seen showing gleaming with a white brilliance of fresh snow unobstructed by the usual Los Angeles smog.
The first stop on my check list was A&A Jewelery Supply to gather some displays for the EA v-tines day gift fair on Thursday. They have the best prices on packaging and other great items for a variety of jewelry making and levels of jewelry making.
A&A Jewelry Supply is located at:
319 w. 6th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014

After finishing up there it was time to hit up the bead supply stores! Which are located off of 8th and Maple where I usually shell out the $6 to park in a lot and walk the area as the stores are in close proximity and I tend to spend over an hour in the area. The first of these I hit up on my usual supply gathering circuit is Berger Specialty Co. Inc. aka Berger Beads I check out this store for various findings and other fun vintage items that the others don't have.
Berger Specialty Co. Inc. is located at:
413 E. 8th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Next I walked to Bohemian Crystal which has the best prices on Swarovski Crystals! Also another utopia of various findings as well.
Bohemian Crystal is located at:
812 S. Maple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014

My final stop on the supply gathering circuit was Athenian Fashions Store which they have two down town but only one is their official supply store and it's on Maple just a few store fronts up from Bohemian. This store has a highly organized and vast chain selection this is where I get most of my chains from but I don't suggest getting much else as their prices are a bit on the high side but sometimes you can find those awesome deals by stalking the rows of items for a bit.
Unfortunately I don't have the address to their supply store but walk in to their jewelry store which is right across from Berger and ask them for the location of their second store, or just walk up Maple and they are just past the lingerie store.

After pilfering those shops back into my trusty steed of metal Jeepness of Fury, and I was off for some tasty vegan goodness that goes by the name of Doomies Home Cookin' however to my horror and dismay this portion of the quest was thwarted! Doomies has closed until a better location can be found which is a good thing as it was in Chinatown and didn't offer Chinese food, a bit misleading for an area that is reserved for cheap yummy asian eats loaded with sodium, MSG, and all sorts of meat. It is also a land weird herbal shops, counterfeit and (sometimes illegal)wonders! Doomies just didn't quite fit in to the mystique of Chinatown. However the man is doing catering and I highly suggest the vegan goodness in the form of tacos or fried junk food goodness that only he can make! For further updates on Doomies or info on how to get him to cater your event go to his myspace page http://www.myspace.com/doomieshomecookin

Since that was a phail I defaulted to Little Tokyo Sushi, which by 2pm most of the sushi places were closed for the afternoon so the hunt was on for the open sushi restaurant! I landed in Tenno Sushi which closed at 3pm and had 1/2 off sushi (saving money with my expensive tastes is a good thing) so I ordered a veggie roll, inari, and an eel roll. All was good and 1/2 off is a splendid thing!
Tenno Sushi is located at:
207 S. Central Ave / off of 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Alright so after a quick lunch I was running late to my next stop of the quest! Which was to pick up something most wonderful! A custom made crib bumper set for the head and foot of the crib, that I have been waiting to get and it has not happened yet >=[ I'm in nesting mode I need it already!
Anyways so this miraculously splendid item was created by the amazingly adorable genius of etsy seller HiTree! I have been dreaming of the day I could buy one of her items from seeing them pop up on the Etsy front page. This urge came even more apparent when I found out she's a local artist when I spied her booth at the Unique LA even that two friends of mine were sharing a booth at (they are awesome and I'm a flake for not blogging on them but I will get to that this month or next month)
So needless to say I've been drooling over the cutness that the HiTrees are and I began following her blog and she follows a blog that my best friend Kieutiepie started called Etsy Addicts making this a neat little full circle of Etsy community greatness! One day upon following HiTree's blog a post about her making a crib bumper of the trees really caught my attention and I had to have one for the impending baby! However to my dismay the one that was created was out of my budget so we tossed some ideas about and she was able to create a partial bumper for the head and foot of the crib that could fit my budget! I was sold instantly! So about two weeks later it's finished and illuminates with tree hugging love as we opted to save a tree on shipping and I went to the studio to pick it up! Meeting and chatting a bit with Tina was awesome! This was a huge treat and I would love to get a Los Angeles street team meet up going because of how amazing Etsyians are! Also I will take pics and blog more on the bumper once I get the crib, I may jump the gun though with getting the crib taking such a long time.
However after that fantastic experience the day was not over yet! I deserved (craved) ice cream! Which being in the downtown area hopping on the 101 and going to Scoops is the only option! Fortunately I facebooked this endeavor and was joined by two friends Ernae and Helen! So it was a social event as going to Scoops should be!
The special thing about Scoops is that they have homemade ice cream of unique and delicious flavor. On top of that 4 of them are always non diary! So I can really go to town there. I had three out of the four strawberry cheesecake, banana oreo, and chocolate vanilla.
Scoops is a must try and is located at:
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029

After the joyous meeting with friends I had one more stop on the quest! Surfas! This is where one can find all sorts of things like good imported beer, cooking, baking and confectionery supplies and the packaging there of. As well as cooking courses and more fun items. I only needed packaging for the baked goodies I will be bringing to sell at the EA V-tines Gift Fair oh and a large bottle of organic vanilla cause that stuff goes fast.
Surfas is located at:
8777 W Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230

As if my day was not full already with wondrous delights I had one more quest to take on Dinner! So I went to downtown Culver to hit up M Cafe and what fun! There was the Culver City farmers market that goes late into the evening! Which had lots of preped food vendors, fresh produce, and some hand made items. Which with that and dinner at M I was done for the day!
M Cafe is good food and is Macrobiotic meaning no dairy no eggs no meats besides fish! All of their food is good and budget willing I frequent this place quite often.
There are two locations see their website MCafeDeChaya.com for more info.

The Spiked Hairsticks Are Back!

They are back alright but in very limited supply as at the moment I can only make four pairs and one pair has already been sold! These will most likely only be plain ones for now and in the future I will be making some with spike dangles which I have on my own pair. Click the image of them on the right to purchase them from my shop!

So Sleepy -_- zzZzZzZZZzZzZzz

I have succeeded at not getting done what I had wanted to get done today. What has been done is taking my car to the shop and it's going to be a shiny new radiator for Jeepness. Yes I named my Jeep Wrangler her full name is Jeepness of Fury =D and I figure cars are like large mechanical pets, you feed them, clean them and take them to the Mechanic Doctor when they are sick. Which means Jeepness is having surgery omg my poor car!
Now enough of my insane banter from being very sleepy, I tend to research my items pretty heavily and fill my brain with useless knowledge which I shall from this day forward share with those who may so happen to stumble upon this blogamigigger.

I recently wrote of acquiring my grubby little paws on a fabulous lot of watch parts with are cases, bands, movements, watch makers vials, amazing tins, and other fun things. So most of the intact movements I will be selling and I like to know what I selling so I've been doing research on the brands and the history of wrist watches in general which I found out women were the first to wear wrist watches or wristlets as they were referred to at the time, where as the watches were decorative pieces more like bracelets and even as I've found brooches with the watch set upside down so the lady could peer down and not have to fondle with her bosom trying to peer at the time. The reason behind why women lay claim to wearing the first wrist watch has been said to be because of the women's rights movements and women moving towards being in the work place. This essentially began in 1848 when the first official Women's Rights Convention convened and push ahead in the 1920s with the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote.
Men later too on the trend starting with the first world war. Here's what a site on the history of the Gruen Watch Co has to say about it,"Most men saw wristwatches as being extremely effeminate and continued to carry pocket watches. Things began to change after the military on both sides used wristwatches during the First World War. When huddled in a muddy trench or flying an airplane, a wristwatch proved to be much more practical and convenient than a pocket watch, and was easier to protect from damage. This helped to remove the wristwatch's feminine stigma, making them acceptable for men to wear in civilian life. However, most manufacturers, including Gruen, were careful to call them "strap watches" since "wristwatch" still sounded effeminate to male customers."
Those are the interesting tid bits I found out today and I look forward to getting the movements up on my Sacred Supplies shop tonight.
Here's a list that I worked up of the brands to expect:
Bering Watch co
Benrus Watch co inc
Beverly
Bulovia Watch Co
Englin USA
Etna Watch co
Glycine watch co
Gruen Watch co
Harman Watch Co
Helbros Watch Co
Klasons Watch Co
Liban Watch Co
Libela Watch Co
Louis Watch co inc
Mildus watch co
Rensie Watch co
Royce watch co
Winton Watch Co

Yesterday's Listings

Here's the new items up on etsy

Pirate's Pike Earrings
They are a bit pricey because I had to remove the loop at the top of the skull and crossbones charm. Then carve out the back portion of and widen the skull charms so they would sit correctly on the spikes. All of that paid off to make a wickedly good pair of pirate earrings.


Elegant Deco - Chandelier Earrings
I've made several pairs of these before I started my etsy store but I've had to update the design with doing actual wire wrapped loops pricey again because of the wrapping work, sterling silver wire, and the fact that swarovski's are a b*tch to deal with I cracked one on this pair and had to discard it and redo one of the dangling bars.


Lately I've been in a wire wrapping mood and I'm planning a bracelet with some faceted turquoise beads and I have a matching bracelet for the Elegant Deco set but for some odd reason I just haven't put it up yet. On the flip side I'm working hard on the steamteam competition piece which is an acrylic on canvas painting! The contest is titled "Time Flies" but I decided to do my piece without the use of wings as a challenge to myself so far it looks pretty good and pics will be posted when it's finished.
I've got 5 jewelry pieces that need to be assembled and a horde of items to list in my destash/supply shop. On top of that I need to turn in more headshots and reformat my resume for the acting stuff and get that done by tues then I'm eager to see what I learn next in the lost wax class I should take pics of the ring before I send it off too!

Success!

I've got myself a casting agency! I've just gotta spruce up my resume and then I'm set for some real work. (side note: in LA when you say you're an actor people ask you, "So whats your real job?" heh) So I still have things to take care of with that and I will have more time for plotting things and wire-wrapping but less for listing so I really don't know if my shops will suffer a bit...but I pray they do not.
On to my next order of business, I now have over 80 items in my shop! Here's the two new steampunk items listed today:
The Gear Heart Locket Ring


Industrial Grape Leaves Earrings


More items Elegant Deco earrings (I've made these, and sold them) even before I had the etsy account but I just got around to making more)I will also be getting the Pirates Pike earrings up as well.

Fun Etsy Stuff

I'm feeling better and to top it off I got an Etsy Treasury! These things are tough to get and I happened to be in the right place at the right time (in front of my compy) Here's what it looks like


They only last for a few days so it's gone now.

However, I'm still all proud of it and stuff =P

Seven Items and More Interesting things

Today was utilized in the completion of seven items six of which are the long awaited steampunk style ones (which were sitting around waiting for supplies to arrive) and one is sorta neo-victorian. I will be getting all of these up tomorrow and perhaps even finish the next chastity in chains necklace and get that up as well in addition to that I just remembered that I have another version of spiked earrings to put up too. Geeze I've been busy in the past few days.
Also the steampunk petite locket is a hit and I plan on making more of those little guys and perhaps one for me too ^_^ but I dunno.
Going on with the conscious stream of thought writing....I had to remove the Pulchritudinous Gear Pendant because I can't find it at the moment =(

Now on the other interesting things...
I was farting around with the Geolocator thinggy on etsy and the only other person listed in my area is a person who lives in my apartment complex and has taken pics showing an outside wall of my apt (how scandalous =P). She also has three kitties and I sent her a convo on the site. It's pretty amusing how things are funny like that.
This is all for now oh and I shall leave you with a sneak peek at one piece:

I've fallen

For steampunk..... so this is the thing that I am currently obsessed with now, however it may be more then just a fad. I am really enjoying playing with the broken clock/watch machinery bits and pairing them with lovely vintage or vintage looking pieces of filigree and other embellishments. I love to make one of a kind pieces and this is the greatest outlet for that whim. It's almost like painting a picture or, for a better analogy, putting together a wearable collage. When creating these pieces it's almost like they create themselves where as pieces fit perfectly only with very specific pieces. For example I've had a brooch waiting for the perfect piece to finish as the focal and today I got in my supplies from Epoch Beads with some amazing consolation pieces (OMG I love her!!!) anyways one of the extras was a unique vintage plastic heart that just so happened to fit perfectly as the focal so now that item can be completed. I have been racking my brain for weeks trying to place something as the focal and the focal comes by pure chance (it really seems more than just by chance).
Along with my supplies from Epoch Beads (I would so give her a hug if I could) I received my supplies from Just Peachy Designs another really nice seller that I adore and got a really cute hand made box from her as a thank you gift (which I shall order more and perhaps use for packaging as promo for her shop). Back on to the topic at hand I got gears little and large a purely wonderful mix and several of them have already been used to finally finish some pieces a key pendant which will be set on rolo chain and a clover pendant.
I finally finished another steampunk necklace which was awaiting my trip to the Bead Source for some rolo chain and a clasp (Gasp it's amazing I love it but it must be sold)and tomorrow I shall finally finish the brooch. For tomorrow I also need to make another Chastity in chains necklace I've been flaking on the wire-wrapping.