Friday, May 20, 2011

Friday Favorites!

Every year, the goths in Seattle sponsor a float in the local Pride Parade, entitled the "Dark Side of the Rainbow." Today's Friday Favorites post is dedicated to the wonderful folks who march with this float every year.

Gothic Pride Seattle - Darkside of the Rainbow - One Inch Pinback Button Special Edition Set, by hereticsaint



Red Chiffon Dracula's Bride Gown by Kambriel:



Devil Heart Bottle by Kitcameo:



Red and black Cameo hairclip fascinator, by TheEmeraldSkull:



Butterfly Veiled Goth Tea Dress Rosa Collection 2010, by priscilladawn:



THE CROW, Black Lace Cuff, Goth, Victorian Style, by vivitoo:

Why ArtFire rocks!

I've been transitioning over from Etsy to Artfire over the last few months, for several reasons.

Firstly, my listings don't expire. I'm paying a flat fee per month, instead of having to renew things every four months, and there's no listing or transaction fees. Considering the number of items I have in dbvictoria and MissVictoriasVintage, that's a huge savings for me over the course of a year!

I also love the ease of listing over there - their one page format makes things so simple.

Plus, 10 pictures if you've got a pro account! Especially for my parasols, trying to show them off to full advantage with a limited number of shots was challenging.

Butterscotch Plaid Steampunk Lolita Parasol OOAK



Their front page rotation is tops, too. Did you know they've got a limiting system built in, where if someone's been on the front page or in a finds email, they can't be featured again for a set time period? So you always get to see fresh new artists!

And their checkout and invoice system has some handy little features too. It's got the option that I can click on an icon and it'll show that I've got the item packed and will send a message to the customer saying their purchase has been shipped.

I could blather on a lot more, but let me just say that I love being a seller here. They did a lot of listening to what people wanted, and have incorporated that into their site.

Become an ArtFire Pro with this link and get your 3rd month free!



~

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Daily Collection feature!

This morning, as I'm checking my email, I open up the ArtFire Daily Collection feature, and guess what?



Yep! That's my parasol included in this richly colored collection. *happy dance*

I also broke 10,000 item views in my ArtFire shop this week!

~

Sunday, May 15, 2011

What’s Old is New Again!

Today, I get to present my newest creations for the Artbeads Beaders who Blog program!****

The theme was "What’s Old is New Again!" and the challenge was to incorporate vintage or antique components into our pieces. Hey, I can do that! ;)

This time around I decided to do something completely different, and ordered a selection of resin cameos. I also got a length of some antiqued brass chain, and a fun hook and eye clasp. As usual, the ordering process was smooth and I received my new shinies speedily. It took me a bit to figure out what to do with them, as I don't normally work with undrilled pieces, but after some finagling I figured things out, and I'm quite happy with the results.


One of the cameos in an antiqued brass frame, with a combination of new and old chain for stringing, a hook and eye clasp in the shape of a bumblebee, and the tassel made from more vintage chain and a bit from an old necklace:

Brass Cameo necklace

Another cameo, with more new and vintage chain, accented by an antique glass pearl from another old necklace:

Brass Cameo necklace

The third was strung with several different styles of vintage chain, draped and layered:

Red Rose cameo necklace

Red Rose cameo necklace

The fourth, another of the smaller flower cameos on vintage chain with vintage copper colored glass pearls and glass beads:

flower cameo necklace

And the fifth I did as a choker with strung freshwater pearls, more vintage chain, and some antique crystal beads with the original black filigree bead caps.

Cameo with pearls and antique crystals

Cameo with pearls and antique crystals


****This post is a part of the ArtBeads Beaders who Blog program. They provide the beads to us free of charge, and we provide an honest review of their products. We are not paid to review or endorse them.

Friday, May 13, 2011

In honor of Friday the 13th

Found a bunch of old cat macros I made. Seems appropriate to re-post them here today.

NIGHTMARE-1

NIGHTMARE-2

NIGHTMARE-3

NIGHTMARE-4

NIGHTMARE-5A

or the alternate ending:

NIGHTMARE-5B

Starting sewing for faire

Came to the realization last weekend that the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire is only 3 months away. Oh, *bleep*! Gotta start sewing. I am completely in arrears for my 12 costumes in 12 months challenge. I am a bad, bad costumer. So this week I put together a gypsy type outfit. I cheated and re-used the tea-dyed chemise that is the basis for one of my elf outfits from years ago instead of making a new blouse. I also managed to make this outfit entirely from the stash, which makes me happy.

The outfit consists of pantaloons, a full-circle skirt, cincher, and a vest. Here's the fabrics I used:

gypsy fabric

There is a burgundy taffeta, embroidered with dragonflies in antiqued gold thread, a celadon shantung satin, a nubbly olive green fabric of uncertain composition (a thrift store drapery find) and the leftover corduroy fabric from when I made the holsters for my Lara Croft: Tombstone Raider outfit for last year's Steamcon.

Here's the outfit in its various itinerations:

gypsy outfit

And here's a bunch of close-ups of the vest, because I love how it turned out. First, the corduroy side:

gypsy vest cord side 1

I hand-sewed the trim on either side. This side has an olive green and ivory braid.

gypsy vest cord side 3

gypsy vest cord side 2

And here's the flip side, the same taffeta I used for the skirt, with some vintage gold trim:

gypsy vest satin side 1

gypsy vest satin side 3

Close-up of one of the dragonflies, just because!

gypsy vest satin side 2

So, one more down. Will have to do the count to see how much make-up I have to do if I'm going to finish this challenge by the end of August. I may fail, but I can always extend a few months and include the outfits for Steamcon III!




~