A set for me and two more pieces for the shop

I made this set a few weeks ago, but finally got around to photographing it for myself. I got this Ice Resin pendant from a friend of mine a few months ago, and found it in one of my boxes as I was organizing the stash just after Thanksgiving.



The pendant has little bitty watch parts in it! You should check out the rest of her ice resin jewelry creations.

This set finally got photographed today as I was getting a couple of new creations ready for listing. First, a new necklace. What? More pearls? Yes. More pearls. I love pearls. So sue me.

Freshwater Pearl and Antique Crystal Wedding Choker with Silver Chain



And secondly, I didn't have enough of the purple spiderweb fabric left over to completely recover a second parasol, but I did have enough to cover half of a second parasol.

Black Gothic Parasol Purple Laced Silver Spiderweb with Black Lace



It was brought home to me again just how lacking purple is in the fabric and trim market. Don't suppliers realize how much people love this color? We need to stand up and demand more purple options!

Off now to start making goodies for our NYE and NYD celebrations. Big wishes for a wonderful new year to all of you, and stay safe, okay?



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More purple parasol fun

I tried something different with my latest parasol, creating a faux lacing pattern on alternating panels, in between sections covered in the sheer purple fabric with the silver spiderweb pattern I used on the previous piece. It was mainly a thrifty necessity, as I didn't have enough of the remnant left to do all 8 panels, but I've been wanting to try something like this for some time now, so it all worked out, right?



Again, I'm hampered by color balance in photographs. I either get a blurry shot that is almost true to color, or a focused shot with the flash or sunlight where the purple turns cobalt blue. Blurry it is, at least for now:



I do now have a couple of yards of a bright purple lace, so I'll probably be doing another iteration or two in this color combination in the near future.



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Purple Spiders fly!

Well, purple spiderwebs, actually. I spent the last couple of days working on a new parasol, after finding a yard of fabric in the stash that I'd bought a few Halloweens ago and deciding I should put it on a parasol. I started with a new ruffled parasol, black satin, and covered it with this fabric, a sheer purple with a silver spiderweb pattern on it. Added some purple ribbon, black Venice lace, and some black and purple sequined trim, and voila!



The color purple is one my camera does not particularly like, it seems. Even after trying to tweak the colors in photoshop, I still couldn't get the true royal hues to come through.



I think I may have enough fabric to do one more, but I'll have to come up with some different trim options, as I only found one suitable trim from my source this time! Why, oh why do fabric suppliers not realize that purple is such a hot commodity?


(This one isn't listed anywhere, because it sold in less than five minutes after I posted an image of it to my facebook page, by the way.)



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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:

and yet another one

Yes, another new parasol completed! I'm going to have fun displaying them all.



This one's an antique black umbrella with burgundy and black trim and 4" burgundy Venice lace. Luckily, I've already made myself one in these ("my")colors, so I'm not too overly tempted to keep this one!

Mine!

Also vending at last weekend's festival was the talented and gracious Javagoth, who makes beautiful beaded jewelry. I purchased a steampunk pin of hers at this year's Norwescon from the artshow, similar to this piece:

Bright Steel & Black Watchface Pin



We conferred on a custom piece for me, which she just completed. Isn't it marvelous?



I'm jokingly calling this part of our jewelry exchange program, as she's bought jewelry from me previously. It's wonderful to return the favor!

A Year in the Making, day 296

It's been a busy weekend - I had two social events on Friday, a promo photoshoot for Steamcon and a movie viewing party on Saturday, and today was Pride Parade!

For one of Friday's gatherings I made what I call my Lemon Dream Cake:



It's always a favorite.

I finished the dress for the parade Friday night, and made a hat from scratch to match. I've made one other hat from scratch, but that was with a pattern. This time I completely winged it, with the aid of a pre-made piece I picked up ages ago at Display and Costume. I still had buckram left over from my previous project, and used scraps from the dress-making for the fabric.

I started off using a hat I reworked for my daughter for the basic shape:



I did a double thickness for the brim, for stiffness:



Traced out the crown for the opening on the brim pieces:



Cut out the circle for the crown and tabbed it:



Traced out the top of the crown - the outer border is the seam allowance. Neglected to take a picture, but this piece was tabbed too after I cut it out.



The assembled buckram framework:



The line you see around the brim is aluminum wire tacked on for stiffness, to keep the shape of the brim.



Here's the underside:



The fabric was tabbed also, and sewn on:





I made a band of the contrast fabric from the gown for around the crown:



Here's where I stopped taking pictures because I was running out of time. Some black cotton was used for lining, and the edges finished around the inside of the crown and around the rim of the brim with black bias tape, and then I finished it with daisy gimp:





And here's a shot of me in the dress and hat, and the necklace which inspired the gown, from today's Pride Parade in downtown Seattle - unfortunately I blinked.

A teaser

Can't be counted towards my year in the making yet, because I won't be finished with it until I can get some pink lace, but here's a couple of shots of the parasol I'm currently working on:

A Year in the Making, day 288

Today, in celebration of Etsy's 5th birthday, a virtual craft party was declared. And I have a new refurbished umbrella to show for it! I worked on it while chatting in the virtual craft lab this afternoon. It's a little different from my previous pieces, as I was trying to create something for a gentleman's wardrobe this time:

Steampunk Brolly - Upcycled Black Silk Vintage Umbrella/Parasol



I also worked on another piece off and on all weekend, in between bouts of "OMG I feel totally miserable!", another custom piece for a local friend:


Cherries Jubilee Parasol by *dbvictoria on deviantART

I am now going to enjoy the rest of my Friday night - I am having a Coca-Cola, which means that I'll be up entirely too late tonight because I haven't had any caffeine since last Friday. But I wanted a treat after the week I've had.

A year in the making, day 239

Happy May Day! Ours is overcast and cool, but still a lovely day. And I'm all a-bubbly. One of the advantages to making nice things is that sometimes I can trade them for other nice things. In this case, it's a parasol I'm making for a friend in exchange for a beaded purse, hand-crocheted with antiques silver fittings. I got to see it in progress today, and it is beee-you-tiful! Burgundy and black, of course. Are you surprised?

Today I played around with a hat I found some time ago. I'm sure it's meant for a bigger doll, but it's adorable as a mini-sunhat, for some lovely goth or lolita lady. There's heavy lace and two different kinds of trim, hand-sewn onto the base, along with feathers and a vintage brass button for accent.

Miniature OOAK Black Velvet Sunhat EGL Goth with Lace and Feathers







I'm hoping this will inspire me to do something with the stacks of hats and parasols downstairs that have been sitting around languishing, waiting for me to give them love and lace.