New this week on Artfire!

From Designs by Victoria:

Red Coral and Freshwater Pearl OOAK Multi Strand Necklace on Sterling



Amethyst Briolette Waterfall Earrings on Sterling Silver Earwires




Cobalt Blue Glass Flowers Bracelet and Earrings Set on Sterling Silver



Opalite Glass Bead Dangle Earrings on Sterling Silver Earwires



From Miss Victoria's Vintage:

Vintage Gold Bead Necklace 14 Karat Gold Filled



Vintage Enamel Daisy Brooch by Coro



Vintage Purple and Fuchsia Enamel Post Hoop Earrings



Vintage Faux Turquoise Owl Pin Silver

Friday Favorites!

Today, we begin and end with BACON! Mmmmm ... bacon.

BaCoN Periodic Table Pillow, by YellowBugBoutique:



Handmade Valentine Heart Wedding Necklace Argentium Silver Copper, by popnicute



Custom steampunk copper utility corset, by LillysWorkshop:



Large Clutch or Gadget Pouch - Angry Cat, by FunkyChicDesigns:



Falling Leaves Rhodonite and Crystal Necklace, by Shazzabeth:



BACON!! Christmas Ornament Blown Glass, by GlassSculptureOrg

BeyondCon 2011 Panel Programme

This year's theme for BeyondCon is the "Costumer's Chop Shop", taking place at the Inn at Gig Harbor this weekend!

Here's our schedule of events:


Friday 2/18/2011

8pm-10ish Hospitality Suite Costumer's Swap and Shop (the hospitality suite is potluck)

Costumer's Baby Shower



Saturday 2/19/2011

9 - 10 am Jonnalyhn Wolfcat Don't Reinvent the Wheel!

Internet and other resources

10 - 11 am Dorothy O'Hare Reblocking Felt Hats without breaking the bank

Using kitchen/everyday implements to reshape those older finds

11 am to 12 pm Melissa Quinn Unique Embellishments

12 - 1 pm LUNCH BREAK

1 -2 pm Melissa Quinn Forgeless Armor

2 - 3 pm Dave Tackett Demo - prop modifications

3-5 pm Anita Taylor Introductory Victorian Hairstyling Demo

5-7 pm Dinner Break

7 -10ish pm Sock Hop/Ice Cream Social
Enjoy the tunes, dance, enter the outrageous sock contest (with prizes) and enjoy sweet treats!



Sunday 2/20/2011

10-11 am Jonnalyhn Wolfcat Demo: Faux bas relief

11 am to 12 pm Hoshikage Basics of how to light your costumes

More than simply using Xmas lights, how to set up basic wiring and safety


12 - 1 pm LUNCH

1 - 3 pm Vicki Glover Hands-on Workshop: Faux Cloissonne

How to recreate jewelry effects with inexpensive everyday items (like nail polish!)

3-4 pm Victoria Shaffer One Man's Trash…

Making jewelry for steampunk and other conceptual art costumes

4 pm onwards Traditional End of BeyondCon Thrift Store Crawl!

Plus an All -Weekend Limerick contest, doll meetup and discussion groups in Hospitality Suite!

At the EM Gallery

This week, I was invited to set up and display my pearls and parasols for a reception for wedding planners at the EM Fine Art Gallery here in Seattle. It was a lovely evening, with amazing food catered by the folks from Herban Feast, especially the creamy paella with pan-seared scallops, garnished by lemon basil foam. (Yes, I am obsessed with food!)

The venue is truly lovely, an older building lovingly refurbished. I especially love the old brick along the back wall.


Podium by Candlelight by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Candlelight by *dbvictoria on deviantART

I packed light, but still got to show off some of my favorite pieces.







They even stuck a couple of nails in the wall so we could hang and backlight one of my parasols:




And on top of all the other goodness, it gave me a chance to wear my new pearls:



If you're in the area, you should go check them out to see what loveliness is hung on the walls!



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The making of a black and white plaid hat

I realized I'd never posted about this - back in January I attended a Steampunk Exhibition Ball at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. Part of the evening's festivities were fabulous hat and facial hair competitions. I decided I was going to make myself a new hat for the occasion. My wonderful friend Stephanie, who appropriately travels under the name Plaidbrat on LiveJournal was bravely tackling a dress-making project for me, with this wonderful black and white plaid I'd unearthed from the stash early last year. It had a velvet floral scrollwork pattern on one side. She did the jacket for me with this pattern out, but we decided it'd be just too busy for the whole outfit, so the plain plaid side is out for the skirt.

I didn't take enough pictures of the making in progress, I'm afraid, so bear with me.

For the hat, I wanted big. Really big. And I had these six fake crows that had been sitting around on top of my bits and bobs cabinet, staring at me accusingly for not having used them yet.

I started out using household items for my pattern, a ceramic serving dish for the brim and one of our salad plates for the crown.



I added another 3" around tracing the platter for the sides and back, and about 5" in the front. It's amazing, because I fail consistently trying to draw a straight line with a ruler, but managed to freehand an almost perfectly symmetrical oval. ???

The brim is made with two layers of buckram sandwiching a spiral of millinary wire, glued into place. I covered the entire hat, inside and out, with felt, and then covered it with the fabric. Then out came the flowers, birds, feathers, and maribou trim. Here's what I ended up with:





A friend of mine swore that the birds were staring at her whenever we talked.





And here's the whole outfit:

Odd Fellows Memorial Park

I drive past this cemetary quite often when I'm "on the clock," and have always wanted to stop in. Well, I finally made the trek down there with my camera and did a bit of a walk-about, and got a few pictures. It's an older cemetery, with some graves dating back to the 1950s. Photographing some of the monuments was a bit interesting, as I was waiting for cars to pass on the busy road behind them, but I still got a few good shots.


Cemetery Angel 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Cross of Silk Flowers by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Tree at Odd Fellows by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Obelisk Monument by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Cemetery Angel by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Clasped Hands on Monument by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Mossy Chain by *dbvictoria on deviantART

There's a full gallery of all my pictures on flickr here:

Odd Fellows Memorial Park



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2011 Beading Contest from ABeadStore!

ABeadStore.com has posted the voting for their 2011 Beading contest! I entered the Beaded Jewelry category with my Blue Lagoon necklace:



Click here to view the entry!

Click on the "Vote here" button to vote for your favorite! (You have to enter in the number of the entry for each category)





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