Working on Restocking

This past weekend was the Steampunk World's Fair, and my first time to ever vend at a "Con."  It was a great experience, and very different from selling at street fairs and craft fairs.  The patrons definitely had different tastes.  I came very close to selling out of my Magic Vial Pendants (and did sell out of all of the bulb-bottom ones), and almost all of my From Faerie bath line.  So, right now I'm in the process of restocking and ordering more raw supplies.  

There are a couple of new things at the etsy shop because of SPWF.  First, I had made Voynich Manuscript inspired pendants, made out of wood in a more rustic medieval style (as suits a 15th century mysterious manuscript, I thought).  

I really enjoyed handing out little flyers to people on the Voynich Manuscript and encouraged folks to go google it and read up on this indecipherable codex.  (Seriously, open a tab, do a search, it's so entertaining!)  And so, I have a couple of those left over.

Also, waited until I could go out and do a proper live photo shoot with a model friend of mine to get better shots of my Sterling and Velvet - Victorian Gothic Choker.  That's her, here, and of course, bigger, better resolution shots on the actual listing.  So, thanks to Ms. Abigail Neffer LeMorte.  Also, she'll be moving to Seattle, WA this June, so if any of you are out there, and need a model, I highly recommend her (hey, she's even been shot for Japan's Vogue Magazine!)

Will miss you when you go all west-coast, chicky!!

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Speaking of the west coast, my plug today is out of Portland, OR:  Little Wing Faerie Art.

Yes, there are fairy wings, and yes, they are awesome, but what caught my eye was something a lot more out of the ordinary.  

The "hair wear" section has a collection of truly alien looking sculptural orchids for hat or hair.  They are hand-painted, hand sculpted, and flexible enough to allow for you to do a bit of your own minor adjustments to make sure it lays just right, whether perched in a bun, tucked behind an ear, lolling in a hatband, or pinned on your lapel.  The colors used are vibrant and almost seem luminous.

And, the other item she makes that first caught my attention really ARE luminous.  The flower lights are similarly fashioned and shaped, but inside their petals hide battery powered LEDs.  This fuscia one here, is a favorite!  I love fuscias, but they have never loved anywhere where I have lived.  I spent some time in Seattle years ago, and was struck by the fuscias there.  This is a gorgeous nod to the flower (and would love to see this same style in various colors, the way fuscias come in so many combinations).  

That's not even all of what you'll find over at her etsy shop - there's more to explore, and I highly recommend taking a few moments to pop over.

FAE Team Exhibit

Month is getting crazier. I probably should have just put everything on hiatus for October the way it's run. Roommate has moved out, and my parents are coming to visit for the two weeks before the new roommate moves in. I've been working over 12+ hours a day (8-9 hours at jobs, then 4 or more once I get home) to get the old room redone so I can move in, and get my old room clean for the new girl to move in. Parents show up either tomorrow or Wednesday, and the room still isn't done yet. So. Tired. I do appreciate everyone who's been so patient with me. Just barely had any time to even eat and sleep, after all the work has been done, and I can't really do much of my etsy work while I'm at my day-job. Hopefully things will calm down once November gets here.

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In better news, the Fantasy Artists of Etsy have another exhibit! A spooky fall exhibit entitled, Midnight Dark and Dreary! Perfect timing guys and gals!

Click on the banner to go and see what the FAE folks of etsy are up to!

Interim Ideas

Wanted to give a little update and ask opinions. I am coming into a small stash of 15ml glass bottles, and been pondering what to do with it. I'm not entirely sure that this will fall under From Faerie, or if it will be more along the lines of my Magic Vial pendants. . . just not pendants.

The idea is to revisit one of my original concepts from years gone by and make magic oils for alter/candle anointing. They would be very similar to the formulas and intents in the Magic Vial pendants, but much larger and with enough oil to actually use. To start, I will keep it basic. One for each of the four elements, a lunar and a solar oil, and either a Fae oil or something along the lines of the more generically nature driven "Deep Forest" oil I had made all those years ago back in the Tennessee days. Of course, as always, custom orders will be available in case anyone wants to commission a bottle for a zodiac or a personal issue they'd like addressed (health, love, success, etc.) Also, to keep cost affordable, the percentage of gemstones used in the bigger bottles will be lower (it would take a LOT of gemstones to fill a 15ml bottle as full as my pendants look!) but since there is so much more room, I'll be able to really up the herb quotient.

Anyway, would love to hear thoughts, comments, suggestions, questions, about what any

potential customers might think about this.

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So, on a slightly related tangent, before all this I had found a new interesting shop called Wishing Thorn. They make some of the most beautiful old vintage style labeled bottles. This baneberry piece is a favorite of mine from their shop. And, I think it's a nice touch that she also sells these labels as stickers in a wide variety of styles and types, so if you have your own vintage style bottles that you'd like to decorate, you can do that bit yourself! You can also find, in a similar style, her own art prints, photography and book plates as well. Beautiful work!

From Faerie - Unseelie Salts

I'm actually afraid I'm making this blog post a little late. I wanted to give a little gap between my last blog post and this one, where I was going to announce the release of my next prototype, the Unseelie Bath Salts of my experimental "From Faerie" line.

I say this is a little late, because my Unseelie salts actually made it onto the front page of etsy.com last night, and were promptly purchased!

It's not entirely too late, though, as I do still have a $1.00 sample baggie of these same salts up in the shop.

I do hope to be getting some feedback on these salts, as they were quite problematic! I had wanted to just blend poppy flowers and rosemary with Dead Sea salts, but then I got the

bright idea to make them fizzy, too, and so added citric acid and baking soda. . . except I added too much of the fizzing blend to the Dead Sea salts, and I ended up with something very clumpy and strange, and half way to being a bath bomb rather than bath salts. So I had to mix in epsom salts, and that helped a little, but not a lot, so then they had to go into a very low oven for about an hour, and that worked like a charm, but then the salt was coarser than I would have liked, which then meant beating the stuff back down with hands, rolling pins, you name it and leaving it out to dry again for a day more.

I do believe my next batch will be JUST the poppy flowers and rosemary with plain Dead Sea salts - unless my customer(s) write back and say they actually loved the product as is, in which case, I'll have to find a much less stressful and labor intensive way to make the same experiment again. Hey, that's why they're prototypes, and that's why I sell them at basically cost (or no profit). This 10.5 oz decorated bottle went for $7.00 for all that I went through! I think that's a smashing deal for an experimental product.

The Urisk salts will hopefully be up soon, though I want to test them on a particular male, first. And I will be getting more bottles shortly, and hope to make my Seelie Salts prototype soon as well.

SMALL EDIT/UPDATE: I did relabel my old sugar scrub formula to work with the From Faerie line. "Chocolate Mint, Vanilla Sugar Scrub" is now "GreenWoman Scrub"

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Just out of curiosity, I thought I'd see how conversant etsy is with fae mythologies. I searched "unseelie" and came back with 17 results. Did a search for "seelie" and only got 8 results (though technically 3 of those were generic supply and had nothing to do with "seelie" or "fae" in particular at all).

One shop I did find, however was Unseelie Enchantments, "Mystical creations from the realm of twilight." I do love a shop with variety, and this one has a good mix of prints, jewelry, sculpture and other, that all have that dark fae edge. It's really hard to just pick one item to feature here, as there's several that I find interesting. But I think the General Grumpus Mushroom Faerie has just too much unique character to not picture. A great little representation of the darkling fae, as well. Definitely worth taking a browse!

STRESS

This is a bit of a half-hearted blog update combined with venting of stress. Something to occupy my time during a small lull in the work of the day that is allowing me to dwell too much on the stress of the day.

I won't get into it here, but I'm pretty sure you'll get the gist when I simply say "ex-husband" and "IRS."

*whimpers*

This is probably made worse, on an emotional level as I just saw Wolverine this weekend, and I was riding on a huge cloud of fangirl lust and adoration, swimming in a sea of my own drool over that beautiful beautiful man, portraying my favorite comic book character of all time; and more poignantly, the crash of disappointment when my brain reminded me that men like that (even sans mutant powers) just don't exist; and went on to remind me of what REAL men are REALLY like in the REAL world. And that was just crushingly disappointing and heartbreaking.

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So, I found this on etsy and I think it's wonderful! It's a Shit List!

This creation is from The Tiny Tragedies, an etsy shop with a morbid sense of humor blended with skillful handmade dolls and original paintings.

She has a disclaimer on her front page, because of her sense of humor, but I love a bit of the morbid and macabre! Edward Gorey is an old favorite of mine; Tim Burton's short cartoons are hilarious to me, and I can't help but giggle at the pieces in this shop!

Bad Day!

My day yesterday was such a mess. I am literally compelled to get it down (on cyber-paper, I guess) so hopefully it can get out of my head.

So, it starts off cold and rainy; but I'm upbeat because I've got a job interview! Yeah! (yes, still very much NEED a day job!) My temp agency said they thought I was over-qualified, but I'd insisted I wanted *anything* - and I do. So, I'm being positive, despite the nasty weather. I get all dressed up, I'm looking sharp, and I'm going to go get me a job!

So, I go over, enjoying the bus ride and the light rain isn't too bad; I have a little umbrella. So I find the place, I go in, seems like a nice small office. And so the interview begins. I smiled and was polite and professional all the way through, even when the questions started turning completely disturbing. This is for a job doing customer service and sales over the phone/internet for a small industrial business. And the guy is asking me if I like to go to bars, do I drink, do I have a boyfriend, do I date, have I ever done any erotic work in the past? OMGWTFBBQ??!!?!?!

So, I leave and I'm all sorts of flustered and confused. Normally, whenever distressed, I grab my cell phone. I can always call my Mom and she'll help calm me down. (I live with PTSD, so having that connection and comfort always at my fingers is very important!) But it's raining harder now, and getting colder, and I tell myself I'll call as soon as I get on the bus.

So, I'm getting soaked, despite my umbrella, when I see the bus pass me. So, in heels, in the rain, I run to try and catch my bus; and I just make it.

That's when I reach to get my cell phone from it's pocket in my purse and. . . . it's gone.

So now I'm upset, wet, having a bit of an anxiety moment, and I can't call Mom, because I just lost my phone, which adds more anxiety and stress to the situation. I really don't have money for a new phone!

So, I go home, change, look up the nearest AT&T store, and go to get me a new phone. Except the sales man says that it's new AT&T policy that the cheapest phone they can sell me (since I'm no where near my renewal plan) is $190! I *CANNOT* afford $190! Period! And my nerves are frayed already and I think he can tell I'm about to have a meltdown. So he tells me I can go to Wal-Greens or Radio Shack and go buy a disposable phone and they can put my sim card in that.

I'll condense the next part, because I'm getting long winded here. Bought phone, wrong phone, return phone, go to new place, wait forever to buy phone, only one phone left, phone twice as expensive as labeled, I crack, phone price is reduced under threat of scene, return, right phone but can't give me a sim card because I'm on a family plan and I'm not the original account holder, who I can't get a hold of.

I was in such a state while I walked home (and I chose to walk home in the barely-dripping rain for 15 blocks to help try and calm me down) that one of the crazy homeless panhandlers on Broadway started to come up to me, took one look at me and said, "nevermind" and walked away.

Yeah. It wasn't pretty.

It's all resolved now, but I was in such a state when I got home, I had to take an extra anxiety pill, called Mom (got Dad, turns out Mom is in KY at a quilting festival), and have been trying to rebuild my address book. My new phone is a P.O.S., butit'll work until I get a real job and am not in serious financial dire straits anymore.

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And after all that, today's feature is just going to be a pull from my own Favorites list.

It seems only right to plug Angry Girl Gear - Custom, Handmade Clothing with Attitude. Normally, I'd say a lot of her stuff is more goth/punk than I would be; at least these days. But I've always believed that individual pieces can have their attitude tweaked by the wearer's own personality and style. That said, there are a couple of pieces at her shop that I keep an eye on, should I ever have the funds and the occasion. The "innocence corset" would probably better sui my petite bust size; but I have to admit, the piece I'd really love is the Dominance Corset featured here (though I would take off the straps).

And hey, if that weren't interesting enough, she's running a sale to take $15.00 off all her items! Swanky!

Market done!

Whew, so yesterday was the Market, and of course, it rained and stormed almost all day. Despite all that, it was a good time, and I actually did decent for my first market, I believe!

I have just finished updating my DeviantArt gallery and my Etsy Shop with the Magic Vial Pendants that didn't find homes in those brief hours. There are now 14 up and waiting from $10.00 up to $25.00.

The current batch will be mailed with tiny miniature scrolls that list the name, ingredients and properties of each vial. I did this just for the market so people would have something to tell them what they'd bought when they got home. I know I'd forget. It was kind of labor intensive, cutting the tiny little scrolls, burning the edges, sprinkling them with rose-scented water, and so on.

Pictured to the left is one of my favorites that I hadn't expected to bring home. It's another variation of the ever-popular "Sweet Dreams" vials. This one has Sugilite and Rose Quartz as well as lavender in Sterling Silver.

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I have to do two plugs today, because my first plug isn't an Etsyer. I've been corrected! Oopsie guys! You can also find RockLove on Etsy, HERE.

The table next to me was RockLove Jewelry Not only did I spent a lot of time just peering at her table, and listening to her talk about her stuff to passing customers, but she was the cutest and sweetest lady!!

It's damned near impossible to just point to one item, so I'll just point you out to what's topping her page right now: the official Repo-Man scalpel necklace.

And don't think just because I'm leading with a kind of horrific kind of item that that's her gimick, it's not! She's got vintage pin-up inspired pieces, charms, Victorian inspired, it just goes on. It really is just best if you go and see for yourself!

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For my etsy plug, I'm going to stick with Halloween inspirations. My sister's been working on her Halloween costume as the Cavity Fairy. And while it's pretty late to try and order something off the internet for Halloween, you could have it shipped express, or get it for next year, or wear it to a non-halloween costume thing.

And what stood out to me here? Feather Eyelashes. Yup, fake eyelashes with feathers. I mean, talk about opulent! But that's on of the things going on at Captured Imagination. They start at $5.00 for fairly "normal" (ha!) blue feather eyelashes, but they go up to some very extravagent reaches. I doubt my ability to successfully apply false eyelashes (never tried it), but if I could, these look amazing! I only wish she had pictures somewhere of her clients or herself wearing past examples.

Apologies

Sorry I haven't been updating as of late. I've been very sad and blue this past week or so.

I know, a good business person wouldn't let their personal moods have this much sway on how they conduct their shop and promotions, but maybe I'm not very good at it.

Here, Best Art Studios has beautifully sad tree paintings. I like, "This Hollow Life."

Sad but beautiful, leafless trees. . .*sighs* . . . they make me cry.

SALE for promotional goods!

I'm trying to raise funds to get some new promotional materials (like postcards, and business cards that actually show what I make and I'd like some other things too, if I had the capital.)

FROM NOW UNTIL 09/05/08!!

**ORDER 1 CUSTOM VIAL and get 1 *FREE* upgrade! (ie. Pay for standard, get free upgrade to Sterling Silver; pay for Sterling Silver, get free upgrade to 14K gold.)

**BUY 2+ VIALS and get *1/2 OFF* any of "Izile's Experiments"

And speaking of my experiments, here's a picture of a little funny. It's my "Vampire Repellent." It's a tiny glass jar filled with items that according to legend would either repel vampires: a clove of garlic, a sterling silver cross, a miniature wooden stake, and a dried red rose bud. Capped with a scrap of dark red raw silk, and tied in place with a black satin ribbon. Just in time for Halloween.

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In the realm of fun vampires, I found Jack and Ella Designs.

They have a wide variety of bracelets printed with simple quotes and some images. Whether it be a belly-up raven, quoting "Nevermore," or a favorite line from the vampire book series by Stephenie Meyer, they have a delicate and yet fun way of dealing with more gothy elements, to keep it from being too heavily dramatic.

I've never read the "Twilight" series, but most of their quotes are universally understood, without need of context.

Dark Fantasies

What better retreat from life than books? A well written book can transport you miles away from your own troubled thoughts and heartaches.

I've been hiding in a surprising little book my sister brought home called The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a vampire tale, which is a fandom I only dabble in mildly, when the story and writing are fresh. I have to say this book is impressively so! 20-odd chapters in, no sexy Rice-ian vamps, no hideous Nosferatu (Nosferati?), nothing extraordinarily fantastical at all. As the name implies, it's a book of history, and talks more about digging through tomes on the old Wallachian militarist and Sheik Mehmed II in foreign libraries, and their very real, brutality, than that of fighting ancient evil undead.

For this, I love this book, not half-way in, it is already a favorite in this genre.

It has also set off my taste for the fustian aspects that we Americans live largely without. Our own contenient had its own ancient ruins long before the first Virginia colonies, of course; but those across the pond, from our own ancestry, combine something eternally familiar and alien in a completely unique way.

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How does this translate into Etsy? Not very well I'm afraid. BUT I have found some sellers who do deal well in the darker side of Etsy.

Though a bit more "modern goth," than fusty, the delicate and structural aspect of Obscurna's lace necklaces make them much more elegant and less campy than so many entries in this genre. They vary in intricacy, and some contain ornate jewels.

Of course, there is always a place for whimsy in areas that tend to automatically make part of our brain a little uncomfortable. Making what was originally a scary concept one of humor is a natural coping device.

Probably my favorite is a new etsy seller in this vein (ha ha) is Beyond the Poison Apple. This seller specializes in recreating prop bottles from Jekkyl and Hyde to Nightmare Before Christmas. My only sadness comes from the fact that all her bottles are clearly noted to NOT DRINK FROM. Awwww. How much fun at a party would a set of these be?

*isn't fusty a great word?

Slowly but Surely

The show must go on, right? Apparently so. And while I have gotten lots of support from even strangers, I cannot expect the same from my gas, power and internet companies.

You will find that I've put up a whole new batch of Magic Vial Pendants in my Etsy shop. The one here, is an upgraded, re imagining of an old popular theme of mine, "Dreams." It has the same Amethyst base and charm off the bottom, but is combined with Rainbow Moonstone and fresh Lavender leaves; also, it features a wire wrap design in Sterling Silver.

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One thing that's not left behind is featuring; I'm still going to be prowling over Etsy, looking for new sellers with great products to tell you about.

Decided to reach way back from my favorites list and bring out this little Lovecraftian inspired T-shirt from Host Clothing.

Some of their stuff is too jarring, even for me; but this design with its swirly tentacles and declaration of "Hell is for Amateurs," appeals to my memories of a misbegotten, if not very, very geeky youth.

Touchdown!

So,here in Seattle; and because A'maelamin is at work, and forgot to leave his keys behind, I'm a bit more house-bound for the day than I expected.

Side note, on the flight over, I did the bizarre and irrational act of watching The Langoliers. Why? I asked myself that, as I flipped channels, checking if there wasn't anything else on (wasn't) - WHY are you doing such a thing?

In other news, I've been blog-tagged.

Wyatt's Magic Wagon decided to share the love and give me my first blog-tag.

5 Things that someone might not know about me:

1. I have invested more energy in learning Tolkien Elvish than I did in six years of Spanish class.

2. I have a thing about climbing trees. Whenever I go someplace new, I have to climb a tree. There are pictures of me in trees in Rome, in China, in upstate New York, in Mississippi, in Seattle... I had such a climbing (also extended to buildings) habit that one of my nicknames in college was "Spider Monkey."

3. Ever since I was a 'tween, the three things I've really wanted to experience in life were skydiving, bungee-jumping and hang gliding. The closest I've come to any is indoor skydiving in Pigeon Forge, TN.

4. While working with some children in northern China, a group of girls decided to give me a Chinese name. They named me "Mei Gui," which means "Rose." This was extremely eerie/spooky, because, my Mom has always called me "her rose." The name/symbol has a lot of meaning for me.

5. If I lived on my ruling planet, I would be about 117 years old and weigh roughly 78 lbs. I dare you to go look up your own conversion.

Now, the price of this tagging is that I have to tag 5 people. I'll edit this post in a minute after I've gone and tagged those 5.

If you have been tagged, you need to write on your blog, "5 things someone may not know about you," and then tag five more people.

1. DharmaDesigns
2. RainbowMom
3. Athena's Armoury
4. Fairies Nest
5. The Far Grove

And just so you folks know. I've done one now. It was fun enough, but that's it. Not going to be one of "those blogs." One's enough, at least for the next 6-12 months.

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And because I refuse to break form!

Due to my bad choice of watching a Stephen King mini-series about people on a plane, while being a person on a plane, I searched etsy's Horror tags. I had actually never looked through the horror tag before; and I'm glad I actually did. There's a lot of cute and poppy kind of horror, and enough Cthulu stuff to require it's own post, but there's some really fascinating things that I've just been missing altogether!

Ugly Teddy gets the gold today with the most un-cutesy plushies I think I've ever seen. 0_o'

To be perfectly honest, I don't even really know how to talk about Ugly Teddy's creations. I can just post a picture of the one I thought was the most jarring and suggest you go see for yourself.