Happy Autumanl Equinox!

And Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Fall-rites, and Mabon, and all the other lovely celebrations that mark the rotation of seasons!

I'm not always the happiest when fall weather starts encroaching too early on my green summers, but once it's here legitimately, I can warmly embrace the season (as long as winter doesn't start pushing its nose in too early! Wait your turn, winter! All things in their time!)

I don't really have a lot to report on the Izile's Oddities front.  I haven't honestly had much time, with day-job business recently reducing me to work-food-sleep-repeat for the past couple of weeks.  BUT, the big "stuff" is done for now, and I'm hopeful for some more time to work on my own projects, soon.  Currently, I'm working on a commission piece that's very interesting, but a bit outside my normal aesthetic - it involves a LOT of teeth.  Yes, teeth, big incisors, molars, canines.  I was given a bundle of teeth and asked to create.  I've been making some slow progress, but as I've never worked with teeth before, I'm trying to take my time and get a feel for them.  I know 2 of the teeth are human (came in a sealed medical bag labeled as such), and 2 are from a dog - and the rest?  I'm not quite sure ...  I know they were acquired perfectly legally from an oddities shop in Manhattan, so I'm not worried about anything unethical - it's just odd work - fun, and sometimes being pushed outside of our normal comfortable patterns is good for growth.  So, we'll see where that goes.

I still need to find time to finish up my Night Circus picture frame, too.  Autumn definitely lends itself to more indoors times (and winter triple-y so!), so, we'll see.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Autumn season definitely has a gorgeous and inspirational color pallet to work with, that's for sure!  And the amount of treasuries going up on etsy with all the warm golden, bronze-y, and russet colors are boundless!

In a recent treasury on my following board, I found Rainwater Studios.  While she focuses on bridal accessories, her handmade jewelry is what caught my attention - particularly this "Fall Splendor" piece - which has a decidedly vintage feel to it.

And with freshwater pearls and glass leaves, this piece is a real bargain at only $25!  It's found under the Shabby/Boho Chic category, though there are also Vintage/Victorian, and Magical and Mythical categories for non-bridal-themed accessories.  But, the bulk of the store (over 130 entries) goes to bridal hair flowers (not that you can only wear these flowers at weddings, but that's the target), and at 9 pages, there's plenty to browse through!

Happy Autumn!!

 

USPS Strikes Again!

So, for those who hadn't heard, the USPS is having yet ANOTHER fare hike.  This time focused primarily on international shipping charges.  It will not be a small one, sadly.  This blog HERE has a great calculator set up so you can see the differences in the price now and as it will be next week.  As an example, a 1-2 oz bubble mailer being shipped from Izile's Oddities here in the US, to someone right over the border in Canada used to cost about $3.00.  The new price will be $6.16.  Yeowch!!  UK and Australia (my other two biggest international shipping destinations) aren't looking any better, either.

So, starting tomorrow (Friday, 1/25/13), I'm going to start the process of adjusting all my international shipping charges to reflect the new USPS "please bend over" system.

Fun.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Completely unrelated, but fantasy artists are really starting to grow back, and I love finding new fantasy artists.

The Faerie Market is one of those new-to-me sellers, and I thought I'd share some of her awesomeness today.

She describes her shop as "nature inspired" and predominantly works in the fiber arts.  Embroidered flower and leaf hair pins and headbands make up a bulk of the shop in the under $50 range.  There's a wide variety of colors, styles, types of leaves (you could actually identify some plants by the detail she puts into her fabric leaves).

And if you have a little more room in your budget, she has some gorgeous and very fae scarves made to look like you're wrapped in the woodlands, themselves.  They vary not only in colors but also in foliage styles, to give a look that could work with any season.  To give you an idea, I've picked two different leaf scarves that I think show a fall vs spring feel.

There are also more "sparsely" leaved scarves for those who might prefer a simpler line with only one ornamented floral point.  Regardless of your color preferences or wallet capabilities, it's a great shop to go check out and see something new in the fantasy arena!

Vintage and Etsy - a Warning / Lecture

I normally stay pretty benign on my posts; but once in a while I get a hair in a bad place and have to say something.

Winter is creeping on, and I'm a big fan of vintage clothes, especially coats.  Plus, my Mom just brought me a box and a garbage bag full of old small vintage pieces some for crafting, some for resale.  I've been pouring over ebay for a bit, with a good deal of frustration, and hitting flea markets and vintage shops (I miss the thrift stores of the South - they were gold mines), and then I turned to etsy.

Holy retro metaphor in place of an expletive, Batman!  Vintage sellers on Etsy are more loony-toons than the people who run the Vintage Consignment Shops in Manhattan!!

Now, I'm not just saying this from the point of view of a buyer.  One of those life-times ago, before NYC, I dealt and studied in some great detail various bits of Vintage accessories.  My Mom was an avid and studied collector as I was growing up of certain vintage goods (mostly costume jewelry, glass, silver and china; about which I learned some).  So, really, as a warning to buyers, and as a heads-up to sellers (and just to get it off my chest so I know it's out there somewhere), let me go over a couple of points about how to tell if you are price gouging or being price gouged when it comes to vintage goods.

1.  When it comes to vintage fashion accessories, be it jewelry, coats or other, CONDITION IS EVERYTHING.  I'm sorry, your 1940's rhinestone pin that is missing a lot of stones and has a broken back is NOT worth even $20.  Likewise, your 1950's swing coat with bell sleeves and mink trim with a giant tear in the fur is NOT worth hundreds of dollars; it's not worth $50.

If a man came up to you and said, "Hey! A long time ago, I bought this diamond ring, and it was really pretty, but the stone fell out.  BUT, I paid a lot of money for it a long time ago, and that should mean something, right?" Wrong.  Would you pay it?  No! You shouldn't! And he's a fool for asking!

2.  STUDY.  Just because something is vintage doesn't mean it's automatically worth a lot of money.  There are rhinestone pieces from the 40's, that are in fine condition, but they're really not worth more than $10-$20.  They're fine pieces, great for beginners, probably small, simple, colorless, not signed.  Just because it's vintage doesn't mean you should pay $50+ for ANY item, even in good condition.  Now, if you see a red rhinestone, large, perfect condition vintage pin and you flip it over and see the name "Eisenberg" and they're asking $50, grab it! Odds are you're getting a real steal, there!  How do you know the difference?  Get a book, search the internet, the information is out there, and it's best to be an informed buyer.  You can't really expect most sellers to be scrupulous and well educated and fair (I know, I expect to much of my fellow sellers), but at least if you educate yourself in the stuff you like, you can know when to walk away.

Here's just a few random vintage points to consider:

* Vintage jewelry with missing stones, or dead stones, especially if there is no name on the piece, should be greatly discounted.

* Broken jewelry is broken jewelry.  It doesn't matter when it was from, if you can't fix it, it's not worth it.

* Torn clothes are the same way.  Most people, in regular clothes, can tell the difference between a split seam that can be repaired and disintegrating fabric that will only keep decaying into nothing.  However, for some odd reason, when it comes to vintage fur pieces, people lose their minds and don't realize that most of the time with vintage pieces, a ripped pelt = irreparable trash.  If you're lucky, you'll find a crafter who just wants to cut it up and make teddy bears out of it, anyway, but, you've got a big piece of junk, and it should be priced accordingly.

* Nothing made out of rabbit that isn't brand new should ever cost more than $50.  Rabbit skins are thin, they shed when new, and they dry out, crack, split and decay really quickly.  Never waste your money on anything rabbit skin unless it's really cheap, or you don't mind that it's most likely going to start falling apart within a year or two, tops.  The older the rabbit item is, the more likely it would be better off in a compost bin.  If you just want a little throw-away piece that you don't care if it lasts more than a season or two, and you see it for $20 or under, go ahead, grab it.  But people asking hundreds of dollars for old rabbit coats are trying to rip you off.

3.  Speaking of furs, just because it's fur doesn't mean it's worth a lot of money; or any money for that matter.  Furs are like cars, they depreciate hugely just for leaving the show room.  Within 2 years of age, furs lose 80% of their value.   You wouldn't try and sell your 10 year old car (assume 20K retail) after a couple of minor fender benders for $10,000 - no one would buy it, nor should they.  And retail does vary type to type, like with cars.  You have a better job of reselling your 10 year old Corvette for a better percentage than you do your 10 year old Hyundai Accent.    This kind of goes back to research.  A mink coat in great condition (NO tears! NO drying, NO cracking, NO shedding, NO bald spots, NO "stiff" feel when you squeeze it between your hands, No split seams or loose seams!) that originally retailed for $5-10K, will resell for $4-600.  yes, HUNDRED, NOT thousand.  However, fox? Sorry, fox decays almost as badly as rabbit, and it's so fluffy it's hard to examine unless you know furrier methods.  A little, blue fox short jacket (like you see ALL OVER ebay and etsy, too) with the ribbing that used to retail for $600-ish brand new back in the 70's/80's, you really shouldn't pay more than $50-$75 for one of those unless it's in absolute great condition and the person can guarantee that.  I can see if it's in pristine condition, the seller can guarantee it's been kept in cold storage (which slows the decay/rot process) and has it cleaned and glazed, AND it's a little different than the standard (maybe color, or the leather ribs between pelts are really tiny and infrequent, or a really nice big collar. . . something) then MAYBE it could be worth as much as $125; but it would have to be an exceptional example to be worth that much.  People asking several hundred dollars? Rip off.  They're trying to get you to buy their dented 2000 Hyundai Accent for only 20% off the original MSRP.  You wouldn't buy the car, don't buy the coat.

4. Ask questions!  Sometimes it's that the seller doesn't know and hasn't bothered to educate themselves, sometimes they just forgot to put something down.  Exact measurements are crucial in ALL kinds of vintage accessories because not only was sizing different back then (not that women's sizing makes a lick of sense currently), but people were smaller.  THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE SIZE FITS ALL.  Learn your measurements (including those of your hands and your head if you want to look at hats and gloves, they're both notoriously a couple of inches smaller than the average person today can wear) - and always ask for the proper measurements for any item.  Even check those vintage rhinestone pieces!  Many of those 30's-40's non-choker necklaces still only have 12-14" on them; and bracelets can frequently be under 6 or even 5 inches long.

Well, I guess that's enough of that for now.  I just get frustrated seeing so many people, either through ignorance or through malice trying to rip off other people.  It takes so little effort to just read and do a little study, especially with google, today, to see if you're over-pricing your stuff, or if someone's trying to sell you something that just plain isn't worth it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm not really sure how to tie a plug into this little rant. . .

I have a seller I really want to plug right now, but I'm actually going to give her her own whole post, no babbling from me, because it's one of those rare etsy sellers where I've actually seen their stuff in person, and bought her products and can vouch that everything she does is *AMAZING*

All I can think of for this post is to show you an example of a GOOD seller who is selling things at a completely sane and un-gouge-y manner.  (For a reference, I've already gone through 200 pages of vintage stuff and have yet to find a good example yet. - I mean, really, the inflated hipster flea market in Williamsburg is half the price of most these items! And those items are already well over what you *SHOULD* pay)

Well, it's a bit hit-and-miss out there, but no one's going to agree all the time.  Dancing Brushes, who normally makes painted mailboxes, does have a small vintage section which seems to be right on point for price.  She even has one of those little short blue-fox jackets with the strips of leather right at $55.

Hey Darlin is another that's got a lot of very fair priced vintage pieces, but a few that seem just a bit on the high side - not crazy high, just a little, and they seem to be in the minority.  Her entire store is dedicated to vintage, so there's lot of variety.  There is one secret treasure on her shop that she seems completely unaware of, that the savvy shopper who's done their research will find quite a deal! But I'm not spoiling the secret ;-)

I'm also giving a nod to Yesterday's Resurrection for having some fun different stuff (see her "Random Awesomeness" section), and for recognizing a 90% great item with the 10% wrong kind of damage should = HUGE discount.  She has a really lovely mink coat for $35, because it has a tear in one of the pelts.  Not a split seam, a tear in a skin (normally denotes "cancer" - as in, patch it and it'll just split again on the other side of the patch, and again, and again. . .)  However, for $35, if you're good with a leather needle, you could cut it up, find the parts that haven't gotten the "cancer" yet and make some awesome recycle artsy/craftsy things! Or add it to your Renaissance Festival costume! Or any other cosplay!  I even heard of a woman who used a torn old fur coat to line a pet bed for her puppy.  The recycling options are plentiful!

And after 400 pages of entries, I think I'm calling it a night.

Good luck!

Busy, Busy!

October's always a busy month, it seems.  New York Comic Con is this weekend, and have family coming into town, and of course, Halloween.  A bit of my stock is still spending the pre-holiday season at Gothic Renaissance just south of Union Square here in NYC.  If you live or are visiting in the area, now is a great (but busy) time to hit G.R., not only can you see some of my hand-painted Venetian masks, my OOAK velvet choker done all in real sterling silver, onyx and garnets, but a few of my Magic Vial Pendants as well (outfitted with adjustable sterling silver chains, just for the brick-and-mortar location!); but they have an amazing array of corsets, other masks in classic Venetian style, leather and laser carved, and tons of clothes and accessories for goths and steampunks and people just wanting that little extra special detail for a certain costume.

I have recently also added a few more traditional pieces to the etsy shop, including a couple of rings.  I can't exactly link to my favorite new ring, because it's not on my etsy, and I'm not entirely sure I'm going to put it on etsy.  I might just keep it!  Something about the pink beryl I used, with the beautiful scar right through the heart of it; it just speaks to me!

 However, a second favorite that is in the shop for sale is a piece that blends the more traditional look with the meaning and intent of my Magic Vial pendants.  The ring is for communication (called "Speak to Me"), and the gemstones used were selected to help amplify and smooth out communication issues for the wearer.  This piece is shown here at left, Malachite and Opal in Sterling Silver in a band size 8.  More information on the stones meanings and more photos are in the listing on etsy.  Lots of photos because opal can be a tricky stone to photograph.  (Just click on the photo and you should go to the listing)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I haven't plugged a fellow FAE (Fantasy Artists of Etsy) member in a while, and October is always a great month for the fairies and spirits and whathaveyou.  It does, however, get tricky to remember exactly which shops have been plugged in the past and which haven't.  So, if I double up, sorry, I'm trying to do someone new and different every time, but I hadn't exactly thought about how long I'd be doing this when I started.

Loving Lee Crafted makes one of my favorite fantasy items, fairy doors and fairy houses.  Hers are made out of wood and each shaped and decorated very uniquely.  Since we're nearing Halloween, pictured at right is her Halloween Magic Door, decorated with a black cat, a ghost and a jack-o'-lantern.   They are sealed with 2 coats of polyurethane so they work outdoors in your garden as well as against the baseboard in your house.  (My little polymer clay gnome door is braced against the wall on a 2" ledge in the middle of my stairwell.  I love putting them in quirky, unexpected places where people will see them in passing and go "what the. . .??")

There's plenty of variety in the pages of her shop, including doors that lead into little stump and log houses; even a few with magnets to go on fridges or other magnetic surfaces.  Bring a little whimsy and magic into your home, invite the fae in with their own door!

Shiny!!

This quickie blog post is almost no blog and all plug today.

See, for years and years, back since livejournal days, I found through various friends this amazing lady on LJ who made ridiculously great costumes, lots of fairy and elvish stuff, too.  Every few years, I seem to stumble upon her website, drool over all the gorgeousness.  Not long ago, through another completely random friend, I found her new Facebook, and immediately started following.  Then, this morning, I saw an update (she's now working on fantasy jewelry, too) that included a link to an etsy shop!

She created her etsy shop a week ago.  YAY!!!!  It's mostly just the fantasy jewelry right now with a few pairs of her awesome costume wings - but also make sure to check out her .com after you've looked over her etsy shop.  She's still around after all this time for good reason!

Firefly Path, by JoEllen aka Lillyxandra, welcome to etsy and I hope you blow a whole new level of customers away with your awesome!

Oh, and the piece from this morning that caught my attention and lead back to the new etsy shop?  Her Autumnal Equinox necklace, GORGEOUS!

Sideshow Soap - Reviews!

Sorry I haven’t kept this up to date better, but as of late, work and life have been beating me down relentlessly and leaving me very little time for the things I love. However, I come to you today with an extra-cool blog post: A company/product review! I went to the 2011 Maker Faire in NYC this past weekend, and fell in love with the most delightful etsy company. I spent time talking to the owner, and went home with a bag full of goodies to try. So, in this post, I’m actually able to put my personal stamp of approval behind everything I’m talking about, because I bought it, I own it, I use it, I LOVE IT!!

So I started opening the tester jars and snuffling away at the blends of scents that were refreshingly different, while Jessica was more than helpful to chat and explain and answer all my questions and sometimes overly-enthusiastic gushing. Also, to the left and right of her center stash, were laid out sidelines: Victory Garden, Werewolf, and what I would assume was just Autumnal.

The company is Sideshow Soap Company (For Clean Freaks), run by Jessica Morgan of New York City. So, wandering the giant spread of the Bust Craftacular at Maker Faire, her booth caught my eye because of the packaging. It’s all very stark black and white, but the nod to the Victorian stands out clean and crisp and drew me in. Once there, I could see the names: “Freakshow,” “Sword Swallower,” “Albino Alligator,” all with tiny vintage-styled illustrations on the labels and adorable descriptions printed right on the side of every container. This marketing was right up my ally!

The Victory Garden is a small collection of three scents that were so fresh and realistic as to be truly surprising. Bibb Lettuce, Green Pepper and Tomato & Vine are the three scents available in this side line, marked a little differently by the bramble inspired font on the label. She currently only sells these scents in solid bar soaps and whipped soaps.

The Werewolf line for Halloween takes on a much deeper, woodsier tone in Werewolf, Huntress, Gibbous Moon, Full Moon and Moonflower. Currently only bar soaps are available in her shop of this line; there were others at her table, so there might be more coming in that line, or she might have sold out – I know before the end of the day Saturday, when I was there, she was almost sold out of a couple of things, and still had all of Sunday to cover. I did get a bar of Werewolf, and while I can’t use bar soap, I gave it to my fella’ with instructions that he was to use it and report back to me in great detail.

From the main Sideshow Line, I picked up their “Sensational Scrub” in both Albino Alligator and Sword Swallower; and a lip balm in stick form.The “Autumnal” line (if it had another name, sorry, I forgot) was another short three scent line called Hearth, Cider Oak, and Pumpkin Seed. The Pumpkin Seed I know sold out because there was only one jar left by the time I found their table! These were available in whipped soap and small lotion pots. I got a small pot of Cider Oak lotion.

So now for product reviews:

I’m going to start with the lip balm because I think it’s a funny story. So, I picked out a lip balm I wanted to try: Dragon Lady (asian pear). But, I guess, in my giddiness, I grabbed the wrong tube, because when I went to dig it out later, it said “Carnival” and smelled decidedly of bubblegum. At first, I was really bummed, because I really don’t like bubblegum scents or flavors. But I tried it anyway. I love the feel of the lip balm so much, that even though I don’t like the scent, I can’t help but keep putting it on over and over again. So, while the lip balms aren’t up on her website yet, I am definitely stalking and waiting, because I want to get the right one, because if I can’t quit using the one I don’t like the smell of, I’m going to burn through the one that feels AND smells like I want. Will be perfect for the coming winter to avoid chapped cold lips!!

Next, the Werewolf Soap, as stated above, I cannot use bar soaps, so I passed this one off to the fella. He used it that night and called me to say that he really, thoroughly enjoyed showering with the soap. Said it foamed up quickly and smoothly, had lots of suds, smelled great, and rinsed clean and clear with no residue, either sticky or slick. The smell lingers slightly after the shower, but isn’t overpowering in any way, but when I met him hours later, there was still just a ghost of a scent lingering, if I got really close and snuffled for it. He was very enthusiastic about it; and to get a straight male enthusiastic about a bar of soap is quite an accomplishment!

I also had taken my new goodies into the shower almost as soon as I had gotten home and went with the Sword Swallower Sensational Scrub. I got out of the shower and raved to my sister that she HAD to try this stuff next time she was in the shower. I’m in love with their scrubs. It was a beautiful and exotic mix of ginger tea and coconut milk, it was smooth and silk and foamed just a bit into a light lather that I just kept wanting to rub in. Did NOT want to rinse off, it felt so good! And the tiny jojoba beads gave just enough scrub to brighten up the skin a bit. Cannot wait to use the Albino Alligator, as that’s her “southern belle scent” she said, and well, I am a Southern belle in NYC! She may have made me a convert off of shower gels. . .

And lastly, the Cider Oak lotion. I almost didn’t want to put any on after I got out of the shower, my skin already felt so soft and moisturized, but I wanted to try everything. It goes on smooth, (a little goes a long way with all of her products, it seems! These things are going to last, even if I use them all the time! Great!!) and it has a clean, not greasy, not heavy at all, but moisturizing light feel. Dries quickly, and the smell LASTS. I put more on this morning before I went to work and it’s 5 hours later and I can still sniff my arm whenever I need a bit of a mood pick-me-up for a little on-the-spot aromatherapy.

In short: Elf Need MORE! And highly suggests everyone go and visit her shop, read the descriptions and order it yourself! She even does sell sample sizes of the body scrub, which I cannot rave about enough. If you get anything, get a trial size of one of her Sensational Scrubs and try it yourself and see if you just won’t be hooked!

Halloween

It's creeping ever closer. Just right at a week (depending, of course, on when you read this). I admit it's been a busy fall, and I feel I've been slack on my blogging and DeviantArt updating and my etsy shop hasn't had a good restocking in quite a while. I do hope to be addressing that this weekend, if not tonight.

Last I updated on my own projects, I was working on the From Faerie (still not thrilled with that) bath product line. My first batch, the Fairy Milkmaid bath soak should be just about cured by now, but I still need to test it. Ah, I fear I've got a watercolor temperament going on as of late, but all my projects are calling for oil painting patience. Maybe I should bust out the watercolors, literally, to give me a fast paced project. Or, really, I just just make some more, new, Magic Vial pendants for fall and winter.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

But yes! Halloween, where were we? Wow, the things you find on etsy when you search "Halloween" maybe I should revise it to something a bit more obscure. Ah, "all hallows eve" gives you a much narrower lot to search through.

22 pages ranging from cute and sweet to gorey and spooky, fun and comedic to serious practitioner supplies. It's a good mix!

The one piece that caught my eye, and I guess I'm still a bit in my silhouette phase, is this beautiful Full Moon pendant by Crystal Bouquet. Her shop specializes in these glass tile pendants, and has several pages of variety, from classic movie stills to more graphic pieces like this, and even more styled or "cartoon" images. It's a beautiful selection and definitely worth browsing through

DeviantArt Contest

So, every time my DeviantArt page hits another 10,000 views, I do a contest to win a free custom Magic Vial Pendant. All you have to do is watch my profile page (HERE) and when you see the page views count hit 30,000, grab a screen cap! (Currently at 29,521) You can grab a screen cap by pushing keys Ctrl+Alt+PrtScr, then going into any art program (Windows Paint, PSP or Photoshop, any one should work), open a new file and then hit paste.

Be the person to send me the screen cap with 30,000 views and you win your own custom Magic Vial pendant for free! If you're a DA member, you can send it in a Note to me on DA, you can leave it in a comment linking to the picture here, or however else you want to get it to me.

Pictured is one of my latest Magic Vial Pendants, Dark Fire (kind of a fall/halloween theme with orange jelly fire opal and black obsidian glass).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For today's etsy plug, going along with my latest Magic Vial Pendant, I thought I'd look for other orange and black seasonal specials.

It took several pages, but then something jumped out of me and screamed to be featured! Magic Cats!!

Le Chat Noir Studios specializes in OOAK (one of a kind) handmade fantasy and myth inspired art dolls. It was the Futhark Feline, named AmberMoon, (pictured) that was so adamant about being included in my blog today! She's made of beautiful orange patterned fabrics and is covered with Futhark Runes! Very unique and very beautiful!