2/7/16

13 new things

Thanks so much for all the comments, I love you guys!  
Lord of the Stars.
And don't worry, I'm not changing the way I blog. The blog got two thumbs up. If anything, I'm making my listings more like my blog, OK?

Hear me, Lord of the Stars!
For thee I have worshipped ever
With stains and sorrows and scars,
With joyful, joyful endeavor.

-Aleister Crowley

Chthonic. Primitive textile stitched bracelet with antique jet nailheads in plum.
Chthonic- concerning or inhabiting the underworld
And idk, that's hard for me. I can babble all I want here but in the shop, where I'm supposedly trying to convince people to buy something, I suddenly clam up. I'm like, "I dunno, get it if you want it, I'm not gonna twist your arm, jeez."
What is that about guys? This reticence to show real enthusiasm for what I do when I clearly am super enthusiastic about what I do. I've always had this problem.
Natural Philosophy. Rustic brown Victorian tribal artisan assemblage bracelet with chiastolite gemstones.
Natural Philosophy. 
Is it some kind of intelligensia-class distaste for anything to do with commerce?
Or unwillingness to pimp myself? Insecurity?  Massive laziness?

D) All of the above.
Idk, here's some stupid bracelets.
Uxorious. Rustic Victorian tribal assemblage bracelet with photo button.
Uxorious.

And look at them, they're not stupid at all they're awesome.





And while some commenters said if my approach to my shop ain't broke don't fix it, I think it is broke.



Ouranus. Rustic artisan blade hoop earrings. Primitive assemblage.
Ouranus.
I mean, I should be able to charge more for stuff and have it sell, that's what's broken.
Circumlunar. Mixed media chandelier earrings with vintage coins.
Circumlunar.
I've had people say they don't charge more for their own things because "If fanci only charges X, little ol' me certainly can't charge Y."
Telegnosis. Rustic mixed media artisan chandelier earrings with polymer art beads.
Telegnosis.
That means I'm fucking things up for all of us and that sucks.

There's an undervaluing of our kind of art and us the makers doing it means the shoppers will do it for sure.
Blushing Apex. Mixed media assemblage earrings with primitive polymer clay art beads in pink.
Blushing Apex.
So yeah, I'm trying to change stuff so that I can confidently charge more, is pretty much it. We'll see how that goes.
Mutagenic Symbiont. Colorful art bead earrings.
Mutagenic Symbiont.
Can we all just stop and look at these earrings? I'm obsessed with them. I took forever to color them, changing out colors by actually penciling over other colors repeatedly until the previous color just gave up the fight agains the newer color.  Like, many times.
I loved making these beads with shipwreck because polymer takes sooo many steps to make look descent and when someone's already taken care of the first half, you sort of enthusiastically put in tons of time without getting frustrated that you're throwing your life down the drain or whatever.
Here's what I'm working on with the rest of these beads. Not quite done yet but I couldn't wait to share cuz I'm freaking out about these stupid beads!!!!! Looooook at them!!! Now look at them some more. Now write me a comment that I'm not crazy they really are that cool. Thank you.
Ganesha. Elephant lariat in warm topaz amber and off white. Rustic artisan assemblage necklace.
Ganesha.
Check out my smelli-phants. Squee!!! See, see how one of them is off-white with a brown dangle and the other is brown with an off-white dangle? And yes, yes the dangle represents their giant testicles. So that's what you'd be wearing if you bought this.
I hadn't thought they were anything like testicles until just now I thought of the term "under-dangle" to describe them. So yeah. See why I'm not good at promoting myself?
Otiose. Olive found-object lariat. Artisan assemblage jewelry, rustic victorian tribal necklace.
Otiose.
Here's a very found-object type one and I think it's just adorbs. Look at that spotted olive bead. I have no idea where it came from or what it is but I LOVE it.

Why do I have trouble admitting that, yes, I absolutely love everything I make. They're all my babies.

Azoth.
Here's the weirdest one of the pack. The stitched bits were more gifts from shipwreck. The top wonky beads were a co-effort. I know it looks a bit like an alien artifact but, again, I just love it.
Epicedium. Rustic assemblage victorian tribal choker with cameo.
Epicedium.
And this smaller one with the whole Victorian-tribal balance on point.

I also make this sweet baby for Teapotsandtelephones to say thanks for all the gifts, with the two elements from the hoard that she most wanted to keep- enameled bee clip-on earrings and links from the Kuchi necklace.

And I used the amazing decals she sent to embellish this mop piece and old tape measure. I don't know what to do with them from here but aren't they awesome?
Other sides...

And I put the sterling ear wire option up on all the earrings.
 I even found time to break my own heart while making this cute piece. It's one of those old toys where you try to get the little balls into the indents at the little chef's eyes.

When gluing the edge of the "glass" down, (because I saw water was seeping in) I managed to glue the two little steel balls in place. To get them out I'd have to ... drill a hole into the edge and pry them off somehow? I also got the top all cloudy. I want to cry. I'll probably keep this nearby until I can face the fact that I did, in fact, ruin it and there's no hope.





Lets have a moment of silence for the necklace that never was.
Humanity's Dilemma. Grey and pink assemblage necklace with druzy geode.
Humanity's Dilemma.
Plus I'm sloooowly retaking item photos against my new background ...
Gaudiloquent. Art bead necklace in primitive cream and orange. Rustic assemblage jewelry.
Gaudiloquent.
... and re-writing the listings.
Gratulation. Iridescent assemblage necklace. 
Gratulation.
Plus I'm trying to be more co-ordinated between my shop, blog and Instagram.
Frabjovus. Delicate assemblage choker with touches of green.
Frabjovus.
So far response has been positive.
Recondite. Chunky rustic assemblage necklace in golden amber brown. 
Recondite.
Now for a long nap.
Look at my parent's dumb little cats! They're so happy cuz the folks were in Cali for a week and now they're back and they're just so happy. Sleeping together without fighting. Mr. Devices and I were taking care of them and Bingo didn't like the time spent away from him.
My old dog has gone deaf you guys, it's strangely adorable.



Now watch this Koala cry like a baby after being kicked out of his favorite tree.

An if you're about to tell me Koalas aren't cute then SHUT IT.

(You know who you are, I'm not about to say your name so as not to incur the wrath of the entire Internet.)

ALL mammals are amazing. They say things like Swiggity Swooty.
Cheezburger booty koala koalas
Did I tell y'all the other day my 6 year-old niece said, "I like this question mark it's sorta swaggy."
And I just sat there going, "Did you just say- did you- did you just-..." Like that for five minutes.

6 comments:

Penelope said...

ok ok the baby ones are kinda cute, but i'm so not looking at that youtube, that is creepy af.

But OMG you effing beauty. So much in this post, it's like my most favourite thing all day. That quote about 'throwing your life down the drain' had me LOL.

And I SO agree about you setting the bar with prices. (uhoh Penny's on the soap box again). A revelation came to me the other day that here I am trying to get everyone to up their prices, when the thing is NO ONE charges enough, not even you and you are our queen. (but I get to be prime minister). So then I had a total collapse because I realised I'd have to change the whole system. Which I will do this week. (that's what my to-do lists look like 'tuesday - buy food; wednesday- shift paradigms; thursday - get hair cut'.)

But seriously, these things... it's not just about the cost of the materials and labour and blah blah blah. It's about the position you've put yourself in and the parts of your mind that have been trained through years and years. It's the sheer creative super-power of making original jewelry from bits of junk when most poeple need a step by step just to string pearls. It's that you have enginerred your entire life to have as much time as possible to work on this stuff, it's that you're working on it in your head when you're out buying food, doing the dishes, sitting on the toilet, even probably....ahem, sexy times (yes I have thought about jewelry while I was supposed to be focusing on the 'task at hand').

What my point is that people are paying for all THAT, not just wire and beads and [X] hours. They are paying for you to think about this stuff 24/7 and come up with extraordinary results. And you never dissapoint. and this goes for everyone in the art/assemblage/mixed media industry. We are all visionaries and we gotsta get paid, son. Spellcheck wanted me to change 'visionaries' to 'missionaries' and you know that kinda works too.

Also can I just add that the new larger size of the pictures is soo seductive!! That close up shot of the Telegnosis earrings just about gave me a total crisis. I seriously actually reached out and touched the screen because I wanted it so bad. And I went to the listing and hit 'zoom' so I could get closer and aaaaahhhhrrhrhrg the big thick tangle of metal and the barely-there faces and the tabs and rust and patina and stoney glass eeeeeeeeeeeee - now I finally understand why you always wanted some of my shots as a poster. I totally get it now.

And yes those beads are astounding - again the larger image and the intensity of the colours and the gold, and the blackened steel... dammit that shit is KEWL.

/longest comment ever

Juliette said...

Lord of the Stars is incredible. You have inspired my bracelet-making attempts, which needed inspiring. Thank you.

Willow Studio said...

The hand colored beads are GORGEOUS. There, I said it. And seriously, please get your prices up to where they belong. I completely agree with Sparrow on that one.
Bravo for taking it on, girl. As always, you are an inspiration.

(Telegnosis earrings are beyond the beyond.)

Susan said...

I think I have an idea for the necklace that never was: you could take the clear top off, put the beads where you want them and fill the top with clear resin. That's not as cool as having the beads freely roaming around but you could get rid of the cloudyness...
You could of course try and cut a round piece out of polymer glass, take the clear top off and exchange it, but I think it could be really hard to get it to the right size and to sit tightly in place...

fanciful devices said...

I think you're right about taking the top off, Susan, but I think I might have a lense of some kind that's the right size around here somewhere. I just need to switch it, yay!!!!!!

TheEuropeanMarina said...

I wholeheartingly agree with Penny on her backing up your uping the prices! I mean, I was looking at necklaces of yours and thinking, SO many things there, all things which are one of a kind, handmade, unique, vintage/or antique, and all the work done by one person, gathering the components through search, all the time to combine them, to get things working in the piece of art. IT IS ART. Buyers should learn to distinguish between one of a kind pieces and mass produced pieces. Think of it as educating buyers of the process of an art piece. And that is that!
ps the collaborated beads came out wonderful, bravo to both the creators!