Friday, December 18, 2009
The Ogee Ornament
My other regret is that it did not fit in my light box, the picture does not show it in the best light.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Future nifty stuff
I do get a lot of my raw materials from own post consumer trash. But when the weather is good, me and my dear husband go for walks around our neighborhood. I bring a large bag with me and bring home lots of stuff. My raw supplies spend the night outside in the cooler soaking in soapy water and then a few days draining in my spare bathtub.
What amazes me is we do not go for a long walk. It was a mile at the most. We humans can be pigs at times.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Does the happy dance...
http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-a-tale-of-six-cities-5619/#comment-175525
Sunday, October 11, 2009
I will be setting up at it and sharing a booth with Sebenjewelry. Come on out and see our stuff
2009 Dias de los Craftos Festival
I will be setting up at it and sharing a booth with Sebenjewelry. Come ond see our stuff.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Etsy Texas Crafter's First Monday Sale
Sunday, September 20, 2009
D9Z – Steampunk style finger gun
This little finger gun is called the D9Z – Discretion 9 Zillion. Currently sporting a size 10 us ring. This can be replaced free of charge just let me know your the circumference of your chosen finger. If you do plan on wearing this over gloves or something similar please measure with the item on.
Sense the postal service forbids the shipping of real weapons of mass or small destruction, you will be purchasing a gun casing only. .
The gun casing is made from recycled plastic. The gun body and barrel received an under coat of brass and then an over coat of browns and greens to give it an aged look. It has a 4 barrels coming out of the front. The barrels are bound with a ring of green plastic. The top of the gun has a large green, black and brown bead attached to the gun body with a green plastic stick.
This is meant for adults. Children should not have ray guns of any kind, they might shoot their eye out.
******** On a more personal note I currently resowing my steampunk outfit. The fabric was originally slightly stained and pastel. So I decided to try tea dieing. The bucket must have had some kind of chemicals in it that ate the thread that had been used on the seams. This did not stain it well enough so then I got some demin blue die. During the washing process most of seams cam undone. Now I sit and have to resew most of it. Ugh. There is reason no sewn items are in my shop. My sewing skills are barely above sewing buttons.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Soda Bottle Coin Pouch tut and more
Supplies:
1.small scissors – like using cuticle scissors for this
2.2 bottles – Does not need to be the same brand, but I do recommend sticking with 2 of the same rough size.
3.A strip of lined paper
4.some tape
5.sharpie marker
6.something to clean the bottles with – I like using wipes
7.some thread
8.needle
9.zipper – I tend to go with a zipper that is just shorter than the full width of the circumference
10.push pins – other options are available, will go over that in a moment
11.Hole poking board – like a stack of cardboard or some hard foam. I like using the hard foam arm rest from my keyboard
12.may need a small piece of fabric or ribbon to extend the zipper so it goes all the way around
2.Make your first cut just above this line, it OK if it is a bit rough.
3.Make a second cut just below the line.
4.Take the strip of lined paper and tape it around top edge of the soda bottom. The picture shows the lines facing out, but they should be facing in. You want to be able to see the lines best from the inside. Basically do as I say, not as I did.
5.Now take the push pin and poke holes evenly around the top. I space these about ¼ inch to ½ inch down and about ¼ inch apart. You can use other things to punch the holes, like a small hole punch.
6.Sew/lace the zipper on. I tend to prefer to add a bit of fabric to lengthen the zipper than to reduce the zipper size.
The basic concept can be used for other things. Like my sharpie box and the little vase. Many things can be done to give these a more spiffy look. Like using a fancy stitch, like a leaf stitch. Or adding a bit of fabric to back edge of the zipper to give it a more finished edge. Every brand styles there bottles differently so really the sky is the limit.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sir George - My entry into the Creatures of 9 contest at Deviant Art
The contest is over at http://news.deviantart.com/article/91399/.
I had fun trying to think of how to do this.
Took me a long while to come up with an idea for this. Recycled plastic is my medium of choice, and well plastic and steampunk rarely go in the same sentence. Sense plastic and glass have similar looks I thought of how a junk bot would look if it was born in a lamp shop.
The body casing comes from the top of a mountain dew 20 oz bottle, the bottom comes from a A & W root beer bottle. The top hat is fused plastic for the brim and the bottle cap. The back wheel is 2 lids taped together with electrical tape. The big back wheel reminds me of the old fashion white wall smooth tires from the 1910 to 1920's. The top connector piece is a drinking straw painted black. The bottom connector pieces come form the side of large lettuce box. The bones where taken from a Halloween decoration that was painted a brass color. Bits of brass wire used to connect the front pieces and make the axle in the back.
I do regret that I have no skill with electrical stuff. I would love to give this some red glowing eyes and a light source at the bottom to highlight the skeleton body.
I imagine Sir George would have a character very similar to the Cardinal in 3 Musketeers. His hands would rarely get 'dirty' for that is what minions are for.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
He who steals my purse, steals trash - bags
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
Othello Act 3, scene 3, 155–161
My apologizes up front for taking that quote completely out of context.
Been wanting to make a hobo purse for awhile, but my sowing skills are lacking. When I went to the dollar store and saw the trash bags, it came to me that I could fuse the seams, and not have to sew at all.
So that is what I did. I fused the garbage bags together and then fused the seams. One warning to anyone who is inspired by this to do something on your own. One I did use a normal size iron, but one of those mini ones would have made my life easier. Two do not buy scented bags, my room stank like a cheap perfume factory exploded.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Polyethylene Goggles for the metal hypersensitive members of the community
Allergic contact dermatitis due to metal hypersensitivity effects any where from 5 to 25 percent of the human population.
Being one of those effected by a mild nickel allergy I went to work to design goggles that had no metal parts.
These lovely goggles will not clash with a lab coat or a fine leather trench coat.
The goggles are hand crafted from reclaimed recycled soda plastic. The beads, lens, and lens frames are handmade by me. The large green beads are hand colored in a variety of shades of green and brown. The smaller beads and frames come from naturally brown plastic. The lens are attached to the frames with a bit of artificial sinew. There nose bridge can fleck to fit a variety of face styles. The band to go around the head is has elastic quality for easy removal. The lens are from naturally green plastic and have been edged in a darker green.
The lens can be changed out for a brown or clear as needed.
------- Please note these are not true safety goggles. They are sturdy but I will not be held legally responsible for random acts of mad science or high adventure.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
This That and the other shop part 2
Monday, August 10, 2009
Recycled, Reclaimed on Etsy - Toys and Minutares
ekm79.etsy.com - has a bunch of cute junk bugs and angels
TheRedForest.etsy.com - Made from reclaim yarn and cute as a button.
FeltSewGood.etsy.com - Made from reclaim sweaters. Love the fact that the colors are monocromatic. Ussually patchwork stuff clashes so much it looks garish.
embarkingdog.etsy.com - I ussually like the recycled stuff that doesnt scream recycled, but it has grown on me.
TheToyBox.etsy.com - Doll wardrobe made from an old jewelry box. I just love this idea. I have never found these things to be good for there entended purpose, glad someone finally has.
Well that all I have for now, hope you enjoy.
Trash is renewable reasource, we just need to figure out what to do with it
This That and the other shop
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Ring Stand Part 2
1. Trace the outline of each hand. I did it as if I was holding it with both hands. With my middle finger almost touching the brim. Basically a way you would never handle a bottle in real life. I also trace a bit of my arm at the bottom for bracelets.
3. Now just cut out the outline.
I did leave a bit at the bottom to make a bowl/tray for loose stuff. On the pick above you can see the left over bit. What I love about this is because you are using your own hands for measurements it will fit your rings. The red ring above is a size 16 us. I happen to have large fingers. If you want something that looks less modern just cover the hands with an old pair of gloves. You could also punch some holes in palm for earrings.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Easy Ring Stand
I love the ring stands from http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27220827
Though the price is more than reasonable at $3.50 plus shipping. Getting the 20 to 30 I would need was a bit out of my shoe string budget.
So keeping with my recycled reclaimed reincarnated theme I came up with this
This is a bottle cap with a V groove cut into it and a diamond shaped piece of soda can sticking out of it. I used my hot knife to cut the V. One note the plastic that these lids are made of is super stinky when melted. Even doing it in a well ventilated room I can only cut about 3 caps before needing to move on to something else.
Monday, July 27, 2009
My first post/ Hula Day / Simple Hula Skirt Tut and warning
My work place has occasional "Fun Days". These have a theme and a prize is given to the person that best fits the theme. Last Friday was Hawaii day. I decided that I needed a hula skirt to complete my outfit. Didnt feel like buying one either, so I did a search and found a few suggestions. One lady had just taken a green garbage leaf bag and cut it into fringe.
Well garbage bags I had, but they where white, but I also had a big deluxe box of new sharpies also. So bags where randomly covered with Sharpie sribles in radom paradise colors. Cut into strips and attached to and the Uber Hula Skirt of Doom was born. One bit of warning to anyone thinking, Lets go make a hula skirt, this thing was hot and had massive amounts of cling to everything. And you will loose to the girl in the coconut bra.
Sense the skirt was a bust I am taking the strips and fusing them toghether to make ribbon yarn. Not sure what I am going to do with. Maby a cut in half again and use a flower loom, Or make a doormat. Weave an easterbasket. Make million zillion on Esty selling Garbage Bag Hula Skirt ribbon : )