Oodles of Updates

I survived my travels, despite delays and detainment. (Awesome! Not.)

I've finally adjusted to the 13 hour time difference. (I'm now a time travelling machine!)

Since being back I've enjoyed many swims at the local lakes and beaches, umpteen BBQs, a fair share of rum and cokes, and a ride around the trail. (And maintained my pale skin so far so good.)

I've got some sewing done, though mostly hems and corrections. I've a new purse in the making but not much to show for it right now. Soon!

I've got a bunch of jewellery made/started that I'm really proud of. (Here and here.)

Although I mostly use tumblr now for general life updates, I figured I'd let anyone who's still following me on blogger know what's what. 

I split my shop into two divisions and opened a new etsy shop for one. Tamed Raven Designs is now for the weird, quirky things. 

Like these.

The new shop, called Eltu, hosts the eco friendly, recycling fueled pieces like the spoons, shells, and some new designs I'm working on. 

Like these ones.

Since I'm only home for the summer I'm currently just working on jewellery for the shops, and will continue with the purses and clothing when we finally settle back in Canada, whenever that may be. A small price to pay to see the world and take part in all these experiences.

I'm thoroughly enjoying spending my days making things instead of running off my feet selling coffee or candy, and spending time with family and friends. I hope all your summers are going just as well. 

Box Set

I ordered some earring bezels before Christmas and have finally gotten around to photographing some of the sets I've made with spoon pendants. I just love how these came out. 

Now if only I wore earrings myself to show them off ;P.

Leather Scraps

A few months ago I got a huge bag of leather scraps in the mail from home. If it hadn't been for me feeling so sick lately (since November!) I probably would have done more with it by now but alas, that's how things roll.

I did however get inspired to finish this bib necklace (which has some leather from my last batch and swarovski crystals, cute!) and some more fortune cookie charms, which are going to become bracelets and necklaces, along with these earrings.

I can also finish my patchwork belt, much like my patchwork corset, which was the reason it's not finished. I ran out of black leather! I can't wait to start wearing it so I guess I should dig it out. I've had it shoved in a bag for ages waiting to get more leather to work on it.

Eating chips and blogging is where it's at.

Hello! I know, I haven't posted in AGES! I honestly haven't had anything to share with you and so I've been doing other things. I ran out of resin, I've been working, so I hadn't had anything to show off. A few days ago though I made my way up to Michael's, loaded up on resin, and I've got some great new things poured and set :). I'm getting the opportunity to sell some necklaces at work this Saturday so that's pretty exciting! Other exciting things happening Saturday include me being allowed to open my secret santa presents (and show off not only what I got but what I made with you) and my mom is coming up for a visit! Yeah, I'm pretty stoked. She's going to be here until almost Christmas. It's going to be awesome!

Yes, 2 of these spoons I made ages ago and the third I peeled the resin out to redesign the spoon. The 2 smaller are presents.

This is really hard to photograph, but the paint inside is so rainbow-y that it looks blue, green, yellow and pink!

Another shot..

One of my favourite new pieces. The shape of this spoon is astounding!

Leaves in Resin

I'm not quite ready for winter to come, as much as I'm loving all the chunky knit sweaters and cozy tights everywhere. I've been collecting and drying out leaves, which are now beautifully displayed in resin!

I love these! And when I say that, I mean it. Out of everything I make, it's rare that I make something that I'm as happy with as these. Perfectionist to a fault, possibly, constantly wanting to do better. There was actually a fifth but the oak leaves dried a boring brown and left the rest of the pendant looking flat. I didn't even finish it and it went in the garbage.

They're crystal clear and super colourful. I can't wait to get a few more mold shapes (I have no idea what happened to my rectangular one...) as I feel these would look great in an assortment of shapes and sizes. Also, their colours are going to hold me over all winter when it's cold and I'm longing for my favourite season to come back again.

I took all my leaves and tucked them into the heaviest book I own (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), and left them pressed between parchment paper for a few days. Once they were done I put them right away into resin in hopes of preserving as much color as possible. I'm not sure what these will do long term, but for the time being I think they look wonderful.

Fresh out of the book!

The obligatory work in progress shot.

Post craft show post & nails

So the craft fair ended up to be a very rainy day and sadly that kept many people away, but I had a great time, met a lot of wonderful people and it was definitely worth my time going there :).

I ended up having quite the collection of pieces that were piling up around here after random experiments, playing around with ideas, or having pieces I had for a while that I wanted to get rid of. I ended up putting them all in a rummage bin (far left of the table). People got some fun one of a kind stuff for really cheap (3 for $5) and I now have a lot less stuff sitting around. Everyone wins! Especially since I wasn't making money off things that no one saw and weren't listen online everywhere.

I'm hoping to get my etsy store fixed up within the week, though I did take down everything that's gone :).

Aaaaand these are my nails for the week. Getting kind of halloweeny now :). Take care everyone! 

Wire and Glass

I've been playing with some wire and what glass beads I had left from the move in my spare time this past week (you would be alarmed how many beads I gave away.. And fabric. My god it's depressing to think about!) I think they're fun. Kind of quirky, inspired by some pendants I saw online that I couldn't get out of my head. I have a feeling I'm going to be making many more of these for fun. (And I challenged myself to use up all my beads within the year and we're already into October.. Whoops!)

More comics

I found some tiles, which is making my life substantially easier with making my comic necklaces. Takes a lot less time and a lot less resin per piece. Although some of these pieces have some serious resin staining, it's all in the learning process :).

This one got pretty wrecked :( Too bad.

My coat is coming along, though I thought that I had fixed my serger, when I was testing tensions it sewed fine, as soon as I started with the real pieces of fabric it jammed up on me right away. I wonder if it has something to do with the speed I was using it at.. Hmm.. I also need a seam ripper cause I made a bit of a boo boo.. Will have to wait until tomorrow to get that fixed up!

Just for fun

I absolutely love earrings, although my ears are too sensitive for me to really wear them. I have, however, been having fun making earrings. But man oh man do I need to get to some craft fairs cause holy moley I have a lot of stuff piling up!

Glass beads.

Shells and crystals.

Rose quartz and glass beads.

Wire wrapped glass beads.

Glass beads.

Chain and glass beads. 

Asymmetrical shells and crystals.

The round glass beads that are wrapped in wire are my favourites. I'm tempted to keep them for myself even though I know I'd never wear them.. I'm working on getting these up in the shop if you're interested.

Pow! Bam! Kaboom!

So it seems I've gotten into the comics again, this time with some fun and funky necklaces. I've ran out of resin (such a horrible feeling) so I can't finish these until I get some more, but I have one finished and ready to be strung somehow.

Not sure what kind of chain I'll put on it yet..

I've got a whole bunch of these drying and awaiting their next coat of resin.