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. 

Too big dress to funky apron!

I bought this dress ages ago and it sat in my 'to reconstruct' pile for a very long time. I took it apart, put it partially back together, decided I didn't like my original plans for it and took it apart again. Then it sat for some more time.

Whoa buddy.

The other night I decided to finally make myself an apron and whipped this up. Didn't take too long and it does the trick. See? I already got flour and banana bread batter on it.

{We're still waiting for news on when we may be going.. Hopefully we'll here something soon. I'm put everything half off in the store with the coupon code 'CHINA' so if you're looking at something this will be the last sale for a while!}

Recycled Sweater Coat

This past Monday was Value Village's 50% off sale, and I had the day off work. Actually I should admit something.. I took the day off work. There were a few things I wanted to make, I knew I'd need quite a few supplies for it, and there was no way I was waiting until after work to go down there. Who knows what I would have missed out on if I waited all day?! Oh no Sir, I got up early and was there within the first hour they were open. I got a few things for a final item in my Secret Santa swap item (which I will show you on or around Dec 8th when we open), and as many good brown sweaters as I could find. I think the total was about 8 or so. This is one expensive project for anyone willing to tackle it.

The end result? This.

It started with a pile of sweaters, then several piles of cut up scraps, and it slowly started to come together.

I actually really enjoyed making this! I learned a lot on how to improve it should I decide to make another one, and you know what? I had so much fun that I'm sure I'll make more.

The hardest thing about making these is I constantly was sewing 'right sides together' by reflex and had to resew pieces the opposite way. I think it would look really beautiful if the seams were hidden though instead of exposed...

Fun facts:
Bottom hem measurement: 174 inches! That's 14.5 feet!!!! That's insane..
One of my serger spools ran dry making this, and I had to trade in one of the black threads for burgundy near the end.
It weighs almost 3 pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot but you notice when you're wearing it!

Thanks to the Mr for putting up with me not once but twice to help me get pictures.

Repurposed With A Purpose

Every once and a while I see something amazing, and I tuck it away to remind myself to share it with you.
This is one of those things.

Yes, it's a weird looking bicycle, but being that it's made out of cardboard (with recycled car tires for the wheels), and will cost roughly $20 to buy, it think it's amazing. It will be wonderfully convenient for those who want to reduce their footprint, and especially good for people in underdeveloped areas (I can see it now, websites where you can buy people fresh water, rice, medicine, soon you may be able to buy them a bicycle for transportation!)

You can see more information about it here, along with a video of it's process.

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!

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.

Lets Fall In Love.

The second day of (one of my) new jobs was stock day at the candy store, where we had to put out all the new stuff. I saw a wonderful piece of packaging that I turned to my co-worker and asked if I could keep it. The look on her face is one I get fairly often and I find it quite hilarious. "Yeah.. That's garbage.." And I'm thinking 'Yes, of course its garbage. And I want it. But I'm not going to just steal the garbage from the store now am I?' Oh my!

It looked like a perfect mold for something I wanted to try with resin, layers with things between it. It works pretty well but was somewhat of a one off, even with mold release sprayed twice inside it I had to rip the plastic apart to release the resin, it didn't pop out like I had hoped (I wonder if its the spray? It doesn't seem to work too well with my other mold either..). I really should just invest in a quality silicon moldbut why do that when there's all this garbage that's free?!

...I'm not cheap, I swear.

Regardless, I think these could be really fun, they're the perfect size and shape for what I want to do.

I'm thinking of adding one other color to the piece in the corner, but I haven't decided yet. You know, before I tear it to sh**.

Inside is a (mostly eaten) leaf I painted silver. That I picked off the ground while walking home the other day.. Oh, what the world must think of me..

I would just like to add how much I'm digging this song, Lets Fall In Love by Mother Mother, who are releasing a new album next month. I'm super excited about this as they're one of my most favourite bands ever :).

You Spin Me Right Round

I've been super super busy the past while (finally got a bed frame after almost a year of a mattress on the floor), I'm going to be starting a new part time job this weekend, family is coming to visit, and a whole slew of other things in between. I'm a bit stressed and nervous to say the least, but if I'm not scared, then it's probably not something worth doing in life, right?

One day I did find some time for myself to have fun I ended up whipping up these pendants. All made out of cut pieces of vinyl records. They're more an experiment than anything else, and a learning process, but I think I can have a lot of fun with this once I learn to make everything a bit neater. Until then, I share these with you!

Tutorial: Square Scarf Shirt

Make a fun and simple shirt out of a square scarf and not much else!

Materials:
Square scarf. (choose one that fits around your ribs)
Rope, chain, or lace.
Grommets and grommet punch.

How to:

Hold the scarf up to your body. Pin where you want the straps to sit (either use your bra straps for reference, or eyeball it) I accidentally spaced mine a bit further apart than I wanted, but I didn't notice until it was too late. Oh well :).

Poke a hole and put a grommet in each side. 

Tie a piece of lace through the grommet, around the back of your neck and to the other side. Make sure it fits comfy. (Not pictured, sorry)

Grab the sides of the scarf and pull it around to your back. Take note of how high and low you want the closures to go to.

Measure and mark one inch spaces along each side of the scarf where you want the closure to go and add grommets along the way.

Before I decided to add more grommets to the top.

Lace everything up and you're ready!

Notes: I found since the scarf isn't stretchy its easier to lace up the back, turn it around, then tie the neck. I also didn't take care to make proper holes for the grommets to go (nor did I make them even) and just stretched holes in the scarf. It's old, the fabric is thin and I pulled the threads doing this but I don't care. Just keep in mind if you're going to use a scarf you really like, take more care in how you install the grommets. Or close it some other way. Next time I make this (with a better quality scarf) I'm going to close the back with a short zipper and do over the shoulder straps. Its your shirt, do with it what you want!

I told you it had potential!