I Heart Ebay!

Buying random stuff that you forgot about on Ebay is the best. This morning in the post I received a pair of leopard print shoes, some silver cake cases and a mannequin head.

Then I was late for work...

Mad as a...

Hatter of course!

I have, finally, taken some pictures of my recent handywork. They are as good as I can get them using the worlds lamest photo editing program, together with a computer powered by elderly, arthritic hamsters. Enjoy :)

I think these little nautical cocktail hats are my favourites so far. I have worn the blue one a couple of times and no-one has laughed at me yet. Well, not to my face anyway...

There are loads more in progress, although I have been lacking in free time this week, mainly because it's the London Roller Girls' championship bout on Saturday, woohoo! I'm so excited about this, even though I'll probably be too busy to actually see much of the action. A small part of me misses the excitement of actually skating in a bout, but only a really small part. Had a planning meeting at Silky & Nem's flat last night, which ended in much wine and chat, and me and Jennie running to Brixton station to get the last tube. Got home about 1:20am in the end. Oops. On a school night and everything!

Also met my mum for dinner this evening, as she's on a flying visit to pick up my nan from Heathrow. I really must go home more this year...

Shiny New Stuff! Woohoo!

Received an exciting package in the post this morning, full of lovely fabrics from the US! I giggled and bounced on the doorstep, but was already running late for work, so had to take them with me and open the package on the bus. Luckily there weren't too many people this morning...

I have some with daisys, some with ladybugs, some with bees and some amazing Alice in Wonderland fabric. And a ton of other stuff too. Eeek!

This is one of my favourites...

Can't wait to make it in to a little hat, it's gonna be so cute :)

I also have a shiny new printer, purchased by the boy, and access to Photoshop and Illustrator, which means I can sort out some lovely pictures and open an Etsy store, woohoo!

Watch this space...

I Have Been Doing Stuff, Honest Guv...

I really have. Yeah yeah I hear you scoff, but I so have, I've just been too busy to write about it. My actual job, the one that pays for my expensive creative type thingies has been a bit mental, as the boss has been preparing to go on holiday, which always results in manicness (hmmm, suspect that's not a real word...) I am making a real effort to leave at 4:30pm though, rather than thinking oh I'll just call that client/sort out that file/deal with those documents and ending up staying for another couple of hours. I think I'm still trying to get used to a job that lets you leave in the middle of the afternoon!

Anyway, I have been making loads and loads of hats, having acquired a lovely glass head as my new substitute hat block and I'm actually really happy with most of them, specially the little nautical inspired ones. I will take photos over the long weekend and post them soon...

Also, I wore one of my new creations out the other weekend and was stopped on the tube by a group of girls who said it was fab and asked where I got it. Now, this is where I should have been super confident and handed them a business card, pointing them to the website from which they could purchase, but (a) I have no business cards, (b) I have not yet set up a web shop and (c) I am rubbish, specially at any kind of self-promotion, so I just mumbled something about "thanks I made it" then ran away. Arrrrggggghhhh! Sometimes, I wish I were American...

I Made a Shiny Thing!

Yep, tis true. For the first time in three years I actually sat down and made something out of metal. Woohoo!

I had been feeling a bit despondent about the whole thing, as I realised that all of the designs that look amazing in my head need to be made out of silver clay. Now, I've never sculpted anything in my life, I just figured, you know, how hard can it be right? Turns out, quite hard. I thought I'd have a bash with some Fimo clay first, rather than starting off with the silver clay. So, I happily sit with my block of clay and attempt to sculpt a 15mm high Marie Antionette figure. I officially suck at sculpting. It looks like a frog and I squash it in a fit of pique.

The boy did suggest that perhaps 10 minutes was not really enough time to master the art of miniature sculpture and maybe I should start with something a bit simpler than an 18th century queen, but what does he know, right?

Anyway, I thought I'd have a go at a rollerskate next, as that's the first thing I need to make for my derby charm bracelet idea. My first attempt did make me giggle, if nothing else.

Tada!
Okay, yeah, I really do suck at sculpting :)

I had another couple of goes at just the boot part, as I'm going to be making the plate and wheels from sheet silver and tube anyhow, rather than sculpting them, and it kind of got a bit better as I went along. Not much though...

Had a bash at sculpting some cupcakes as well, which didn't turn out too awful after the first little squashed disaster...

Well I wasn't really getting anywhere with the Fimo, so I decided to set myself a target of at least starting Jennie a derby charm bracelet for her birthday by making a little nameplate charm. Her derby name is Dr Feral, but everyone calls her Fez, so I figured I'd just make a little Fez nameplate in the same font style as her team's (the Suffrajets) logo, which looks like this:
It actually turned out okay, seeing as I'm pretty rusty, although there are a billion things I'd do differently if I started over, as there are imperfections that annoy me about it, but here it is:

And I didn't break a single saw blade :)

So, onwards and upwards then I guess. I need to get back to the sculpting practice, finish the skate and design some more derby-style charms.

I'm off to set deadlines and make a plan...

Cocktail Hat - Take 2

Okay, the hat thing... So yeah, I thought about it for a while and decided I'd try something different.

I pretty much stuck with the previous instructions for the buckram, as that seemed to work okay, it was when I covered it with fabric that things went slightly awry.

So, as the base wasn't curved enough for my liking and went all flat and wonky, this time, I tried cutting through the buckram circle from centre to outside edge and pulling the edges together to make a slight cone shape. I then stitched along the join to secure. Like so:

Yay, it worked!

I then make a similar cut into the felt material and stitched it in the same way down the join and also stitched it to the edge of the buckram to make a solid base to attach the finishing fabric.

I used the same principal as before, cutting my fabric a half inch bigger than the base and stitching at the back to hold in place. I then placed a circle of black satin on the back to cover the stitching and bound the edges with ribbon. Which went a whole lot better once I realised I'd threaded my sewing machine like a retard.

I failed to take pictures of all the stages, as I needed to finish the hat in a hurry for my friend Jennie's birthday party, but.... drum roll please.... this is how it turned out:

And the back:
All in all, it didn't look too bad, so long as you didn't look to closely. The bits I buggered up, I think I know how to fix for the next one. Woohoo! I made a hat :)

In other making things news, I also made some cupcakes for Jennie's birthday party. Which was also Valentines day, hence the hearts.

Yeah yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be a jeweller and stuff and here I am faffing about making hats and cupcakes. But stick with me, I promise something shiny really really soon...

Sweatshopbytiq/Kawaii Parlor - Beware this Seller! AKA Royalteababy...

Ugh. Had the most awful experience of Etsy ever so I thought I'd do a little review. I attempted to purchase an Alice in Wonderland corset, kinda gothic/pirate striped top from Etsy seller Sweatshopbytiq in May last year. She eventually sent me one 4 sizes too big, even after I gave her my measurements, then told me to return it to her (at my own expense, even though it was her error) and she's still not sent me a replacement, won't provide a refund and ignores all my emails. I'll get round to typing up the whole story at some point, but basically she is a liar and a thief, so if you're ever thinking of buying anything from this seller, I would strongly advise don't. Just don't.

It just makes me sad that people have no conscience and are happy to rip you off. Sigh... Oh well, I hope karma gets her, someone steals all her money and she is left bankrupt and destitute!

Edit:

Please see updated post here to find out how it all turned out and for lots more info from a ton of other people ripped off by this girl http://weloveshinythings.blogspot.com/2009/05/sweatshopbytiq-update.html