Experimental Earrings

My most recent creation involves copper, gears, and chains! No big surprise about the first two, I know, but I wanted to try out an idea and it worked. The hammering (annealing) process made the copper wire sturdy so that these are viable, wearable earrings. These are, of course, for sale in my Etsy shop.

edit: 10/09 -- These have now been sold.  I hope the purchaser loves them as much as I do!  =)

Parts Is Parts -- Painted Pocket Watch Robot Layout

The paint finally cured enough that I could safely work with the parts for the little pocket watch 'bot without denting the paint (yes, this happened, and I had to re-paint again). Curing is important! The pic shows the general concept, but I am thinking of making his (or her?) arms and legs out of wrapped wire instead of blocks. Wish I had some feedback from readers to tell me if it looks decent. Now I have to create some type of joints I wanted to insert between the pieces. Progress has been slow due to some pretty serious health issues that make me feel so icky I do not want to do anything, but I am happy with the results on this little guy so far!

Steampunk Suns!

I am thrilled that I sold another pendant from my Steampunk Sun collection, and the wonderful woman who bought it asked me to commission another resin pendant for her! I gave 27 combinations for her to choose from, and she chose what I am calling the "tri pendant". I will be shipping it out today. The picture is of the custom one. I think it is very cool! It is heartwarming when people like your designs so much that they ask for something custom.

My robot needs work! I painted the darn thing last week, then saw that some parts needed more sanding, so I have to paint it all over again once I get it smoothed out.

I often read about the marketing and pricing of handmade jewelry, and so I decided I should price my items more according to accepted guidelines, to actually make a small profit! Maybe. I usually only break even on materials, fees (that's 11% right off the top of any sale), shipping, packing materials ... and just forget the time I spent making something. If one wants to make a profit and move forward with a business, one must charge what things actually cost; I have to face that fact and hope people still like my pieces enough to purchase them.

Vintage Brass Brooch Steampunk Gear Pendant on Brass Chain

Here is my most recent creation, just finished an hour ago. I am torn whether to sell it or to keep it! I have ended up with many of the things I have made, partly because business is so slow in this economy... but most of the pieces I truly adore tend to sell, so maybe someone else will like this one, too!

The centerpiece is the frame of a brooch that belonged to my family. It had a small piece of cross-stitching in the center, which I removed and replaced with a piece of brass.

I think my additions to it are lovely. It does have more of an artistic quality rather than a functional one; it was too small to mesh all of the gears properly to make it look like a true clockwork, but I tried to make it interesting anyway.

This necklace sold in July 2010.  Thank you!

Pocket Watch Clockwork Bot #1 -- First Layout

I am thrilled that the material I got to make the "metal" parts of this first 'bot cut easily. Small squares of perfectly smooth metal with a hole through them were nowhere to be found; this material is easy to cut and drill, so it gets the job! (It is the plastic material used to make trim for houses. Since it comes in eight foot strips, I have plenty with which to make mistakes!) Next, I will try to paint the blocks and see how that works. I only have just a few of the parts I plan on making for this little guy; he still needs joints (another item I've been trying to figure out for a while), rivets, and a few other goodies.

Pocket Watch Robot

My most recent project is a tiny robot, made from a pocket watch.

Finding materials that will work and look right has already taken me many weeks, but I think I have enough to start over (again!). So far, many many hours have been spent arranging and rearranging metal pieces, beads, making and discarding clay parts, frowning, occasionally uttering some choice words due to the utter failure of said materials to work properly. All on a tiny pocket watch case! (No pocket watches were harmed by me for this project.)

So. Since it is already 95 degrees outside, I am going to delay my yard work and work on this little booger some more. Not sure if I can use the name "dingbot" or "clank", since these terms come from GG. Need to ask the Foglios for permission to do that, and maybe eventually sell this piece, but I figure I need to actually *make* something first!

Wish me luck!