Blood Rorschach

My boyfriends and my anniversary was this last Sunday. We are both artists so we usually make things for one another for such occasions. This year I wanted his gift to be very special, and personal. So what did I do? I made a Blood Rorschach!!! You know ink blot tests, but instead of ink... you guessed it my blood. Alright don't freak out I know it's weird, ( you have seen my other artwork right?). Don't worry I'm too much of a chicken to cut myself for it. A couple of weeks ago I cut myself with an exacto like I always do. Usually I wear leather gardening gloves whenever I even think of holding an exacto knife, but this night I was sleepy and forgot. Also, that day I had taken a lot of sinus medication so once the wound opened it didn't clot right away and I had enough time to grab some paper, and play with it. I realize that this isn't the first thing people think of when one cuts themselves, but you didn't grow up in my family. My oldest sister who is a sculptress did an entire series of blood Rorschachs for a gallery show a few years ago, ( She had the blood taken from her by a nurse ). I was VERY please with the end result. The variation in quality of line, and shading made me very proud. The I accented the piece and give it definition with a brown micron pigment pen. The only thing that irritates me that I only had crappy computer paper to put it on. It was the only thing I had within reach. I will know better for next time.

I have an Eyeshadow Named after me!!!

Ok it's named after my shop, but same thing really. Mrs. Evils of the shop My Pretty Zombie has decided to name an eyeshadow after my shop!!! I am beyond excited!!! It is part of the Darksider Eyeshadow Collection, (named after the Etsy team we belong to Etsy's Dark Team ). And the color is just so, so pretty and sparklie I just love it! It goes on really well too,and stays on a super long time. Honestly I love her eye shadows better than my Smashbox, or Bare Minerals. The colors are true, and stay put all night on your lids. I have been hunting my whole life for a really true red eyeshadow, and to have it made for me by a teammate who could ask for more. So here it is EJPcreations- Darksider eye shadow.

Mr. Cthulhu in all his Steampunk Glory

I'm so excited !!! A few months ago I started a series of silhouette paintings. I decided to take my favorite characters from literature then transform them into silhouettes with a little Steampunk twist. So far on my drawing board I have Alice, Cheshire Cat, Colonel Brandon, and a few others. But today I finished my first and favorite... Mr. Cthulhu! It took me at least a month to get the wings just the way I wanted them. He is dressed as a distinguished Victorian gentleman with top hat, and high collard coat. Setting off his tattered wings, and undulating tentacles nicely. He is lovely hand painted on canvas paper with accents painstakingly detailed in India ink. I then accentuated parts of him with a color of green that I image Cthulhu to be. After the painting was all finished I mounted it on a large ornate wooden plaque, and placed my favorite quote about him on the back to honor his creator H.P. Lovecraft. I am so happy with it. It came out just the way I imagined it in my mind. Very dapper, yet retaining all his monstrous appeal with his alien eye gazing steely upon you till you submit to his horrific will.

Sarah and Neil's Nuptuals

A bride I have been working with for the better part of last year just had her wedding. I ended up making her floral ornaments, her hair ornament, her necklace, earrings, and bracelet. She just sent me the link to her pictures and they are STUNNING. The photographer was AMAZING I wish she lived closer so I could use her. Here is a sampling of the special day and Punambean's gorgeous pictures. The day just looked so magical! I am so happy for her.

For A Lovely Fall Wedding

Just heard back from a VERY special customer that I've been working with for the better part of a year now. It started with her commissioning me to make a number of floral sticks for herand her bridesmaids bouquets. They turned out lovely, but WAY more difficult to make than I ever thought they would be. I will know better for next time. Then she entrusted me to make her a set of jewelry for the big day, necklace, earrings, and bracelet. And finally I was honored to make her hair ornament. Her dress is so lovely, and I just can't wait to see pictures of it all put together. It will be a beautiful Fall wedding for sure.

Steampunk- anime Wedding

I just finished and packed up a very challenging commission. So I had to write a celebratory blog post about it. Sometimes metal leafing is a breeze. All goes well, and it is completed in a timely matter. And then there are times when everything goes wrong. The weather flop-flops making drying time impossible to gage etc etc. There are some art processes that you are completely at the whim of the fates, metal leafing is one of them. And during those times you hope that you have patient, understanding customers. The bride to be that this hair ornament is for was one such customer. So unbelievably sweet and patient. Her wedding is Anime/Steampunk themed, and I just can't wait to see the pictures of the event. I hope she has a very, very special wedding day.

Fall is in the air

Fall is in the air yeaaaaaa!!! I swear my creativity just shuts off the second hot weather starts. I had about 50 projects that I was right in the middle of at the beginning of summer, and they just sat there for the whole season. Staring at me, begging me to finish them for the last two months. Could I do it? Could I even lift a finger in their direction. No, no I didn’t and that is sooooo not like me. But summer has faded for now and I am back at my work bench. Here’s a few things I’ve been working on so far. A pretty little choker and 1940 inspired necklace. More to come shortly.

London Calling...

Commissions out of the blue are among my favorite thing in the whole world. Last week the sweetest lady from London message me saying that she just had to have one of my hair stick in gold. Now I have been working on making some of my items in gold for a long time now. For some reason I always go back to painting the clock hands black, but gold, white, and silver have always been on the drawing board for quite some time. As it turns out the hair stick she wanted was exactly the same one that has been lying on my work bench half way finished for the last three months. The poor thing kept staring at me to pay it some attention, and I being the horrible designer that I am blatantly ignored it. Then POOF out of the blue my procrastination is squashed by this kind lady. The hair stick is all finished, and sparkling, and pretty. No more sad looks from that side of my work bench anymore. I hope she likes it.

It Tolls for Thee...

I must introduce my latest little darling. Her name is For Whom the Bell Tolls, and I have been simply smitten with her ever since I started her design. I have this strange fascination with lace and metalwork, and this necklace just seems to bring the two together seamlessly.

Queen of the Damned Lives Again!

She has been away for so long, and I have missed her so. But finally I found her, fixed her up, and she is back. I have been trying to remake this necklace for at least five months, and something just kept getting in the way every time. First I lost the pieces, then they got mixed in with another necklace I was making and confused me. Then I got too busy with a couple of commissions and forgot about it all together. With all this abuse I don't know how she can forgive me, but now I finally have her all finished, and pretty, and taking her rightful place as Queen of the Damned in my shop.

A little Glint in Horus’s Eye

I have been working on a bracelet or gothic corsage design for quite sometime now. I knew the elements I wanted to comprise the bracelet design, but making it comfortable and wearable was holding the design up. I wanted it to mimic the 1800's ribbon bracelets with a corseted back closer, but really, really easy to put on. Finally, two weeks ago I came up with the perfect idea. The clasp is a corseted laced up clasp. A slide bead draws the laces together, and can be closed with one hand. By just holding one ribbon, and pulling the other ribbon to close the bracelet. When you want to take it off just pull gently on the bead. So easy! The type of bead I use for the slide fits nice and snug so you don't even have to tie the ribbons in a bow if you don’t want just have them sexily streaming down your hand. All the elements came together perfectly! I am so pleased.

Again with the Tiaras…

I couldn’t help myself I had to make another tiara. This one is actually based on a necklace design I came up with a while ago. I’m very please with how it turned out.

Tiaras, Tiaras, Tiaras…

Tiaras, Tiaras, EVERYWHERE!!! That's all I see in my head these days is tiaras. It was so bad the other day I kept sketching out tiara designs while I was at an exhibition of Thai paintings. The enlightened ones are depicted with little flames dancing on the tops of their heads depicting several peoples quest to attain wisdom. A beautiful symbol that I had to immortalize it. So a tiara it is, my own dark little interpretation of enlightenment.

A Flower Darkly…

Another wedding commission is completed, and I am exhausted! The bride to be came up with the best idea. She wanted me to make floral ornaments for her, and her bridesmaid’s bouquets. The idea popped into her head when she saw my hair sticks and we ran with it from there. Designing exactly the right ornaments to accent her wedding theme, and dress. I just love what we came up with. They have a quality reminiscent of a lotus blossom opening, but in a really noir mechanized world. I hope she sends me pictures of the event; I can’t wait to see what it looks like all together.

The Necklaces Night Out

Presenting Laurie Hassold wearing the necklace I created for her. She is graciously taking a moment out of her busy night at the opening of “All Gurlz Again” showing at Eclectix Gallery. Standing in front of her sculpture, which was the inspiration for the neck ornament. I am so glad she liked it, and the two pieces really look nice together.

Boutonnières Anyone?!?

I just finished making my first Boutonnières!!! I am so excited about them. The bride also ordered a suite of jewelry to go along with it including tiara, and earrings. These are to be worn at her summer teatime event. It sounds so lovely; I hope she sends me pictures. I want to see what the wedding party looks like so bad!!

Lex-A-Licious

A couple of months ago the most amazing photographer contacted me, Lex Machina. She wanted to use some of my accessories in an up coming shoot she had scheduled. After reviewing her work I jumped at the chance! Her vision is amazing, and I am stunned with the images she produced. The treatment she gave the photo, and the background is just breathtaking!

Miriam Would Love It!

My mom and I are RAVENOUS collectors of vintage costume jewelry. Are tastes do diverge though. She collects mostly Miriam Haskell and Czech glass, while I go for the Eisenberg, Weiss, and Regency look. As I was flipping through one of her books about Haskell a few months back. Suddenly, an idea for a piece of jewelry I wanted to make floated through my mind. It took a lot of working and re-working. A couple of failures then finally success. And I happy to say it’s finally finished. Showing it too my mom, she exclaimed to my delight, “MIRIAM WOULD LOVE IT.”

Well…I Was Sort of In a Print Magazine…

I just love this necklace. It took me so long to make. The designing alone took me at least a month and a half. What I wanted to do was resonate the feeling of Laurie Hassold's sculptures without mimicking them too much. Just a whisper of the essence of them. She wanted something very unique, and eye catching to wear to art openings and other various art functions. Once I finally got the design down the intricacy of it had me sawing and filing the sterling silver sheet at the jeweler's bench for at least another month. Then after that it was riveting the little beauty together, oxidizing, and then finally working on the chain. The chain turned out to be the hardest part of the piece. It went through so many different versions until I braved this design. So the piece was finished, and Laurie was VERY pleased. Then she notified me that she had worn it to the photo shoot for an article on her work in Art LTD. Magazine. I couldn't be more thrilled!!! So see just like I said I was sort of featured in a print magazine. My necklace was there promanate so everyone could see blazing from it's pages.... AWwwww.. Come on I think it counts! In any case Laurie looks beautiful in the pictures, and the necklace looks very at home with her sculptures.

Gilding the Lily… or Tiara

A very dear customer came to me a month ago with a commission. She wanted a tiara, earrings, and necklace set for a Ball she was attending. The obstacle was that the set had to be gold. I usually shy away from making metallic pieces because the effect is so hard to achieve. However, it was my favorite type of commission, and it was for my favorite kind of event I was going to make it work. I ended up gold leafing everything a couple times over, with an interesting painting technique underneath to bring out the gold even more. I am so pleased with the results. Now I just have to work on photographing them because taking pictures of shiny metallic pieces is even trickier than making them.