The Threepenny Opera

I am so excited!!! Pomona College theater department in California purchased one of my clockhand chokers to use in their performance of The Threepenny Opera!!!! This production will be shown at the Seaver Theatre at Pomona College in Claremont, California. This play is a personal favorite of mine. I can’t wait to see the pictures. Please visit their website for details about the performances http://theatre.pomona.com . I hope,I hope that the character Jenny (Low-Dive Jenny, Jenny Divers) will be wearing it. She’s my absolute favorite. You can't imagine how excited I am about this. The song Mack the Knife has been a constant fixture in my life, and well as the movie The Threepenny Opera with Raul Julia. So to have one of my pieces anywhere near this production is just bliss.

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.

Airship Captain's Badge of Honor

I love this design so much. So imagine how happy I was a couple weeks ago when a customer contacted me to make one for her special for the Christmas holiday's. Last time I listed it I made one for me and one for the shop. As I was wearing mine out one day a very nice lady forced me to sell it to her on the street. Awesome! then she contacted me that night and purchased the second one for her friend. So I had to take the listing down. That evening I was contacted on Etsy to make one as a custom order. So after all of that the necklace was finished and shipped, and I just heard back from the client today that she loves it. To quote "I am beyond infatuated with this necklace! Thanks so much for making one for me!" I am over the moon :)

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.

My little necklace goes to an art opening.

Here is the lovely Laurie Hassold at one of her recent art openings. Notice her AMAZING sculpture behind her. It is so beautiful in person, very intricate. Also notice the necklace she is wearing. It's one I made for her a long, long time ago. It's made of forged silver in an African motif. All three of them go so well together.

The Airship Couple

This has to be my favorite couple on the planet. They are both amazingly talented models among other things, and were sweet enough to show me the pictures from the photo shoot they took with the choker they purchased from me. Don't they look adorable together. I just love the persona's they have made for themselves!

Modeling my Wares

Look what I ran across one day on the net. A very good customer of mine bought this choker, and was sweet enough to loan it to a friend of hers. That friend happens to be the gorgeous model Adrian Louise's and wore it for this photo shoot. It looks so pretty on her. And the way the picture is taken it looks so modern, not Gothic Victorian at all. I just love seeing what other people can do with the things I make.

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.

Off to the Ball

I give you the very lovely, and talented Suzanne. She commissioned these pieces to accent her gorgeous gown, which she customized herself, to go to the Dickens Ball. An account of the evening can be read on her blog, as well as how she altered her dress. Her latest Victorian steampunk novel will be released next year, and I can't wait to read it.

Appreciation Photos

One of my favorite things in the world is when customers send me appreciation photos. The greatest complement is actually seeing the things I make worn by their owners. The first picture is of a customer who contacted me in a panic because she needed something special to wear to a military ball with her husband. I actually had to overnight express a couple of pieces to her, and she just looks lovely with the choker on. The second is a fellow Etsy seller,Crimsonvision who custom ordered a tiara from me with red crystals. I just love her fangs! They are gorgeous!

The Sweetest Couple

I just love it when I find pictures of people wearing my items on the web. Here is the sweetest pictures of the cutest couple I have ever seen. The bride commissioned me to make her a lovely little pair of clock hand earrings with a little red crystal drop at the end. They just look so adorable on her.

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.