Christmas ornaments preview.

Hey there, lovelies!  Yep, I once again neglected this blog and it's kinda sad, but I guess I'm not really cut out for this type of interaction. So for better updates on my creative live I invite you to my Facebook page as it's updated quite better. But for those of you still around, let me share some early holiday cheer with these new ornaments I made that will be available in my store starting tomorrow!

There are several more owls, but let's have something left to look forward too!

Indiegogo - Help Me Go Metal!

A lot of stuff has been going on lately - I got my salary cut 1/3 short, which isn't good at all, but, on the other hand, this gave me a good kick to consider making more jewellery. Since in 10 days I'll be graduating, getting my silversmith diploma for this melchior collar I've been working on for the previous months.

Inspired by Mirkwood.

It sure drained me dry by this point. But I really got into working with metal and, after the diploma, am planning to make new desings in brass and melchior. Eventually I'll even move unto silver! But before I get there, I need a substantial upgrade with the tools at home - right now I'm using my collage workshop, but that won't be for long. So I've started an Indiegogo in hopes to raise some funds and get started before the autumn craft fairs begin.

My first filigree and enamel pendant - IRL it looks even more magical. Got a little over-excited and smugded the enamel before it cured, oops!

Brass and polymer clay - isn't he the sweetest fish mammal in the sea?

I fell in love with the stained glass look of the filigree pendant I made in one of my classes as well as with the cute look of polymer clay combined with wire in this lil whale. I'd love to make more such items, and many other designs, but can't afford the tools by myself at this point - and, most likely, nowhere in the foreseen future, since the current job situation. 

A new design started - a cute owl!

But with your help it's possible - an Etsy purchase, an Indiegogo donation or spreading the word on your blogs, Facebook, Tumblr, personally to friends. Here is a list of quick links, where you can help:

• Indiegogo
• Etsy
• Facebook
• Tumblr 

Every bit helps, I hope this campaign will succeed!

Maslenitsa - Hello, Spring!

Well, since I was hooked up with studies for the previous months, I didnt have much time to work on new stuff. But I still have something interesting for today's "show & tell"!

In Russia this week was rather celebratory - not an official holiday per se, but a national tradition. Maslenitsa is the week before the beginning of the Great Lent and also the week we say goodbye to winter. The traditional food is blini or pancakes - but unlike the western "pancakes" blini (plural of "blin") are thinner and often serve as a wrapping for various fillings, such as cottage cheese, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, but also they can simply be dipped in sour cream or jam. They are both a tasty treat before a long fasting and a pagan symbol of the sun, that brings spring.

Traditionally relatives and friend would visit each other during the week - different days meant different visits. Also mass festivities take place and end on Forgiving Sunday (if you'd like to ask forgivnes from someone for anything - no day is better) with the burning of the Maslenitsa - a hay and rag doll that's meant to symbolize the winter. Of course most traditions aren't as common as when people lived in villages, but even in cities on Sunday there are organized events in parks and squares - snow fights, bonfires, contests, dances, sleigh rides! Perhaps it's the biggest celebrated holiday that isn't strictly religious and keeps national traditions, which means a lot since most of the populace is rather out of touch with them (except for seniors).

I didn't have the chance to take photos of the blini that I baked (they where too yummy to survive that long), but if anyone would like to try them, the recipe is quite simple! You'll need:

• 300 ml of milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 5 tablespoons (heaped) of flour (I use wheat or a mix with oat)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• a pinch of salt

Mix the egg, milk, sugar and salt, add flour and then the oil. They are baked on a very hot frying pan (I'd recommend slightly (!) oiling it before the first pancake and in-between if necessary) by pouring some of the dough in a thin layer and, when baked, flipping it over with a spatula. Took me some practice, but the result was totally worth it! My fave is eating them hot while dipping in cold sour cream or condensed milk - it's out of this world!

For those on the vegeterian side - here is a recipe I also tried that doesn't include eggs. But it still contains milk... I guess you could use water, but I don't think that'll still clasify as blini and not some form of plain bread.

• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 l of milk
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of bakers powder
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

 The instructions are the same - give it a good mix, bake and feast! These turn out a bit thicker than the firt ones,  but still about only 2mm.

Ahoy there!

Long time no see! Terribly sorry for this, there were a lot, a lot-lot-lot stuff going on, so I simply didn't have any energy or inspiration to write. Things are still big and busy and I promise to write about them (well, if anybody is interested), but for now I'd like to share some new steampunk designs to compensate for such long absence.

So, these are some sweet lil aircrafts, that are up for sale in my shop right now. Hope you like them!

Three Rings for Elven... oops, wrong rings.

Hello, readers! School is still overwhelming me, so things in the new designs department are going slowly - rather than making whole theme collections, winter so far was productive for standalone items. I became really inspired by "Hobbit" and "Rise of the Guardians" this season - so fantastical and magical! I wasn't even planning to see RotG in the first place (never saw the trailers), just had a nothing to do afternoon with my BF. But I loved it. The visualization, the designs, the animation is so lovely... My personal favorite is Sandman, how much more expressive can you get? Even my manicure for the last weeks of 2012 was black with gold crackle - kudos to a fellow fan, who bought me the nail polishes as a gift.

But that didn't spark into designs (I generally avoid making too fandomic designs for a number of reasons), but "Hobbit is a whole other story.

It was a long-long wait. This is one of those fandoms I never outgrew and, most likely, never will. This movie had such a "hey, I'm back home!" feeling, I won't even try to describe. I don't mind minor changes, the movie is, well, as literal as an adaptation can be for a children's fairytale in the spirit of the LotR epicness. I love the elves, I love the dwarves, the orcs and goblins - they are all soooo much as they should be. The landscapes, the architecture, I could barely sit in place when they showed Rivendell, so amazingly beautiful it was. Fantasy eye candy, I've already ordered the book of concept art for the movie.

Hobbit Hole Door ring

Yeah, some moments could be shorter, - the mountain giants did nothing for the movie, and as adorable Sebastian was, that scene could be cut too, - but overall the movie was great, can't wait to see it again!

And I'm most certainly eager for the next movie, when we'll get a good look at Smaug. 

Dragon Egg rings

I love dragons, I collect dragons, I'm a Dragon by the eastern zodiac - why wouldn't I be eager to see him?

I've also started working on other dragon-themed items, but since I want to make the best of it, they'll take some time.

And as far as unexpected journeys go, I still have a taste for vintage items, so, when the two combine - I get this. Lovely voyage suitcase rings, with fine details. Not as fairytale as the others, but I hope as adventurous and interesting.

Vintage Voyage rings

Winter Came

Brrr, just yesterday the weather was fine, chilly, but dry, and today it's snowing non-stop! It's a full time winter landscape out there. It's so boring having snow for nearly 6 months - once it starts in November it only melts down mid-April, maybe the end of March, if lucky. You can't do as much fun coords since it's not only snowy and slippery, it's really cold here too, with an average of -17C with occasional weeks of -30C. Layer are your best friends, but no fun hair and I hate long heavy coats, make me feel boxy.

Well, you can't argue with weather, so let's get to something a lil bit more interesting. Many things and changes are planned for the winter, and I started of early with a little re-make of my store logo.

I had a hard time wit an abbreviation for it - "BS" was a "no" from the start, "BRST" is not how abbreviations work. But "BitS" cuts it really nicely, it has a nice ring of small cute things to it. I kept the skull and heart motive, making it more crisp.

As some may recall, I was planning on getting a masters degree, if I managed to get scholarship. Well, I haven't. But I found a more interesting program in the same academy - a 1-2 year long course that consists of the most essential classes for fashion design, made especially for those, who have a diploma and want to switch professions. It doesn't qualify as a second degree officially, but is basically the same program as the main fashion design course is. So, though it doesn't have scholarship, I applied. Have to work a lot more now, though, but no way I'm getting student loans. 

So, the course so far has been really interesting and I really feel that's it doing me good - I've learned the specifics of fashion illustrations, am learning about materials and construction, use of colors, styles, can analyse construction and trends a lot better, everything so far was nothing, but helpful information! I also took marketing and business planning as extras - loving every second of it.

Since I had thoughts of expanding beyond jewelry making, I find all this is really gonna pay off, it gives a lot of confidence when you actually know what you are doing. Though my basic target group is the lolita community, I'll surely be catering to it, but with some ideas, that are quite risky for such a conservative fashion. But, you can't quit until you try, right? 

Happy Halloween!

Though I don't make special items for Halloween, I'll tell you a tale today, one of the legends of my city. Yeketerinburg was founded as an industrial town, with steel mills and lots of mines - ore, granite, semi and precious stones. Many merchants and factory owners lived here, and one of the most notable ones was Rastorguev, who's mansion still stands on top of a hill not far from the city center.

The mansion was build in 1814, but no one knows for sure, who was the architect - the most comon story is that it was a french prisoner, who was bribed out of jail by the merchant, who promised to set him free when the house was finished. But he didn't go through with his word and the architect committed suicide on the way back to prison, cursing his creation and all those who lived there. Maybe this, or the fact, that the hill was a place of an ancient pagan temple - an old cemetery was recovered beneath the park pond much later -  lead to a series of deaths.

All the children of his eldest daughter died before they reached 5 months, except for 3 who where born after Rastorguev died in strange obstacles, well out a window - some say it was an accident, some say suicide, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that he found his second wife cheating on him and ordered to kill the lovers that same night.

His son-in-law, Haritonov, also contributed to the grim history of the mansion - a violent man, it's said he had chambers beneath the mansion, where all those factory workers, who went against his will were tortured. The legend says, that the spirits since then roam the mansion and the underground tunnels, that spread from it. These tunnels where After Haritonov was being exiled by the emperor for cruel treatment of the workers, no one of the family wished to live in that bloody mansion, leaving it abandoned for many years.

Though today it's restored and used, night guards and garden keepers still say they hear a lot of strange noises, as well as dog owners, who walk in the park, see strange and disturbed behavior of their pets. As if they sense something...

Happy Halloween, everybody!

 

Roses and Cozy Teddies

Since school started, it's been quite a handful to manage - though it's really interesting, I'll get back to that in another post. But, of course, neither learning, nor work don't cancel seasons changing, so I've got some brand new items - last glimpses of autumn and a warm welcome for winter. I, unlike many crafters, don't bother making specifically Halloween designs, though I really love this holiday. But, because of long shipping, I skip it - after all, it's rather strange to advertise pumpkins and ghouls in mid September. So, I spend time on more versatile ideas and making plans for Christmas inventory.

Roses are the most popular theme amongst my customers, so it's only logical I make more designs with them. This time I leaned to something rather simple in form, but that requires skill and patience, since each rose is really small. The chosen colors are dusty rose, ivory, peach (but, of course, I offer to make the design in other too), since autumn always brings out the romance in me and I start to seek warm and tender inspiration. Well, I like that all year long, but autumn is special for this.

 

Speaking of warm - "knitted" jewelry. Hearts and teddy bears, cozy and cute. Spent a lot of time matching the charms for the Vintage Treasures necklace, and there placement, but I think it turned out pretty nice. I've always liked to scavenge through closets in my grandmas house, finding some cool stuff. Too bad there never was an attic to explore, or neither do we have some nifty flea markets around here, but as a child I was satisfied with closet scavenging.

 

Likely the brown bear will stay in my personal jewelry bow, since he's so adorable. I like how he's a bit childish, but somewhat kidult eye-catching, but not hyper sweet. Dunno, he'll stay.

 

 

Among other ideas I had these teddies too, in classic and in sweet colors, but most likely, they won't be included in the inventory. Time showed that my sweet designs don't sell very well - I think it's because the market is overpopulated at this point and some sellers have location advantage, which reflects on the costs. I'm thinking of minimizing the impact and working more in the mori, classic and gothic fields, though I'll try to re-vamp some early sweet designs and give them a new life.

 

 

Dreamy Cupid and Sweet Poor Marie Series

It sometimes takes quite a while before an idea becomes a finished item. Many charms I make or use are left untouched for months before I come up with the right inspiration and compose them into a new piece for my store. This lovely series were heavily inspired by my visit to Europe and the lovely castles. I made a really cute cupid mold after I returned that became the main element for these necklaces, brooches, rings. I have quite a few more ideas in mind, I tied to imitate bisque and old sculptures with tender faded colors. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out especially the first necklace/chocker.

       

Some works in progress.
 

And these charms, at long last, became beautiful necklaces inspired by Marie Antoinette. They also imitate bisque and faded colors of antique items,and, most likely, I'll add new head styles in the future - it's so fun to come up with their hairstyles!