Big Blue Beauty and Kickstarter

So this is the new piece I have been trying to finish.  Life has been busy, but I am making headway in several things holding me back, like my health, money, and family (extended).

So this is a big first kind of piece for me, yet familiar.  It is the first time I have integrated both rounded petals and pointed petals in a spin ok a kiku.  Its also the first time I have put stamens in a rounded petal on a kiku, and the first time I have deviated from the traditional rhinestone center I use.

Only problem is....no gold foil wrapped wire.

Ok so the Darice company used to make a variety of foil wrapped wires in gold, opal, and silver.  I can't find them anymore, and I used the hell out of them.  I need something to cover the glue points in the leaf pieces, and I am completely out of luck.  So I am forced to experiment.  I have picked up a few gold colored ribbons, wrappings, threads, etc.  I will find something that works or this piece shall never be finished.  Espcially since the leaves are already wrapped next to the bud and ready to mount, they are just missing this gold trim to cover the glued tips.

So once I have a solution for that I can do the final wrap on this piece and put on the bira bira dangled and call it done.  I am going to use something else different as well, a new 4 inch hair fork, since this weight of this one calls for special additional support.

I might not put this one in the shop, just saying.  I like her so much I might keep her until I can re-create that wisteria piece again.  Cause she was my all time fav.  But thats after the custom order I have is finished, the cris cross sakura set.  I am still waiting on the fabric for that one.  I am pretty sure the colors will  work, but I have not even had the inventory enough to test them against each other properly.  Luckly one of the colors i need is the same color I am using for the kickstarter, and I still managed to sneak in a few new printed fabric pieces to work with.  So the next few weeks should be kanzashi fun!

Not only that, but I have reached out to/started correspondence with hanatsakuri ! Only one of the people I have watched since I started glue style kanzashi 5 years ago.  Or more, I can't really remember. But I am really starting to feel like the kickstarter tutorial book is turning us into a real community of artisans, instead of a introverted smattering of hobbyist kanzashi lovers.  And if it gained me even one friend, it was totally worth it.  I am so glad I am in this book, its the highlight of my year.  I just hope it doesnt bomb.

For anyone interested in the upcoming kickstarter you can sign up for the newsletter HERE.

New Pieces and ANOTHER Custom Order!

Custom order

 Ok ok ok, so I shut down custom orders, only to have another request come in.  And it was smallish, and I had a week to wait for fabrics to come in, so I took it, and it came out AWESOME! It was an unusual color scheme to work with in the first place, with lots of cream and blue and silver, with spashes of black, a muted purple, and tea green.  Everything is rotational, of course.  But its finished and ready for her approval.

Meantime I was able to photograph and list 3 more pieces, all on hair sticks. 

After all this is said and done, I also finished my final shots needed for my tutorial, and some shots of the kickstarter reward that will be offered when taht kicks off in February.  Due to a glitch, my chirimen hasn't shipped yet, and is a little behind.  I might be able to finish the big blue beauty before that arrives.  She's coming along well, with the bira bira frame made, and final assembly is almost ready.  I just have to make space on my desk to do it, lol. 

New Custom Order Design!

Ok, as far as drawing goes, I am not the best artist.  But this gives you a pretty good idea of the next set I am going to make, a custom design for a Amaterasu Cosplay from Okami! But instad of being worn as a hair piece, she has elected to place a bouquet of sakura blossoms in her obi!

With the double pin design, it can be adjusted in a vareity of ways, including on either side of an obi knot, in front together, one on each side (front and back) or hair and obi. 

Each piece will consist of seven blossoms and 2 leaf pieces with a stationary bira bira.  While she has chosen a red and white theme for her cosplay, she chose a coral and peach color design with bright green for leaves and thread wrapping. Therefore it will maintain a versatility as to not be restricted to one cosplay!

Now that my tutorial project has come to a completion and I am moving on to the next phase with that, I feel confident about picking up this job.  But out of fear of over loading myself, I have temporarily shut down custom orders.  Once this job, and maybe a few other tasks, are complete, I will happily open them back up. But until i have a better idea of how my year will be , I am going to err on the side of caution. 

Besides, this is a pretty big job for me.

Now, off to order fabric! Woot!!!!

Making Headway!

Christmas has been good to my family.  We received and gave a lot of cool stuff this year.
My christmas salvation came a bit early in the form of a Nikon L840.  In RED.

So not only have I finished the photography for my rose kanashi, but I am mostly finished with the bira bira tutorial as well.  Amazing things happen when you have the right tools.  I already owned a camera stand from when I used an old Canon AE-1 35mm.  But shooting on film is just not practical or as efficient as a new digital camera I could move on a stand and focus on macro shots.

I did a lot of other things, too.  I must have made a bajillion bookmarks out of washi chyirogami.  Plust the custom ornaments for my sister and sister in law.  I've been very busy behind the scenes.

Bookmarks are going to become part of the store.  I have discovered that Michaels has the best selection of origami and washi paper.  So I wil be couponing there for a while.  I also want to start to look up some different patterns for those, since the bookmarks are generally 7.5 inches and paper is only 6 inches at most usually.

I also want to pick up some kumihimo.  I have had the interest for a while, maybe making it from pieces of thin habotai silk ribbons, or something like that.  I have the supplies to be sure, since it will take anything from embroidery thread to perle thread to satin cording.  It's just something to try besides ornaments that I might be able to take with me in a carline.

I have another bout of severe medical problems up ahead of me. Just a warning.  I will probably shut off custom orders from February to June.   There is too much going on with the kickstarter book campaign and the tutorials for it and having time for family and personal things.  I am shooting for a major medical procedure that would really help, but because of my age it is not generally performed.  Still I am hoping I can work out something soon, and hopefully sometime before the summer.

I have started the kickstarter rewards and they are going well.  The book compiler/Author Ariel really likes them!  Hopefully this thing will get me though some pretty tough times ahead.

Project Updates

I've hit more than a few snags with this tutorial project. First, my camera sucks, cause I am using my phone. Second, my hands shake terribly. It's a side effect of one of my medications called "tremors". 

So between my hands shaking from holding the camera and hands shaking holding petals or whatnot, I couldn't get a clear shot of anything. Let's not even go into what a pain in the ass macro shots are. So i may end up re-doing the rose.  

My hormones have been terribly bad as well. Anxiety is a common enemy, but my arch nemesis at the moment.  But my doctors have news for me which I find out Wednesday.  Honestly I know I have endometriosis again,  despite the surgery in September.  That's really holding me back. But at least it is no longer procrastination, and just plain being sick.

I have opted to supply a large number of small kanzashi to the kickstarter for the tutorial book. That's my main goal for next year.  In the summer I will be moving so keep an eye out for a special sale in the spring!  

But that is honestly the worst of it.  I have had my friend Elizabeth Comer driving me on, and a new camera in my hands, an extension on my deadline, and a holiday bonus from my husband's job. I have just a few christmas things to wrap up and I'll have that off my plate, too.

And I just went through my inventory again and reorganized every thing to boxes. I needed the space since I have had so much new inventory.  But in January I have plans for a big fabric order to cover the pieces i have to make for the kickstarter.  I'm hoping for a few new fabrics in there.  I would love some different pinks and greens and yellows.  

Procrastination

Ok so I have signed up to do this tutorial.  My pictures for the entiere assembly is due tomorrow.  I have 5 pictures out of 100 or more. 
So instead of working on that last night and the night before like I was supposed to, I put up ornament balls on Etsy.  12 of them, precisely.  A bunch of new ones, a couple of remakes, and some holiday ones.  This will be the last batch I do this year, as I have this tutorial project I have been avoiding.

And why avoid it? For no other reason than fear.  I am afraid of this taking longer than it should and not finishing in time to be included.  I am afraid of failure so I'm barely even trying. I swear I am going to work on it tonight, and hopefully I will just turn half my work in late for the rough draft deadline.  But I am having terrible anxiety, since I really only have ONE CHANCE to get this right.  I only have so much of the coral pink color I am using, and that means only ONE FLOWER.  But I have to include photos for each and every step, which means taking a shot, transferring it immediatly to my computer, and checking it before moving on or repeating the process.  Not to mention the time frame I have to work in falls between 8pm and midnight if I'm lucky. Its become a painstaking, tedious process.  Not sure how many of these I am looking to do.  I'm not enjoying the photography part.

But the tutorial will finish in december, and I will do a couple of christmas gifts and probably start making plans for next year. I have promised a supply of hairsticks and bobby pins for the kickstarter campaign for the book, 30 of each.  It's going to be another big project.  But dedicaiton will have to come through, since they are all goign to be the same, and thats a pain when I like to be creative.
I have also offered a $100 custom order, which is substantial for me.  Gotta be top tier to get that reward, lol.

 January is usualy restock time with colors going on clearance for satin and brocade.  I also need a new order of foam bases, since i am down to my last 4 from 30.  Thats a lot of balls, lol.  Ribbons could use a restock as well, and maybe some new bells on christmas clearance. 

And this isn't even everything!

Here i have my supply shot, and unfortunately I am probably goign to have to do it agian, since there are a few things I left out.  But as you can see, kanzashi is a very involved process with a wide vareity of tools and supplies.  My piece is going to be mainly pumpkin orange with a coral pink highligh and a goldenrod yellow throat, accented with tea green leaves.  Not picutred is the cardboard needed for the leaves, a glue board, and I am not sure if I am going to wrap my bira bira tutorial into this or not.  If I do this supply list is going to get WAY more involved. I have been asked to do both, but doing it all as once piece is possible.  I may have to ask the publisher on that one. 

Anyway, new ornaments look great, and I am getting better at the routine of photographing them. I have a lighting system worked out if I can just keep my autistic kid away from the lamps. but with 3 led daylight bulbs I seem to be getting some good results.  Not too hot on the shadows, though I imagine some brightness adjustments would fix that in photoshop.  But they have requested unedited photos, so they are just going to have to work it out themselves.  They have requested a particular format, not sure how long it's going to take for me to do that for every photo. 

So in the end its just a great big pile of wait and see.

Secret project

So I have been working on a to secret project. And I just got the colors of my project laid out and will begin the slow process of documenting it's creation. I have about a week to complete it.

I'm building a tutorial.  And it will be in a book. That will be published.

I am having health problems,  AGAIN. Hopefully since I had 6 vials of blood drawn at my my dr appointment Tuesdays morning, I will soon have a handle on the latest problem. I hope.  Honestly I just have my fingers crossed for no surprises. 

Meanwhile I have been sleeping like crazy and just too low on energy to get any work done after family.  I still have 8-9 ornaments sitting on my desk, and I have not started the tutorial, or anything else for that matter, in the past several days I have intended to work.  

I have made some sales, which is nice.  The EComer Fund is up to $785.  Out of 5k, that's not so great.  Considering I wasn't expecting more than $500, I'm pretty excited. 

And I can't wait till January when I get to restock my ornament fabrics and supplies.  I have worked through all but 4 or 5 of my last shipment of foam balls, which are generally ordered 30-40 at a time!  And not to mention I am completely out of red, green, purple, gold stretch, and several other stock fabrics.  I am also halfway through my latest 1/2 lb box of pins.  And ribbons.  SO far behind on my ribbon stock at the rate I keep making ornaments.  

I finally got those business cards drawn up, and boy do they look awesome!  Only problem is, my printer sucks.  Its a cheap inkjet, and didn't come up with near the quality I had hoped for. So I kinda settled on what I have. Maybe for my next event I can have some real ones printed up instead of the make-it-yourself kind.

I found a Trish Burr book at the library! It just was acquired, needle painting miniature embroidery scenes.  Probably too advanced for me, but I would love to just read it and pick up a few tricks.  When the tutorial is over.  

The tutorial project wraps up for me in December, but I also have Christmas and a sister moving back to the US from Australia to deal with.  Which is why I am not planning anything huge until January.  Like restock on after Christmas sales and such.  

Word of warning, I will be moving this summer.   I am not sure where, I might stay in the Dallas metroplex and I might not.  It will depend on my husband's job and a few other things.  Moving is a big ordeal for us, with my health problems and the autistic nature of my son.  School systems, doctors, commute time, plus proper housing in our price range all have to be considered.  I will probably be shutting down the shop during the transition, for more at least a month or more while I do some business changes.  I will have to change government forms as well.

Don't forget to donate to Elizabeth's Medical Fund and assist her in covering her medical costs!