Week 23: Halloween Time!

After a couple of successful weeks staying away from the Halloween crafts I've fallen back into old habits!  That's right; it's Halloween Week, the SEQUEL!  One thing I really like about Halloween-Themed crafting is that it gets me to work on accessory types I usually pass over.  This time it turned out to be hair accessories.  I love putting weird shit in my hair for Halloween.

Halloween Themed Bloody Book Page Hair Bow.

Neon Green Skeleton Hands Headband

I don't know why I keep insisting they're so Halloween-y.  I'm pretty much going to wear them all the time.  Especially to bowling, though don't ask me why.  It just seems right.  BOWLING OF THE UNDEAD!  I also whipped up these little goodies to round out my seven projects for the week:

Cute Bat Earrings Made Out of Buttons

MORE Cute Bat Earrings Made of Buttons (duplicate project, so doesn't count I just thought these were friggin' cute)

Franken-Heart Earrings.  I hand painted on the stitches myself.  : )

Black Widow Earrings.  One is going up, the other is going down.  Spiders everywhere!

Vampire Bite Choker.  Inspired by Lucy from the 1992 Dracula movie with Gary Oldman... I am from the 90s and my vampires DO NOT sparkle thankyouverymuch.

Shattered Soul in a Bottle Necklace

Back of the Shattered Soul in a Bottle Necklace.  I used broken windshield glass from my apartment complex parking lot.  Looks like there are some dark spots; somebody's soul needed to be laundered!

That's all the Halloween Crafting goodness I have planned for this week, but I'm sure as October gets closer and closer I'll keep churning out weirder and weirder stuff.  See you next week!  : )

Week 22: Self Promotion Week!

Oh goodness, I am late as hell this week.  That's OK though, because this is the most time consuming week of all.  It was the dreaded website week!  I did finish all my projects by 9/16, I just haven't gotten a chance to post them until today because this is when I took them all live.  I didn't want to spoil the surprise!  Also, before I published them my backlinks would have led ya'll to nowhere.

So this week is the week of shameless self promotion.  I've been working on a lot of projects to maximize my "internet presence", mostly to get some traffic to my Etsy Shop, where I sell a variety of the handmade jewelry that is featured here on my blog.  Firstly, I created a Facebook Page for Mazikeen Studios.  You should totally like us!  Right now there's a very small number of fans, which means that when I start doing giveaways and promotions you'll have a better chance of winning something awesome.  <3  I usually post pictures of my creations, so here's a quick preview of our FB page!

That's one project down; the next project was to build a Mazikeen Studios Website!  This is going to be a place where I can update folks about upcoming craft show appearances, new jewelry collections, and other cool stuff I hope to be doing in the future.  It's also a place for me to collect and display all my designs in one place, with minimum rambling (unlike here, hehehe).  I also want to use it to promote some of the artists I love, which I do on my "Favorite Things" portion of the website.  I love giving shout outs to other folks in the craft community so if you'd like me to pimp your site, etsy store, or anything else just leave a comment and I'll be happy to do so!  There's also a shop bio to let people know who I am and where I'm coming from.  Quick picture previews are below:

Favorite Things Preview

Home Page Preview

Photo Gallery Preview

Shop Bio Preview

I'm counting each page as a project because I put a lot of time and effort into making each of them unique.  And that counts, right!  Right?  Also this is the first time I've ever done any web design, and I experimented with some out of the box photo alteration (at least for me) when making banners, icons, and other bits of each page.

In addition to all that, I also designed a business card for Mazikeen Studios:

Mazikeen Studios Business Card

Finally, there is the layout and format updates to this very blog!  We no longer look like a reject page from the days of Geocities.  We have a clean new layout, a new color scheme, and a few new widgets to play around with.  I'd include a picture of the final product, but you're looking at it now.  If you didn't see the old blog you'll have to take my word on the update as a project this week; I refused to keep any photographic evidence of the old blog around!  : )

I'll be back to my usual handmade jewelry and accessories crafting goodness next week.  : )  Thanks for stopping by!

Week 21: Hardware Week

In preparation for my move, I've been spending an awful lot of time at Lowes.  While I was there, I got a little lost in the hardware isle and decided to pick up some components for crafting!  When I was a much younger "grunge grrl" I had a necklace that I made out of old, rusty hex nuts that I found in my garage.  I've been in love with the industrial look ever since.  I know a lot of the stuff I make is girly, but I mainly craft for other people or to challenge myself; I don't wear most of what I make.  I usually like my accessories with an edge.  So this week I went all out and made stuff that I'd be more than happy to wear!

Chainmaille made from locking washers!  I added different metallic coatings to the washers, then added some patina before putting them together in the Japanese 4 in 1 weave style.

Wire-Wrapped Locking Washer Hardware Earrings.

More Locking Washer Hardware Earrings

Hex Nut Chainmaille Necklace.  This bad boy is really heavy!  It is put together with hex nuts in the Japanese 4 in 1 weave style.

Hex Nut and Locking Washer Earrings.  These were a "bonus" design for this week because they're pretty much the same as the trio of locking washer earrings, but without a hoop.  : )

Hex Nut and Washer Earrings with Chain

Bracelet Made From Brass Hinges

Tiny Lightbulb Earrings!  I found these in the hardware isle in one of the drawers marked "Science Fair Materials".  There is a lot of fun stuff in that drawer!

I am really happy with the results of this week's crafting.  It is really fun to use non-traditional materials, such as hardware and other "found-item" components, when making jewelry.  Thanks for looking and I'll catch you next time!

Week 20: Gemstone Appreciation Week!

I do so love me some semi-precious gemstones.  One thing about my jewelry-making hobby that I truly enjoy is the ability to get to play with and create jewelry from stones that I'd likely not be able to afford from a high end shop.  One thing I've realized about jewelry making throughout this project is that there can be very little gap between what you can buy and what you can make, price wise.  That is if you aren't careful.  A lot of "cheap" jewelry ingredients aren't that cheap if you buy them from brick-and-mortar retail shops.  That said, I'm an avid clearance cruiser at my local Joanns and Michaels.  However, online shopping is where I get the bulk of my beads, findings, and especially my gemstones.  If you haven't checked out Fire Mountain Beads and Gems yet, I highly recommend that you do.  They have their fair share of expensive elements, but you can usually find something I like to refer to as "hobby grade" (in the B-C range of gemstone grades) on longer strands,  for less money than you could most retail stores.  HOWEVER.  That said, see if you have a local bead shop first.  There's nothing like having a good relationship with a local craft store; they can special order items for you, let you know when new shipments come in, there's no shipping fee and the advice and friendship is priceless.  However, if you are stuck in a place with no local bead store, i recommend going the Fire Mountain route.

Oy.  Now that I've ranted, I'm happy to share what I made this week!  I've been trying to de-stash as I think I'm going to be moving into a new place soon, so I've been hoarding some of these beads for years!  It's nice to finally put them to use; I know that I'll enjoy them far more as earrings than I will just sitting in my bead boxes.  On to the show!

Labradorite Stick Earrings (they're so tiny!)

Tourmalated Quartz Earrings on Kidney Wires

Citrine, Peridot, Iolite, and Garnet Earrings. These are likely my favorite of the whole batch!

Wire Wrapped Amethyst Earrings.  The large medallions are chevron amethyst, and have cool striations when held up to the light.  The smaller ones are very light colored regular amethyst. 

Rainbow Fluorite Earrings

Gorgeous Amethyst Nugget Earrings with Citrine Accents.  I really love the clarity of the stones in this pair.

Faceted Carnelian Earrings

You can tell where I've tried to expand my color palate, but I keep coming back to purple.  No surprise there!  But it's nice to know that I can add several new pairs of handmade semi-precious stone earrings to my wardrobe and not be set back $ wise too badly.  Until next week!

Week 19: Skull Invasion!

I thought I was going to be able to resist the lure of Halloween crafting until at least September, but I am weak!  All the stores have their Halloween merchandise out, just waiting to be picked up and altered.  Let alone the Halloween goodies I have in my own stash!  It's my favorite of the major holidays; I bet you'd have never guessed.  : )  That said, I'm trying to keep to a theme within a theme; all my crafts this week include skulls!

A choker made with various skull charms and some other Halloween bits I had around.

Skeleton Key Medallion Necklace.  The medallion is made from mostly scrap-booking supplies; a dimensional sticker key and some paper flowers.

Peter Pan-style collar necklace with skull.  The skull pendant piece is made from a washer and a button.  I added rhinestones and some dimensional glaze to the eyes.

Poison Skull Crystal Necklace.  Made from a flat backed crystal.  I adhered the image to the crystal and then painted the back of the pendant with glitter nail polish.

Skull and Spine Earrings with Glass "Blood" Drops.  I filled in the eyes on these bad boys with red glitter puffy fabric paint.  Fun!

My favorite of the batch.  A sugar skull bracelet for Dia de los Muertos!  I had painted all the little skulls myself. 

Skull and spike earrings.  I hand painted the skulls and added pearlescent puffy paint to the eye sockets.

A lot of the skull bits I already had on hand, but I did end up buying and customizing a $1.99 bag of tiny plastic skulls for the sugar skull bracelet and skulls with spike earrings.  A little nail polish will go a long way! I still have a bunch more of the little plastic skull beads so plan to see some more of those in the future.   Here's till next time!  <3

Week 18: All That Glitters

THIS is what happens when Michael's has a 50% off bead sale.  I went with the intention of just getting another organizer for some homeless beads, and ended up buying out their stock of hematite and pyrite beads.  I'm loving the combination of gunmetal and black!  Then of course once I was home the guilt set in, so I had to make good use of what I picked up.  Fortunately, there were enough beads in the batch for it to last through a themed week of hematite and pyrite jewelry crafting.  Check it out:

Hematite and Pyrite Handmade Earrings

Hematite and Tourmalated Quartz Earrings

Pyrite Nugget and Hematite Cube Earrings

Earrings with Pyrite Ovals and Nuggets, with Hematite Accents

Gunmetal Pyrite Cube Necklace with Hematite Spacers

Gunmetal and Gold-tone necklace with Pyrite Cubes and Raw Black Quartz 

Gunmetal and Gold Woven Chain Necklace With Pyrite Cubes and Black Quartz

Although I used very similar materials for the entire batch of jewelry I feel like I got some nicely varied results.  Hurray for pyrite jewelry!  It's so shiny.  : )  Thanks for looking, and catch you next week!

Week 17: Feathered Friends

This week I decided to give in a fully play around with feathers as a jewelry making medium.  They seem to be pretty darn popular right now, and as much as I hate birds themselves I do enjoy the different kinds and colors of feathers that have been popping up in our local craft stores.  I've used feathers a bit before, but mostly peacock feathers.  So I grabbed some bags of feathers and some stems from the floral department, where there are also super cool feathers, and got to work.  This is what I came up with:

Nothing special here, just feathers and beads.

More feathers and beads, this time with bead caps!  Ooooh.

This is where I feel like I really started to hit my stride.  Multiple feathers, bead cones, and crystals.  Now we're talking!

Just feathers and bead cones for this one, but I went with a black and white theme that I thought was pretty fun.

Again, just feathers and cones but this time with some color.  I had a great time picking out most of the feathers on these earrings from a variety of $1 floral stems I got on clearance.  Yay cheap!

These are without a doubt my favorite of the bunch.  The chains and rhinestones really did me in.  I can already tell I'm going to make about a million pairs of these for myself in different colors.  These feathers were also from the cheap-o floral stems. So hurray again!

Peacock feathers with accent feathers, bead cones, and a single crystal.  These earrings are HUGE.    I like big earrings and they're big for me; they dip past my collar bone. 

That's all for this time, but expect to see some more feathers in the future.  I didn't set out intending for all the pieces to be earrings, but once I got started I just kept going down that path.  I had so much fun with this "new to me" medium that I may try feather hair accessories or necklaces some other week.  Thanks for looking!