Soldered Pendants

I have been busy crafting again! I went on an unofficial hiatus while applying to graduate school. But now I am back, with a vengeance! Olympia's Artswalk is coming up April 21st, which means Craft x NW returns to Washington St. downtown! Which in turn means that I need to hustle to get enough new stuff for my booth!

Working on creating a stronger "brand" has been hard because I just want to create original pieces everytime! BUT I am working toward having a few "lines" of similar designs for both my warmer accessories and my glass pendants.

I've decided to pare down legwarmers to a few set designs that can become "calling cards". As I said this is so hard, I love making new designs and have a fickle habit of picking random favorites at any given time... So you may not see some new local icons on legs around town just yet...

My glass pendants on the other hand have started to carve their own little niche. I have continued making pin-up pendants, started making many more lace pendants and have just started experimenting with natural materials like pressed flowers, moss, bark etc.  It's all a big personal journey for me, and who knows in the end I may just continue creating on a whim, simply to satisfy my creative bug!

Any way this is a long, long intro to my post about soldering! So here comes the meat!

I start out by choosing the textile/image/specimen for the pendant.

I then cut the micro-thin glass down to the right size using a glass cutter.

Next I frame the piece between the custom cut glass.

After sandwiching the piece I cut a piece of copper wire to fit the perimeter of the glass.

After the pendant is completely wrapped comes the hard (and hard to photograph...) part, soldering. After applying "Flux", a copper conditioning chemical that makes the copper ready to solder onto, I clip the pendant into a "third-hand" contraption that holds the piece while I solder. I carefully solder the piece by melting the silver alloy lead-free solder onto the copper tape. I use pliers and a little juggling to attach the jump rings, clean the flux off and voila.

This

Into This!

Look for more blog posts soon! <3 Trista

Mawidge

"Mawidge...mawidge is what bwings us togewer today... Mawidge, the bwessed awwangement, that dweam wiffim a dweam... ... Ven wuv, twoo wuv, wiw fowwow you fowever..."

Etsy is full of amazing (and something times terrible) wedding items. This is a collection of wedding necessities that caught my eye, while day dreaming about that big day.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d4efa6b72888eef21c2977d/just-married



Also just for a little fun (at someone elses expense...) a little wedding Regretsy!(for the record I actually like the dress made from ties...)

Regretsy Wedding

p.s. the "Vintage Inspired Short 1950s Tulle Wedding Dress" is the dress of my dreams...

Emilie Gossiaux

I am a podcast fanatic, and one of my favorite podcast to listen to is "Radio Lab". The most recent Radiolab show, Lost and Found features a story about a young artist living in New York who was hit by a semi. It is a touching story about her loving boyfriend and her mother, and her tragedy. I don't want to spoil the story but suggest you give it a listen.
Her mother has set up an Etsy Team in her honor where Etsians can donate items to be sold in the store, and the public can make purchases. I am currently waiting to be accepted into the group and then I will post an item for sale.  Please check out the charity team www.emiliegossiaux.com/ and listen to the segment (or really the whole show, it's great!)
Cheers!

'Shrooms and The Wall Street Journal

I was in the WSJ today! Although, alas, not for anything I really actually did... I was interviewed about the many mushroom kits I have grown from "Fungi Perfecti", an awesome local mushroom farm. It was an interesting experience, and has changed my view of mainstream media. The interview was fun, and the prospect exciting, but the actual article was a bit disappointing. I was mis-quoted, and the quote that is publish is blown out of proportion by the paragraph above it.
This, of course, does me no personal or public harm. It does however harm my view of media. If I was purposely misquoted in order to create an "anecdote" where else do we overlook inflation of information in the news?
Sure, it was a fun article in the "Lifestyles" section, but I found it to be misleading. In fact it is the section I am quoted in that misleads. This is disappointing because mushrooms kits are all good fun. I could not name a single downfall, or complication! Sure a neglected flush might spawn a little and you might need to wipe your counter  a little. But it is delicious and exciting!

The Science Project You Can Eat - WSJ

Oh well here's the link anyway, and some exciting mushroom crafts to-boot!

I made these for my mama's birthday a few years back. They were a deliciously cute hit!
Coffee Mushroom Meringues Recipe  (Don't worry they only look like Mushrooms!)

 I am finding a severe lack of wonderful mushroom crafts online! So a challenge; create some cute 'shrooms and send me a photo! I did find this kitschy little morsels, but I am less than head over heals for it!

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/05/how-to_make_a_wee_felt_mushroo.html

Here's what I've got to show for myself;

Some long gone amanita (mushroom) and hedgehog (of the animal, not mushroom, variety!) legwarmers I sold through my Etsy site. But who knows, I'm feeling mushroom inspired, I might make some more! WigglinWasabi Etsy Shop

Dreams of Grad School Treasury

It's amazing how long these things take to put together! Here is my most recent Etsy Treasury, a collection of things that remind me of my impending lifestlye...

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d3f3f10f7cf6d91da3c34a1/dreams-of-grad-school

Revitalization

My Etsy shop is being revitalized! I've finished my first grad school app, many thanks to my loving fiance Michael, my sister in-law Verene and her mama Denise for help with the app, also many thanks to the lovely people in my life who contributed, what I can only hope are great, letters of rec!

After a minor panic attack upon virtually pushing the "submit" button, I feel free! I may only be free for a few weeks before I'll need to get the next two apps going, but in the mean time I am giving my Etsy store some much needed attention, and working on some new crafts, and a Grad School treasury on Etsy.

I'll post a link to the treasury when I'm finished with it, until then here's a sexy lace pendant I just listed!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66713119/valentine-window-pendant 

Graduate School Apps as Craft...

I have been ticking away at my grad school apps, they have taken over all free time. My poor Etsy site is starving from lack of new pairs of legwarmers. My brain is beginning to think in type rather than sweaters... But the end is in sight as I finish up my first application and prepare to turn it in. The others have been started and can siphon ideas, if not whole paragraphs, from what has been slaved over already.
Don't be surprised if my next craft feels more worldly and sophisticated, for better or worse just these academic applications have made me a changed woman...