Etsy Finds: Wrought Iron

Published March 1, 2013 by kurolace

I’ve been back at it on Etsy… browsing for things I can’t afford to buy. This time I’ve found a few great Wrought Iron items. Many of the wrought iron items on Etsy are vintage things like shelf brackets, wall decor, hangers… but there are some other interesting items as well.

$18.50 from Raidersoflostloot

For example, this vintage 3 tier shelf caught my eye, because the twist in this one is cool. Also, it looks to be a nice black color (I don’t like that vintage not-quite-black-brown color you sometimes find with vintage wrought iron). Its available from Raidersoflostloot for $18.50.

ModernIronWorks $37.99

One of the wrought iron makers/sellers on Etsy offers garden gates and shelf brackets, and although I prefer the flower and humming bird designs, I though that this Spider Web shelf bracket was cool. There was also a spider web gate in the sellers shop. The seller is ModernIronWorks and the bracket is priced at $37.99.

$49.99 CathysMiniatures

At first, I didn’t notice that this was a miniature item! If you’re a miniatures enthusiast or have a (haunted) doll house, you might like this miniature candelabra, which comes complete with candles. The only downside is the price (it is handmade, I assume). Its $49.99 from CathysMiniatures.

Taitaya $99.70

Next I came across these cool wrought iron roses. They aren’t very big, but very cool. The cost about $99 and are from Taitaya, a forge in the UK.

$114.99 stainedglassturtle

There are plenty of wrought iron candelabras available on Etsy, some vintage, some new. But I found a very cool candle holder which combines two of my favorites: wrought iron and stained glass. This cherry red heart stained glass candle holder costs $114.99 and is sold by stainedglassturtle. There was also a clear/white one available.

MetalMastersinc $3,300

Finally, I can help but love wrought iron beds, so naturally I adore this Victorian style king sized bed set, which costs about $3,300. It includes the bed, two side tables and two lamps, so its not a bad deal. Of course I have neither the money nor the space for it! 😦 Its from MetalMastersInc. Just think how great it would look with dark red & black satin sheets! *drool*

Well, there you have it, a wrought iron Etsy wish list. How do you feel about wrought iron?

Etsy Finds: Nails

Published January 11, 2013 by kurolace

Hiya! I’ve been away for a while because I’ve had a rough week. A week ago I started having some weird feeling in my chest on the left side, and actually ended up going to the ER on Friday night / Saturday morning. They did an EKG and blood test, which all came up normal, and told me I was probably having anxiety or something… But then less than 24 hours later I had chills and a fever, and ended up in bed for like 3 days. I’ve gotten a little better, but still am getting a sensation of weight/pressure in my chest. I spoke with a nurse on the phone for a while yesterday, and she relayed all my symptoms to my doctor, who said it seems like I have a viral infection or something. It’s a week until I can actually go to the doctors office… so I am supposed to just rest and not go outside much until then.

I missed some work at the beginning of the week since I was still really weak, so now I have to work extra to make it up… So while dragging myself through the extra hours of work I decided to go on Etsy and enjoy some browsing. I had a few search terms of course…. but I finally decided to do this post on the search term “nails.”

You’ll find that a lot of people sell nail stuff on Etsy these days. A few years ago, there wasn’t nearly as many people seeing acrylic sets or other nail items… I haven’t included any nail polish (which plenty of people are selling), but some other interesting nail items. 🙂

Holds about 144 bottles of polish!

To start out with, I found some organizers. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have bottles of polish all over the place, lol. Especially around my computer, since that’s were I often paint my nails (while working, lol). But recently I’ve been thinking it would be nice to get a rack to store my polishes in. The nicest one I found on Etsy is the “Hanging wrought iron nail polish rack” from daisypam2011. I love the scroll work and elegant design. Its a bit out of my price range though, at $275. There are larger ones available as well.

This one holds about 27 OPI bottles.

Quite a bit more affordable is the “Petite ‘Nice Rack’ Floating Polish Rack” from BeautyPopShop. Its available in black or white and costs 25. The petite rack is probably just about big enough for my current polish collection, but the shop also carries larger ones with different numbers of tiers. There are also some colorful racks available.

If you don’t have many nail polishes, perhaps you’d like to try your hand at Franken Polishes? Making Franken Polish is particularly good for people who like glittery polishes… since that is the easiest way to Franken a polish. (Mixing colors is a bit more tricky). I found this great “Franken Nail Polish Kit” from SillyLilyPolish. It would make a great gift for someone else, or for yourself! Its $35 and includes lots of different glitter, tools, and 15 mini polish bottles with clear “glitter suspension” polish to make/store your creations in.

2mm Rhinestones are perfect for nails.

If you’re interested in doing 3d nail art, you’ll want to stock up on supplies like these 2mm Glitter Flatback Rhinestones from colorfuldaysdiy. There are 12 colors in a wheel-style case…2400 pieces for under $7! I like to add rhinestones to my nails, either to enhance a sticker or decal design, or just on their own. Just make sure you coat the whole nail with clear polish afterwards in you want the rhinestone to stay on a long time.

Ice cream, chocolate, and cake, oh my!

Polymer Clay slices are a popular design element on Etsy. You can find a huge range of them, pre-sliced, or sometimes in cane (un-sliced form). I prefer getting them pre-sliced and in the wheel storage boxes. I have some fruit ones, but there are a lot of other designs available. Check out these cute Food & Cake Slices from zacoo. There are ice cream cones, cupcakes, roll-cakes, and more. 120 pieces for $1.50. I would recommend using acrylic nail glue (which I never use to apply fake nails – but more on that another time) to attach these (over dried nail polish – use a clear coat if you have bare nails). The slices don’t like to bend to fit your nail, so they need that extra strength to keep them on.

Lots of other designs in the same store!

Of course, if you are too lazy to do your own nail art, you can buy pre-designed acrylic nails. I have several sets of these from my favorite Etsy nail tech, nevertoomuchglitter. Her nails are top notch quality and she can do custom sets if you want them. The only issue for me is that the “active length” nails are too short to cover my natural nails, but the “medium length” are too long (particularly in the thumbs). But I think that “active length” is usually appropriate for most people. Check out the Alice in Wonderland Silhouette nails that she has hand painted. The set of 22 nails costs $10.

If you want to try making your own acrylic nails, you can buy the blanks on etsy.

Try your hand at nail art.

The blank nails that are on a “spine” are easier to handle while painting than individual blank nails. Here is a Make Your Own Fake Nails kit from SweetenedWithLove. It includes 4 sets of nails with optional base coat painting, nail glue, and some two-sided nail stickers for temporary wear. $7

BTW…The nail stickers are what I would recommend for applying acrylic nails, because they don’t damage your nail – however, they do start to come off after only a day or two (depends on how often your hands get wet). The other option for temporary application is Ducato repeating nail glue, which you can buy from nevertoomuchglitter, as well as some other etsy sellers. Using these temporary adhesives means you can use the nails again and again.

Okay, thats all! Hope you enjoyed!

Some Kawaii Things In My Room

Published December 22, 2012 by kurolace

Hi! I suddenly got an urge to take photos in my room, so I decided to showcase some of my favorite items. These items, by my definition, are all kawaii! Although perhaps not all of them are usual examples of kawaii (no big bubble eyes, cute foods, or any of that).

To start, here’s a cute “piggy” bank I bought I Target a few years back.

My mom bought this for me last year while cruising the Baltic.

My Stitch plush… and yes that’s a bandana around his neck.

Another bank… I’ve had this one since before I can remember.

My Victorian bed style wire jewelry organizer…I bought it on Amazon.

This is my sprite doll from the old cartoon Rainbow Bright. It makes a squeak noise when you shake it.

This is my Twinkle doll from the old cartoon Rainbow Bright. It makes a squeak noise when you shake it.

A jewelry stand I bought at Hobby Lobby. There are mesh parts (which you can barely see in the picture), where I can store my earrings.

Its hard to take a picture of something like this… not only is it behind glass, but its a foil picture too!

I think the above things are pretty true to my personality. Of course there are plenty of other things which aren’t so true to my personality, but slowly I’m trying to phase those things out.

What sort of kawaii things do you have in your room?

Sculpted Evening Bags by Kathleen Dustin

Published December 19, 2012 by kurolace

I was searching for a snap purse I had seen at the store the other day – a cheap one, covered in purple rosebuds, when I came across Kathleen Dustin’s webpage (thanks to the search term “rosebud purse”). The “exquisite evening bags” on her website really are something unique, and lovely. Of course, seeing as they are works of art, they are a bit out of my price range ($700-800 for a wrist bag). But I still wanted to share some of the pictures from her site with you all, because the bags really are gorgeous…

The bag which came up in my search results is this rosebud bag.

There are some other interesting bags, including gourds, artichokes, and this “opening seed pod” bag.

And these stone bags are really neat.

On the mainpage, there’s a blurb about the artist:

Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading polymer clay artists, Kathleen Dustin has been a pioneer, an educator, and source of inspiration for those interested in this emerging medium. Her exquisite evening bags and polymer clay jewelry are celebrated for their translucent depth of surface and vibrant colors as well as attention to the details of the natural world that inspires her. Kathleen’s desire is to make wearable art that can enable anyone to embrace Oscar Wilde’s sentiment, “One must either be a work of art or wear a work of art”.

There’s also sculpture and jewelry listed on the page’s gallery, but for me its the handbags / purses which catch my eye most.

Lace Ornaments

Published December 16, 2012 by kurolace

Hiya!

I know its been a while, so soon I’ll post a more “update” type of post…. but for now I wanted to give a shameless plug for my Etsy store, which I FINALLY put stuff in.

As I’ve previously mentioned, I have an embroidery machine, which can make all sorts of nifty things. One of my favorites is Freestanding Lace. I’ve made a few different lace projects, and for the Christmas season I made some lace ornaments. I sold a decent number at craft fairs over the last few weeks, but now that I’m done with craft fairs, I’ve got the rest listed in my Etsy shop. The ornaments are $3 each or 4 for $10.

I took pictures of them today since we finally got a small tree for our living room. It was overcast outside, so the colors aren’t as warm as they really should be.

$3 each, 4 for $10

Into the Abyss

Published August 29, 2012 by kurolace

Here’s a picture I made while playing around in my trial version of corel painter…. I tried to base it off a dream I had, but didn’t do so well…. Anyways, it was fun to play with though 🙂 …. I wish I could afford corel painter, I’ll be sad when my trial expires. Its a lot easier for me to use my tablet with than photoshop for some reason, and I find the brush tools to make more sense in corel.

As for the dream…. I’m prone to some really detailed and strange dreams. Not to mention the waking terrors that I suffer on a regular basis (I’m narcoleptic, btw…. and “waking terrors” or hypnagogia hallucinations / OBE / Sleep paralysis type sh*t is daily/nightly occurrence)…. This was a full on dream (not a hypnagogia one), but extremely detailed and stuck with me for a long time. In it, I guess I was on something similar to the astral plane…. except that I was locating “the origin of my soul”. Mine just happened to be out in the middle of the ocean, where all of the world’s energy was being sucked back down into the earth to be recycled (just like the tectonic plates, I guess). I had to stand facing the submersion zone, and watch all of the energy rushing past me and down into a black depth. In addition to the horrible pitch black, I was struck by a terrible silence.

The drawing is definitely off because its more of a birds-eye-view, as I couldn’t seem to draw it from the perspective I had in my dream, I suppose that’s because I wasn’t really “standing” (even though I just said I was), but more like just “being” in a particular location. I was aware of what was both in front of me, as well as what was behind me.

If a person were in this picture, they’d be a tiny speck 🙂

This morning, in the garden…

Published May 28, 2012 by kurolace

….I met an old friend:

Ever since I was a child, my mother has had these growing in her garden. I always loved the way they look from the side – like some creature with a snout.

… dreamed of eating cherries, just barely out of reach:

(some more pictures from this morning are bellow 😛 )

Solar Eclipse Video & Pics

Published May 21, 2012 by kurolace

As you probably know… today there was a annular solar eclipse visible in the western part of the USA… I happen to live right along the line of visibility 🙂 So my family took some time to watch it happen. We are lucky enough to own an Orion telescope and a solar filter, so we were using that to get a “close up” experience. My family didn’t believe me when I said I was going to take pictures – I guess they thought it wasn’t possible to get a good focus through the camera + telescope…. its true that I didn’t have perfectly crisp pics, but there were a few that turned out fairly decent. You can even see a sunspot or two (very blurry – even at max zoom/focus). Take a look…

I also took a video of the eclipse as the moon “exits” the sun…

Rediscovered Sketches & Comic

Published February 29, 2012 by kurolace

A few days ago I found one of my old notebooks tucked away in my room. Its a grid-design, top-spiral bound note book that I used back when I was in driver’s ed to kill time (nope, not a single driver’s ed note in it – lol, so maybe THATs why I had that accident about 3 years ago). I was “in my prime” as an artist back then. Sad, I know, considering the quality of drawings. These days I’m not even this good, since I don’t practice often 😦 I really should get back to it.

Just for fun I thought I’d upload the scans here so you can see them. The highlight of the bunch is the 3 pages of comic-intro that I was making. I’ve always wanted to make a comic / manga but I often get stuck trying to figure out a good plot. After looking at these pages, I feel kinda like I want to restart PROJECT PEACH (which btw, was inspired by my love of peach-buns from the Chinese buffet! lol).

So… here are the pictures… lol. Tell me what you think of my mad16-yr-old drawing skills (other than the obviously lack of understanding in regards to human anatomy). At the time I was trying to move away from manga style drawings… with a mediocre amount of success. Unfortunately, this notebook is from the time right around when I started to develop serious symptoms of narcolepsy… I pretty much slept through the last 2 years of high school and stopped doing everything.

: Hurrah for uni-boobs!

: Pirate-elf? Or Elven pirate?

: Peach – It begins

: Thats supposed to be fire and smoke coming out of the bottom of the mother tree

: Peach 3 – um… lets not talk about that last image (pencil part)

: This is absolutely my typical style

: Marshmellow hair and scary eyes

: A great way to kill time and use grid-paper

: Probably the only “finished” pic in here

How-To: Easiest Bracelet Ever

Published February 21, 2012 by kurolace

Whether you are new to making jewelry, or an old-timer who just wants to whip up something fast, these stretchy bracelets are the easiest beading project I know of.

A nice & short supply list

One thing that makes them easy is the fact that you don’t need any pliers or wire cutters or crimps, etc. You just need:

Some beads (I’m using black 6mm matte glass beads & flat diamond-shaped red glass beads)

Stretchy Beading Cord – This comes in different colors and diameters, so make sure you get the right diameter for the beads you are using.

Hypo-Cement

Scissors and a measuring tape or ruler

You should be able to find every thing you need at your local hobby / craft store, but if not, you can certainly find it online.

One of the most important things about making a stretchy bracelet is to make sure you make it the right length. It needs to be long enough to fit around your wrist comfortably, but short enough that it doesn’t fall off your hand. If you are making the bracelet for yourself, you can measure your own wrist to get an idea of how long to cut the cord. If you are making the bracelet as a gift, or to sell, then you can usually go by the guideline of about 7-7.5″ for most adults. (7.5″ is usually a bit too long for these stretchy bracelets though) Cut the cord to at least 8.5 inches just to be safe – this way you’ll have enough for when you make the finishing knot.

If you are using really big beads, you’ll need to make the bracelet longer. If you use really small beads, you’ll make the bracelet shorter. So as

I actually only cut the cord to 7.5", which was almost too short. I barely could tie the knot!

you string the beads, keep checking the length of the bracelet by wrapping it around your wrist.

Once you’ve got it to the proper length, you’ll need to tie a knot. I use a basic square knot (right over left, left over right).

Now the awkward part… Before you pull the square knot tight, you need to put a dab of hypo-cement in the middle of the knot. Then pull the knot tight, and hold it for a few minutes as the glue sets. Try not to get any glue on the beads next to the knot.

Let the knot dry completely – say, about 10 minutes to be sure. Then try the bracelet on. Take it off, put it on, pull on the cord a little bit to make sure the glue & knot hold.

Finished!

If you used a small enough (diameter) cord, with beads that have larger holes, you might be able to stick the cord ends back through the beads. Otherwise, trim the cord down so that there is only about 2 mm on each side of the knot.

Voila! You’ve got yourself a bracelet. You can wear just one, or make a few to mix & match.

A few extra notes:

If you are planning to sell the bracelet or to give it as a gift, please take if for a “test drive” : Wear it for at least a few hours or a full day, to make sure the knot holds.
You can use a crimp bead & cover on the larger diameters of cord if you want. This way you cover the knot up.
Clean the tip of the hypo-cement off before trying to put glue on the knot. Having old, semi-dried globs at the end can make the knot look messy.
You can string a lot of bracelets and then knot and glue them all at once (This way you only have to uncap & use the hypo cement once). I use those clamp-paper clips (the ones with the black clamp) at each end of the bracelet in order to hold the beads on the cord.

Some of the many stretchy bracelets I've made.

Kurolace

dark, cute, creative

art

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