Now for Something Completely Different

A man with a tape recorder up his nose-- Wait, that's not right.

I've been working on a project lately, just for fun really, and now it's ready to share. It's a short story, in the vein of the Dresden Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that I plan on expanding into a number of stories since I really like the characters I've created. It's been a lot of fun writing it and I hope people really enjoy it.

The basic premise is that Calliope Bránán is a blood mage who has been asked by a friend to help find a child. When she discovers who has taken the little boy, she and her partner Lucas must rescue him.

The first part of the story will be going up tonight (5/6/13) at 8pm EDT. Go check it out.

Small Pricing Change and Custom Orders

Time Cuttlefish

Just a quick heads up about pricing. After looking at the numbers I'm changing the prices of my jewelry and shipping. Prices on cephalopods and a few other pieces are going down and I'm getting rid of free shipping. What does this mean? Honestly not much, the total price paid will be the same but I'll be able to offer the same prices both online and in person instead of having two different pricing systems. The changes should be complete by the end of the day.

As I wrote in my last post I enjoy custom orders and Etsy just made it easier to make a custom request. Now on every item page (like this octopus) there is a button to make a custom request.

Feejee Mermaid and Stuff

One of the few problems with how much time my jewelry business takes up out of my day is that I don't have as much time to create full sculptures as I would like. So when someone commissions me to make a sculpture for them it's great, an excuse to spend time on a big project instead of the usual hour or so a day I spend on personal projects (which is why those always take months to finish).

My latest commission was a Feejee Mermaid. The original feejee mermaids were taxidermy fakes in sideshow carnivals (P.T. Barnum supposedly had the original but it was lost when his museum burned down), they were made with paper mache, the upper body of a jevenile monkey, and the body of a fish. I based mine on a dogfish and (loosely) a juvenile rhesus monkey. I sculpted the mermaid from polymer clay. To make it a bit more fun and interesting I added spines and rabbit fur to the head and back. After painting the whole thing was put in a large glass jar and submerged in the same resin I use for my Perma-Pets.

Her happy owner has named her Salma. If you're interested in requesting a custom sculpture or any other custom work drop me an email or contact me through my Etsy shop.

I've also been working for the past 6 months or so on a piece I'm tentatively calling the Coral Siren. If you want to see more of my works in progress follow my WIP blog on Tumblr it's where I post quick snapshots of what I'm working on when I don't want to write a full blog post.

In somewhat unrelated news I'm trying to pick up extra cash since I need to move when my lease is up in May. I like the place I'm living but I can't afford it on my own and while my ex-boyfriend and I are still good friends it's a little awkward living together. So to that end I've joined Fiverr which is a site that lets you set up little mini jobs that you can do. So if you are looking for someone to make an Etsy banner, proofread your listings, design a business card, or edit your product photos for you you can hire me to do it.

General News and Updates

Just a bunch of snippets of news.

The cell culture necklaces are up for sale in my shop. Actually I listed them a few weeks ago so this isn't fresh news but important anyway. I have both bacteria and mold necklaces (the mold is actually fuzzy!) in some really great colors and more are on the way.

Etsy just made some improvements to how coupon codes work, now when you order a thank you coupon will be emailed to you automatically. I've been sending a printed thank you coupon since Etsy first started offering coupon codes but this makes it that much more convenient.

I've been confirmed for the Artists' Alley at PortConMaine this year. Last year was a blast and I'm really looking forward to June. The Artists' Alley will be running June 21-22 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel near the Maine Mall in Portland. You can preregister for PortCon on the website, it's $35 is you preregister and $40 at the door. Aside from the very cool Artists' Alley there are panels on all sorts of geeky topics, game rooms, free music and other shows, and lots and lots of people in cool costumes.

Getting Ready to Start New Jewelry

The petri dishes for the new Cell Culture Pendants arrived today. I'm so excited! I haven't created a completely new jewelry line from scratch in quite a while. I've created new variations and expansions pretty regularly but starting from just an idea that came to me while half-asleep listening to This Week in Microbiology is so much fun (and who thought that my bedtime playlist would inspire new jewelry?).

New Jewelry Coming and Wholesale Information

Cell Culture Prototypes

2013 is off to a busy start for me. I've been developing some ideas for new jewelry than I'm pretty excited about. The big one are the Cell Culture Pendants. I've made a few prototypes of this new deisgn, they're real small petri dishes filled with resin to look like microbiology specimens. The prototypes were made with some votive candle cups to test out the idea, the real petri dishes are on their way and as soon as they arrive I'll start making these necklaces.

I also have new specimen jars coming, with a new axolotl specimen (big thanks to the person who custom ordered one last year, I just loved the idea so much). Also along the same vein I bought some resin jewelry molds and I'll be using them to create some new designs using the specimens that I think are pretty cool.

On a different note I've finally put together some proper line sheets for wholesale customers. I would love to have more wholesale business but without line sheets it was hard to give a good overview of everything I make and the available colors and styles. They're available on my website and also on Google Docs.

Sea Otter Ornament Video

I had a little fun playing with animoto this morning and made this short video for my sea otter ornaments. My last holiday shipment will be sent out Thursday morning (Dec 20) so you only have today and tomorrow to get in any last minute orders.

Free Shipping Day

Today is Free Shipping Day and while I offer free shipping on most items in my store already today I'm offering free shipping on everything in the shop, including Perma-Pets and paintings on canvas.

Delivery by Trilobite Mail not included

New Baby Rat Sculpture

I had intended for this to be part of yesterday's blog post but I still needed to put a few finishing touches on this new sculpture. Actually it's more like 3 sculptures in one setting. If you've seen my baby rat sculptures before you'll know that I like to take a realistic life-sized sculpted baby rat and put it in a cradle made from a household object like a tea cup or an altoids tin.

The latest one is an idea I've had floating around for a while, to nestle several inside a hollowed out book. Part of the problem for me is that I love books and the idea of destroying one is difficult for me, so I hit the local thrift store to find a book that I could feel okay with rendering unreadable. I found the perfect thing: Readers Digest condensed books. I have a strong aversion to abridging literature so these were perfect, they are plentiful, cheap, fairly thick, and hardcover. It's available in my Etsy shop.

Baby Rat Book Nest

Last Minute Shopping for Squidmas?

Wednesday, December 19, is the last day I'll be taking regular holiday orders so you still have time to do some shopping and have it arrive in time for Christmas. I still have lots of goodies in the shop including tentacle earrings and the new sea shell jewelry that make great stocking stuffers.If you would like your order gift wrapped make sure you mention it in the "note to seller" during checkout.

I have a couple of brand new color schemes for cephalopods that I just added to the shop: moss green and black. Also some new trilobites and tentacle earrings. If you like my facebook page there's a 7% off coupon here.

If a giant space squid hasn't destroyed the planet there will also be a special sale in honor of the world not ending on Dec 22 (very last sale of 2012). Orders placed that day won't arrive in time for Christmas but you could always get a jump start on Valentines Day or an upcoming birthday or just treat yourself to a cephalopod.