Painting a Blue Ringed Octopus

Continuing my series of behind the scenes videos showing the work that goes into my jewelry. This video shows the process of bringing a Blue Ringed Octopus necklace to life. The sculpting while the most important part of the process is bland and lifeless until the eyes are painted, they bring the personality of the pendant out.

Note: I've made a minor change to the Etsy shop, I now only accept paypal in the shop. Offering "Other" as an option for people who prefer Google Checkout caused more confusion and problems than it solved. If you want to pay with Google Checkout you need to contact me in advance.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been busily creating jewelry and stuff for the shop the last week. I received about 14 lbs worth of polymer clay so I'm now well stocked up for at least the next 6 months.

Look at all these unopened
packages of clay!

Along with restocking my supply of all the colors I regularly use I also picked up a few new colors to play with. One of these is Premo Candy Pink which is a really bright almost neon pink. I mixed it with some other colors to tone it down a bit but it's still really vibrant, I'm not sure what this new color will be called yet. It will also replace the pink I use for pieces like the Octopus Love necklace after the current stock sells out.

I've also shot a quick little behind the scenes video showing the cores I use inside my jewelry and explaining why they are so important to my designs.

We Have a Winner

The winner of the International Cephalopod Awareness Days giveaway is: greglovestoast

1: I love the Cuttlefish.

2: It's lightshow is like Nature's Las Vegas.

3: I like Cobalt Blue.

Congratulations to greglovestoast and thank you to everyone who entered this year.

Giveaway Time!

This is the special International Cephalopod Days 2011 giveaway prize. It's a one of a kind necklace made just for the occasion. Entries close at 12pm EDT October 10 and I'll be drawing the winner later in the evening.

Entering the giveaway is a two step process:

1) You must answer me these questions three:

• What cephalopod do you find the most facinating?
• Why do you think so?
• What is your favorite color?

2) Go fill out this form on Google Docs using the name you posted under in the comments (the names have to match, if I can't verify that you commented I have to toss the entry).

The winner will be picked by random chance using RANDOM.ORG based on the number of their comment. The winner will be posted on the blog as well as contacted via email and have 48 hours to claim their prize (after which I will pick another winner at random).

Don't forget that the Cephalopod Days Sale is going on in my Etsy Shop, I have 15% off cephalopod jewelry.

Cephalopod Appreciation Days Sale!

Yes, it's that time of year again, October 8-10 is International Cephalopod Awareness Days! That's this Saturday through Monday. Here's what I'll be doing to celebrate:

• Sale in my Etsy shop. 15% Off all Cephalopod Jewelry (this includes all items in the squid, cuttlefish, octopus, and nautilus jewelry sections, other cephalopod related items not in those sections are excluded form the sale)
• Giveaway here on the blog. I'll be making a special Cephalopod Days necklace to giveaway here on the blog. More details, how to enter, and a picture of the necklace will be posted at midnight Saturday Oct. 8.
• I'll be posting cephalopod related content all weekend via Twitter and Facebook, no prizes for following either but fun cephalopod facts, pictures and videos will abound.

Edit: Oh yeah, there's a Facebook event page too.