Creating Glass Squid in Resin

Itsy Bitsy Specimen Jars

I've been busy working on new ideas for jewelry lately, including casting transparent Glass Squid in resin. While I was creating the first one I made videos of the process from sculpt to molding to casting. The first three Glass Squid necklaces should be available in the shop next week.

Also joining them will be the first 3 pairs of new Specimen Jar Earrings! Check out this photo of the finished jars before I attached the earring hooks. They are super tiny, less than half the size of the jars I use for the Specimen Jar Necklaces.

Glass Squid Pendants

And  now for the videos. I hope you enjoy seeing how these necklaces came to be.

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

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.

Squidmas is Coming

Tentacle Charms

Last weekend's Holiday Tentacular sale went swimmingly. Thank you to everyone who shopped or shared the sale with their friends. It's the beginning of December which means it's the home stretch for the year and assuming the world doesn't end, 2013 is so close.

I'm not going to be holding any more sales before my holiday shipping deadlines but I do have a few special offers for you. First of all I have a whole bunch of cute little tentacle charms and I'll be including one in every order until I run out.

Second, if you want to save on your order I have a special coupon code up just for Facebook fans. So like my page and then visit the coupon tab to get a coupon for 7% off your order (or click here to go right to the coupon tab). The coupon is valid through Squidmas day, Dec 21.

Also don't forget that I offer free US and Canadian shipping on all jewelry and most other orders. Check the Events & Dates page for holiday shipping deadlines, I've tried to cover all the major ones Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Newtonmas, etc.

Fossil Day

This is it, Fossil Day the last day of Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012 (it is also National Fossil Day not just for cephalopods). Today is dedicated to all the cephalopods of the fossil record, the ammonites, belemnites, spirulids, and other extinct species we know only from the traces they've left behind.

The last giveaway is also today. Today's trivia question is a harder one if you aren't a paleontology geek like me so all entries will go into the drawing, not just the correct answers. Just fill out the following Google form between noon and 8pm EDT. Good luck!

The last day of my cephalopod jewelry sale is also today. There's 15% off until midnight when the prices go back to normal.

Entries are Closed

Myths & Legends Day

Release the Kraken! It's now the 4th day of Cephalopod Awareness Days and we are taking a brief detour from reality into fiction.

The sale ends tomorrow night, this is your last chance to save this much on cephalopod jewelry until next year's Cephalopod Awareness Days, so head over the Etsy shop ASAP. Also click over to Symbiartic on the Scientific American blog network to read a really cool feature on my jewelry.

Today's giveaway is super simple to enter, no trivia today just tell me what your favorite fictional tentacles creature is. Do you favor the Kraken? Cthulhu? Scylla? Or some other more obscure beastie. Just enter your answers into the Google Form and you get a chance to own this original 5"x7" pen and ink squid drawing.

Entries Closed 

And just because it's so cool, check out the Kraken in LEGO form:

Cuttlefish and Squid Day

Cuttlefish are my first love when it comes to cephalopods, they are the animals which sparked my interest. So for Cuttlefish and Squid day I have the biggest giveaway item of the week. And of course you still have until the end of Friday, Oct. 12, to head over to my Etsy shop and get 15% off on cephalopod jewelry (go on, get yourself something tentacled).

I decided to try something new and use Rafflecopter to run the giveaway and run it from noon to midnight. To enter you need to log in with Facebook or enter your email address then answer the trivia question which will give you 5 entries (make sure if you use Facebook login that you check the email associated with your Facebook account regularly). You can also gain some extra entries via social media. I'll draw the winner by noon tomorrow, October 11.

Noadi's Art Cuttlefish & Squid Day Giveaway

If you want to share the giveaway on your own blog go here for the embed code (won't help your chances of winning but you will have my thanks).

Nautilus Night

It's Nautilus Night! The day dedicated to celebrating the most ancient group of living cephalopods.

Today's giveaway is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print and handmade polymer clay nautilus shell pin.

TO ENTER
Click the link below to go to a Google form and answer the nautilus trivia question.
Answer Nautilus Trivia

THE RULES
1) You must enter between 12pm and 8pm EDT on Oct. 9, 2012.
2) Open to US residents only (sorry).
3) You can only answer the question once, duplicate entries will be deleted.
4) You must enter a valid email address, it is the method I will use to contact the winner.
5) There is no 5.

If you want some nautilus jewelry head over to the Etsy shop to get 15% off your order of any cephalopod jewelry.

Share and enjoy.

Octopus Day

It's Octopus Day! The kickoff of Cephalopod Awareness Days.

Today's giveaway is a 4"x5" print of my painting "Octopus in Kelp Forest" and a crimson tentacle pin. If you want your chance to win the giveaway go check out the Facebook page between 12pm an 8pm EDT today for how to enter.

Remember there is 15% off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop through October 12th.

Cephalopod Awareness Days are Imminent

It's almost time, I'm so excited! Cephalopod Awareness Days kicks off at midnight on October 8th. I was going to write a post with all the information again and pictures of the giveaway items but I decided instead to just make video.

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Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012!

It's almost the most important time of the year! Cephalopod Awareness Days are next week, October 8th through 12th. Of course as I have since 2008 I'll be holding a sale those days plus some giveaways.

I forgot that last year Cephalopod Days were extended from 3 days to 5 days, so I had only planned to do 3 giveaways. Now I promised a giveaway for each day and I'm sticking to that plan. Originally I was going to put up a trivia question each day but 5 days of trivia might be stretching things a little. So while some of the giveaway days will include a trivia question some will also feature other ways to enter the giveaway to mix it up a little bit.

Here's the deal:

• 15% Off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop. This is the biggest sale discount I run all year, so if you want to do some early holiday shopping here's your chance.
• The giveaways will mainly happen through Facebook so please like my page so you will see the posts (though I will share the links to the Facebook posts on Twitter as well). I will be posting the giveaway each day at noon EDT. At the end of the action period (8pm EDT) I will draw one random person who completed the task to win the giveaway.
• Octopus Day 10/8 - Dedicated to all the 8-armed species. Giveaway item is a 4"x5" Octopus in Kelp Forest print
• Nautilus Night 10/9 - Celebrating the shelled cephalopods. Giveaway item is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print
• Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day 10/10 - For all the tentacled ones and the midpoint of the celebration. This is the biggest giveaway item, a one of a kind cuttlefish necklace.
• Myths and Legends Day 10/11 - Release the Kraken! Giveaway is an original sketch.
• Fossil Day 10/12 - To coincide with National Fossil Day we celebrate all the cephalopods of the fossil record. Giveaway item is an ammonite shell necklace.

If you want to learn more about Cephalopod Awareness days check out the official website or Like the Facebook page.

Cephalopod Necklace Options

Etsy has rolled out a great new prototype feature so listing variations. This means that for some of my jewelry you can now select the length of the cord and it's material.

I'm still working on updating all the listings. When I'm finished you will be able to choose the length and cord material for all cephalopod, sea horse, trilobite, and horseshoe crab necklaces.

Specimen jars and Lovecraftian jewelry are still going to be resized by custom request only.

Just a reminder, you can still vote on which animal I create as an ornament this year.

We Have a Winner

The voting for the new jewelry line is now over and we have a surprise winner. There were a lot of write in options, including some great ideas that I may use sometime, and the winner was a twitter suggestion: Cephalobots. It won with more than double the votes of the runner up. Thank you to everyone who voted, I was pleasantly surprised by how many suggestions other than my original two (Technopods and Cyberpods).

Vote on the Name of my New Cephalopods!

Below you can see the prototype for my new cephalopod jewelry line. I can't decide what to name them so I put it up as a poll on the Facebook page. So go vote for Cyberpods or Technopods (or leave your own suggestion). The option with the most votes at the end of a week will win.

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.

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.

Quick Note on Necklaces

After running a survey and getting feedback elsewhere I'm going to be changing my standard necklace length for a number of designs to 20 inches from 24 inches. This includes the octopus, squid, cuttlefish, nautilus, and trilobite designs (other designs like the specimen jars and tentacle chokers are different lengths already, 18 and 15 inches respectively).

Most feedback said they preferred a necklace that was 18 inches long though in my judgement that's a little too short for such large pendants.  Using myself as a guide they just don't quite hang right so short (though on a shorter person they might, I'm 5'6"). I will always re-size necklaces to whatever length a customer would prefer but most people just order the standard size that's offered so I want to have one that makes the most people happy.

Necklaces currently in stock won't be shortened right away (it would be a big project) but all necklaces made going forward will be, including 3 I'm finishing up right now. This goes along with some other changes I will be announcing in the next few days, I am waiting on some new supplies to be delivered that will allow me to expand the jewelry I offer. Nothing is going away, I promise, this is all new stuff that will be added to what I already create.

Frankenpods Video

Frankenpods! by NoadiArt

Been having fun with the Frankenpod jewelry. I created a fun mock-movie trailer with suitable B-movie inspired titles and a poster to go with it.

I love being able to play with my designs like this, it helps me break out of my usual routine and think about my jewelry in new ways. In this case I took an obvious theme for my Frankenpods and ran with it.

New Sculpture Project Process

So I'm going to be making some new steampunk cephalopod sculptures. I like the commissioned project so much that I want to take it a step further not that I don't have a budget constraint on creating them. I also though it would be cool to document on video some of my creative process so I've going to be doing a little video series while I create them.

Part 1: I describe the project and show the previous sculptures along with some gears and stuff.


Part 1.5: An unplanned video but I got some great supplies that I can't wait to use for this project.