Cuttlefish Wedding Cake Toppers

Cake Topper Mark I

Some of my favorite projects are the ones that customers come up with. A couple years ago I was asked to create a cuttlefish wedding cake topper. It was something I had never done before and I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing but the result was better than I had hoped for.

Fast forward to this year and I've been asked to create toppers for two more weddings. While the basic design for each was the same the resulting look couldn't have been more different due to the color schemes for each wedding.

If you would like to order a custom topper for your wedding check out this listing on Etsy. I can create one in your choice of color theme and combination of top hat, veil, or no head gear.

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.

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

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.

Holiday Tentacular has Begun

My big Black Fiday/Cyber Monday sale has begun. It runs through Monday, November 26. Head on over to the Etsy shop to save 10% off all items, and if you have a coupon code you can save a little bit more.

Also if you are in the Portland, Maine, area I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All and you can get 10% off here too.

Quick Announcements

Lots going on so I'm just going to list everything real quickly.

• I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All this weekend (Nov 17-18).
• I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All Friday-Sunday next weekend too (Nov 23-25)
• Also next weekend is Black Friday, I'll be holding a 10% off sale throughout the Etsy shop Friday-Monday (Nov 23-25) the sale will also extend to my booth at the Flea-for-All. And because I'm a sucker for puns I'm calling it the Holiday Tentacular! If you are impatient the sale will go live sometime Thanksgiving night instead of at midnight so I can settle into my turkey coma.
• New stuff is being added to the shop right now. Along with new cephalopod jewelry there's also tentacle earrings. seashell necklaces, and super adorable sea otter ornaments.

Gift Wrapping

Do you want to save a little bit of time during the holidays? I will gift wrap any order, even larger items like Perma-Pets.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines

If you are planning to shop with Noadi's Art for the holidays here are your deadlines for ordering. These are my best estimates and not guarantees, so ordering earlier is encouraged.

Hanukkah (Dec 8-16) - For orders to arrive by December 7 you need to order by standard shipping:

• US Mail - December 1
• International - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for AE ZIP 093

Solstice/Cephalopodmas (Dec 21) For orders to arrive by December 20 by standard shipping:

• US - December 14
• International - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for AE ZIP 093

Christmas/Newtonmas (Dec 25) - For orders to arrive by December 23 by standard shipping:

• US - December 19
• International - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for AE ZIP 093 

I've also added these dates to the Events & Dates page.

River Otter Ornament Video

I recently finished making a cute little river otter Christmas ornament for a customer who requested one. When I sat down to sculpt it I decided why not make a timelapse video. Okay, it was also an excuse to use the new HD webcam I got. I hope you enjoy it and if you want to request a custom ornament or jewelry please contact me. If you want it in time for Christmas I need to have the request by November 15th.

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:

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.

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.

Call Girl of Cthulhu

I was asked to participate in a pretty cool project. The creators of a film project titled "Call Girl of Cthulhu" approached me to donate one of my Cthulhu Figures to be given away during the Kickstarter campaign to raise money to make the film. I don't usually donate my work except for the occasional local charity but it's a Cthulhu movie so it's a worthy cause in my opinion. Here's how they describe the movie on Kickstarter:

CALL GIRL OF CTHULHU

She's turning wet dreams… into NIGHTMARES.

A virginal artist falls in love with a call girl who turns out to be the chosen bride of the alien god Cthulhu. To save her, he must stop an ancient cult from summoning their God and destroying mankind.   

Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, "Call Girl of Cthulhu" is the result of months of research, aiming to create a gory, fun homage to the master of horror.  

The entire screenplay is one giant Easter Egg for Lovecraft fans. 

With endless slimy monsters, an ancient cult, and a healthy dose of T & A (tentacles and ass), we're going to need our biggest budget yet. 

If our Kickstarter campaign is successful, "Call Girl of Cthulhu" will be the sixth feature film from our Baltimore based production company, Midnight Crew Studios.  

I decided to use this project as a way to see if I could improve my Cthulhu Figures a bit. First thought was to use some of the black swarovski crystal rhinestones I have for eyes and then I thought a base would be a great idea (one I've had before and just never did). I'm really happy with the results and I do plan to make more with bases but not the rhinestone eyes (like the effect but not enough to deal with the headaches of setting them evenly.

The giveaways for the Kickstarter project will be starting around August 28, and 35 Etsy artists have donated items to giveaway to backers of the project. You can follow Call Girl of Cthulhu on Twitter and on Facebook to find out more.

Clay Vacation is Over! Also Other News.

So my 30 days vacation from touching any clay whatsoever is officially over. As I wrote before though I'm still not going to be making any new jewelry for a little while, I'm spending a few weeks working on sculpture and continuing to paint. Since the clay vacation is over I won't be producing as many paintings as I did in the last month but I have a goal of at least one new painting a month. I'm hoping to have some fun new sculptures by the end of the month and be completely refreshed and ready for the holiday rush.

You can still get the free printable bookmarks for signing up for my mailing list (in fact those aren't going away unless/until I create something cooler to download).  Please send in pics of the bookmarks colored by you or a kid in your life by August 18 and I'll post it up on the blog and email you a coupon code for 10% off in my Etsy shop.

One last update: since I'm in redesign mode I'm in the process of creating a new theme for the official site at Noadi.net that I hope to launch sometime this weekend. It's lighter and brighter to go with the new photos and has some cool new features. Here's an early sneak peek:

Etsy Shop Redesign Complete

If you've visited my Etsy shop recently you've probably noticed that it was looking a bit strange. The survey from a couple weeks ago was pretty overwhelmingly in favor of the new lighter photo backdrop so I've rephotographed everything and have been switching photos over the last week. The redesign is now 100% complete and I'm really happy with the look.

Next on the agenda is getting Noadi.net overhauled with a new theme and more content.

Free Printable Bookmarks

So I'm nearing the end of my vacation from clay and my latest project is a series of bookmarks. Once I finished inking the drawings before painting in watercolor I scanned them in black and white.

I decided to make the bookmarks available as a free printable download to anyone who subscribes to my mailing list*. If you are already a subscriber, check you email inbox, I sent out an email for all current subscribers so you can download it too.

Since they are in black and white have fun coloring them! If you color the bookmarks and send me a photo or scan by August 18th (that's two weeks from now) I will post it up here on the blog and send you a coupon code to use in the Etsy shop.

I do plan to finish these bookmarks in color and have them printed to sell in the shop. I don't have an ETA for that yet since I haven't finished painting them and the printing company I use can be a bit slow sometimes.

*of course if you want the bookmarks but not the newsletter I will forgive you for unsubscribing