Regretsy Book

The Regretsy book was released today and I am featured in it with my Baby Rat sculpture. Obviously since I'm posting this I fully appreciate the humor of the book and the Regretsy Blog and I look forward to my copy arriving (no I didn't have to buy one, I get one free for being in the book).

Apartment Photos

I took these Saturday but it's taken me until tonight to post because I've been ridiculously sick with bronchitis. This has made doing anything, including packing, very difficult but I'm starting to feel better.

Big News

I got the apartment I was looking at. Let the packing commence! I'll be moving in April 1st and I'm so excited. Complete independence at last.

It's in this great funky old building right in the middle of South Paris, Maine. I'll have photos to share soon. I'm not terribly far from my parents, about a 20 minute drive, and I have friends and family in town too. Most everything I need is within walking distance, including art galleries (actually one is just downstairs from my place), the library, post office, stores, etc. It's been really hard networking with other artists living in a very rural area depending on my parents for transportation because I can't drive (vision issues) so being in an area with galleries, art groups, classes, etc is going tp be fantastic.

So Excited

I'm going to go look at an apartment this weekend. Finding one has been torture and I'm so happy to just be going to see one and hopeful it will be good and I'll get it.

If I do this is what my packing will look like:

Comic by Justina Kochansky of articulatematter.com

New Jewelry Video

I put together this little slideshow of my new and improved steampunk jewelry.

Change to Steampunk Jewelry

Left: Ice Resin. Right: Diamond Glaze.

If you've been by my shop the past few weeks you've probably noticed I didn't have many of my steampunk jewelry pieces. The reason for this is I've been trying to find a new material to seal the gears under. I had been using diamond glaze but in thicker applications or if it's humid it gets cloudy. You can see this in the photo of the new version next to the old (right).

The new version is made with Ice Resin which is a jewelry grade non-toxic resin. It's been getting a lot of press in the crafty blogosphere recently and so I decided to give it a try. As you can see the result is crystal clear and also very hard and waterproof (I also use an indoor/outdoor gloss on the creature body that is water resistant, so they can get damp but don't submerge in water or scrub with cleaners). The downside of it though is that it is expensive, messy, and time consuming to use. Because of this I had to increase the price of all my steampunk jewelry

Brass Steampunk Horseshoe Crab

Steampunk Octopus

Molding Cthulhu Cameo Videos

Working on a new jewelry line of Cthulhu cameos. I recorded video of the process of making the press mold I'm using for them. Photos of the finished jewelry coming soon, I'm waiting on a supply delivery so I can finish them.

New Years News

So 2009 is almost over. This has been a real whirlwind year for me, the business has grown far faster and further than I ever expected. At the beginning of the year I had only a single line of cephalopod jewelry, the cuttlefish, and that has expanded to octopus, squid, and the nautilus. I've scrapped the old trilobite design for a new one and added horseshoe crabs and the specimen jars. My monthly sales have gone from around $300 a month to over $1000 monthly before the holidays and exceeded $2000 in both November and December.

Looking ahead to 2010 there's a load of stuff coming up. I just bought a new camera and I'll be redoing a lot of photos with it. I'll also be shooting with the intent of putting together an art book later this year that will be self-published (probably with Lulu.com) and hopefully a lot of fun.

Speaking of books, the Regretsy book is looking like it's coming together really fast and I'm probably going to be featured in it.

I have some new jewelry planned. One is a Cthulhu cameo pendant that will be press molded from polymer clay, fairly inexpensive and fast to produce. The other will be on the higher end. I've had some precious metal clay for a while and I'm hoping to get the silver cephalopods coming along soon.

In personal news, I'm looking for an apartment right now so I'm really excited about finally getting out on my own. Just me and my dog.

Merry Squidmas!

So it is finally Squidmas/Cephalopodmas/Cthulhumas take your pick of the tentacled one you prefer. In celebration I will have 1/2 off shipping for all cephalopod items in my Etsy shop along with a free surprise goodie with each order.

To get you all in the mood, here's a wonderful video of the song "It's Begginning to Look a Lot like Fishmen" from the A Very Scary Solstice CD.

Last Chance to Order for Xmas

Sunday, December 20, is the last day to order in time for Christmas. USPS says that the 21st is the last day for shipping Priority in time to arrive by the 25th.

For those wanting to buy something for themselves and don't care to have it arrive by Xmas, the 22nd is the solstice and more importantly Cephalopodmas! I'll be discounting shipping to half-off and including free goodies with all orders for the day.

Noadi's Art on Etsy