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.

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.

Xmas Beaver Ornaments

I actually started making these and listed them in my Etsy shop last week but neglected to write a post. Every year I try to come up with a different animal Christmas ornament to add to the seasonal section. I now have platypuses, ceolocanths, frogs (discontinued as a regular item but available by request), and this year's addition: the Xmas Beaver!

Yes, I'm having a very juvenile glee at showing people my beaver. I apparently have an inner 12-year-old boy despite never having been one.

So why a beaver? Rude jokes aside it actually is because of a misunderstanding by my brother. He had seen one of my platypuses briefly looking at my website and he asked me if I still had beaver ornaments. I said no, I have platypuses, but the idea stuck in my head the rest of the day and finally I just decided that I'd have to make them. Seeing that beavers and platypuses have very similar shapes since they both live in freshwater environments it wasn't hard to figure out how to sculpt one. The heads are a bit different and the legs of beavers don't have webbed flipper-like feet but the bodies are pretty much the same and the tails are the same shape though they have different textures.

Important Upcoming Dates

It's getting closer to the holidays so things are getting busy. Here are some upcoming dates to keep in mind:

International Cephalopod Appreciation Days - October 8-10 - The yearly celebration of all things cephalopod. I'll be holding a sale and giveaway.

Halloween Order Deadline - October 25 - If you want jewelry from me for your costume you'll need to order by then to guarantee it will arrive by the 31st (US only)

Custom Jewelry Order Deadline - November 20 - Please, if you want something custom for Christmas contact me ASAP. If I have too many custom orders I may move the date.

Custom Small Sculpture Deadline - October 31 - Small sculptures I can do custom (Perma-Pets, etc) but larger pieces I may not be able to make in time for Christmas. The sooner you get me your custom request the more likely I will be able to fulfill it.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday - November 25-28 - The much hyped kickoff of the holiday shopping season. I'll be offering free shipping in the US and reduced shipping worldwide.

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.

Getting Ready for Halloween

I know it's only August but if I waited until October to get the shop ready for Halloween it would be too late. I've started adding some new H.P. Lovecraft inspired jewelry and brought back the new and improved Frankenpods.

First up I have a new smaller Cthulhu Cameo, it's 1 1/8 inches across (the larger size is 1 3/4 inches) and Cthulhu is facing forward rather than in profile.

I've also started creating sculpted Cthulhu jewelry and larger Cthulhu figures in the same pose. The pendants are 1 inch tall while the figures are 2 inches tall (a hanging loop and ribbon can be added to these by request if you'd like to hang them from a tree/hook/tentacle).

The first non-Cthulhu design added to my Lovecraftian jewelry is a pendant based on Lovecraft's story "The Hound". In it a young man and his friend are haunted by a demonic winged hound summoned by an amulet they stole from a grave.

Finally I've brought back the Frankenpods. I first created one of these several years ago and liked the idea but all my cephalopod designs hadn't quite come together yet so I only made one. I've now revived the idea and created not just a cuttlefish one but also squid, nautilus, and octopus frankenpods.

The Original Frankenpod

New and Improved Frankenpod Cuttlefish

Frankenpod Squid

Frankenpod Nautilus

Frankenpod Octopus