Finger Ring Pincushions

My large pincushions have been selling really well at the market so I had to restock them a little bit. But they are really time consuming, I needed to find something quicker to make to keep up with the demand. I remembered seeing a how-to for these bottle top pincushion rings ages ago, it seemed like the perfect solution. They are cute, and quick to make. I kept my signature cupcake icing, this adds a bit of time but I think it's worth it. For anyone following the how-to don't worry you don't need a drill, I used a hammer and a nail, just as effective and much simpler. Now I'm on the hunt for plain bottle caps so I can make loads more, unfortunately lots of drinks have the logo printed on them. I know it wouldn't make much difference but I prefer it when they are plain.

I also gave these shrinky dink pins a shot too. They are really easy to make and I think they really complete the pincushions. I think I'll give two of them with each ring. The only problem is that some of them curled up when they were shrinking, so there was a little bit of wastage. I still haven't decided on a price yet for the rings, 5 seems too little but 7 is too much, maybe a happy medium at 6 euro each. What do you think?

Sorting, moving, boxing

The epic clean up on my studio has commenced! As I mentioned earlier on the blog John will be moving to Cork for a year to do his Masters, so this means I need a new house mate to help with the rent. Which in turn means I've to move my bedroom into my studio!! We got lots of work done on it last week, and John was a great help getting things into our small attic. I've lots left to do this week, but I'll show you more photos of my studio/bedroom when it's totally finished.

Thankfully my really good friend Cecily will be moving in, so the worry of living with a stranger has been eliminated. It's all happening this weekend, I can't belive it rolled around so fast! Hopefully the year without John will go just as quickly.

I Bought Some Lovely Art

I saw the work of Lynn Kenny when I was at the artisan craft fair on Thursday, I couldn't help myself I had to buy a piece. I've been insanely in love with her work for years but I never had enough money to buy any of her work, even though they are really reasonably priced at 150 for a medium sized piece. At the craft fair she has mini framed artworks at only 45 euro, as soon as I picked it up I had that sensation that I couldn't put it down again-I had to have it!

Even though you can see the lovely drawing style in her pieces on the website, you really have to see them in person to appreciate the layers of texture and detail. There are layers of material and embroidery that just can't be captured in a photo. The above picture is similar to the piece that I got...can you tell I'm feeling too lazy to whip out my camera?? Maybe later in the week I'll post an update with a picture of my delightful new piece of art. I have this feeling that this may be the start of a Lynn Kenny addiction.

I had the pleasure of meeting her at my stall recently, I was chatting to some customers about crafts and selling on line. Until one of them mentioned that she was an artist, when I asked for her business card I had a mini fan boy fit. I had loved her work for so long I was mortified and delighted to meet her. By the way she's really lovely in person, it's nice to meet your heroes, especially when they turn out to be down to earth people.

New Handmade iPhone Cases

Lately I've been bringing my pre-cut felt iphone cases down to the market and doing my hand sewing while I'm there. It means I can get some Christmas stock made while it's quiet down there. I'm spending over 20 hours a week standing at my stall so it makes sense to use that time wisely. I learnt from pre-cutting my brooches that it saves time to design and cut the pieces at home before hand. I recently ordered lots of felt from Lupin, so it was great to be able to design them and have all my new coloured sheets at hand.

I'm still not sure what to do with my etsy listings. I know lots of sellers take photos of their pieces and if it sells they make one as similar as possible. I don't know if I want to get into that kind of production line work. Half the fun of making them is coming up with a new design and figuring out how to make it work. I know it isn't very practical but I'd like to keep them as one off pieces...or at least only similar but not exact replicas.

Album Release for The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra

At last The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra album was released nationwide this weekend just gone. It was so exciting to eventually see the work all properly printed out, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. The feedback has been excellent so far both for the design and the album itself. The guys got a 4/5 star rating from Hotpress Magazine, and in my own personal opinion it sounds fantastic, I'm really proud to have my name attached to something that sounds great.

The merchansing machine has been working full throttle as I was making badges, magnets, and bottle openers for them, and we also ordered some lovely postcards from Moo. Also my friend Vinnie is currently making some super snazzy t-shirts with my designs on them, can't wait to see how they turn out. Their newly redesigned website went live the other day, Mark Wrafter did a fantastic job transforming my images into a website format.

The BPLO will be playing Electric Picnic this week in the spoken word stage (not sure what day) do keep an eye out if you are lucky enough to be heading to the festival. Personally I'm really looking forward to their Limerick album launch gig, the whispers I'm hearing is that there is lots of extra effort being put into this gig with top secret set embellishments! That will be on in Dolans on Sept 10th.

!!Giveaway!!

Here's the best bit, I'm having a giveaway to one lucky reader! I will be giving away an album, badges, bottle opener, and a set of postcards, and all you have to do is leave a comment here! I'll be running this competition between by blog and my facebook page. Closing date is the 7th of Sept!

Shrinky Dinks...how have I lived without them before??

It was about 2 months ago that I first spotted 'Shrinky Dinks' in some craft tutorial online. I was totally fascinated by them, and the more research I did they seemed too good to be true. Basically they are a plastic that you draw on, stick them in the oven for a couple of minutes and they get 7 times smaller and 7 times thicker!! They go from a thickness like ascetate to a sturdy clear plastic. There are endless possibilities, from earrings, card embellishments, ornaments etc etc. Apparently they are huge in the US and all American kids play with them, but I had never heard of them before or seen them in any craft shop here.

I tried to order some directly from the website but they were going to charge me $40 shipping on a really small item. Instead I had a look on ebay and found 'Shrinkles', a 'shrinky dink' substitute, the same product but with far more affordable shipping.

I got the transparent and opaque versions, both in packs of 50 for a total of about 20 euro. To get a decent sized image I used an entire sheet per piece. For the transparent shrinkles I had to use 'Sharpie' markets, I was able to get a set of these in my local craft shop Silkes for 10 euro. But for the opaque ones regular colouring pencils are fine.

I was delighted with how they turned out, shrinking an image always makes it look way better as the detail is condensed. I included a euro coin in the photos so you can get an idea of the change in scale. I'll be using these for making greetings cards, but I think I'll be making myself some new earrings too! Also since they are transparent they would be very easy to trace images if you are not that confident at drawing. I felt like a little kid when I was making them, I brought all my pencils and markers down to the market, it certainly kept me happy and occupied for the day.

Monthly Artisan Craft Fair: August

Tomorrow I'll be selling at the monthly Artisan Crafts Fair being held 11-7pm at the Milk Market in Limerick city. I did the first one last month and had an amazing time selling there, as there was a fantastic atmosphere with oodles of beautiful crafts to see. The venue will be be totally full which is fantastic, and there will be live music, face painting , and live salsa dancing. There is a huge selection of traders to choose from like knitwear, felting, patchwork, glass work, ceramics, painting, illustration, photography, silver smith, wood work, and lots more.

Last month I took some photos that I totally forgot to post of some of the traders there.

Noreen Foley from HanoraK Designs makes beautiful knitwear scarves hats and cardigans. I own a few of her pieces and I always get compliments when I wear them. Noreen is a good friend of mine as we sell beside eat other at the market every week. You can also see Brandon here on the left, he makes beautiful copper and silver jewellery made from old Irish coins.
Bonzie and Ger from the amazing etsy shop Bonzie, and fellow Etsy Ireland Team members. They make amazing steampunk accessories and beautiful baleros perfect for wearing to a wedding.
This is the lovely Kate Ramsey from Feltfieltrofilc, fellow Etsy Ireland Team member, she makes beautiful felted scarves, cardigans and brooches. On the day she was doing felting demonstrations too.
Fergus Grant makes stunning silver jewellery, and on the day he even brought his very impressive work bench and was making pieces during the show.
Just a small selection of lots of the lovely pieces that were on show from Limerick Ceramics
Local photographer Neville Gawley was selling his stunning framed prints of Limerick scenes and eye catching landscapes.
Sadie Cramer from Smartstudios has some really endearing illustrations, they were so lovely. I already have my eye on a couple of them as Christmas presents.
This is Mary O Dea who makes great screen printed t-shirts, local limerick scenes abstracted into trendy designs. She also offers a great service that she will print t-shirts of your kids drawings, which would be really fun for parties and functions.
Salsa!!

Zombies, Vampires and Witches, Oh My!

I got my Halloween badges made and I totally love them, it's made me really excited about Halloween like a little kid. I listed the party pack of 20 in my shop for $30, and I'll be listing them individually later in the week when I get a chance to take more photos. When the courier arrives on Thursday with more badge parts I'll make up some beer bottle opener versions...I think the Zombie secretary would be fun for that one!

Getting Ready For Halloween

I've been working on some Halloween designs for badges/magnets/bottle openers. I figure I'll make the badges into party packs so people can give them out as treats at their door instead of sweets. Also if you were having an adults Halloween party a pack of the beer bottle openers would be fun things to give out to your guests. I simply did some pencil sketches, scanned them in, cleaned them up a bit and coloured them on photoshop. I find it much easier to work from a pencil drawing, as starting a piece on the graphic pad never has the same sense of strenght in the drawing.

I'm a huge fan of Halloween and I love making my costume every year, it's not such a big thing here in Ireland but it's massive in the US so hopefully these pack do well online. Here is a sneaky peek at my designs so far...I'm open to suggestions for more ghoulish images...

Get Well Soon, I Hope

Abel and Game

House of Harriet

Kaja Designs

Oh Boy Cat Toys

I'm missing the market this week as I am sick, again I know!! So in honour of my current enfeebled disposition I'm putting together some Etsy picks to do with sickness to distract me.