The Tatted Mask and The Eye Patch

I promised you a new tatted mask today and here it is. I call this one 'The Babe With The Power' and it was a custom request. I was asked to create a mask in more of a comic book, superhero style and at first it was a daunting task. I kept staring at the wires I use for the eye bases and then a scrap of tatting laying on my table caught my attention. It was my simple vine choker. This is a pattern that was adapted from a vintage edging pattern, it's a very simple pattern that bends easily and I was able to lay it around the eye holes and the mask was created. I added a little Celtic style piece to the bridge of the nose for support and it was done.

The name was driving me insane, even though this was a custom order and I have little time to recreate it for sale. I wanted to keep the Labyrinth theme, but I also wanted to convey the comic book style and then it came to be just as I was finishing the mask.

In other pictures, I wanted to show you a couple I received from the customer who requested my tatted rose eye patch. She's a doll of a customer and these pictures are great. I rarely get to see my pieces worn, so it's a real treat to see them with such finery including a hat by TospyTurvyDesigns.

One last thing for the day, Happy Birthday to my baby brother James. I can't believe the baby is 25...I feel old.

Photo credits:Copyright: Photographer- Timothy Harshman Photo of: Ang Harshman

TotusMel's Tatting, Bragging Blog

Well the weekend was eventful. After I wrote on Friday I snagged another front page spot. This time however, I was awake and able to enjoy the event. I spent over an hour answering convos and watching those views and hearts go up, up, up and I was even graced with a few great sales. Then I went into a bit of a etsy coma.

Sunday my family took a trip to the Northern California Ren Faire. We've been going for quite a few years now and we take my husbands parents as they enjoy the unparalleled people watching available. I spoiled myself and the girls a bit and brought home a few trinkets and a mealworm. Yes, a mealworm. After a visit to pet a dragon, or rather lizards, snakes and turtles, my daughter the budding entomologist was gifted a mealworm which she insisted we keep and raise until it becomes a beetle. It is currently living in a water bottle until more suitable accommodations can be acquired.

After the long day, we retired early and I managed to miss yet another front page feature. I woke this morning to more convos and requests and Daniel of Catherinetterings sent me a screen shot of the feature which was the lovely treasury by Insectus.

This one featured was curated and featured some of my SteamTeam friends as well as A topsyturvydesigns hat whose picture also includes one of my chokers. So it's like being on there twice, kinda.

It's been a banner week for me and I actually feel a little guilty that I've been granted such a streak of luck. I still see so many threads on the forums of people doing so poorly in the sagging economy. While I have no delusions that I will continue my current sales trend once Halloween has past, I still feel like I've reached a good point of saturation that will hopefully continue.

Tomorrow, I have a new mask to show you and I promise to stop bragging.

What A Nice Morning

I woke to a pleasant surprise this morning. I apparently got on the front page in the middle of the night. This is the second time in a row that I have been on the front page and missed it entirely. At first I was terribly put out that I didn't get to see it, but then I realized that the timing of the event exposed me to a whole other side of the planet. I received several messages from folk I didn't recognize at all probably because I'm asleep when they are online.

I wish I could show you a picture of my front page, but I can't find one. It was the same tatted mask that got featured in the etsy finds email so its views are ridiculously high and it has an insane amount of hearts (211 at last count). Imagine if all those people actually wanted to buy the mask. Of course my fingers would fall off if I tried to make that many, but still.

The other side effect of my front page in the middle of the night appears to be treasury saturation. I've been in a few treasuries at a time and then I'll be absent entirely for weeks, but this morning as I was trying to discover where my front page originated I stumbled upon not just a couple of new treasuries, but seven! Seriously seven treasuries all featuring my pieces. This knocked my on my arse. I'm just really humbled and grateful for all the attention and by way of thanks here are the curators of those treasuries:

Monarchdancer.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12873

insectus.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12893

calloohcallay.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12971

susidjewelry.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12697

homecreations.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12674

ImNotYourGranny.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12702

mistflowerstudio.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12665

Check them out, they all did an amazing job and deserve a little love for their time!

UPDATE:
I found a picture of the front page!

Meh

It's gonna be one of those days. Sure, I have projects lined up, quite a few actually, but I'm feeling a little listless and unfocused. Part of the problem is that most of my projects are off etsy. I'm sure this is perfectly normal for many of you, but my tatting life began at the same time as my etsy life. They go hand in hand for me. Every time I make a piece it ends with pictures and being listed for sale. I'm still making pieces for the SteamPunk convention Steampowered in Sunnyvale at the end of the month. It is taking all of my willpower to not list them on etsy anyway. I know that if I do that, there will be no pieces for my lovely SteamTeam friends to take with them and I really want the exposure that this convention can give me.

I've also been making a couple of masks for myself and my mother. My husband thought it would be a great idea to wear the mask to the Northern California Ren Faire this weekend. This is only the second time I have actually made myself something I sell to keep since I started tatting. I've embellished a shrug with tatting for myself and I've made a few doilies and one huge centerpiece, but since I have a one year old, I can't generally wear my jewelry anyway so it was just as well that they were sent off to people who would love them.

So, I guess I shall get back to work and hopefully I will have more to say tomorrow.

Why SteamPunk?

It is a fair bet that you have at least heard or seen the term SteamPunk recently. It seems everyone is talking about it, but if you've missed it, SteamPunk is just the most recent subculture to stray into the mainstream spotlight. I'm not going to try to explain the genre, that is best left to the countless SteamPunk blogs and other web resources. What I would like to do is try to explain why people go steam.

I am no stranger to subcultures, while I've never gone "all in", I've been part of one or another most of my life. All of them have some key elements in common, sure they all have distinctive fashion and style and many have a music genre to call their own, but where they are exactly the same is that they fill an emotional need and that is what draws in the hardcore members. The easy example to go with here is Goth. Most kids have a certain degree of normal teen angst, going Goth allows them to acknowledge and deal with that angst on the surface. Sure many people just like to wear black and listen to dark music, but the true Goth embraces the emotional support of others just like them. Even as they are rebelling, they are finding a place to belong.

So then to SteamPunk, just like Goth, it fills an emotional need to belong. What is different about SteamPunk is that it acknowledges a sense that we do not belong. The core of SteamPunk is a time that does not really exist, a time that is wrong whose elements do not belong together. That melding of past that never happened and a future not likely to exist has created a place where anyone, no matter how much of a social outcast can co-exist. It is not a depressing place like Goth can be, but rather a place of pure fantasy.

Sure, a lot of people have been adopting the SteamPunk aesthetic lately just because it is stylistically appealing. I know that I love the Victorian fashion and it doesn't hurt that my tatting fits right into that. Some people dig on the gears, leather and futurist tech, but like any trend its mainstream popularity will eventually wane. The lasting result will most likely be that when you see that goggle wearing freak on the street, you will know that she's into SteamPunk. The subculture will likely take its place beside Goth as something everyone knows about with goggles and geared jewelry featured in Hot Topic, but not something the masses will all adopt. This is of course just fine with me.

If you'd like to immerse yourself in some more SteamPunk info check out these links I've gathered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk
http://steampunkworkshop.com/
http://www.steampunk.republika.pl/arch/opedia.html
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1595812/20080929/index.jhtml
http://etsysteamteam.com/