New earrings...

I recently went on a very inspiring trip to Kraków, Poland.  Whilst there I fell in love with the work of artist Stanisław Wyspiański, particularly his incredible stained glass.

The colours are just amazing!

And then, for the first time in months and months, I felt inspiration creeping back, and the desire to try out some new jewellery ideas.

Apollo I

influenced by the colours in this wonderful glass:

I also experimented with some other Wyspiański-inspired colours:

Olea

and smaller pieces of embroidered and beaded felt:

Hydro

Berie

I like how these turned out - a little more delicate and feminine than my previous designs, and they all swing pleasingly from the ear when worn!

Now available in my Etsy shop :D

Etsy shop name change...

I have changed my Etsy shop name!  

It felt like putting my own, real, name to my work was the right thing to do.

The 'tastykaeru' address will still work, but from now on my official Etsy shop address is:

www.katetoft.etsy.com

:D

Happy New Year...

I'm not sure where my making will take me in 2012... .

One thing I have decided though is to change my Etsy shop name, so in preparation for this, and in celebration of the new year, I am having a sale in my Etsy shop throughout January: using coupon code HAPPYNEWYEAR2012 at the checkout will give 20% off all items.

Happy New Year!

Jewellery...

Since coming back from Japan I've been having a long, hard think about my jewellery making and my Etsy shop.

  At the moment particularly I have so little time, but I'm also focussing more on other projects.  Also, I've been trying to think more about what is really 'me', and to make pieces which more truly reflect that.

So, I've made the decision to slowly streamline my jewellery making.  At the moment and for the foreseeable future, the only pieces I will work on will be more 'wooden bezel' brooches.  All other items in my shop will not be renewed when their listings expire.

This feels like the right decision, and in celebration, yesterday I finished two new pieces:

Profond

Peregrine

I'm still in love with these beautifully smooth wooden settings :)

Colour, shapes... and a giveaway!

Over the last couple of days I have been revelling in the colour of beautiful new supplies - silk hankies from Sassalynne, Tussah silk roving from SilkAndShine, handdyed firestar from FeltStudioUK, and the most amazing 'wooly crumbs' from The Wool Peddler:

so much inspiration!

I'm also still trying to come up with new shape ideas for brooches and necklaces...  so I thought I would open it up to you!  Leave a comment on this post with your suggestions for new shapes for me to try - if I end up using any of your shape ideas, in return you get to pick an item of your choice from my Etsy shop that I will send to you as a thank you! 

I seem to prefer more abstract or organic shapes, and am limited to somewhat simpler forms (it's not possible to preserve detail in very complex shapes). Here are some shapes I have already tried, to get you going:

Thank you!

Etsy connections...

You've got to love Etsy. Really. And I'm not just talking about for the way it satifies my earring and ceramic habits.  Every so often it lets you make a great connection or forge an unexpected link with someone on the other side of the world - case in point:

This is a brooch called 'Bosket'.  I made her in October, and she ended up all the way over the Atlantic in Georgia, USA - which  is pretty amazing to begin with - and then I found out it had been bought to go with a fabulous handknitted bag that the buyer had made - check it out here. I never could have hoped or imagined that's how and where Bosket would end up - but I love it :D  

Etsy packaging...

Another thing I have recently revamped slightly is my Etsy order packaging.  As a buyer on Etsy I really appreciate lovely packaging and I have always tried to make the packaging for my own work pretty but as sustainable as possible.  I've recently tried to update everything, and here is the latest incarnation that will be rolled out with all new pieces:

The large box is for brooches and necklaces, the smaller for earrings and bracelets.  The boxes are recycled, and reuseable - I used to stamp my 'KT' logo on boxes but have decided instead to go with a moo.com sticker to decorate the box, which I hope makes it more reuseable.  Around the box is some black organza ribbon, folded into a bow and secured with thread and some small beads.  With the box goes an origami crane, a moo minicard, and a recycled kraft card on which I write a short thank you message.  These all go into a wee glassine envelope.  Finally it all goes into a pink and white striped paper bag (the sort you used to get penny sweets in!).  I send it all off in a Jiffy Green padded envelope, which is recyclable.  

I'm always on the lookout for new packaging possibilities, and have had some wonderful inspiration from many fellow Etsy sellers who come up with some beautiful and original ideas.  My favourite packaging so far has been from tinctory (no longer on Etsy but now here) and bullfinchbarbury - both were for beautiful pieces of jewellery and the packaging was the icing on the cake!

Sale!

I've recently been thinking hard about my Etsy shop and my jewellery-making in general, and have made some decisions about the direction I'm going to take (more on this to follow in a later post!).

As a result I have decided to hold my very first sale in my Etsy shop - selected items from my older jewellery design ranges will be available at a substantial discount, starting October 1st 2010.

This is a precursor to me slightly revamping the shop, and and reconsidering difficult things like pricing structures and packaging.

So, if you would like a tastykaeru original at a bargain price, check out my Etsy shop from October 1st - the sale will run throughout October.

100!

Tastykaeru has passed the 100 sales mark... very exciting!!

New prototype earrings...

Well, I've been out of commission for a while being a bit under the weather, but I'm on the mend now :).  One good thing about my crafting is that it can be done with minimal expenditure of physical energy (...not including eyesight!).  


I've been working on some earring prototypes after being given a new idea (thanks Mum!).  I found some lovely vintaj patina metal blanks and earwires on Etsy, here, and have been seeing what I can turn them into.  Here are the results so far!

Clementine

Nous sommes du soleil

Nutmeg

Atoll

Orchid

Gamboge

I've been playing around with the idea of adding beads, as you can see with the 'Gamboge' pair.  I have some lovely findings from PatinaQueen and some fabulous beads from CaladoniaMarch  on the way - so once they arrive I will be able to try out a few more ideas.  I've been thinking about possibly adding a very few beads to my necklaces also - we'll see!

Complex kumihimo

I recently expanded my kumihimo equipment - I bought another 16 tama (bobbins) to take my total up to 32. 


All of the bracelets and earrings currently in my Etsy shop are 16-tama braids - but for ages I've been wanting to try making wider, more complex braids as I wondered if they would make good 'cuff' type bracelets, or if other uses would come to mind.

Here are all 32 of the tama - you can see the new ones are slightly bigger than my old set (made by my Grandpa), but they are the same weight - this is really important, as the braid needs to be counterweighted as it is being worked, and everything needs to be in balance.  It took quite a while to thread them all up!

Next comes putting them up onto the marudai, and attaching the counterweights.  It's a pretty heavy load!

This is close-up of the 'point of braiding' as I work my first 32-tama braid.  The basics of working the braid are just the same as for  16 tama - but it just feels a lot more complicated because there's that many more opportunities for tangled threads!


It's a tiny bit lop-sided, and I'm not sure I've got my counterweight set up totally sorted - I'll need to experiment further with this.

I've worked a couple of 32-tama braids so far - just in the same pattern that my 16-tama bracelets use.  You can see from this picture how much wider they are (the pink braid is 16-tama):

Because I braid using very non-traditional varied threads, it makes the braid quite wavy in nature. This seems more obvious in the 32 tama braids, and I'm not sure what I think of it yet... .


Now I'm trying to think of other uses for them apart from bracelets!  I wondered about making beads from coiling them, cutting them and sewing parts together - but the braid ends are always difficult to deal with.  Think I need to dwell on this some more!

Another kumihimo project I've been working on is making wee kumihimo rings.  I made myself a prototype a while ago and really enjoyed wearing it - the braid is so soft and comfy.  Here are a few I've made recently - they are a bit flexible in size as the size of jump ring can be adjusted:

They're waiting to go up on my Etsy shop as soon as my ring sizer arrives in the post! 

Current projects...

I've been quite busy over the last few weeks visiting friends all over the place, and finishing my biggest ever project (see my next post!) so I haven't had much time for craftiness. Here's what I've been fitting in in spare moments...

Another Paisley-shaped brooch in the making

Some linocutting (now turned into fabric prints - thanks Thomas!)

Some wee button-y cards to send as little extras with Etsy orders

I've also been given a really interesting idea by one of my Etsy customers (thanks Rosemary!) which I'm looking forward to exploring... watch this space!

Progress update..

Here's what happened next!

The kumihimo bracelet (top) and felted, beaded and embroidered fibre art card (bottom) are now up in my etsy shop.

I'm not sure whether I've finished the middle project yet - think I'll mull it over for a while and see...!

Necklace or brooch?

I finally got around to experimenting with one of my necklaces to see if I could make it into a brooch.  

I chose 'Marine': 

I removed the chain and firmly glued a 30mm brooch finding to her back, after sanding the metal surfaces with emery to make sure the glue could find purchase.

Here's how she turned out:

I'm going to change all the listings in my Etsy shop to reflect that it is now an option to have any of my 'bar'-type beaded, felted and embroidered necklaces made into a brooch instead!

Idea development...

In response to some helpful contructive criticism from a customer at the craft fair, I have begun developing  ideas for a new generation of my felted, beaded and embroidered necklaces.  

The comment was that my current necklace style:

...was too geometric for a necklace, and would work better as a brooch.  The suggestion was also made that a necklace with a more curved shape, to echo the curves of the neck and collarbone, would be an interesting idea.

So, I started thinking about how I could adapt my exisitng idea along these lines.  I like the general size of the necklaces as they are - not too big to work, but big enough to be able to fit in detail and interest without breaking my eyes!  The next consideration then is the curve.  A 'U' shape?  A more shallow curve?

I tried a few different shape ideas out on paper:

I liked the shallower curve with roundable corners best, so that is what I have decided to try out first to see how it goes.

Here is the shape at the embroidery and beading stage - I mask it out with paper to make sure I keep my threads and stitches within the perimeter.

Once the shape is decided, next comes the issue of the backing.  At the moment, the oblong necklaces are mounted onto a brass or aluminium metal tag cut to shape for me by Bopper of Etsy.  I figure it will be much more difficult cutting metal on a curve though, so I started thinking about alternative backing materials, and their pros and cons:

Polymer clay - easily shapeable but not sure it goes with the felt

Air-drying clay - again easily shapeable but probably too brittle

Wood - able to be curved (at least by my Dad ;D) and organic - but possibly not heavy enough?

Felt - easily shapeable, but again too light?

The two I have chosen to prototype are wood and felt.  That is felt baize to be precise - it's thick at 3mm and would give the necklace a bit more substance.

I decided to prototype 3 different lengths, to see which looks best as a finished piece.  My Dad cut these beautiful, thin, smooth wooden blanks for me (thanks Dad!) - the top 2 are Sycamore and the bottom one is Ash.

You can see the cut-out felted, beaded and embroidered necklace shapes on the left.

Here's a cross-section view of the felt on felt baize - pretty thick!

The idea is that for the felt baize, I would whip-stitch around the edges and the baize would form the necklace back.  For the wood, I would whip-stitch round the felt piece only and then set it onto the wooden blank.

I'm still working on these prototypes, so watch this space!  Any other suggestions or comments very welcome, as these ideas are very much a work in progress :) .

I also had a play around with some old necklace blanks to see if it was feasible to change them into brooches.  I've found some super-duper-superglue that seems to be strong enough (and not too messy!).

So the next stage is taking one of my exisiting necklaces and seeing if I can succesfully convert it. 

Apart from idea development, my crafty project to-do list is trundling along.  Here is a closeup of the beautiful Noro yarn I've been using to knit (yes, knit!!  amazing!!) a birthday present for a friend.

Mata ne~!

My first ever custom order!

I recently completed my first ever custom order through my Etsy shop. The lovely Amanda, from HungryDesigns, asked me to come up with a necklace just for her :) - asking me to work with a palette of greys, browns or blacks.  Here's what I came up with!  I decided to make 3 different necklaces so that Amanda would have a choice, and hopefully one might suit!  

~*~

I called this first necklace 'Nebula', as the swirling greys and silvers were inspired by the incredible photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

This picture shows me planning the placement of the beads, before I sew them on by hand.  I mask out the dimensions of the piece with paper to make sure I don't stray!  For this necklace I used tiny Sterling silver 15/0 beads, Japanese glass beads and tiny bugle beads, as well as freshwater pearls and vintage nailhead beads.

After the beading, I added some hand embroidery stitches (running, colonial knot, bullion knot and split), before cutting the piece out and whip-stitching around the edges with cotton thread.

The finished necklace - completed with gunmetal grey chain.

The next piece I made had more of a black and silver theme.  I embroidered several roses in ribbon, and added Japanese and Italian glass beads, vintage nailhead beads, and hand embroidery stitches.  I called this necklace 'Midnight Rose'.

Here she is with the beading and embroidery finished, ready to be cut to shape.

And the finished article! Again completed with a gunmetal grey chain.

Last but not least, I made a necklace in shades of nut browns, called 'Chestnut'.

Here's what the pile of fibres for the base felt look like before they get felted with my embellisher.  For this felt, I used wool roving, wool locks, yarn, silk noil, silk fabric, and silk throwsters waste.

And this is how it looks after felting!

I added tiny vintage gold metal beads, tiny bugle beads, a big bronze metal bead and Japanese glass beads, along with hand embroidery stitches (Cretan, fly, chain, seed, colonial knot and Portuguese stem - phew!).

This necklace was finished with an antique bronze chain.

So, Midnight Rose, Chestnut and Nebula were my three answers to the brief - I sent pictures to Amanda, who was kind enough to buy both Midnight Rose and Chestnut - I was over the moon!

Finally, to top it all off, Amanda wrote this lovely post in her blog about my work.

All in all I really enjoyed the experience of making a custom order - although it is nerve-wracking hoping that you will produce something the customer will like, the challenge of being given a brief including elements you might not usually try is really exciting.  Thanks so much Amanda!