6 posts tagged “work”

Finally, after years of fidding around and trying to get it right, I've got my shop looking how I want it, and working the way it's supposed to!  YAY!

What do you think?

I'm personally quite proud.  I'll need to do some more tweaking, but it's minor stuff and I can live with it for now.  Widgets are awesome.

Later!
Crazed

WOW.
Things have been so crazy-busy, it's not funny.
The Faire goes...  Not so well, sales-wise, but a lot of other merchants aren't doing so hot either, and they're telling me to regard this as not only my first Faire, but as a "New" Faire altogether.
Still, I won't give up! ^_^ Here's some pictures I got together to share with you guys.  I've got more on my Flickr page, so check that out, too.

I hope you guys like them.
In other news, one of my newest hobbies is Asian ball-jointed dolls.  I went to my first doll meeting last week, and it was great! ^_^ And Roland (my Abio Angel San) met a girl for the first time!  I hadn't figured him for the shy type, but here he is, bein' all nervous.
But, I do have more chainmaile to make, so I'm off to do that!

Later!
Crazed

This weekend will be my first festival! *dances*
Murphy's Law is trying to strike, though, I know it.  Last night while looking at our bank balance on-line we noticed that the check I had made out for event insurance hadn't gone though yet.  This is odd, considering I mailed out the application on the 23rd of May.  Too late to call the insurance people, I fretted and took it out on some rings and some Swarovski's (my first! ^_^) and made a beautiful necklace.  Well, it was until one of the focal pieces cracked! >_< So I need to get another one (probably one more as a spare) so's I can sell it at the Fairie Festival this weekend.
Today I managed to get a hold of the insurance people, who said that I should have gotten my certificate in the mail by now (but I haven't) but who were able to e-mail me a PDF so I can just print it out myself.  Major Disaster 1 Diverted.
But I also talked to the co-ordinator of the festival today, just making sure I had everything in order, and she mentioned that the table I have is 8 feet long.
O_O Orly?
Ya Rly.
Now, I know I have enough stock to really clutter up one of my little 4-foot tables.  I have to really pack it on there if it's all going to fit.  But to fill an 8 foot table? 0_o Oh, dear.  I feel an urgent need to make LOTS of things in a very short period of time.  I would have been doing nothing but that these past few weeks if not for The Skirt.
We were commissioned to make a chainmaile skirt out of aluminum for a cosplayer.  She plans to attend some anime cons later this summer as one of her own original characters, and since her character wears a chainmaile skirt, well, she needs a chainmaile skirt! ^_^ It expands out to 78 inches around at the bottom, weighs around 9 pounds, and when stretched out (ie, not on her person) it's more than 6 feet tall!  Because of the nature of chainmaile, though, when she wears it over her gown it will collapse "upwards" and fit perfectly.  It's hard to explain, but here's some pictures for your enjoyment.

And I'm off to make some more chainmaile!  I promise I'll take pictures of my more nifty creations before the festival, so all you guys can see them before they sell.  That is, if they sell.  If not, they're goin' on Etsy! ^_~  I will also take pictures while I'm there so yu guys can see my table and all the other bits of hilarity that are sure to ensue.  I'll especially try to get a nice picture of the Captain Jack impersonator that's going to be there - He's a dead ringer, if the website pictures aren't lying.

Now, to Work!
Crazed

Okay, I said before that I was trying to see how long it would take me to fill one of my massive shoeboxes with chainmaile?  Well, it's been about two weeks, and this is what I've got, minus a belt that wouldn't fit in the picture, and a lot of earrings that I don't toss in the box.  I did toss a few pairs into the picture of what's in the box all spread out, just to show that yeah, I've been makin' 'em.
So what do I have?  Some nice piles of stretchy HP 3-1 and 4-in-1 bracelets, a nice pile of simple necklaces, a headdress, a small pile of Celtic Stars, some earrings, and a headdress.  So we're missing most of the earrings, and the drape belt that I tossed in a few posts back, for the curious.
No bad for two weeks work, I think, given that I've also been working on a play and getting all my business financial thingies straightened out.  I've got a craft show on Sunday (In case anyone's forgotten) and a doctor appoitnment on Monday, so chances are I won't post anything new on Etsy (or deactivate what sold) until Tuesday.
Still, not bad, progress-wise.  I hope the weather continues to be nice and sunny so I can take pictures next week. ^_^ We got an umbrella for our patio table, too, and though it's too breezy to just sit out there right now, in a week or two it'll probably be to where I can work outside, which is always nice.  I'm light sensitive, so spending large amounts of time in the sun is generally a bad idea, which is why I'm all excited about the umbrella!  The cat ought to be happy, too, since that means he'll get more playing in the yard time.
But, I need to have dinner.  I've been working my hands off these past few days trying to get things for the show ready, so I'm going to take a break.

Later!
Crazed

Man, rubber is a miracle material, especially when in the form of EPDM rubber rings and when combined with metal. ^_^  More "Shameless Self Promotion" to come, along with a bit of news...
But first my weak attempts at advertising on "teh intarwebs"!
If you've looked at my Etsy Page at all you'll have noticed a ton of the Half-Persian 3 and 4-in-1 bracelets, at $5 and $8, respectively.  There are a few Interwoven bracelets up there, and those are for $10.  My newest additions are the Byzantine and the Celtic Visions.  I wasn't able to make them before, because I needed smaller rubber rings to do them properly; but now I've got them! ^_^ The Byzantines are $8, like the HP 4-in-1's, and the Celtic Visions are $15.  That one took me about 3 hours to make, so if you think about it from the minimum wage standpoint, I'm kind of losing out, but I think I'll be able to get more speed with them as I get more familiar with it, and it'll all even out.  I don't any plain Euro 4-in-1 up yet, but with luck I'll have some up later tonight.  The one up there is half of a pair that I like to wear pretty much every day. ^_^ My favorite bracelets.
Well, I have talked with the tent guy, but he was on the road at the moment (probably delivering or taking back a tent) and wasn't able to give me any info, but that's cool.  He had me send him an e-mail so he could get back to me once he was in the office.  But I DID get my PA Sales Tax License! ^_^ YAY!  That's one of the hurdles down, just two more to go - I still need shelter and clothing.  I also need to send in the cash for insurance and my spot (assuming I don't get a built structure) but those fall under my "Certainty" category.
On the down side, I haven't done any chainmaile at ALL yet today, and it's almost 5 PM! T_T My hands complain when I don't do work (damned double carpal tunnel) so I've got to get to the makin', and quick before my wrists complain any more!

Later!
Crazed

Okay, this weekend my pal Kim came over from Ohio to sell her art at Tekkoshocon in nearby Monroeville.
Now, I've never been to an anime con before, but I've always wanted to.  So, I went with Kim to the con Friday morning and got a 3-day pass.  Kim insisted that I take some of my stretchy bracelets with me, and I took chainmaile play with, as well.  Figured I would sit with her and do some chainmaile, talk, etc.  So she sets up, and lets me have a little section of the table to set out the 8 or so bracelets I had made, and I start working on more.
Kin is a huge Megaman fan, and draws chibi stickers to sell at her table, along with some prints.  We got a lot of people just drooling over the stickers (Heh, I bought a set of Megaman stickers for our ex-roomies Anthony); it was awesome.  Anyway, not much time had passed before I had sold a few bracelets, which was pretty cool.  I make some more, and then I realize I've got more than $60.  I hadn't brought any cash with me, and I notice that there are a lot of free tables hanging around, including the one next to us.  So, at 3 o'clock I was able to buy a table! ^_^ Granted, I just had a handful of stretchy chainmaile bracelets on the table, but I was making them non-stop to keep up!  A lot of people asked if had anything else on me, and I kept promising that tomorrow there would be more.
And there was.  ALL OF MY STOCK.  Right there, on that table or on our person.
Saturday pretty much blew my mind.  We've only sold at flea markets and at a few little craft fairs, and we did well enough to justify continuing, but not enough to, like, live off of.  After three days of selling at the con, I am now left with less than a third of my original stock. O_O
So, yeah - my Etsy page is looking rather bare at the moment, compared to how it used to be.
But, I do have a lot of money to devote to stock, and I'm going to need it.  You want to know why?
I GOT INTO THE REN FAIRE!
WHOOO!
So yeah - I'm going to start working on my con commissions, and get to working on more chainmaile stuff.  I need to empty my camera and post the pictures I took of the cosplayers at the con, too.  It was like catching Pokemon, I swear...  "Ooo, I got an Aeris AND a Blue Link!"
I also need to make an order to The Ring Lord.  Hee hee. ^_^ Shopping!

Later!
Crazed