Check Out Athena's Armoury in TWO Places!

I'm pleased to share with you that three items from Athena's Armoury are being featured in the Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team's Spring Fever Exhibition! There are all kinds of fun goodies included in the exhibition, such as: artwork, jewelry, ritual oil, dolls, sculpture, accessories, housewares, masks, and more. Items from the Armoury include:

Napkin Armour for that spring picnic:

A Beaded Daisies Bracelet to wear to the picnic:


And the Katie Collar for your pup:


Athena's Armoury has also been featured at MyFairyBabies, a blog run by Hyla with the Etsy shop of the same name. This shop contains all kinds of fun kiddie items, fairy dolls, and dragon ornaments. I actually love Hyla's other shop: Steampunk Box Books. It is thanks to her that I was introduced to this fabulous genre. And finally, Faewood Creations houses her fingerless gloves, tote bags, and jewelry. She's a busy lady!

Craft Fair Tomorrow!

Sneak Peek from my living room.

If you happen to be in the area. . .

Athena's Armoury will be participating in the Grand Opening Celebration and Craft Fair for Kids Kottage in downtown Safety Harbor, FL on Saturday, March 7. Kids Kottage is a resource in the community for families, businesses and artists. No child will be charged a fee for accessing any of their services. The celebration includes games, live music, food, archery, and . . . a trapeze act?!

The address is 255 5th Avenue South, one block south of Main Street. The craft fair will be open from 9:00am to 3:00pm with the rest of the event going from 11:00am-3:00pm.

Hope to see you there!

Maille is More Than Just Jewelry

I realize that not everyone knows what chain maille is. What I find to be a continuous source of amusement, however, is that many of the people who have heard of it think that it can only be jewelry. Friends, a good portion of the maillers out there today do, in fact, make jewelry using these centuries old weaves. However, when these weaves originated (as early as the 4th century BCE) they were used to make armour. It wasn't until the 14th century that plate armour began to supplement chain maille.

Modern uses of this ancient armour continue to include protective clothing for people such as butchers, scuba divers and animal control officers, as well as splatter masks used by tank crews in WWI (see left). Maille remained in use as a decorative and possibly high-status symbol with military overtones long after its practical usefulness had passed.


It is only recent trends in chain maille artwork that has allowed for it to be adapted for decorative use in sculpture, jewelry, headdresses, Christmas ornaments, and chess sets. It is thanks to these non-traditional uses and the ingenuity of maillesmiths the world over that hundreds of new weaves have been invented.

In the spirit of using the ancient Euro 4-1 chain maille weave for a modern use, I'd like to introduce a new item in Athena's Armoury:

Napkin Armour

Now available at Athena's Armoury

Trying to add a touch of class to the bawdy great hall? These napkin rings will do the trick! They won't break if a brawl breaks out nor will they rust if a bit of wine spills on them. They were made using extremely strong and durable stainless steel rings; stainless steel is also corrosion and rust resistant. Lovely blue glass beads, reminiscent of sea glass, adorn them with little rosettes on either side. With regular use, stainless steel will remain quite shiny. However, if you notice that they are dulling, just wash them with some hot, soapy water and they'll be shiny once again. 1 1/2" diameter.

More Dice Bag Options Coming Soon!

So, Dice Bags have been quite the belle of the ball in my shop. This past week, I got orders for all three different varieties that I currently have available! In the future, I look forward to being able to offer more color and metal options to meet this growing market!

Traditionally, Dice Bags have been used by gamer geeks who play Dungeons and Dragons. A comment made by Krummenacker (a fellow Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team member) made me start thinking about the characters in D&D and tailoring these bags specifically to them. Keep your eyes out for dice bags with inlays.

Hey all of you bloggers: check out these great tips from Timothy Adams Designs for getting some traffic to your blog. I've been really horrible about updating, so I need to work on that one. BlogRush sounds like a fun idea: I'll have to check it out! Also, I keep thinking about find more groups through Ring Surf for armourers, so that is on my list now, too!

Bags, Bags Everywhere

I'm excited to announce the addition of more styles of Dice Bags in my Etsy shop: Athena's Armoury. During December, I was in a Dice Bag making frenzy: both standard as well as some custom orders.

My standard Dice Bag was quite the craze as a Christmas present to many a geeky significant other (I say that with lots of love since I have one of my own: self-proclaimed no less!).

One of the custom orders I did was for the same size as my standard bag, but with copper cinch rings instead.

When someone saw me working on a Dice Bag at work, I got a custom order for a Crown Royal size Dice Bag.

All of these styles are now available at Athena's Armoury!

Please note that the two standard size style bags both ship within three business days of payment, however, the Uber Dice Bag (Crown Royal size) will be made when I receive your payment and will ship out in approximately two weeks. If time is a concern, contact me first.

Happy New Year! Huzzah!

*This entry is for the Etsy Bloggers Street Team weekly Carnival. This week it's hosted by AliciaMae.*

I hope everyone had a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season.

Mine was relatively quiet. Things at work have been a bit busy, so when Scott and I were both home at the same time for Christmas Day, we totally just vegged out. It was nice.

What's in Store for Athena's Armoury in '08? And what was with the "huzzah" in the title of this entry?

I feel the winds of change stirring in my life. In a good way. I have been a successful theatre professional my whole life, however in recent years I've been feeling like I'm in a rut. I could not for the life of me figure out something else that I would rather be doing with my life. Scott kept saying to me, you should think about doing Ren Faires. And I kept thinking no, I could never do that. Until recently, it dawned on me: "Why the hell not?" It will allow me to continue to be involved in an extremely theatrical environment, I would be able to work for myself, making something I love, and (hopefully) have fun doing it. I've started researching how to get started and all that it involves so that I can start making some concrete plans. In general, I plan to start bulking up my inventory big time, so hopefully that means continuing to list regularly at Etsy. Now, I have to learn to speak with an accent and learn the Elizabethan language. . . and get a costume! Look out geekdom, here comes Athena's Armoury!

I've Been MIA: Here's What I've Been Up To

I've been horrible about updating lately!! The last few weeks have been insane. I'm not sure how it happened, but I was still rushing to wrap and ship Christmas presents even though I started shopping in October.

I finally finished up my custom orders. I had one order for two Dice Bags, one of my standard and the second with copper cinch rings:

I was spotted working on a Dice Bag while at work and got a custom order on the spot for a Crown Royal size bag:

I don't have any in shop at the moment, but if you want a Dice Bag just drop me a Convo through my Etsy shop and I will get back to you with an estimate of how soon one can be ready (usually 3-4 days).

I got to go to the Atomic Holiday Bazaar in Sarasota recently and walked away with all kinds of awesome booty. You can see some it in my flickr Customer Appreciation Set. Also, I finally upgraded to a Pro flickr account! Ooooh, the organization possibilities!

I recently hit 150 Hearts! THANK YOU!


The folks over at Real Simple gave Etsy an awesome shoutout in their December issue:


Need a last minute handmade gift? Check out Etsy's fantastic new feature called Shop Local. It will show you all of the Etsy shops in your neighborhood.

The Fantasy Artists of Etsy (FAE) Street Team's December Newsletter is out! You can sign up to receive our once monthly newsletter here.

You have just 11 more days to check out the FAE Christmas Exhibition. There are many wonderful items here from our members.

We've got another wonderful feature over at our FAE website called the Magic Door. Every single day, it is updated to take you to a different member shop. It's a little happy surprise to go through that door!

FAE Contest Voting Is Open!

I'm mentioned this a few times recently, but the FAE (Fantasy Artists of Etsy) Street Team is having a Snowflake Fantasy themed contest. It's official: the polls are up and running. Well, sort of. Some entrants are still adding their items, but mine is up. Which means you can go vote for it! In fact, you can vote once a day everyday between now and Sunday, December 9 at midnight. Hint, hint, hint. . . Vote here.

Even if you don't vote for me (sad) definitely check it out! There are so many amazing artists with beautiful entries and all items in the contest are available for sale in the entrant's shop. You're bound to find something you'll love!

Thanks for voting!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Lately, I've been a Dice Bag making machine! Who knew there would be such a draw for them on Etsy?! It's quite fantastic, really. I've sold five on Etsy already, am working on a custom order for multiple bags for a fellow Etsian, have had two requests for bags for two other Etsians which I'm in the process of making, as well as a custom job for a Crown Royal size bag for someone outside of Etsy that saw me working on one. Whew! It's awesome! I currently have a Dice Bag disclaimer in my shop announcement, too. Due to the high demand of Dice Bags, there is not one currently listed in my shop. However, if you're interested, please drop me a convo through my shop and I'll give you an estimated time of when one can be ready.

I also just listed the final entry to my Snowflake Collection section in my shop: a Snowflake Ornament.

The Snowflake Collection was inspired by the FAE Street Team contest theme Snowflake Fantasy. My entry into the contest is the Snowflake Necklace.

Contest voting will start soon, so I'm counting on all of you!! I'll be sure to post the link to the voting page as soon as it's available. Thanks!!

Dice Bag as Evening Purse

I was hanging out in the Etsy forums (I do that a lot at work) and ran across a Promotions thread for a purse. Turns out the woman posting the thread has a formal event coming up (some kind of military dinner) and she was planning on wearing burgundy and silver and wanted a matching bag small enough for her cell, some money, etc. On a whim, I posted my dice bag and she went for it! Woohoo! People tend to think that posting in the forums, particularly the promo section, doesn't work. I tend to agree with that comment, but it sure worked for me this time! As a special little something for her I added this embellishment:

She plans on adding some beads to it that match the jewelry she's making to wear that night too. I asked to see pic's when she's done. I bet it will look fantastic.

On a side note, I caught my new family member drinking water our of one of the fish bowls last night. She didn't seem to be going for the fish, just drinking. We had noticed that the water was getting low very fast lately, but this is the first time we caught her in the act. Looks like I'll have to find another bowl for the fish.

Angel / Devil

The FAE Calendar is Available!

One of the Etsy Street Teams I belong to is called Fantasy Artists of Etsy, otherwise known as FAE. This is a fantastic group of artists and, in general, some really nice and supportive people. FAE includes the traditional fantasy fare: fairies, dragons, and unicorns as well as other themes such as medieval and celtic items, invented creatures, LARP/Ren Faire costumes or accessories. Our members sell everything from clothing and accessories to artwork, sculptures, art dolls and stationary. We're a very active group with contests being held, round robins creating fairies, calendars being made, and even discussions to create a book.

Our brand new calendar is a collection of artwork from many of our members (including yours truly in March). It was created by the insanely talented Sarah Pittman over at artca.

It is available for $16.99 (at cost) through CafePress.

Cat and Coif

Not cat in coif (although I've seen that before), but updates on the cat and the coif.

Okay, the coif first. I keep forgetting to post these pictures. While Scott and I were still in the apartment, his sister and her kids (who live overseas) were in town visiting. They all so sweetly made a fuss about my coif and we managed to get pic's of two out of three of the kids wearing it and holding Scott's Gandalf sword from The Lord of the Rings Collection. Check 'em out. Don't they look awesome?

Okay, now the cat. After much stress of deciding what to do with her, I finally decided to go with my instinct of getting her inside. With no claws, it's just not right for her to be outside: no way of getting food, no way of defending herself, even no way for escape by climbing up a tree. So, I stopped by PetSmart on the way home intending to pick up only the very basics, just in case "Lost Cat" signs get posted over the weekend. I came home and I saw her across the street. I made the "psst, psst, psst" sound that attracts her attention and, I kid you not, she galloped across the street to me. I took out one of the toys (I had to get her her something fun, not just kitty litter) and played with her for a little bit. I opened the door, went in and left the door open and let her decide what she wanted to do. I didn't try to entice her or anything and she came in. I let her check out things for a little bit and when she didn't make any move to head back for the door, I closed it. I gave her some food and she just scarfed it down. Looking at me and meowing, I kind of got the hint that she was still hungry so gave her some more. It was a fairly uneventful night with the exception of when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I guess she thought I was up and it was time to play, because she followed me back to bed and started purring and nudging my hand. She's also a fairly good wake up call. The second my alarm went off this morning, she meowed from down the hall and came running in and started purring and nudging me again. She had another whole bowl of food for breakfast and successfully used the litter box during the night. I think she's still a little confused about where she is, but she seems content.

The Coif is Complete

In attempting to actually accomplish the goals I set out for myself, I'm finally giving an update on my coif (which I just listed at Etsy, by the way). I first started working on this coif way back in May and blogged about it here in the beginning of June when I had only the beanie portion of it done.

After the beanie was complete, the neck covering of the hood was added to make it into a standard coif (head and neck protection). Unfortunately, it had to be put on the back burner while I waited to receive more rings. I decided not to coil and cut my own rings for this project because I knew there would be so many and I had much rather spend my time actually weaving this time. I actually love the look of the standard coif: it reminds me of the kind of bob-like haircut you may see fashioned on Cleopatra. I plan on getting some enameled or anodized rings in maybe magenta to make it into a wig style for club wear. =)


Last, I added the mantle which adds protection for the throat and upper chest. The mantle, like the beanie portion is more expanding rows of Euro 4-1. It was so much fun to do this project. I loved making fabric out of metal, it felt so cool in my hands. It's also such an amazing dichotomy for metal to feel so fluid.


Historical methods of weaving were used in the creation of this coif, including expanding Euro 4-1. This piece represents countless hours of work with approximately 6000 bright aluminum rings all hand woven by me with seamless closures. Because it was made using bright aluminum (which is 1/3 the weight of steel), it weighs just shy of 2 lbs. Bright aluminum rings, 16 gauge, 1/4" ID: These rings are a good strength for use in combat grade armour and will work for SCA armour. Maille will protect against an edge of a weapon, however padding should be worn underneath for additional protection and a helmet is also commonly worn.

Goals

Shaggy Loops Earrings - listed today at Athena's Armoury

Once upon a time I actually worked for a home party company. I was working a full time job that I was unable to get overtime at with really screwy hours. Needless to say, I needed to make some extra cash, but I also needed to be able to make my own hours. It wound up not being for me, but one of the things I learned in that experience is that setting goals really does help you achieve said goals. =) I've admittedly been slacking a lot lately so far as my Etsy businesses go (both Athena's Armoury as well as Beach Bum Creations). Well, not necessarily slacking because the summer was insane with buying a house, packing, moving, repairing, unpacking. Hell, we're still unpacking, repairing, etc., but I've been starting to feel like I have a little bit less pressure and can devote some more time to Etsy.

My goals are simple to start. As organized a person as I am, taking time to take pictures, editing them, and listing items has not been one of my favorite things to do. If I have the time, I'd rather be playing with pliers and creating something. I think that's the case with most people who create. My goal is to take the time to take pictures and hopefully get better at it, so that there will be less time spent editing. With less editing time, I can then create listings while I'm sitting at my desk and bored at work. This will then free up my evenings/weekends to play with pliers. Hopefully, by writing these goals down and posting them here for all to view, I will follow through with them! Wish me luck!

Earth Tone Earrings - listed at Beach Bum Creations

Dice Bags!!

I'm excited to be adding Dice Bags to Athena's Armoury! They are so fun to make. Don't get me wrong, I love the shiny metal jewelry, but I also really enjoy working on a decent sized project, too. I love the way the metal feels in my hands as I weave it with my pliers. With a project like this the metal turns into a mesh fabric, a feeling you would never expect from metal.

These wondrously versatile little pouches aren't just for dice, either! Going out for a night on the town? Throw your essentials into the pouch, tie it to your belt loop, and watch everyone stare at the shiny metal sparkling from your hip.

Guys: don't feel like loading up your pockets or carrying a man purse? Check this baby out: room for your wallet, cell phone, keys.

But, I can't forget you gamer geeks out there since my man is one, too. Of course this bag is for you and your dice for your next D&D session!!

FAE Street Team Fairy Contest Entry

I'm so excited that I finally got something done! All of my time for the past month or so has been dedicated to the moving experience: cleaning, repairing, packing boxes, unpacking boxes, you get the idea. Unfortunately, I don't have my office/studio/workshop (weeeeee!) set up yet either. I know it should take a priority, but I might be getting a real jeweler's workbench so I've been putting off setting things up until I know where I want it to go.

In any event, I'm a member of the FAE (Fantasy Artists of Etsy) Street Team and we're having a member contest right now based on fairies. Kathryn of Interior Glass Designs is hosting this contest and offering a prize for the winner. Her work is just gorgeous, so I can't wait to see what she's giving away! Even though she's not entering it herself, she designed a gorgeous fairy, too.

I'm so excited to have been able to participate because it gave me an excuse to play with my pliers again. I designed this Fairy Lariat Necklace:


There is an adorably whimsical flower fairy pendant featured on this necklace. She's sterling silver with a small garnet towards the bottom. She measures 1 1/2" long and 3/4" wide. There are three beads wire wrapped and connecting her to the byzantine chain. These beads represent the flowers she dwells among: the bottom bead is wood for the stems, the middle bead is an emerald green Swarovski crystal for the leaves, and the top bead is garnet for the petals and to match the stone on the pendant.


The byzantine chain is one of the oldest chain maille weaves in existence. All of the jump rings that the chain is comprised of, were coiled, cut, and woven by me. There are approximately 1100 bright aluminum rings in this chain, measuring 36" long (including the fairy pendant).


It can be worn double wrapped around your neck, as a super long necklace, or even as a multi-strand bracelet. She is available for purchase through my Etsy shop.

Will Copper Turn My Skin Green?

Personally, I love copper. I love it when it's bright and shiny and even after it starts to oxidize and get darker. There's a bit more weight to it than bright aluminum or even sterling silver and has such a beautiful warm glow. I love mixing it with other metals for a two tone look. Also, I'm not an expert, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest it might help people reduce the pain of arthritis.

I do get a lot of questions and comments from people about whether or not copper will make their skin turn green. Copper oxidizes by darkening and then turning green, just as sterling does so by tarnishing and iron does so by rusting. It's a natural process and the environment determines how quickly it happens. It happens faster in high humidity, but the speed of oxidation is also affected by the body chemistry of different people. Some people wear copper every day and it never turns green, some people wear it and it turns in one day. Some people can turn sterling dark in one day, too. We're all different in that way. I guess I'm lucky, because it actually takes quite some time for copper to even begin to show signs of oxidation for me and it also doesn't turn me green, so I get to enjoy wearing this lovely metal!

If you check out my last post, you'll find a quick, easy way to clean your copper if it does start to oxidize. Enjoy!

Etsy Bloggers Street Team Theme: Orange

I've been racking my brain trying to think of a fantastic project I can do using orange jump rings or O-rings, but not having any in stock at the moment put a serious damper on that! But then, I realized that I already have some orange already in both of my shops! I've got some orange pendants in my original Etsy shop, Beach Bum Creations.

But, even more exciting than supplies is something that I've made. Although, not really orange, copper's as close as I've got! You can find this Mobiused Rosette Bracelet in Athena's Armoury, my new shop for chain maille.

That's probably one of my all time favorite bracelets. I made one for myself and always get compliments on it. It was made using 18 gauge copper rings with, I believe, 1/4" inner diameter. It's a variation on the classic Euro 4-1 chain maille weave (most commonly seen in armour).

Cleaning Copper
I've had mine for quite some time now and it's starting to get a little dull, but that's easily fixed. Just mix together some lemon juice and salt, add bracelet, then slosh around a little bit. However, you must make sure you rinse it off!! The salt will make the bracelet crusty if you let it sit and the acid in the lemon juice will eat away at the metal. If you want to make extra certain it's clean of the lemon juice solution and perhaps keep the shine a bit longer, you can make a paste with baking powder and water and rub it on the copper. This will neutralize the acid. Then, of course, rinse again and dry. Beautiful, shiny copper once again!

The Big Move Has Begun

After a somewhat rough patch where there were a lot of bugs and just general wonky-ness going on at Etsy, it seems like things might be stabilizing (for more info check out the link on the right to the Unofficial Etsy News Blog). That said, I'm finally starting to move all of my chain maille from Beach Bum Creations to their permanent home at Athena's Armoury!!

My Fabulous New Lindstrom Pliers

When you make chain maille, you need to use one pair of pliers in each hand in order to twist the rings either open or closed. Some people think that you just pull the connecting ends of the rings apart, but if you do that, you'll lose the circular shape of the ring. If you twist one half of the ring towards you with one plier and the other half away from you with your other plier, you can then close them (going in the opposite direction) and keep the ring in it's shape.

I first started making maille with a pair of chain nose pliers: picture your average every day joe pliers, except a bit shorter and non-serrated (non-serrated means without teeth which is important so that you don't mar your metal). I wasn't too crazy about these pliers because it felt like I didn't have enough control over the rings (lack of surface area). I wanted to try a pair of flat nose pliers and my carpenter boyfriend suggested getting some from Craftsman (the gold ones in the photos).

The problem I was running into with these guys was the notch on the handle. It literally kept bruising my palm and then I would lose weaving time because I wanted to try and let it heal a little bit. Poor Scott started to feel bad since he was the one who recommended them to me.

Connie Fox's website. She's got lots of fabulous wire working supplies, decent prices, great customer service, and quick shipping. Needless to say, I found what I was looking for and on sale, no less! It had been about a week and I hadn't gotten around to ordering yet. But, in that time, little did I know that Scott went ahead and ordered my fabulous Lindstrom Flat Nose Pliers from her already and asked her to not fill my order (when and if I would ever get around to placing it) because he wanted to give them to me for a present. She was way cool and said no problem.

So now I've got my fabulous new Lindstrom pliers that I just love. The grips are longer allowing for better leverage (and no notch!), they have way more cushion, and you can even adjust how much the jaws open! I love them!