My Disappearing Act

Wow, it has been way too long since I posted here and I have a lot to catch you up on!  To give you an idea of the last few months... Life was insane last year as I trained & fundraised for the 3 Day and then it took some time to get life back to normal afterward (after all of that, you kind of go into withdrawal for a little while!).  In December and January, not only was there the usual holiday craziness going on but I was also working a part time job on top of my hellish full time job (the tree was up with a topper & only one ornament).  Finally mid-January, I quit my full time job and, yes, it was a long time coming (it felt very surreal at first!).  Since then, I've continued to work my part time job as a framer at a popular craft store & I've also started working as a stagehand (which is new to me because I've always been management).  

I've been enjoying getting back to myself (it's amazing what a bad job can do to you) but also somewhat disconcerting.  I've never not had a full time job or a career that I've immersed myself into, so it has been an adjustment.  I must admit that I don't know what's next for me, but I took a big step just getting out and I'm sure I'll figure things out.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying working as a framer because I get to work with customers designing their custom order & I actually get to be crafty at work when I build the frames & assemble the orders.  Working as a stagehand has been great because it's allowing me to stay involved in theatre which is what I've done for more than a decade.  I really hate being stuck at a desk and this is far from it: I'm on my feet, working hands on building shows.  The first show I worked as a stagehand I was props but every show since then I've been an electrician.  I must admit: I'm really enjoying it.  =)

I've been spending a lot of time just getting things done around the house and also reorganizing & purging my workroom.  It's not exactly what I want it to be (that would cost more money than I can spare right now; lol)  but it's getting to a point where it's much easier to work in (and that IS the point afterall, isn't it?).   Along the same lines, I also have a little shop update...  I have some new maille that needs to be listed and new packaging!  I've also been taking steps to make the shop an armoury AND apothecary.  I must admit, my biggest stumbling block to making that happen is working on graphics, blog redesign, labels, etc.  Once I get that figured out, you can look forward to seeing soaps, salves, bulk herbs, teas, incense, and more!

We've also started tackling some house projects, too.  Among them, is dealing with our room that floods.  It hasn't been a problem since last summer, but we also haven't finished putting in a system to deal with it yet which means that all of the furniture & electronics are still in our living room (it hasn't been fun).  We have a plan in place and have taken baby steps already.  I can't wait to get going though for a few reasons.  First of all, I really can't wait to get things somewhat back to normal in the house.  Secondly, having this system in place will give both of us peace of mind.  And, last there a few yard projects that will go hand in hand with this.  One is replacing our fence; which desperately needs it.  The other, is a raised bed that Scott is going to build along the fence!  It's going to be filled with all kinds of beautiful, edible, & medicinal herbs!  There will probably be some shrubbery & flower plants in there, too, but I get a HUGE herb garden!  I haven't got a clue how to design one & I'm sure it's not going to happen overnight, but I'm really looking forward to this!!

So, it's been busy.  But I look forward to getting back into the groove of things.  I've missed it.  I hope things are going well for all of you and to hear from you!

Athena's Armoury Featured on NeatoStuff.com

Very cool news: Athena's Armoury has been featured on the homepage of a shopping guide website called NeatoStuff.com! It's a ring called Finger Armour. It was made using the Euro 4-1 chain maille weave which is the very same weave used to make armor for centuries. I've been told that the ring will be on their homepage for a full week and then be available in their archives for forever and ever. You can go directly to their listing here.

If you click through on the picture on that last page it will actually bring you to the ring section of my shop, so it shows that I have other ring options available, too. Yay!

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!

Athena's Armoury is Featured

The Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team's March Madness Exhibition is now live! It includes many different forms of art that contain themes of moons (for lunacy!), Alice in Wonderland (March Hare), dark fantasy, and more. Helen, from the Etsy shop krummenacker, explained where the phrase "March Madness" is derived:

"It began with Spring Fever and Mad as a March Hare-- the apparent insanity of animals and young people, even, eager to get outdoors, play, mate, and run wild. Rabbits in particular do incredibly dangerous things when their hormones are surging. And so the March Hare was at the Mad Hatter's tea party..."

Helen is just a font of information, especially stories of myth and legend.

Anyway, please check out our exhibition! There are many wonderful items and I'm sure you'll find something or someone that catches your fancy. Happy shopping!


I am honored to share with you that Cathy from AllChic has featured my Chain Maille Dice Bag on her blog. The post is called Medieval Look and features a dress by Stella McCartney. Cathy recommends using my Dice Bag as a purse (I actually have had a customer do the very thing once!). Also featured is a killer knit collar by Ellita's Flying Snail. Thank you so much for featuring me, Cathy, and in such amazing company. To think, I was in the same article as Stella McCartney. . . Glorious!

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!

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!!

Buy Handmade for the Holidays

I just took the pledge to buy handmade this holiday season. Will you?

From the Buy Handmade website:

Buying handmade is better for people, better for the environment, and better for giving truly special and well-crafted gifts. The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us all dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. The connection between producer and consumer has been lost. Buying handmade helps them reconnect.

We encourage all consumers to be aware of the social and environmental implications of their purchases.

Custom DIY Necklace Kits

I've been playing around with the idea of listing some DIY Necklace Kits at my other Etsy shop: Beach Bum Creations. I finally listed one today for Scott's mom, Jean. A while ago, I showed her the basic bead stringing techniques and, needless to say, being the creative woman that she is, she got hooked. At her request, I put together a kit with Cameo pendants, enough strands of beads to make the necklaces nice and long, seed beads to match, gold findings, as well as some stringing tools (chain nose pliers and wire cutters).

2 Custom DIY Cameo Necklace Kits RESERVED FOR JEAN

Her interest in the kits, has prompted me to revisit the idea of listing these DIY Necklace Kits. They will include a strand of gemstone beads, matching seed beads, sterling silver findings, stringing wire, a instruction pamphlet with color pictures, as well as an opportunity to receive 20% off the purchase of a pendant with the kit. I'll start listing them soon! However, if you're interested before that, just drop me a convo through my Beach Bum Creations Etsy shop.

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

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!!