Hot Blue Choker (The Fashion Denver Promo Choker)

Ah, promos. Flowers seem to be the common thread between all of my promos. So when the need for a promo for Fashion Denver's Biannual Show and Market came up, I knew a flower would be involved.

My original idea was to mount tiny flowers to big bobbies, but I just didn't have the time to learn how to make that. I decided instead to raid my yarn stash, whereupon I stumbled on some scraps that were donated to me by NorthStar Alpacas. It was beautiful two-ply alpaca yarn with a strand of angelina (no relation) interspersed. I had some blue and some tan. So I decided to make a choker.

At first, I wanted to create a choker that would fasten with a rivet snap, but I didn't have enough yarn to make it the right diameter. Then I was going to tie it closed with ribbons, but I didn't have matching ribbon. So I settled on a button closure.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the choker closes when you place the center of the flower over the wooden button. I wanted to add a leaf, but I was on the clock - I cranked this little thing out in about 15 minutes, took another 5 to block it, and was, for the most part, satisfied with the result. Really, the only improvements I can think of are crocheting the button into the fabric and adding a leaf behind the flower. But all in all, for a last-minute project out of scrap yarn, I'm incredibly happy.

Lessons learned:
1) I can come up with something original and cute on short notice
2) I love working with handspun yarn
3) Shank buttons can go on like beads

This piece will never see an Etsy listing - instead, it will be raffled off at the Heatwave show tomorrow along with some wonderful pieces by AnnushKa Designs, Little Bitsys, and She's Crafty. Checkout the 'mart tomorrow at noon at Cervantes!

I ♥ Etsy (The Etsy Ribbon)

After my third custom order for crocheted, beaded, wire awareness ribbons for various causes, I felt it was time to have some sort of "choose your cause" ribbon listed in my shop. And I do. I had to make some sample ribbons to do it, and, of course, I have the standard red ribbon and yellow ribbon. I also have a white ribbon. These three colors stand for a myriad of causes from AIDS to troops to epilepsy. My own RAINN-y Day Ribbons also stand for prostate cancer and child abuse awareness (among others).

The one ribbon I didn't find was one for returning to a simpler way of life. I was looking for a "crafting" or "community" or "creativity" or "DiY" ribbon. Something along those lines. And I couldn't find a one. Nothing. Zip, Zilch, Nada. Nothing. Nothing for returning to the handcrafted over the mass-produced or of buying from a person rather than a faceless corporation. Nothing for building community through creativity. And nothing that celebrated the strength of the community and culture that is springing from this movement.

And so I set out to create one. I looked in my stash to get some inspiration, and there it was: Tangerine, half-hard, 28-gauge copper wire from Artistic Wire. A color that looked an awful lot like Etsy orange. I checked my bead stash for orange beads, figuring I'd make an orange ribbon (a ribbon that also stands for such illustrious causes as feral cats, hunger, and self abuse). And, again, there they were: White seed beads. It was one of those moments where everything seems to fall in place. I checked the Etsy homepage to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and there it was: an orange and white Etsy logo.

The rest is history. The finished I ♥ Etsy Ribbon is crocheted with tangerine copper wire and white glass seed beads. It measures a little over 1.5" (3.81 cm) long. I strung the prototype on a strand of recycled cotton/linen, then sent it off to EtsyLabs as a sort of "thank you for all you've done". After all, I wouldn't be as inspired to create, have found the community I did, and be able to have a little extra spending cash for my family if it wasn't for all their hard work.

So imagine my surprise when I received a convo from Vanessa at Etsy Labs saying I was going to featured in the Etsy blog. Okay, surprise doesn't quite cut it. Elation and wonder would be better descriptors. Regardless, it was more than I was expecting. I was honestly just hoping for a "your welcome, send us more, we like them" sort of thing. I guess validation that it was a good idea. But the blog? That was more than I could have hoped for.

And so, lessons learned:
1) Sometimes inspiration is spelled "eureka"
2) I don't need jump rings to create the hanging loops on these if I position the curve in the ribbon correctly
3) Sometimes a simple "thank you" rewards you karma-wise more than you could've imagined
4) You should have a listing ready for selling any item that may end up in demand, no matter how remote the possibility

I wasn't actually planning on listing this one for awhile, but since it's going in the blog, well... it'll be in my shop as soon as I see the blog post.

Happy happy joy joy!

Cushy, Warm & Fuzzy (Cushing's Syndrome Awareness Pendants)

I had never heard of Cushing's Syndrome before, and I imagine you haven't either. It's an endocrine disorder, the polar opposite of Addison's Disease. Basically, a hyperactive thyroid produces too much cortisol, and causes all sorts of problems. When I Googled it, I found more information on the syndrome in companion animals than I did humans.

So when Amber convo'd me asking me to modify my RAINN-y Day awareness pendants as Cushing's Syndrome pendants, I didn't know where to start. A Google search doesn't even turn up what the ribbon looks like (It's blue on one tail, gold on the other, for the record). Amber actually had to email me an image because the two I sent to her, while blue and gold, were for other diseases.

Then there was sizing. She wanted a very small pendant, less than 1", and I was worried that making it on that small a scale would make it 1) hard to tell it was a ribbon and 2) be too delicate to be stable. I ended up making one that was 1.5", and one that was just under 1". And, since she had been patient enough to wait for these through the birth of my daughter, I listed both for the price of one.

Turns out she loved them both, and was incredibly appreciative to find something that would show support for this surprisingly common but little known disease.

Lessons learned:
1) Cushing's Syndrome is near impossible to find anything about
2) 32-gauge wire may be bad for bracelets and anklets, but stands up well as a bead mesh base
3) Etsy buyers are the greatest: patient, understanding, and uber-pleasant to work with

And... now I know I can create pendants for any issue. Just ask!

Raising Awareness (RAINN-y Day Awareness Pendants)

I've been wanting to play more with wire and beads, and at the same time, I've wanted to create some sort of awareness item. Granted, everything in my RAINN-y Day line is designed to raise awareness, but I wanted something more obvious. I've been playing around with making an awareness pack, filled with Get Carded awareness cards, a condom, some lube... but those sorts of things aren't allowed on Etsy (not the message, but none of the stuff would be handmade).

I settled on a ribbon. Everyone knows tha the ribbon campaigns stand for something. You know, red for AIDS, pink for breast cancer, yellow to support the troops. Teal happens to represent two things: Sexual Assault Awareness and prostate cancer. Both are great causes, but I'm a big advocate of raising the former.

And so I decided to take my 28 gauge wire, some seed beads, and my trusty crochet hook to fashion some ribbons. I made two: the smaller is almost an inch and the larger is almost an inch and a half. Just a row of single crochet, but it curled nicely into a ribbon shape.

I found this particular shape required not one, but two, jump rings in order to suspend well from a cord. I also discovered that I'm out of satin ribbon, so I had to use repurposed cotton/linen. I don't think anyone will mind.

Lessons learned:
1) Silver-plated base metal wire is not nearly as nice to work with as 100% precious metal wire (but it does keep costs down)
2) There is definitely a difference between half-hard and dead-soft wire, and I prefer the latter
3) I hate jump rings. Scott needs to start making these immediately so I can have him close them around my projects, rather than doing it myself

I'll be posting these little trinkets in my shop today. Spread the word. 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men are survivors. Raise awareness. Fight the rape culture. Support RAINN and/or your local crisis center. Please.

Dear Abbie (The Copper Flower Pendant)

I just had a great buying experience on Etsy. Okay, I confess, all of my buying experiences have been pretty good, once I got used to how slow international shipping is!

In any case, mad props to AbbieRoad, the lovely mama who did my new banner and avatar (seen here in my blog, but also at my Etsy store). I went to her with my specs, and she delivered exactly what I wanted.

I must go into more detail about this, because I actually tried working with 5 different Etsians regarding my banner. I gave them these specs: I like pink and blue polkadots and brown writing. I want a theme consistent with my clothing labels, but a less scripty font for the web and more muted colors. I didn't initially think this was a hard request. But only 2 of the 5 (Abbie being one of them) asked to see my labels. The other three went and looked through my product lines and came up with some excellent, cool banners... but they weren't what I asked for. Exactly the opposite. You see, I sell a hodge-podge of stuff. No one theme in my store. One day, it looks like I'm a batik/watercolorist, and the next day, my store is full of baby blankets on page 1. So I wanted my banner to pull all that together.

Enter Abbie. Not only did I get exactly what I wanted, she went above and beyond. She designed an extra banner and avatar for when the baby gets here - so I'll have a professional, consistent look on my "closed for baby" sign. The avatar is even generic enough that I can use it for *any* store closing. I also asked her permission to use my avatar on other materials, and she was gracious enough to say yes.

Abbie is amazing. I love how the colors pull together my entire store - there are shades of blue, pink, or brown in every item in my store, so now there is a common underlying thread in my storefront. I love the clean, simple look. I love my baby banner (you will see it soon, I'm sure). But besides saying thank you, how do you express deep thanks?

I decided to snoop. I pulled her feedback and looked for things she's bought. I was lucky enough to find copper jewelry. Which is perfect, because I just purchased copper wire a week ago to make Marsha's bracelet! I've been wanting to try making copper motifs, and decided I could kill two birds with one stone. I set about making a copper flower pendant for Abbie.

The project went surprisingly smoothly, up until I had to make a jump ring. Turns out dead-soft wire makes horrible jump rings, so I had to settle for a loop and a twist and some filed ends. But all in all, I was really happy with the result.

Lessons learned:
1) Sometimes, the simplest requests are the hardest to fill
2) There are still people out there willing to go the extra mile to make a customer happy
3) I love ArtisticWire
4) I will never use plated base-metal wire again.
5) I cannot wait 'til Scott opens his store so I can use the findings he's going to be making

All that's left now is to get this little gem into Abbie's hands. I hope it brings her even half the smile that all her hard work brought me.

"V-Day 2007" Line?

Tonight was the closing night of the Auraria Campus's V-Day 2007 production of the Vagina Monologues. It was me and my Dear Husband's 3d year working the technical aspect. It's become a sort of family affair. A bit of background: My junior year, I had just joined TrIota, the Women's Studies honor society, and I was wanting to become more involved in making women's issues more visible. I figured V-Day was a good place to start. After some asking around, I found out that I needed to talk to Zoe, the 2005 production organizer. It was simple, really. I asked if they needed help. She said yes, they needed a lighting and tech person. I knew nothing about that, but my Dear Husband... that's passion. He was just starting to get back into theatre, and jumped at the opportunity. Even though he knew nothing at all about the Vagina Monologues.

Fast forward to tonight. He now knows most of the monologues by heart, we've been honored as Vagina Warriors, and we have an extended family of sisters in the V-Day cast. This year's production was done on a shoestring budget. Scott lit it with four lights attached to dimmers (the other 6 lights were dead), a projector, my trusty MacBook Pro, and a PA system (for some reason, we couldn't use the installed sound system). We had no crew. It was just Scott. He had a month notice. That's it. And you know what, it still went off wonderfully. Another successful year calling attention to women's issues, causes, and gratuitous shouting of the word "cunt".

Anywhoo, as I was crocheting in the makeshift soundpit, I thought it'd be cool to launch a V-Day inspired line of something. Jewelry, most likely, but not necessarily crocheted with wire. I even contemplated silk scarves, since those turned out so nicely. Maybe different images of the letter "V", the vagina, and perhaps the word "vagina" and it's different nicknames (a la' the intro from the monologues). But who wears silk scarves? Then I thought fabric cuffs or garter belts, but I don't know if I feel that confident with elastic yet.

At this point, it's just an idea. I was thinking that I could donate them for auction during the actual V-Day events, and then run them in my Etsy store. So they'd have the regular 10% donated to RAINN (a great cause that definitely falls within the spirit of V-Day) and another 10% to whatever the local spotlight organization for the year is. If there are multiple (usually are), then give the purchaser the choice of which organization gets it.

Hopefully, I'll get this idea off the ground sometime this year. Stay tuned for more info!

New Additions to the RAINN-y Day Jewelry Line

Today, as I was killing time before my OB visit, I decided to use the last of my wire on earrings. I'd never made earrings before, but they seemed pretty straight forward. I made them the same way I did the bracelets. Well, sort of. Just one chain of seven beads on a french hook. But I think they turned out pretty nice.

The earrings hang about 1.5" total, and feature six seed beads and one focal bead. As with the rest of the line, they benefit RAINN. Need to know more about RAINN? Check out their site! http://www.RAINN.org.

I also created another anklet, a three-strander comprised entirely of seed beads that's about 10" long with toggle clasps. And a kid's bracelet, a two-strander comprised entirely of seed beads that's about 5" long with a lobster clasp.

So there you go! The new additions should be up on Etsy in the next few weeks.

The "RAINN-y Day Jewelry" Line

While I'm on the subject of projects I've always wanted to do, let me talk about bead'n'wire crochet. I few of my books have wire projects listed, and I'll even go so far as to confess I have a book dedicated completely to crochet with wire. It seemed like a great craft to try. Unfortunately, in application, I found it a wee bit... difficult. I hadn't picked up a steel hook in years, so the small scale was maddening. My fingers (albeit puffy from the water retention all preggos go through) were just to darn big to get a good grip on itty bitty seed beeds, and my 24 gauge base-metal wire just looked hideous. My first project was a bead-encrusted bracelet, and I got 4" through it. I had to toss it. The metal just looked cheap, the beads gawdy, and my fingers were red and black from all the pinching and having cheap wire slide across my hands.

I vowed to try again, but this time following my own rules. I settled on silver-plate wire in a narrow 32 gauge and seed beads for lightness. I wanted something lacy, and no book had lacy. I realized that some people might actually want some focal beads, and figured I could accomodate that if I did it on a single chain instead of on a matrix of single crochet. Hook in hand, I set to work. What emerged was my new "RAINN-y Day Jewelry" line.

The entire line is comprised of 2-4 individual chains of beaded crochet. Most of these chains are seed beads, but some have focal beads spaced in there as well. I used both lobster and toggle clasps. I made them in teal, beacuse I wanted to have something I could sell to raise awareness of sexual violence.

And here comes an important tangent: the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN, is a national non-profit dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual assault. They do this through lobbying state and federal legislatures, community outreach and education, online and telephone crisis hotlines, fundraising, word of mouth, and a host of other wonderful things. They also have a wonderful resource center. If you need to find a local crisis center, they can help you do that. Need a class on how support people can help cope with the feelings they have surrounding the rape of someone they love? They can point you in the right direction. Sexual assault affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men in the United States. To say it's a problem is an understatement. It's an unaddressed national epidemic.

So what does all that have to do with bead'n'wire crochet? The "RAINN-y Day" line has a two-fold purpose. First, teal is advocacy color for sexual assault awareness, just like pink is for breast cancer and red is for AIDS. Wearing a "RAINN-y Day" item will hopefully generate some conversation about your newfound accessory, and you will have an opportunity to tell people how important it is to stop sexual assault. Second, an perhaps more relevant to the commercial-capitalist society that is the United States, I donate 100% of the net proceeds of every "RAINN-y Day" item sold to RAINN. So you can look good and feel great, all from a piece of jewelry.

I've included some samples of my finished projects here, and you can view even more in the "RAINN Gear" category of my Etsy shop. Oh, and I donate 10% of the sale price anything you purchase from my shop that isn't a "RAINN Gear" item to RAINN. So, shop away!

Finally, the requisite takeaway lessons:
1) Bead crimpers really are necessary
2) 32 gauge wire does not like being bent at sharp angles
3) Seed beads look lovely suspended on a chain of silver
4) If you crimp too hard, you'll just break the bead, and have to start the whole finishing process over again
5) If you do it right, these pieces come together smootly and quickly (and isn't that what any crafter really wants?)

Again, another project I have to confess I am very satisfied with artistically and morally.

For more information on RAINN, please visit their website at http://www.RAINN.org.