Stuff. And things.

Right then.

It's been a weird couple of months. I'm going to blame most of that on the fact that I am currently unemployed due to the fact the company I worked for, well, died/went/up in flames/chose your adjective of choice. It's sucked. It's been stressful and depressing. But whatever, I still have my creativity which never got used there ever.

Anyways.

The good news is, FanExpo has been confirmed, the contract sent and the must needed-much look forwarded to, first con...only con...of 2016 is right around the corner, and I really have done nothing at all.

This changes today.

It's been a lot of prototypes the past little bit.  There's new fandoms I have been introduced to, and new fandoms that have been created, and old ones that have been revived.

1. Pokemon Go. Welcome to the Pokemon world, new kids. It's fun here. Most of the time. For this I will and have created simple bracelets for each of the teams. Bamboo, glass, very subtle representations of Team Valor, Mystic and Instinct. There's also a matching necklace, because why not. They will be under $10, so nice and affordable for everyone, and easy to wear. Good for everyday. Or when you take a gym and victory lap over it. I myself, at this time, have not chosen a team. I will one day.

2. Neko Atsume bracelets - I started them. I have two testers of the ribbon and pearl - yes, we went with glass pearls, it looks good - examples, and but I need the ribbon clamps and some clasps for the other ones. It's going to be a two or three stackable bracelet, because that's more fun than one. And trendy, aptly enough, if you were aware of that kind of thing or care. Not sure about pricings as of yet. Need to finish one first.

3. Sailor Moon Tiara Cuff bracelets - prototype created today in progress. A modified version of my traditional fabric cuffs. The base seems nailed down but I am working on the trimming. Had to scratch a few, before deciding on the current one. Needs to be more gold, so I am looking into paint tinting it. They're gonna be a lot of hand sewing though. The sharp curves aren't something a machine can control well.

4. Steven Universe. We're (I refer to myself in third person a lot when I am blogging about my stuff. I feel like my tumblr sounds like there is a whole team of people at Magic and Stitchcraft instead of me, myself and I.) Anyway. Stevie U. For that, there is going to be hair flowers, and slightly fancier versions with feathers in fascinator form. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl for sure. Need a better button for Garnet, I think. The one I current have is too small.


There are several of my other existing products that can do for a rebrand with the current trends. My articuno fascinator is much more relevant now as a Team Mystic item, than it was before. Therefore I will create Zaptos and Fire-Chicken as well to round of the set. I need to work on displaying them for their respective fandoms better as well. Make 'em pop out.

Other than that, I have Triforce cuffs to make, since I was able to get to Sussman's new Hamilton location. (Miss you guys in Hogtown. <3 - But I totally get needing to move from the expensiveness of it all) some more Marvel flowers, and general flowers over all.

Work work work. Get to it, Moofy

Restless sleep = Productive Mind?

Okay, it was weird not going to Anime North this year. Like, not even attending regardless of vending, was weird. Whatever, moving on.

This weekend's restless dreams foretold to me I needed random new ideas to test out. Of those, Sailor Moon Tiara Bracelets (inspired by Crystal borne nostalgia) and Neko Atsume Bracelets (inspired by my temporary obsession with this ridiculously addicting game) seem the most fesible.

Not that the swishy-skirt-pants and armor get up, my brain dreamed up, wasn't cool - it just wasn't practical....or obeying the normal laws of physics. But oh...how they sparkled.

So maybe.... I'll give those a go. I snagged some ribbon for the cat bracelets, but I need to get beads.... specifically 10-15mm beads. Glass or stone, not plastic, because due to influence, I cannot abide plastic beads anymore....unless specifically required for effect. The question is....glass pearls or transparent? I need to keep costs down, but perhaps I will file these under a separate overhead file... like those other things.

.... I spend way too much time formulating my budgeting spreadsheet and its mathematical formula. High School math is useful kids. You'd be surprised where and when it crops up again.

Hm hm hm..... I'm so distracted.

Turned it around

Well, I put my creative sulk to good use and found a skirt pattern to replace the one I was using that I actually think will work better for me - More pleats. Love me some box pleats. Will pick that up next time I'm at fabricland via sale.

I was also playing dress up with Coco (my dress form) once I concluded that the vest I bought kinda reminded me of Rey's outfit. While it does lack the cross at the front, it just.... speaks Rey to me. Especially once I belted it. Now, I'm hungrily on the hunt for a henley that I can artfully destroy for SCIENCE AND ART.

Plus I have created my own template for her cuff - it's not the wrap around like in the movie, but I've fused the look with my own that I use for my cuffs I sell - seeing as it's my personal take on her outfit, I think this will actually accent it better than a direct copy. (If all goes well, I might even have some for Fanexpo) Of course, I lack the actual materials I need for constructing it, so it's another thing that I need to get from Fabricland.

.... Which, ironically enough, I was at yesterday buying like....two cards of buttons and that was it.

Ah, well.

I also ended up buying one of those slim card holders that you are suppose to be able to card stuff in rather than wallet and whatnot. I am using it for a business card holder, and today I filled it with said cards. There was no actual reason for me to do this, but it made me fill good and important and I fully plan on keeping it with me in the 0.01% chance I require my business cards.

^Adulting?

Well, that's irratating.

So, my plans for starting a little skirt for my own usage has been foiled by the fact that I can't find the pattern instructions. After tons of searching, I located the envelope with the additional pieces, but no instructions.

...It's not a hard skirt to make...I should be able to reverse engineer it, based on the one that I already made but....it's just turned a simple project into something that has me second guessing how it was constructed and I really wanted it low stress.

Whatever. I'll figure it out or something.

'Tis what it is.

Well, we got wait listed for Toronto Comic con. I suppose you can only do so much when the application gets lost in the mail and by the time we found out and resent it off, it was stuck in the queue.

We're still going to try for Animenorth, once the information comes up, so hopefully we will have that one. FanExpo, at least is a go, since we renewed last year, but having only one con set up so far for the year is a bit discouraging.

Nevertheless, creativity marches on, and at least anything I finish now will be added to the stock I need for FanExpo anyway.

Finished the eight flowers I had started a while ago, so that's good at least. I might make a few more regular style ones in the future, but I do definitely need to make more of Peggy's, Steve's, and Tony's.  I might switch gears a bit though. since I do have cuffs to do.

I was able to get a fabric of practically identical colour to the green of the triforce cuffs I have used previously, (which I'm almost out of)  and it should prove nice to work with, though I need to check my grommet situation. (and come up with a trim solution since that's my Sussman's one)

Star Jars have been.... a pain. A failure, then not, then again, now possible not. I'm convinced one I get the recipe down pact, they will work out. It's just getting to that point is tough.

... yeah. 

I swear I will accomplish stuff today,

Finished those four flowers I had sitting on my desk.
Now on to Peggy, Cap series.

Edit:  (several hours later): 4 Peggy Rosettes completed. Have to stop sewing for a bit, for the dents to fade in the finger tips.

Edit 2: (more hours later): Whelp. That didn't entirely go as planned. Started the Star Jars. I need another pair of fine needlenose pliers because one is clearly not enough, and it made attaching the chain... shamefully difficult. I am all thumbs with stuff like this. Also, the fabric top is being revised. Hopefully mach two will be better.

Oh hey, look - progress. Sort of.

Okay, I really am trying to get my butt into gear here. The difficult thing is that we could be doing 4 shows this year.... or only one. It's literately a waiting game and it makes me antsy. I suppose anything that I do now is really just adding to FanExpo so it's not a huge rush but... ugh, I desperately want to know.

Anyway. Today has been.... I'd say productive. I sorted out what I still had in my stock and made a list of things I needed to make (for fanexpo at least). It's not a terrible amount - if I started soon I could easily get things done well before I needed them. I also played with some math and budget costs, which is the only time you find me: a) relish using math and b) have any sort of strict organization.

I'm also designing a new product, which while it seems to plan out well, and work out well, with what I have on hand is also mildly irritating because I need to get the other things required from bunch of random locations.

Which brings me to my main source of pain. Sussman's Bridal - formerly of Queen St, now of Hamilton. This is probably the largest disaster of my creative career. My main and sometimes only source for trims, feathers and other odds and sods is now reeaaaallly not close anymore. I was whimpering outside the empty store front. It hurts. I mean, it's not impossible to get to..... just much much further and much harder to work around. It's only going to end up being a once in a blue moon kind of trip, and I'll have to try to plan out multiple projects in one go. Huuurughhg....

I did make two full sets of Star Wars bracelets though?