Honeybees and Spiders

I don't know what it is with me and insects the last couple of years, but I just love them and they are the only things I want to art.  It is working out though because I think I am making some cool stuff!

Up on my Etsy as of this morning is a beehive stash jar.  It took me literally all day, but I couldn't stop until it was done.  I was driven!

I had a lot of fun figuring out how to make drippy honey and beehive and of course the buzzy bees which I realize look more like bumble bees than honey bees, but screw it, it's my art =P

I also finally got around to taking pictures of my spider web inspired beaded and embroidered necklace:

This is recycled sari ribbon wrapped around 3/4 inch cotton cord.  I then sewed each little bead and pearl on it reminiscent of dew settling on a web.  Next I needled-felted some cocoons and sewed them in place.  Finally I spent ages embroidering about 2 dozen little spiders and I only ended up included 3 of them on the web.  I thought subtle might be better in the end, plus, they weren't looking as hot as I hoped so, yeah.  Voila!

I'm currently working on a cicada necklace that is a polymer and embroidery hybrid (see the wings from the last post) and I have my mind set on figuring out a dung beetle project.  Onwards!

It's been so long since I made a new octopus stash jar, but YAY snuck one in before the craft fair next week :)

A post shared by brandee blank (@brandeeblank) on May 4, 2018 at 4:48pm PDT

Small Listings & other thoughts

I have been in the (slow and arduous) process of updating my shop with some small listings that I have never posted before.  It is SO MUCH work for such tiny items.  But with the craft fair coming up and an itch to get some stuff out there, slowly but surely things are going up.  So far I only have my sari earrings and some of the small faux fairy gardens posted.  This past weekend I worked on re-stringing some of my older pendants that I was never really happy with how I presented them.  They are next on the docket!

I've been way more into getting into the embroidery game lately.  I've got four five six projects that are all started and at various stages of being done.  Here is a little sneaky peak of (yet another) cicada project, nearly finished and update coming:

I've also just realized that I never posted my completed embroidered and beaded dewey spider web inspired necklace because I never took a picture of it.  I'll get to that in the next few days

Special shout out to the lovely woman I just had a chit-chat with at Peet's.  Sometimes all it takes is a few nice words from someone that turns out to be encouragement enough to update a much neglected blog.  Thanks Barbee!

Rick & Morty Fan Art

I was commissioned last month to make  two Rick & Morty jars.  The task was left open ended at first and after talking to my client we came up with a Mister Meeseeks jar, and an Ants-in-my-Eyes Johnson jar.

I tackled Meeseeks first.  I knew I wanted to do the Meeseeks box and then a variety of Mr. Meeseeks around the bottom.  For reference for the non-fans out there:

The fist version of the jar came out thusly:

Doing the 'box' graphic as a round lid proved to be difficult and the final version here is the product of 3 trials that ended up in the garbage.  I also wasn't 100% satisfied with the characters around the body once it was done, so went ahead and produced what my second idea had been from the get-go:

The box top is amazingly easy once you are working on the 5th one, heh.

The one I love the best and really wanted to keep (seeing as I am also a  Rick & Morty fan) was the one based on this unfortunate soul:

My original thought was to have the bottom section appear as if he was on fire too (something that happens later in the episode) but I learned that I suck at making fire so left it alone.  Et voila!

Super love this guy!

A Succulent Problem

Well, I don't know if it is quite a problem. YET.  I love succulents so much.  They are such hearty, lovely plants in all their shapes and sizes.  I am not an expert on the plump little beauties, but I do know that when I go to my local succulent nursery, I leave with a box full of babies and end up with a mudroom full to the brim of new plantings.

On my last journey, I got a whole bunch of little interesting cacti too that had crest mutations - something I never really heard of before.  So now my mudroom has such lovelies as this joining the ranks of my succulents:

I also got this weirdo plant that looks like alien finger suckers on the end.  Such wonderful strangeness.

You can see a couple of my clay critters hanging out in the planters there.

Since I went a little nutty buying new plants, I decided to cull my leggy plants that have grown crazy over the last three years by propagating the cut heads and replanting them in time for the annual craft fair I run.  So, these little monsters (once I get some moss added) are headed out to new homes next week:


I'm not gonna lie - I hope these don't sell out.  I want to put them back in the mudroom!

My succulent game is set to be pretty strong this year at the fair.  Aside from these real succulent mini-gardens, I am also coming stocked to the gills with faux-succulent mini plantings and jewelry.  I have mini clay gardens in shells, watches, and jars.  There will also be succulent jewelery in the form of  necklaces, rings, and pins.  I'm super excited!
(clicky for bigger images, or just go to my flickr gallery)

Oh and PS, this one is NOT for sale... its a proof of concept that I am madly in love with.  I will likely make one to go into my etsy shop eventually though!

Busy End'o' Feb Weekend

I had an eclectic weekend!

Made this fuzzy stash jar monster man!

And this weird little snail jar.

And I tried to make some pendants.  I did a couple of florals I didn't take snaps of, and this strange little thing.  I think they are all destined to be decorative badge holders rather than necklaces to appeal to folk at the business office craft fair in May.

And now to start work on what I have in mind for this weekend!

Black thumbs? No problem!

The kitchen still isn't done, but it is close enough now that we got a lot of our living space back, and with the space came the room (and mental energy) to actually make stuff!  YAY just in time for the Holiday Craft Fair I put on every year at my office.

This group of work came about because I wanted to make my co-worker and good friend something special for her birthday and I knew how much she loved my succulents.  I have a house full of them, and three years ago for the Spring craft fair I brought in a bunch of cute terrariums with air plants, succulents, and the like.  They were a hit and since then folk keep asking me if I am going to do it again.

Well, no, on account of half the people killed their plants within a month (how in the world do you kill a succulent??) and also it was hard for me to let go of plants that I had been nurturing for 6+ months to get them ready for the sale.  But then it dawned on me that I could just make faux succulents;  sort of how Athena made the mechanical owl for Perseus in Clash of the Titans ('Not my beloved Bubo!').

So I made a few desk top terrariums (the air plants are real):

And a few adorable mini- terrariums.  The base is about the size of a quarter:

Pendants:

This is my favorite!  And the one I am keeping.

And, Christmas ornaments in two sizes!  But really, I think you could hang these in a window all year long:

In a strange twist of coincidence, the day I started on these, I saw that the new PolymerCafe magazine came out with the cover being succulents.  So weird!  I ordered it but it hasn't come in yet. They probably have a much better technique for making these than I managed - but we shall see!

Journals and Jars - holidays 2016

I got a few neat things done for the holidays, but not much else happening in the ol' creativity department.

A few journals:

 

and a special order jar to look like the recipients pup:

and I also managed to make myself a pretty cool necklace to match a party dress:

Other that, not much fun stuff is managing to come out of me.  I am in a slump at my day job, and I have convinced myself that the sadness there is bleeding over into my (lack of) creative self too. 

 I am taking some steps to try to fix that though!  I am part of the 2016 Polymer Clay Adventure.  There are a few projects there that I am super pumped about (and a few I really want nothing to do with but I am going to try to force myself to do them anyway.  Who knows, maybe something neat will come of it).

I am going to try to participate in the monthly challenges for the polymer guild I belong to, too.  I am coming up dry so far though, even though the next theme is right up my alley.  I also have my eye out for some kind of bead soup challenge type thing, but with polymer pieces. 

Odd Pod Specimens

Tried something new!  I have an obsession with old-timey cabinets of curiosity, and even though I don't actually have one, I have enough stuff on my "shelf o' cool" that I should probably invest in one already...

In any case, I picked up loads of these little bottles last month, and decided to make something that I would like to see in a cabinet.  Behold!

I had a LOT of fun coming up with the "description" for these for Etsy too.  I knew I wanted something that was a Victorian sounding story, but ended up writing a letter:

My dearest friend: 
I write to you today with the most interesting of propositions. The famous Professors Chester O. Kensington and Sir Thaddeus R. Vandeviere have found, in one of their many daring journeys into the unknown countryside far to the west, the most peculiar of botanical specimens. I am sure that you are already familiar with their triumphs and wonders in the worlds of cryptobiology and botany. And yet, as with all serious forms of inquiry, even the most studied intellectuals must turn to their peers in the hopes of broadening their compendium of knowledge. And this, my dearest, is where you come in. I have in my possession several such mysterious exhibits, and the express permissions of sirs K. and V. to send them to those intelligentsia who may be able to shed light on their morphology. It is most curious that we have been given the privilege to peek into their secret investigations, and indeed, they have all but admitted defeat in the cataloging of these ‘odd pods’ as they ever so diplomatically refer to them. I implore you to look upon these specimens and deliver your thoughts directly to K. and V. as I have instructed them to expect your post.
Yours always sincerely,
B.B.

New Nautilus Design and more jars in general!

I am really loving my jars!  Every one I make I feel like I am on the verge of keeping. I am trying to branch out from the octopus design while  avoiding doing dragons.  I know dragons are all the rage, but I learned how to do these eyes from a tutorial on "dragon eyes" and I don't want to impinge on the tutorial artist's territory.  The weirdest (and disappointing) thing is that she started doing dragon eye jars  literally days before I posted my first one unbeknownst to me. Imagine my chagrin when I proudly thought I had a totally original idea and I see that I was "beat".  She is a lovely artist and has talents that I am terribly jealous of.  The least I can do is defer to her in this and not sell dragon eyes!

So now I am working on other creatures.  I have a crow version which I am not happy enough with to post pictures.  But I am quite happy with this Nautilus!:

There will be more to come with these guys.  I am excited to see where the design ends up from this one, which is my first attempt.


I did actually make a dragon version which went to family member:

And a sea dragon version that went to another family member:

I do have two ready-made jars already up on my etsy site, too!:

I love that I get to play around with different techniques and ideas on the body of the jars.  I really never had room to do that when making jewelry, mostly because I don't like the way polymer jewelry that is just a cabochon look, so I just never really bothered to branch out.