The Black Story. January.

Now when January is almost at the ending point I can see, that it was the black themed month for me.
Almost every piece I've done is black, heavy detailed and beadad with hematite stones, glass, beads and crystals. Some are simply clustered, some have strict ornamentation. Epaulets are really weighting close to 0.5kg per pair.. pretty much for Your fragile shoulders and pricey for shipping, but never mind - that's the cost of having real thing.
Black ans silver.. Hmm.. I feel like need some colors now ..

Playing With Tulle

In deep need of some romantic inspiration, I played with tulle Yesterday. Here is what I came up with..
Black and white rainbow and black mysterious destiny. Laces are so beautiful here..
But no beading again, sorry ...

Always Flattering..

Sometimes i feel very insecure about my creations and how they are doing out there in big world. It is always soooooo good and flattering to hear some news from the new owners.. Minnie Valentine just send me a photo and note that it was taken with it for a streetstyle shoot and published in a fashion magazine called "Envy" a week ago. No idea about the magazine, couse I couldn't found it on google, but never mind.. It is good news anyway :))

Thanks Minnie!!!

Bling Bling Telephone..

Pair of gold tone epaulettes with rich selection of Swarovski crystals, Bohemian cristals, Czech glass beads and yellow metal chains.
Really heavy piece. inspired by Lady Gagas "Telephone"




Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce "Telephone"

Ecouterre

14 Ways to green the military fashion trend - by Jasmin Malik Chua (03/24/10)
Published on Ecouterre
Accidently found this article and was so surprised see my design on the list :)) YEEE!!

Ecouterre is a website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design. They’re dedicated to showcasing and supporting designers who not only contemplate cut, form, and drape, but also a garment’s social and environmental impact, from the cultivation of its fibers to its use and disposal. Their mission: To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.

In September 2009, Jill Fehrenbacher, founder of sustainable-design website Inhabitat.com, launched Ecouterre to dispel any disparaging stereotypes that still cling to the concept of eco-fashion (hemp ponchos, anyone?), while highlighting innovations in fiber technology that will help pave the way for designers and manufacturers to embrace sustainable materials and processes.

Her goal with Ecouterre: To get both designers and consumers to start taking the issue of sustainability in clothing design more seriously. Frustrated by constant criticism for her fashion-design coverage from hardcore greenies and eco-snobs who dismiss the impact that clothing design has on our planet, Jill was compelled to launch a site dedicated exclusively to eco-fashion to raise awareness of these issues.

...WoW...

New Spikes In Town

Drama Queen

It is sooooo hard to take black and red objects in photos..
They change color and every imperfection is double visible.
Well .. I'm learning..

These two are brother and sister with similar filigrees and ropes, just different color combination.. black one still waiting for a new owner, red one is gone..

Make Your Shoulders Dance

New coquette wing harness to make Your shoulders dance like bar maid in old vestern movie..
Fringes and feathers, chains and red mesh.

Nancy The General

I always wanted to see how my pieces look on their new owners.. Thank You Nancy for shearing Your photos and inspiration! I even didn't recognize my epaulettes on Your shoulders, they look so organic!
If You want to meet Nancy, You are welcome to visit her creative blog , full of fashion and her fantastic illustrations!

http://www.xiaoxizhang.com/

New Packaging

I found perfect cardboard for my packaging boxes, easy to fold and good looking.
From this day this will be my #1 choice.

Fairytale in Paris

I was very honored and flattered to make epalettes for young latvian fashion journalist Agnese Kleina before her visit to Paris, and here they are on her own shoulders.. Found the pics on her blog and couldn't resist reposting LoL

I recommend You to dive in to her blog Whimsical Agnesiga and find juicy and fresh look at her travels, thoughts and fashion life here in Latvia.

As for me now, I'm deep in sewing new designs between making copies of the previous ones.
Here is sneak preview of burlap epaulette I made doubting about the strange combination of materials. But it fly away so fast that I'm not in doubt anymore :)

Melting blues away..

Last week was so strange for me.. lot's of snow here in Latvia , melting icicles dropping from roofs and I was in the *doing nothing* phase.
And then came Thursday and stars made some astrological positive loop around me, because there were two publications that made me move much faster..
First one was interview with binka un some local portal written by Rita Pētersone - Lazdiņa. It is all in latvian and featuring few of my creations. here is the link to that
And in the same day Etsy admin marymary choosed my epaulette and title for her storque spotlight! Wow.. and then started blast of interest and wiews and convos from etsy people... wow! First time in my etsy history I had so much attention in such a short time LOL
here is link to that

Well thanks to both these features I'll be very busy right now with no time to languish and drone.
Well, back to work :) here are first epaulettes that I made yesterday. Based on same chain reaction idea here is even more spiky variation :

Binkaminkas world invasion

Celebrating 1000 hearts of binkaminkas shop I created a virtual map of my sold items using google maps. You are welcome to travel with binkaminkas airlines :))

direct link to the map

I was very excited about this google gadget. Fun stuff I recommend to try out!

Ready To Travel

Black velvet, brass filigree and chains, black swarovski crystals and very very long fringe.
Trendy if You are in Australia! LoL But so far looks like it is going to find new home in Baltimore, Maryland :)

Origami is fun!

Origami sis traditional Japanese art of paper folding. I tried to make some textile origami flowers and here they are >> had lot's of fun doing this :) I must say I was cheating - used few stitches to hold flowers together.The goal of original origami is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper.

Linen Necklaces

Inspired by some old housekeeper book I've started new line of necklaces, that seems to be pretty unique and original.





They look almost antiquarian and oldschool.. I guess few will follow soon LOL

Friday Ghosts

I crocheted new hairpiece for beautiful brides, used laces and glass pearls, vintage buttons as well. Underneath the piece is Riga's satellite map , if You asked :)

Suddenly I noticed too many hearts for one of my necklaces, checked it on the craftcult and - vuala - here it is - gorgeous FP by

jessjamesjake

Here is one of the fantastic vintage pieces from her shop!

Thank You jessjamesjake so much!
You brought the 600th heart to my shop :)

And happy for all that, I made very geeky treasury, just because I felt like dizzy queen :)

Thank You for the long time reading, happy weekend with no rains and have fun crafting next week again!

Sketching ..

My camera broke.. I feel almost sick..
I have made some new items, but can't list them without the pics.. grrr
Started to sketch for my clients ..and this is not the final drawing.. just work in progress..

blush in the rush

My new passion - beaded beads :))
I tried to make them using some schemes from the net, but finally figured out, that you need exact size beads for good result. So I tried to make them up myself and see what I came up to >>>

BTW the voting on http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ is open till june 15! You are welcome! ( My favorite is Nr 13 if you wanted to know :)) )

Need Luck?

This weeks Europeanstreetteam challenge theme is Cheap but gorgeous, hosted by my Latvian friend Rita alias Alatvian. As I have lot's of projects to work on, I created very fast and simple earrings fit for chinese princess or funky city girl. There is mix of plastic and glass beads and even svarovski crystals, and on the top of it are chinese cinnabar pentagons inscribed with symbols of good luck and long life.


And while I was writing this, luck came to me as etsy admin FP ! Don't believe it LOL