Friday 28 June 2013

My Friday Night Outfit


Crochet halter top, Ios, spring top, summer top, yoga top, festival wear, in black, by Polixeni19
Rainbow Inspired Leather Sandals BLACK Leather Sandals, Flip Flops  by IncredibleIndia
Winter Poppy Necklace medaillon Black floral Vintage enamel flower by StarDelights
Hand crochet summer beach mini skirt in black color by SintijasCrafts

It is extremely hot here, and one wants to wear as little as possible with such weather :)

The rules are simple; make a fun outfit with items from Etsy (you can include one of your own items) with the mosaic maker or photoshop orPolyvore. Post it on your blog with the links to the featured shops, and add a link linking to this blogpost so that your readers can see the other outfits as well, this way we will all be connected :) You can then add your mosaic here below by clicking on the 'add a link' button so that everyone can see your outfit here as well, you can leave your link till Saturday evening.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Mastering the Art of Embroidery


Yesterday we got by mail a copy of this book, which to we have contributed several projects.


It is a well printed and very inspirational book, with lots of contributions of modern embroiderers, many of them Etsy members.


Our contributions were mostly on smocking, more fabric altering than embroidery, really.


 It is nice to see very old techniques in modern and fresh applications.


The choice of  title is not very fortunate, in my opinion. Although many basic stitches are clearly illustrated with drawings, a beginner couldn't achieve the end results shown in the book, while an experienced embroiderer would not need the basis stitches explained. Also the language is a bit stiff which shall make the explanations more difficult to follow than needed.


But, again, the book is a feast for the eye and very, very inspirational. Lots of venues to explore if you are so inclined.


Finally, I would like to share with you a bit of our experiences with contributions to books or magazines.
There are publishers that ask for high resolution pictures and there are publishers that ask for the actual item(s) to photograph and style themselves. In both cases you get a free copy of the book or magazine and some exposure.
 
Both type of publishers are very cavalier with what they offer once they get what they need.

We have collaborated once to a Stampington magazine, Haute Handbags, and despite their solemm promises to return the bags in two months, in reality it took eight months. After all that time, the bags were not exactly damaged, but they were not exactly crisp either. After that we have been approached twice for Stampington magazines and have declined. Frankly, the exposure is not worth the hassle.

For this book we sent  high resolution pictures, no risks there. Again, though, we never got the promised notification of publishing, we saw the book by chance reviewed elsewhere, and it took four months and many increasinly harsh emails to finally get a copy.

My advice, thus, never send actual items and make the publisher keep their word, nothing is granted.

If you would like to have your own copy of this book you can find it on Amazon.

Friday 21 June 2013

My Friday Night Outfit


romantic amethyst lilac purple rose blossom flower hair pins (2 pieces) by ayawedding
Wrap women Tunics purple dresses women clothing collar V Tops long sweaters by Zayade
Druzy Amethyst Ring Hand formed Copper and Brass Statement jewelry by StaroftheEast
Purple Shoes by Ramon Tenza Floral Embroidery by needsgoodhome

Another purple outfit this week, I don't know why I'm so drawn to this color these days. I was so happy to find amazing amethysts in Izmir, they are so gorgeous that it was very easy to make pieces with them :)
Sorry for not commenting on your gorgeous outfits these past 2 weeks, I was a bit overwhelmed with the trip and everything else, I will visit your blogs again this week!

The rules are simple; make a fun outfit with items from Etsy (you can include one of your own items) with the mosaic maker or photoshop orPolyvore. Post it on your blog with the links to the featured shops, and add a link linking to this blogpost so that your readers can see the other outfits as well, this way we will all be connected :) You can then add your mosaic here below by clicking on the 'add a link' button so that everyone can see your outfit here as well, you can leave your link till Saturday evening.

Thursday 20 June 2013

Our Creative Space...


We were in İzmir last week. Usually we are there for 3 days, 2 nights, we shop till we drop for supplies and go back home. This time we were there for 1 week. Shopping went a little slower as we had more days, and I went every morning for about 5 hours to a silver smith's atelier to learn to work with silver.


 The atelier was incredibly shabby (without any chicness) but amazing stuff comes out of it. The silver smith himself was very patient with me and offered me lots of help, advice and tips and after 6 days I've already learned alot.


 Here a peak to the old fashioned tools.


 Here often molds are used to make lots of  the same model at once, after that only small details have to be soldered. They use the disappearing wax technique for that. So for each silver piece a wax piece has to be made. Once enough of the wax pieces are made they are attached to a tube and then put in to some kind of pipe. The pipe is then filled with plaster and this is burned in the oven. In the oven the wax disappears and a large plaster mold remains for lots of pieces at once, this is filled with sterling silver and ones cooled of there are dozens of rings or whatever kind of piece was molded.


 I didn't learn this wax technique as what I will make of silver won't be made in large quantities besides they will be made according to shells, stones and other natural shaped objects. But it was fun to find out how this system works.


 I took a bunch of eye of shiva shells with me, and created bezels for them.



 After the bezels are soldered I saw them in the shape I wanted.


 And here is a sneak peak of the first pieces I made.



 Slowly more will appear in the shop :)


See more creative spaces at Our Creative Spaces.   

Friday 14 June 2013

My Friday Night Outfit


Travel journal or sketchbook diary hand painted with African textile cover red black by Avedouda
Black Smocked Messenger Bag - Unisex by StarBags
Personalized Wedding Tree Branch Guest Book Pen by JKartshop
Cotton Fabric - Cursive Handwriting - Half Yard by theheydayshop

This week not a fancy outfit for the night but more some kind of school gear while I'm having my TOEFL exams today (wish me luck!).
Since Monday we are in İzmir where we always shop for supplies. Usually we stay just for 3 days but this time we are here for a week as I'm also having silver smith lessons at a silver smith. I've taken pictures in the atelier, will show them soon! With lessons and exams we still are also shopping everyday, I don't know how we'll be upon our return home, pretty beat up is my guess :)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

The rules are simple; make a fun outfit with items from Etsy (you can include one of your own items) with the mosaic maker or photoshop orPolyvore. Post it on your blog with the links to the featured shops, and add a link linking to this blogpost so that your readers can see the other outfits as well, this way we will all be connected :) You can then add your mosaic here below by clicking on the 'add a link' button so that everyone can see your outfit here as well, you can leave your link till Saturday evening.

Friday 7 June 2013

My Friday Night Outfit


Silver Sea Pod Ring - oxidized sterling silver ring by LucieTales
Black Honeycomb Purse - Bubble Smocked Clutch with Vintage Chain by StarBags
Classic little black dress by YollaKlea
Grace, Black Flats, leather shoes by TamarShalem

A bit somber but classic this week. After more then a week, things haven't calmed down here and more and more people are on the street in fight of democracy, hopefully all this will bring something good to this country.

The rules are simple; make a fun outfit with items from Etsy (you can include one of your own items) with the mosaic maker or photoshop orPolyvore. Post it on your blog with the links to the featured shops, and add a link linking to this blogpost so that your readers can see the other outfits as well, this way we will all be connected :) You can then add your mosaic here below by clicking on the 'add a link' button so that everyone can see your outfit here as well, you can leave your link till Saturday evening.


Wednesday 5 June 2013

A curse called Internet

''There is a curse called Twitter. It is full of lies. Social media, today, is the curse of societies.''

Turkish Prime Minister T. Erdoğan

 The pictures below are taken from the blog http://fonbaligi.tumblr.com/. This blog is written half in English and half in Turkish and has a lot of pictures and info about the things happening right now in many Turkish cities.

And no, it is not over. Protesters have to go to work, but it continues in the evenings and is expected to grow again in the weekend.

There are many terrible pictures going around of wounded people, dead people, abuse.

But I find these pictures  specially poignant just because there are so mild.


Young woman, who ever you are, you are a hero.