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Okay, I've got Chris' but if anyone else has Christmas Stellar Magpie commissions they'd like from us, now's pretty much the last chance you have to get them in if they're to be done before the holidays. Smaller things are also way more likely to get done.
Also, if you're ordering anything from the website (and keep an eye on this space, as there are a couple of pieces not yet on the site that I'll post there if our webmistress can't get them up), Canada Post notes that the last mailing dates guaranteed to arrive before Christmas are December 9 in the U.S., and December 18 in Canada. We can arrange for expedited shipping (such as for things you commission now), but it's more expensive. That doesn't mean we can't do it. ;o)
My, this icon's getting lots of mileage! |
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There are quite a few things happening behind the scenes on Stellarmagpie.com, so even though it doesn't look like we've updated in... well, a long time, we promise, you'll see a big change soon.
And new stock as well! And to tide you over, here's a sneak peek at some of the things waiting to go up.
( cut for large sparkliness ) |
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Stellar Magpie will be appearing this Saturday at the Parkdale Arts and Crafts Festival. Everything you need to know can be found here. We've been working really hard to build up stock, and we'll be working our sparkly fingers off making more all day, so feel free to drop by and ask for something special.
See you there! |
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So as promised, here is my rant on why The Noble Collection sucks.
( Sarah's Adventures in Customer Service Hell )
So for the record, let us state right now: If your Stellar Magpie jewellery ever falls apart, we will repair or replace it for you. Unlike some people, we do actually care about our customers. |
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Okay, so back in July, Stellar Magpie went to Toronto Trek...
Ah yes. I think I remember back that far....
And for the first time, we went as exhibiting artists rather than as authors or fen. Which meant no panels scheduled, and frantic amounts of jewellery making beforehand.
Well, frantic amounts of jewellery making is expected from us before any show. Planning ahead? What's that?
( Con report -- with nifty photos! ) |
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Stay tuned for a con report, coming soon to a livejournal near you, featuring witty banter, sale news, show dates, and bridal sets.
But for now...
( a small preview ) |
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I finished a new kind of sculpture necklace last night at about midnight. It's the first one I've done in pure sterling silver (with a few swarovski crystals), and I love the silver. It holds its shape so much better than the copper-core stuff, and you can do a lot more with it before it goes brittle. The necklace ended up very organic -- even more so than the other sculptures -- and I really like it. The pictures behind the cut are a little big -- I'll resize them later, just be warned.
( Tangled in the Silver Garden )
This is the last of the new stuff of mine that will be at Trek.
Also, I picked up Alexandra's wedding veil from her last night (it's going in as a NFS), and I have been having WAAAY too much fun wearing it. |
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Trek is coming up, and I've been doing a lot of wirework in preparation. My fingers are very sore.
The first, which looks surprisingly simple, is a necklace (and earrings, but they're not in the picture) called "The Winter Garden"
( large images behind the cut )
This looks simple, but it actually takes longer than a magpie bracelet. The only stones on head pins are the swarovski drop crystals (I heard a woman at Arton's today pronouncing it "sworshki"). The others are all on very small lengths of sterling silver wire. The necklace is mostly crystal and pearl, with a few glass and seed beads. And ow, did it ever hurt my fingers. But it's pretty.
( pendanty goodness )
The second photo is of a batch of pendants I made. The purple ones are the Carroll Quartet, in amethyst, pearl, and silver plated wire (which marks the last time I'll be using the silver plate unless someone wants me to use it to cut costs). They are, from left to right:
"And the Mome Raths Outgrabe"
"Don't Step on the Mome Raths"
"Won't Someone Please Think of the Mome Raths?"
"Mome Raths on Ice"
The gold one is "Singing Down the Sun", in sterling silver wire, freshwater pearl, swarovski crystal, and citrine. It's my first experiment with sterling wire, and I love what the sterling does.
The blue-green one is what I can only think of as my Karina pendant -- a lampwork bead with sterling silver wire and two colours of swarovski crystal. I haven't settled on a name yet, but the only thing I can think of is something along the lines of "Malestrom at the Peak of the Ocean", because it reminds me so much of Karina.
So those are the sparklies you'll be seeing at Trek, if you go. After trek, whatever doesn't sell will go up on the website. |
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At last, at last! My brand new camera, a new necklace and a few moments of spare time have at last combined -- and I have photos!
I mentioned before that I was making linked necklaces, and I couldn't help but start taking photos of my favourite to date. "Spaceships and Thunderstorms" is a linked necklace made from sterling silver wire (solid silver, not plated), with chips of hematite and blue goldstone, black freshwater pearls, European crystal, black cat's eye beads and faceted black glass beads. ( Photos behind the cut. ) |
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I started messing around with wire on my lunch break today, and came up with this, quite by accident. It's an amethyst, purple freshwater pearls, and silver plated wire.
( And the Mome Raths Outgrabe )
I'm not 100% sure yet, but this one's going to be priced somewhere around $50, depending on what I decide to mount it on.
For the curious, there's a formula I use to work out how much something is going to cost. It looks something like this;
Price = [(Cost of raw materials)x(5 to 7, depending on the degree of difficulty and time required)+($10 to $20 depending on degree of artistic merit) + $10x(# of times making it made me say "shit")+ $10x(# of times making it made me say "fuck")-($5 to $10 if something about it bothers me)+$25*(# of times it made me bleed)] |
| » Updates, whee! |
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The website has been updated, with descriptions for each category, some new pendants, and a new "Bridal" section. Look for more updates soon!
Jun. 22nd, 2006 @ 09:15 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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The magpies apologize: life has been a bit too crazy of late to do much updating. But Sarah has moved and is unpacking, and my chaotic time at work has calmed down to something resembling normal, and so it's high time for some news.
Thanks to everyone who came to Julie's launch, bought the fabulous book and admired (and purchased!) the bookmarks. And a special thanks go to our mail-order customers, who bore with us as we set up our new PayPal account, dealt with a few email issues and got everything shipped.
Julie has some pictures of the launch on her website, including a few shots of Sarah and I and the bookmarks. (Yes, we do look rather silly in that one shot, but someone kept shouting that we had to "crouch down, crouch down!" and so we did ... with a rather foolish looking result. Ah, well.)
In other news, I've received word that my shiny new digital camera has been delivered. Now I only have to wait until this weekend to pick it up from my family -- and I can finally, finally take pictures of my newest projects! Over the past month or so I've been experimenting with linked necklaces -- one of which I'm actually wearing in the launch photos, a very long green/blue necklace that is looped around my neck three times. I also have one in all shades of purple with pink accents (amethyst, rose quartz, glass beads, miracle beads and crystal), one made from pieces of a crazy green stone, and a work-in-progress made with black glass, hematite chips, blue goldstone, black pearl and crystal, named "Spaceships and Thunderstorms". There are matching earrings, too.
Sarah has also promised pictures of the most recent Stellar Magpie wedding piece, a commissioned hair band that she made in gold plated wire and pearl. It's one of my absolute favourites. Also: gold! The days of prefab earrings are long past.
Jun. 13th, 2006 @ 03:09 pm
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| » Species Imperative Bookmarks |
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The first 20 SPECIES IMPERATIVE bookmarks are up online on the Species Imperative Bookmarks page -- coming soon (i.e. tonight after Sarah gets home from the museum): bookmarks 21-45 (with blue goldstone, oooh!), and pictures of the fish.
May. 26th, 2006 @ 09:13 am
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| » Limited Edition SPECIES IMPERATIVE Bookmarks |
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To celebrate the launch of award-winning author Julie E. Czerneda's novel REGENERATION, the final installment of the SPECIES IMPERATIVE trilogy, Stellar Magpie is creating a series of limited edition bookmarks. We're only creating 50 bookmarks -- and each one will be unique.
( Click here for all the details! )
May. 20th, 2006 @ 05:58 pm
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| » No, we're not dead |
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We apologize for the lack of updates, both to the journal and to the site. There have been real life things (taxes, house hunting, moving) getting in the way. But I promise an update soon, including things like Alexandra's wedding headpiece and the new logo actually ON the site. Yay!
May. 18th, 2006 @ 03:14 pm
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| » Ad Astra 2006: Con Report |
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We thought, for something different, we'd try a joint post. So here, without further ado, Sarah (and Karina) present: "Ad Astra 2006: Con Report GO!!!!"
(I'm sorry, I've been watching Teen Titans. Karina wrote it first, but I take full responsibility for leaving that in. Anyway…)
( The Con Report (in which there are pictures and a big surprise) )
Apr. 5th, 2006 @ 05:21 pm
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| » And one more... |
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I also had a white pearl, so I did another one this afternoon. This one does have a name:
( She has a newness )
Feb. 22nd, 2006 @ 04:11 pm
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| » Pendants |
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Neither one of these have names yet, and I still have a third one to do, but here are two pendants I started messing around with tonight.
This one has a pink pearl and two pink swarovski crystals (the pearl, for scale's sake, is a little bit smaller than a dime):
( sparklies behind the cut )
And this one is a black pearl with purple swarovski crystals [ETA: Erin gave this one a name]
( Captain Jack's Girlfriend )
These only took one episode of Knight Rider each. ;o) I've still to give them names and add a chain, but I'm pretty sure one of them (probably the pink one) will end up in the Ad Astra art show.
Each of them also took upwards of one try, so I have fun little bits of silver detruitis like this lying around:
I love this stuff. :o)
Feb. 22nd, 2006 @ 01:33 am
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| » Congratulations, it's a style! |
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It's way, way too late to still be up, but I couldn't stop working until I finished this frelling bracelet:
( the as-yet-unnamed new style bracelet )
This particular style is called the "tipsy magpie", because it ended up looking like a cross between a Bacchus earring and a magpie bracelet. But I like it. :o)
Feb. 21st, 2006 @ 02:54 am
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| » Outtakes |
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I discovered tonight that it is extremely difficult to try to get a product shot of yourself in a necklace/tiara for your website, at 1 a.m., when you can't see the viewfinder in the camera, and come up with one that a) is in focus, b) is in frame, and c) doesn't make you look stoned, insane, or posessed by the devil.
Of the 103(!) shots I took, I got a grand total of 2 that were useable.
Oddly enough, my three favourite shots were ones I couldn't use. One was way too dark to show the product properly, and the other two were just me goofing around, because it was 1 a.m. and 73 shots later I had yet to take one in focus. I don't know why I like these three more than the others. Any theories?
( And the outtakes )
Feb. 8th, 2006 @ 01:11 am
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