Knightime Creations

On Winter's Glistening Wings - FAE Etsy Team

2012-01-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

Check out the wonderful exhibition that the Fantasy Artists of Etsy have put together!

Etsy Vegan MoFo Fun!

2011-10-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

On Etsy, my shop (Knightime Creations) is a member of the Vegan Etsy Team. I am honored to be a part of such an awesome group of creative vegans. To celebrate this, I've made a treasury of Vegan Etsy items for today's post. (I also think I gained 10 pounds just putting it together!)

Midnight Dark And Dreary Exhibition

2011-10-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Fantasy Artists of Etsy are doing a "Midnight Dark And Dreary" exhibition - go check it out!

FAE Team Exhibition "Siren Song"

2011-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Check out the gorgeous Fantasy Artists of Etsy exhibition, "Siren Song"!

My 16th Century Flemish Working Woman's Dress

2011-07-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

Mark and I are contracted to play at faires that have Medieval themes and others that have Renaissance themes (usually Tudor), and these faires take place throughout the year, so it can actually be blazing hot and freezing cold during the run of a single faire. (Kansas City Ren Faire, I'm looking at you!) I made a couple of 14th century fitted kirtles to cover the Medieval side of things, but I also wanted an outfit that would both fit in with a Renaissance theme and work in colder weather. Enter the 16th century Flemish dress, which has an under-dress (kirtle), an overgown, tie-on (or pin-on) sleeves, and a partlet (or two!) This outfit is both versatile and attractive (and so much more comfortable and authentic than my too-small Moresca bodice!)

I was greatly inspired by Jen Thompson's Flemish dress, as well as her inspiration, Drea Leed's Flemish dress. Drea has some really great information about how to construct a Flemish outfit as well. My mother is also very good at sewing (and she has a much more reliable sewing machine than I, as well as a serger), so I asked her if she would help me make my Flemish outfit. However, though my mother is a good seamstress, she isn't very adventurous, and decided there was no way she could possibly draft a pattern - she'd much rather sew from an existing pattern instead. Since she had graciously agreed to help me with this endeavor, I reluctantly decided to purchase a pattern rather than use Drea Leed's corset pattern generator, bodice pattern instructions, and gathered kirtle instructions. In the long run, I'm really wishing I hadn't, but hindsight is 20/20 (as we all know). In any case, I think my results were perfectly acceptable.

I started by looking through the patterns at Reconstructing History, and finally narrowed it down to either the Elizabethan Working Woman's Dress or the Netherlandish Woman's Dress. Unfortunately, the front covers of the patterns have not-so-great drawings of historical paintings as opposed to drawings of the dress that will be produced from the actual pattern being sold (or even better, a photo of someone wearing the dress made from the actual pattern!), and I couldn't quite tell which pattern would be more likely to produce an outfit like Jen Thompson's. I contacted Kass at Reconstructing History, and she told me that Jen's outfit was much more English than Flemish (???), and I'd probably be better off getting the Elizabethan Common Woman's Dress. Now, I don't know what the pattern pieces look like in the Netherlandish pattern, but the Elizabethan pattern has an overgown that closes completely up the front (even though one of the drawings on the front shows an overgown that's open several inches from top to bottom) and a partlet that is much simpler, smaller, and doesn't tie under the arms. My mother, my boyfriend Mark, and I started making a mock-up for the bodice piece, using the RH pattern.

Like a few other patterns I've seen, the top edge of the center front curves up. I have no idea what sort of body shape this bodice is meant to fit, but mine isn't it. The upwards curve produced a top edge that stood out away from my bust, and didn't do anything other than look silly. The bodice also seemed a bit short - I'm somewhat pear-shaped, so a waist seam that's too high will make me look like a triangle. We went back to the pattern and lengthened the bottom edge/waistline, brought the front down into a bit lower point, and folded the top edge (neckline) of the front piece down so that it went straight across instead of curving up.

Meanwhile, we were also making a couple of smocks out of 3.5 oz handkerchief-weight white linen from Fabrics-store.com. I used Simplicity 2621 for these (and I'm thinking that the drafter borrowed heavily from Drea Leed's Elizabethan Smock Pattern Generator). This is not the first time I've made the smock pattern, so I've figured out pretty much how to made it work. I've been using the size 10 pieces for the body of the smock and the size 16 sleeve pieces. It produces a smock that's fairly fitted through the bust and flares out a bit from there. I also decreased the amount of tapering that the sleeves do, in order to have fuller sleeves that can be rolled up.

Here's the pieces (minus the sleeves) for an Elizabethan smock. Notice anything wrong? Yup, the back piece is considerably shorter than the front piece. This is what happens when one has been working all day on various items of clothing and has not taken account of the "fold here for shorter smock" notation on the pattern piece one traced. Oops. The longer piece is correct, so we ended up sewing a piece onto the back to make them the same length.

The RH pattern instructions are rather sketchy in places, telling the sewer various ways things were done in period, but not always giving detailed directions for each step. Several things were left up to the sewer to decide how to do them, and other things needed to be modified or disregarded completely in order to make the pattern do what I wanted it to do. For the skirt pleats (in both the kirtle and overgown), I chose to make double box pleats, since I wanted the skirt to poof out as much as possible and also because the '"5 inches of fabric = 1 inch of pleating" meant that my 2 back skirt panels would condense almost perfectly to the bodice back waist measurement.

Here's the Flemish kirtle from the back. Ignore the disarray of the skirt (Mark didn't think to arrange it, so it's falling funny) and the wrinkles (this picture was taken on the 4th or 5th day of SCA Lilies War, and it's not the first time I'd worn the kirtle while I was there).

Here's the Flemish kirtle from the front. I'm not happy with the way it wrinkles under the bust, but it's too late now to sew boning between the outer and inner layers of fabric, so I think I'm just going to sew several strips of boning to the inside of the inner layer and just try to make the stitches as invisible as possible. I did use boning at the side seams, which helps some.

Remember the pattern discrepancies I mentioned earlier? They continued to the overgown as well. The side seam of the overgown front piece is 2/8" or 3/8" longer than the side seam of the overgown back piece, the armholes are very oddly shaped and don't lie flat against the body (mine, anyway), and one side of the skirt pattern piece is an inch shorter than the other side. We were too busy making new pattern pieces and pinning (and re-pinning) mockups to get pictures of this stage.

The overgown pattern piece in the Elizabethan Commonwomen's Outfit from Reconstructing History laces completely closed in the front, so I had to make several mockups to get the correct opening at the front for my Flemish dress. Looking at this makes me think I could have just used one of the vest patterns my mother was so fond of making 10 years ago! *laugh*

Here's the best mockup laced over my kirtle. It's puckering a bit more than I'd like, but it'll do. I'm using purple ribbon to lace it up because it's the best we had (we later bought some nice gold grosgrain ribbon).

I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to lace the overgown at first. I'd considered metal rings, but decided to use blue cord since I had originally wanted the overgown to be reversible, and cord could be sewed between the inner and outer layers of the bodice easily by machine. Also, the blue cord pretty much disappears against the blue of the kirtle, which is nice.

Here are the loops tacked onto the outer bodice layer, which is ready to be sewn to the lining and then turned right side out (which will then make the loops stick out instead of in).

Here's the finished Flemish gown! I chose to make the sleeves tie-on instead of pin-on, since I really liked the way the ribbons look. The sleeves are reversible - green on one side (to match the overgown) and blue on the other (to match the kirtle). I chose to make the overgown not be open the whole way down, since I really liked the way Jen Thompson's version looked. Pardon the lack of a partlet - I've still got to draft a pattern for it and make it, though that should happen very soon (I want to have it ready by Pennsic).

Here's my Flemish dress from the side. Jen Thompson discusses the possibility of wearing a bumroll with her dress as a means to give the very full back seen in some period paintings. I found that 3 layers of double box pleats (the overgown lining was pleated inwards instead of outwards) produces a very satisfactory poof. I'm hoping it will still look like this after a full season of washing and wear.

Unlike the pattern for my dress, the pattern for Mark's tunic was decent (Reconstructing History's 12th-16th Century Peasant Man). The only thing we had to fix were the sleeves, which were both too long and too tapered. The good thing was that by shortening the sleeves, we also fixed the tapering problem.

Here my mother models Mark's tunic. She's a little bit shorter than he. *grin*

I should mention that I'm aware that my choice of color combination may not be completely period-accurate, but Mark and I have been using blue, green, and gold as the more-or-less official colors of our band (the Tulstin Troubadours). I designed our outfits to use those colors and coordinate so as to be a band uniform of sorts. His green tunic will also have blue linen stockings, and we're both going to have blue hoods lined with gold (mine will be a liripipe hood to go with my 14th century fitted kirtles). All of our garb uses 5.3 oz. mid-weight (IL019) cobalt blue, emerald green, and mustard yellow linen from Fabrics-store.com. My smocks are 3.5 oz handkerchief-weight (IL020) bleached white linen, as will my partlet be once I make it. The black partlet will be made from 7.1 oz heavy-weight (4C22) black softened linen (I'm going for as much warmth as I can get - I might possibly use the linen as lining and do the outer fabric in black velvet if I can find some for cheap.)

Fantasy Artists of Etsy Exhibition - Return to Renaissance

2011-07-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

The Fantasy Artists of Etsy team have done a gorgeous exhibition filled with Renaissance-themed creations! Check it out!

Brrrr....

2011-01-24T20:52:00.001-08:00

It's so cold outside, I decided to make a nice warm sunny treasury to make everyone feel better!

A Bright Sunshiny Day

Fitted Kirtles In Action!

2011-01-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

I've just uploaded three pictures to my Flickr photostream that show my cream-colored and parti-colored kirtles "in action"; the parti-colored is worn at the Kansas City Renaissance Faire and the cream-colored is worn at last year's Pennsic. Click on any to see them full size.

Black Friday - Cyber Monday Sale!

2010-11-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

Looking for a great deal on jewelry and other fun stuff? Use the code BlackCyberBonanza to get 10% off in my Etsy shop between Black Friday (Nov. 26) and Cyber Monday (Nov. 29).

New Etsy Treasuries!

2010-10-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

My Arwen headdress has been featured in two gorgeous fantasy treasuries - "My Dream Wedding" by Magilicuty and "Woodland Chic" by my friend and fellow Etsy Austin member Gypsyharte!

I've also been having fun making bunches of new treasuries, so here they are!

Deep Ocean - "A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets." - Gloria Stuart

Geeks In B&W - Geeks in Black & White! Science, math, grammar, sci-fi, etc.

"Don't Worry. I'm The Doctor" - Inspired by the awesomeness that is Dr. Who.

The Doctor Is In - More Geek Doctors! Doctors Who, Horrible, House, Brown, Tam, and more!

Looks Tasty...But Don't Eat! - Man, these creations look tasty...but don't eat them!

Giant Parti-Colored Kirtle Of Doom!

2010-09-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

O.K., so I didn't get the kirtle finished in time for the first weekend. It's looking like it's going to be ready for the second! (Of course, since I didn't have it ready for the first, I ended up borrowing my boyfriend Mark's one extra set of garb for this past Monday, and went to faire as a boy.) *grin*

Here it is, all laid out, pinned, and ready to be sewn (except the sleeves, which I fitted onto myself).

I got no sleep last night whatsoever, opting instead to watch many, many episodes of "Dharma & Greg" and sew buttonholes. These are my very first hand-stitched buttonholes, so I think I did ok for a first try. I had Mark pin me into the dress to figure out where the buttons should go, since my measurements must have been quite off somewhere, and thus the really crooked row of buttons. I made the buttonholes as straight and as evenly spaced as possible, hoping to make up for the randomness of the buttons.

Here's the (almost) finished kirtle! The bottom edge isn't hemmed yet (if you look closely, you can see pins), and I think I'm going to make a very, very small hem on the sleeves (to hide the machine zig zag edge). Since it buttons instead of laces (like my natural-colored kirtle does), it's not *quite* as tight as I'd like, so I'm thinking about sewing some minimal supportive padding in the bust area, just to help prevent sagging.

By the way, I'm using 3.5 oz. handkerchief-weight linen from Fabrics-store.com. I used a mid-weight linen for my cream-colored kirtle, and I like the way it drapes much better, though the part-colored kirtle is a bit better when it's a bajillion degrees outside. *grin*

In Which I Express My Affinity For Parenthetical Statements

2010-09-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a long night. and I spent a lot of time today (technically yesterday) practicing music and learning new songs for Kansas City Renaissance Festival (for which we're leaving this Thursday night). Since we've got a 3 day weekend coming up, and I'll jump at the chance to *not* wear my too-small-and-therefore-tight-and-uncomfortable Moreseca bodice (it works better when it's cold out), I've decided to go ahead and use the 3.5 oz. handkerchief-weight cobalt blue and forest green linen from Fabrics-store.com that I've got left to make a parti-colored fitted kirtle to wear one day this coming weekend. When I'm done, it'll look something like the kirtle on this page but with no hood (yet.) My first kirtle (which I made out of mid-weight natural-colored linen) turned out really good, but I'm going to widen the neckline by an inch on each side, add 1/2 an inch to each front center edge (so it won't be *quite* so tight when I sit), and shorten the whole thing by 2.5 inches since the first one ended up really long (not sure what happened there...) I have all of the green pieces cut out, and now I'm taking a short break to eat the chocolate chip mocha muffin loaf I baked while I was cutting the pieces. Mmmm.

I know, I haven't posted any pictures of my first kirtle. It's because I finished sewing it in the car on the way to Pennsic, and no one has posted any pictures of me from Pennsic (though I *know* there are a lot out there, because people took pictures of us every time we busked). I will get pictures of me wearing it next time I have it on, and I'll get pics of the blue & green kirtle after I'm done with it. For now, I leave you with a picture of the chocolate -

"What do you do?" "Oh, I collect hobbies."

2010-08-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

A few days back, I answered an email I got from the Austin Crafts For Free group (think Freecycle for craft supplies) from a wonderful woman who had quite a few inkle looms and was not only giving most of them away, but was also offering instruction on how to use them. I sqee'd loud enough to disturb the neighbors (ok, that *might* be an exaggeration), and told her I'd love to have a loom and some instruction. Yesterday, I drove over to her house and met a mother and daughter who were also interested in learning, and we all had a lovely couple of hours of instruction and trying out our new looms. I started with a very basic weave (no patterns yet, though I'm dying to learn how to make some of the ones I've seen), and used the same yarn for the warp as for the weft - a really pretty blue/purple/teal variegated yarn of the plain "Red Heart" variety.

Here's the loom -

Here's my first weaving!

I can't wait to learn and weave more!

More Amelie Treasuries

2010-08-31T11:27:00.001-07:00

Amelie is such an awesome movie that I had to make two more treasuries on Etsy!

The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, Part Deux

The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, Part Trois

New Collection / New Treasury!

2010-08-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

My Beadmaille Mask has been featured in an awesome collection over at Artfire -

What Kind Of Mask Do You Hide Behind?

Also, I've just created a treasury on Etsy inspired by one of my favorite movies -

The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain

We Are The Children Of The Revolution!

2010-08-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

"Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!"

"Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever."

Behold - a selection of treasuries that embody the very soul of bohemian ideals!

He loves me, He loves ME and that is worth everything by thesedefineme on Etsy
Truth. Beauty. Freedom. But most of all ... Love. by AsteraPallas on Etsy
One night at The Moulin Rouge by thesoapgoatsoapshop on Etsy
Bohemian... by Nataliaraya on Etsy
{ Master Filmmaker Series: Moulin Rouge Part 1, Costume } by alienlabel on Etsy
Moulin Rouge! by zombiedisco on Etsy
Courtesan by SarahRoseReynolds on Etsy

It's Raining Treasuries!

2010-08-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

My "Beautiful Courtesan's Wedding Necklace" was just selected to be part of two Moulin Rouge-inspired treasuries - "Truth. Beauty. Freedom. But most of all ... Love." and "He loves me, He loves ME and that is worth everything".

"Love - is a many splendored thing...love lifts us up where we belong...all you need is love!"

Hedgie's Favorites

2010-08-03T04:14:00.000-07:00

Hedgie, the official mascot of the Tulstin Troubadours, decided that it wasn't fair that I was making all of these treasuries, and he decided that he wanted to try his paw at making one, too. Here it is - what do you think?

I'm On A Roll!

2010-08-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from sewing my new fitted kirtle mockup (and apparently taking a break from sleeping as well), and made an Etsy treasury for my nephew, Chase, who is about to turn 1 at the end of this month! He loves monkeys, cars, and soccer.

Brand New Austin Etsy Treasury!

2010-08-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

All of my friends have made treasuries on Etsy, and somehow I'd got it into my head that one had to pay money to make a treasury (bid, or what have you). Silly me! I just made my very first Etsy treasury, called "Awesome Austin" - all Austin in juicy orange, pretty pink, and basic black.

"Awesome Austin" Etsy Treasury

Reconstructing History Patterns

2010-07-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

Since I've been posting a lot about my garb sewing projects lately, I thought I'd focus a bit on Reconstructing History patterns. Kass McCann, who makes the patterns, thoroughly researches all of her garments and has lots of helpful and interesting articles on her site that cover everything from sewing tips (A Beginner's Guide to Historic Clothing, Handstitching Basics, Pleating Techniques, and Research Techniques) to articles on specific time periods (Late Medieval, Tudor & Elizabethan, 1603-1660s, Golden Age of Piracy, and Georgian/Baroque) to articles on clothing of specific areas (Irish, Japanese, Scottish, and Polish).

I recently bought my first RH pattern, the 14th Century Women's Sideless Surcote. I attempted to make a sideless surcote from a Simplicity pattern many years ago, and it was something of a disaster. I'm glad to have a well-researched, accurate pattern at last, and also glad that it covers many historical variations (the side openings can be either rounded or square, and can be of varying lengths).

Once I've got some money saved up and am no longer in danger of not being able to pay rent and bills (ah, the joy of self-employment!), I'd like to add the following Medieval RH patterns to my collection -

14th century Women's Kirtle or Cotehardie
The kirtle is the fitted dress that is worn beneath the sideless surcote. The RH pattern has many variations for this garment.

Medieval Irish Moy Gown
The original Moy gown was found in a bog in Ireland, and is one of two extant garments that offer a good example of what Medieval Irish people actually wore. Since my SCA persona is Irish, I thought that this would be a fabulous dress to make. However, the nice folks at RH tell me that this is probably one of their most difficult patterns to sew, so I decided to start with the more basic kirtle and surcote and leave the Moy gown for later (though I definitely want to make one!)

14th century Man's Cotehardie
This is the men's version of the kirtle. My boyfriend and musical partner (from the Tulstin Troubadours) Mark would like one of these, so I'm thinking of making him one in some combination of blue, green, and yellow. For myself, I'm thinking of making the kirtle in yellow with a parti-colored sideless surcote in blue and green.

14th century Man's Accessories
These are the accessories that go with the man's cotehardie, though I'm betting that I could use the liripipe hood pattern for myself as well. It would be a lovely addition to the rest of the outfit for the beginning of Sherwood Forest Faire, which started out really rather cold this year, and likely will again next year.

Since I haven't bought any of the patterns except the sideless surcote, I'd like to know if any of my readers own these patterns and have tried making them. Do you have any tips or suggestions?

Elizabethan Smock Update

2010-07-12T22:03:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the size 10 Elizabethan smock in May, and I was much happier with it than with the size 16 smock that the pattern seemed to think I needed based on my measurements. The one downside was that the upper part of the sleeves were a bit too tight on my arms. Also, the fabric is more of a dark navy - this picture makes it seem much lighter than it really is.

I debated ripping out the seam in the sleeves and either adding a panel or adding lacing or some other type of connecting device, but ended up deciding to just take out the main seam from the armpit to the elbow, since I had done a zig-zag stitch over the two edges of the fabric. Ripping out the main seam left me with the zig-zag stitch as the only thing holding the sleeve together, but it also gave me about an extra inch around the upper part of the sleeve. I've worn the smock 2 or 3 times since then, and it seems to hold together relatively well.

I made a second smock from the same blue linen (from Fabrics-store.com), and used the size 16 sleeves with the size 10 body. I also drafted my own under-arm gussets, since I really didn't like the way the gussets looked that came with the pattern. The pattern uses square gussets, turned sideways to look like diamonds. I stitched the sleeve to the body of the smock, ending the stitching where the gusset ought to start, tried it on, held my arm straight up, and measured the resulting gap. I drafted a diamond gusset that is much narrower than it is tall, and the second smock fits better and doesn't "blouse out" under the arms.

I've got a lovely piece of forest green linen that was meant to be used for a third smock, but I'm seriously tempted to try my hand at making a fitted, supportive kirtle, since I took a class at Lilies War (SCA) that taught me how to draft one. I also bought the Reconstructing History "14th century Sideless Surcote" pattern, though I think I'll need to buy more linen to make that. I had actually originally intended to make the fitted kirtle out of yellow linen and make a parti-colored surcote, like this, only out of blue and green -

Once I can get enough money to buy the linen, I think I'll try this. Stay tuned!

New Elizabethan Smocks!

2010-04-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm getting ready to go to The Oklahoma Renaissance Faire (where I'll be performing all 5 weekends!) I've got a perfectly good Moresca bodice and a nice Tudor-style skirt with false underskirt that I made to match.

You can see the white chemise I made in the picture above; it is one of two identical chemises. However, I'm going to be staying in Oklahoma from the 2nd weekend through the 4th weekend (camping), which means I'll need 6 shirts. I found the Elizabethan Smock Pattern Generator (from the same awesome website as the Elizabethan Corset Pattern Generator), and was about to start making some smocks using that, until I realized that my new Simplicity Pattern (#2621) has a smock (they call it a shift) which looks almost identical to the smock on the Pattern Generator. Since this Simplicity pattern looks like the result of some *actual research* on the drafter's part (a shock and surprise, I know), I think I'm going to go ahead and use it so that I can avoid having to draft my own pattern. Taking the lazy way out, aw, yeah... *grin*

I made the white chemises with IL019 5.3 oz/yd linen from Fabrics-store.com, but decided I wanted something even lighter-weight for the next batch since it can get pretty hot in Oklahoma in May. So, I bought some IL020, 3.5 oz/yd linen in a gorgeous Cobalt, Emerald, and Clean Green. I'm going to use the Simplicity pattern to make four smocks/shifts, though I may not make all four knee-length as the pattern suggests. I have a thought that I might use one knee-length smock as an overdress, with a long skirt under it and a crop bodice over. Not exactly period-accurate, but I think it wouldn't look too bad and would certainly be more comfortable in 8-10 hours outside in the heat. Not sure though; I haven't found a really good pattern for a crop bodice, though. Does anyone know of one?

Vegan Steampunk-y Shoes & Stuff

2010-01-14T20:36:00.001-08:00

I was alerted to a post about vegan steampunk sites on Live Journal, and found out about an awesome vegetarian (mostly vegan - the underbust corsets are trimmed in silk and there's one wool coat) steampunk shop called Clockwork Couture. I'm really loving this site! They have some nice things - I find it amusing that the brown ruffled drawstring organic cotton skirt I purchased from Whole Foods last year is on the site as well; I hadn't really thought of it as being particularly Victorian, but it does have that vibe. (Just a bit!)

Someone mentioned wanting to have information about vegan steampunk-style shoes, and I realized that I happened to have a bunch of links to shoes that fit that description.

Here's what I've got - if anyone has other sites that sell vegan steampunk shoes/clothing/etc., let me know!

*New Holly Boot from Ethical Wares
*Para boot by Vegetarian Shoes
*Pennangalan has all manner of vegetarian boots, like the Gloria and the Linda Flare. They have a specific category for "Steampunk", but unfortunately, all of those are leather.
*MooShoes has a bunch of nice stuff, like the Elizabeth Boot, the Alexandra Shoe, the Lola Shoe, the Nelly, the Phoebe, and the Narmada Boot.
*TUK Shoes has some neat boots, like this, this, and this.
*Pussycat Shoes tends a bit more towards pin-up, but they've got this pair of boots and this pair of heels.

Product Suggestions?

2010-01-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

I'm playing around with ideas for what I can add to my Etsy and Artfire shops next. Do you have a suggestion of something you'd like to see? A specific piece of jewelry from your favorite film? Something you could wear with a certain outfit? Something you'd love to see me create and produce, even though you think it probably can't be done? *grin*

I'm all ears!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T06:25:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, all! I'm about to head into my kitchen to make some yummy vegan cornbread, black eyed peas, and spinach (couldn't find collard greens), but first I wanted to let everyone know that I've just added several pairs of polymer clay horns to my Etsy and Artfire stores, and am in the process of adding even more nifty stuff. Coming next - my best-selling Arwen Bridge Headdress!

Also, I'm a member of a two person Renaissance/Celtic music duo named the Tulstin Troubadours, and we have a CD called "Rennies Of Unusual Sound". It has a mixture of instrumentals and vocals, with all sorts of instruments (my boyfriend plays harp, whistle, recorder, and panpipes while I play flute, whistle, bodhran, harp, and bowed psaltery, and we both sing).

My Etsy store is http://knightimecreations.etsy.com

My Artfire store is http://knightimecreations.artfire.com

Our CD can be purchased at either my Etsy or Artfire stores or from Kunaki - http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00ZEL4NY, and musical samples can be heard here - http://www.tulstintroubadours.com/Media.html

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

Free Shipping!

2009-12-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

I'm having a sale in my ArtFire Studio! Now's a great time to get holiday gifts! Use the code Holiday-Free-Shipping from Dec. 7-24 for free shipping on every item!

Sales!

2009-11-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

I'm having a sale in My ArtFire Studio! Now's a great time to get holiday gifts! Use the code Gift-Gear-Up for 10% off every item for the rest of the month! I'm also offering Free Shipping for every order placed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday with the code FREE-IS-THE-NEW-BLACK.

How Do You Get To Carnagie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

2009-11-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

This evening, I've been practicing music with my boyfriend and musical partner, Mark. We've been working on "Como Poden", a song from the Cantigas de Santa Maria. I'm supposed to play the psaltery (double bow technique) and sing in 14th century Portuguese Gallician. Very exciting, I assure you. *grin*

Tomorrow, I'm going to unpack my craft/jewelry stuff (just moved into a lovely new apartment!) and I'm going to put up some new jewelry in my Artfire and Etsy stores. I'm going to start up an awesome sale for a very limited time, so stay tuned!

EtsyVeg Earthly Riches Giveaway

2009-04-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am one of the shops participating in the EtsyVeg Earthly Riches giveaway! There are 20 prizes in 5 prize categories, with multiple chances to win. You will find one hidden Earth image in 20 shops, including mine - if you find them all you can earn an entry for the grand prize, worth over $100! You can also earn FIVE entries for the grand prize by spending $25 in this shop, and FIVE entries for the first prize for spending $10 (please see rules for details)!

For complete rules and details on how to enter, including a list of shops participating and prizes, please see the EtsyVeg blog. The giveaway runs from April 22-28.

Linen, Linen, and More Linen!

2009-04-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Last week, I got my order from Fabrics-store.com. I bought some lovely chocolate-colored linen and some bright white mid-weight linen to make chemises and bloomers for the upcoming run of the Oklahoma Renaissance Faire in Muskogee, where I will be performing (with a contract! Yay!) as a lane and Maypole musician. I washed the linen on cold and machine dryed it, and it's wonderfully soft. I've got a chemise and bloomers cut out of the brown linen, only to discover that I don't have any brown thread! *headdesk* Oh, well. I'll go ahead and cut and sew the white chemises (I've got white thread), and I'll pick up some brown thread tomorrow at lunch. It makes perfect sense, but I still feel a bit irked that I have all of this brown and green garb here and somehow managed to not have any brown thread. *sigh*

At least the work is going fairly quickly! It's nice to get things accomplished!

An Update

2009-04-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

The weather here in central Texas is quite lovely today! Not too hot, not too cold, with a nice breeze that stops short of being too windy. *smile*

Last night, I made two wire-wrapped crystal necklaces: one opal aura crystal and one regular crystal. I almost finished making an aqua aura crystal necklace at lunch - did everything but the clasp (since I ran out of them last night). As soon as I got out of work today, I'm made a trip to Sea of Beads and buy some more. I usually tend to favor lobster claw clasps for necklaces, but I've been using fancy toggle clasps for these crystal necklaces. Readers, what do you prefer (if you have a preference?)

I'm going to be vending at Belaharr's CD release party at Ruta Maya this Friday from 6-10. Here's the specifics -

Where: Ruta Maya Headquarters, S. Congress near Ben White, Austin, TX
Notes: Belaharr's new CD, "Belly Up" (specifically made for bellydancers) as well as a re-mastered version of their first CD, "Worlds" will be available. Dancers include the Typsy Gypsys, Rania, Alana Shea, and Yamina. Doors at 6pm with food by Ararat, show 7-9 pm. Kids welcome! $5.00 cover

I'm hoping to make some bellydance pieces for the show. I have several in mind; it's just a matter of getting them done before I go to bed tomorrow night. *grin* I will definitely have some beaded "Gypsy Bells" anklets as well as some fun hair falls. If you're in the area, come check it out! The music and the food will be great!

First Post!

2009-04-05T21:44:00.001-07:00

Goodness, a first post is always so intimidating! What to put?

Well, I just got an Artfire shop so that I can see how it compares to my Etsy shop. I just need to list some items in it! I'm also working on some new wire-wrapped crystals, so look for those in one or both shops (hopefully) sometime this week! Tomorrow, I'm going to take my existing inventory down to one of the local vintage shops - the owner was impressed by my wire-wrapped titanium aura crystal necklace, and told me to bring stuff for possible commission. Woot!

In other news, I'm getting ready for my first *paid* season as a performer at the Oklahoma Renaissance Faire in Muskogee. I'm so excited! I bought a gorgeous new bodice from Moresca online, but it won't get here until after the Media Weekend (next to last weekend in April), so I figured I'd make another bodice for that weekend. Never hurts to have two different bodices - options are good! I used an online custom corset pattern generator, modified it to be a 16th century bodice, and cut it out of cheap fabric. Well, the sides weren't long enough, nor was the bottom front, and i have a sneaking suspicion that the front needs to be wider and scoop-ier. (New word. Like it?) Tomorrow, I'm going to have my boyfriend help me make a duct tape dressmaker's dummy so I can alter this pattern correctly. Wish me luck!