Steampunk Jewelry: Insect mania... :D

So a few days ago I said I'd post some photos up. So far I've been slacking. Actually I've been painfully busy. There was the most fantastic party this weekend - great people and music - and OMG models. Models wearing my jewelry. it was an EVENT! :D

anyway, it seems of late I've got a lot of insects around my etsy shop. I love bugs, beetles, bees and spiders. Suddenly I realize I've got a LOT of steampunk insect themes. Maybe there is an entomologist hidden in my soul yearing to create? I would love to study insects but I think I'll have to beg off for a few years while I'm fixated on the steampunk jewelry. So, here's a few of my steampunk insect themed jewelry. Maybe I have the same facination with insects that the Victorian's had? To be honest they make me jump but I do like them.

So Above in this post: Beetle Wing Necklace: Made from real insect wings :) Scary but true - they are this incredible chrome green colour.

Image 2: this fantastic Steampunk Bee necklace. Not the best photo I know... there are more photos on my
http://www.clockworkzero.etsy.com/ - this is a really elegant creation. I searched for months to find matching small gears for this piece - they flank the wings and there are matching watch gears too. The only little element that is not an exact match is the fact that one side has a brass coloured gear while the other is silver. Oh well. :D I could have removed them but then it would lose such a nice element of this piece. More photos of it and a longer description are over on my little site.

Then we have another bee. this is much more "fun" then the queen bee here - an interesting combination of a new "vintage" designed pressing and a light bulb! :D

This piece was a nightmare to photograph. The bulb was so difficult to get right and the light has been terrible of late.

It came out fairly well but looks much better in person. Thebrass gear in the centre is really quite fantastic. I wrote a bit about it... Its called (i feel appropriately): The Mystery of Bees

Now lets see what else I've got up on etsy that will go into this post.
Basically this was the piece that started the "Clockwork Insect" post.... I finally finished it last week and got some time to take photos. I'm so pleased with it. It is just FANTASTIC really... I Love it. Sure someone else will love it too... but I just hope whomever buys it will like it as much as me. lol. Does anyone else have that problem?

I photographed it with natural light but had to remove a lot of colour from the wood in this shot via photoshop. The wings reflected all the colour... you can still see a bit of warmth to it.

There is a great description of this unique piece of steampunk jewelry... while its still for sale. I am suspecting someone will buy it. Wouldn't it be great against black? Stunning!

And you know..
just to through a Monkey into the mix...
I'll be putting up my Monkey soon to my etsy site. Sort of a monkey wrench into the works of this post ;)

jewel beetle wings and other steampunk things

I spent a part of yesterday drilling out beelte wings. They really look fantastic. Plus.. i love drilling things - funny but true. I even made myself a version of this necklace ::GASP:: = something I rarely do.


The colours are really stunning. I never thought I would wear chrome green.. lol. its GREEN but how amazing really. Depending on the light there is hints of yellow as well as hints of an incredible blue.

I have been really busy this weekend. I even got a fanpage up on Facebook - shocking but true! so far a few of my friends/ ex-coworkers have joined which is kind of fun.

Steampunk Clockwork Jewelry - Insects & Bugs

I have been spending hours working on Clockwork Jewel Beetles and its driving me crazy! LoL. Seriously - there is something about hunching over bits of watches and gears and beetle wings...

yes beetle wings!
Ages ago I bought some Jewel Beetle wings - which is kind of gross - but still very very cool. They've been used for hundreds of years to make jewelry and in ... embroidery. They are this insanely beautiful chrome-green colour, and they are hard as heck too. I actually have to drill through them.

See, this is how the crazieness begins. Hunching over beetle wings til my shoulders creak with tension... taking it apart no less than 15 times. Drilling holes (in wings!) - finding out that for some reason the glues I thought would work - CHANGE THE COLOUR! eeek! buying the old glue - in general I use only a tiny amount of glue anyway on the wings --- after all who would want to cover up that gorgeous green!

Anyway, I keep getting New Ideas as I was making them. There will be 2.... One will be a commission and because I really want these things to come out perfectly, there was nothing to do but take them apart and redrill wings, tinker and tailor and redo them.

One clockwork beetle will go for sale on www.clockworkzero.etsy.com and one is a commission. I was contacted by someone who wanted me to make something like the one that sold (pictured above). Of course............. I can't just duplicate it (even if that were possible). Nope. Gotta improve on the design... gotta take it apart. Gotta try 12 different "tails".

In the end I hope I'll make $0.36 cents an hour. ;) And as I sit here writing - I'm thinking I could make another one. .

yup. there's someone crazy living in this house.

it must be The Cat.

stumbling back into the fray...

Been ages since I've had the desire to blog. I've kept an LJ for 8 years - so really I sometimes get worn out and have to disappear for a while. But once again I'm baaaaaack.
heh.

I've been working on some new steampunk jewelry - but more and more I've been tinkering with some bone/gear and metal sculptural pieces. Sorta cyberpunk/steampunk, since they are in a way sister genres. I often though wonder if I'm alone in that thought. Is there anyone else out there who is a steampunk/cyberpunk jewelry maker? hm. I'd be happy to get to know you if so.

But there is some Big News:

Last week I was approached by Simon & Schulster Canada to help promote a new YA Steampunk novel by Scott Westerfeld called LEVIATHAN. I just got the wonderful Advanced Reader's Copy. Now my job is to make a book "slip cover"... a fancy-dancy book cover to go over the cover - allowing the reader to take it off to protect another book. Its likely been far too long since I've done leather work to do an amazing job - and not everyone loves leather. I know many people who won't wear leather - so I'm leaning towards a sewable material. I doubt it will be faux-leather, because mostly that stuff doesn't have the right feel. I am thinking though that this will likely end up being more for display vs real use... so likely the front will be quite 3D.

I've got a few ideas for it as well. Perhaps an airplane. Perhaps a bee - since bees are frequently mentioned in the novel. One of the super fancy bees might be nice but perhaps a bit too delicate. Then of course there should be some clockwork looking things right? Maybe a lovely large shiny gear? Or a pretty porcelain pocketwatch face? Some combination?

I'm going to do some metal corners too... perhaps in aged brass, some kind of scroll work.

Now I might need someone to do the sewing unless i can find/borrow/beg a sewing machine. Or i can handsew it. But ideally, I would be able to make a few of these book slip covers. They'd be perfect gifts... but I suspect they will take quite some time to make. Will people be willing to buy them is always the question.

I'm quite thrilled to be given the opportunity to do something outside of my regular steampunk jewelry. Not that i don't love it - but I love getting a challenge. I've seen many a hideous book slipcover - and I've seen some very nice leather ones too - but I am looking forward to designing something original and hopefully stunning. hmhmhmmm.

time to go shopping and see what interesting materials I can find!
Maybe I should write to Scott and see if he has any ideas. what a fun challenge!

Time Crunches a Steampunk Jeweler's Brain

Finally! an update.. but not a huge one. Time crunches my brain, but I'm planning on changing that. Although I've been working on a time traveller device that would allow me to actually go back to the days when i had more time to make jewelry, the device is sadly missing something vital. All it does is just sit there! ;)

So I'm thinking of quitting my day job. The one that pays the rent and bills, and making this a full(er) time venture. its madness. The economy sucks. The sales are a bit slow. but my well paying job... sucks. i get home so depressed and sad, usually with a headache. Sometimes with a migraine.

Between my husband and I we will... be okay if i quit. They won't give me a leave and there are no other positions in the company now. They are asking us to work longer hours (without pay), dress up in Business clothes (no idea why), do more and more. The end result is some hard misery.

So although it seems madness, I told my supervisor this week I'm going to leave the job in April. I'll be doing some hours for my brother, helping people set up web stats (something i'm really good at), and basically... making steampunk jewelry. crazy but true.In other news!

I finally finished my Steampunk Bee design, and I'm really happy with the elements. My husband suggested the price, but I think its a bit too high. I'll be eventually changing it a bit to something slightly more affordable I hope. I love bees........... i should do more bees! And i will too.

So here's the photo. Let me know what you think. There's a few more photos up on etsy - my clockworkzero.etsy site: steampunk bee



The silver bee has been adorned with some simple gears taken from a vintage watch. She is connected to these absolutely gorgeous pocket watch pieces by faceted iolite set into sterling silver. Iolite is a pretty stone - a blue grey colour. I've also added some tiny iolite beads in between the links.

Now the pocket watch pieces are just incredible. It took a long time to find a nice pair that both had some damaskeening (that is the patterning in the metal) and the elaborate engraving. They aren't quite a matched set - since the engraving is a bit different - but they are almost a perfect match in size. Do have a look at the close ups I've provided - since they really show off the fine quality. As you can see these pocketwatch pieces come from Waltham pocketwatches. Based on a guesstimate and a comment from the watch repairman that I got the orignal watches from they were made around 1900-1920 or so.

clockwork insects: my steampunk bugs

I don't think I really have had a chance to talk too much about the steampunk insects I'm working on. This one is the first, and so far the best. I do though plan on making a few small ones - only an inch or two across. Last night I was doing some soldering of old vintage brass onto old vintage watch pieces. This one though - the wings move - which makes it special I feel.

The drop is, I believe, Peridot, set in sterling silver. The shape worked best with this Steampunk Insect... suggesting beauty and danger. Perhaps a deadly drop of poison? I think it is a beautiful, dangerous clockwork insect. I'll have to see about designing a chain for it as well.
I love making steampunk jewelry. Makes my heart tick!