Sigh. Commission ...fail?

Sigh. Commission.. fail?

The steampunk insect here .. was a commission. Or so I thought.

It took many hours to make - just to get it right. But I've not heard from the person in over 10 days. I dunno if he thought it was too expensive (like under $100) - and it easily took around 10hrs to make. Plus materials. It isn't like I make a lot...

I'm really kind of disappointed.

It is always possible though.. something has gone wrong. Or he's on vacation.

so what do i do? Sell it or ...wait?

anyway.. I just wish I knew. He was very very keen and wrote a lot

and has been quite specific.

sigh.

depressed!

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.

Steampunk Jewelry - new work finally!

Steampunk jewely - finally some new stuff! lol.

This little piece is my snake goddess - steampunk meet goth!

I've been swamped lately and then had a sudden burst of creativity. It happens - I don't know if other artists feel the same way - but all of a sudden everything started coming together. I created 3 or 4 new necklaces... all steampunk. :D

I love making steampunk jewelry - and combining new and very old materials. I lucked out and found a few very nice pieces.

I've been absolutely stunned at some of the prices work is going for these days - some is quite cheap (but then you get cheap looking stuff). But MY GODS - some of it is so very overpriced that I almost fell over when I saw the Cheap Looking Stuff that was so very over rated. It was stunning.

I'm sure I'm opening myself up to some possible flames... but holy gee some of it looks....... terrible. But then I guess it is just my tastes aren't that common. I'm sure there will be some people who think my own work looks like crap too. :) heh.
maybe this is how old jewelers felt when they saw knockoffs and chrome and plated materials? Did they think, "omg who would buy that?" and "are you joking?" Come to think of it: my dad gave me the same look when I showed him my work. :D

Steampunk book coverings - Works in Progress

Well, went over to my friend's place yesterday to "sew" the book covering for the Simon and Schuster commission for Scott Westerfeld's new book, Leviathan

I've chosen two materials - and likely will go with the first one... Its a nice faux-suede, a bit heavier than the other colour. There's a camel-brown (not really beige - but sorta!) and a green. The green - sort of an olive military green - is quite nice but a bit lighter. I had cut the patterns out - and drawn lines where I needed to sew.... but since i've no machine - I had to go to my friend's place to do it.

Of course going to a friend's place means coffee, lunch and more coffee. We're both photographers so I spent time reviewing her latest work, giving opinions on her jewelry designs (great idea but it will be tricky!) - and talking.

We finally got around to sewing around 4pm. The first, lighter material - was easy. The second one (camel colour) was ................ well. Looks like i need to learn to mark patterns better. After 2 shots we had it done.

I'm a bit nervous. The book covers are pretty exact. Its what they wanted - as far as I can tell. And I detest the idea of them being floppy. So they are snug. How many books will they actually fit? No idea. In my mind they likely won't be used all over the place. Come on, if you won a prize that is covered with silver and gears - how often would you tote it around? Maybe a few times - to show off? How many times would you put in other books? Maybe once or twice.

I think this will look so fantastic that someone will just simply leave it on Leviathan and adore it that way :D

Anyway, the covers got sewn. Now comes the FUN part! For me sewing is Not Fun. but anyway.... i'll be laying out some ideas and sending it to the people at Simon & Shulster Canada and seeing what they think. If it all looks good............. then away I go!

Getting Glued - or why Epoxy is just like Baking

Oh boy! I've just received some DiamondGlaze and it looks goooooood...
I suspect - should all go well today - I make actually start making some new steampunk jewelry.

I'm also going to be testing out some new glues. It looks warm enough to open the windows -- because I certainly don't want lung damage. One of the test glues will be the e6000 product - which looks good in theory though - holy crap it has a number of warnings on it. hm. I'm always reluctant to use things that can end up getting absorbed into the skin.. and you know - cause some weird long term effects.

Anyone want to talk about glue? lol. Its def one of my fav subjects. Getting one thing to stick to another. I've really no great luck on soldering to be honest. Mostly due to the range of materials I use. Soldering steel? arg. soldering copper to brass, brass to steel, steel to aluminum, ... i seriously get nightmares.

Unlike my Dad - who has a lifetime of luck and skill - I just am not a fan of epoxies. Nothing wrong with a good old epoxy. Really expoxies - the 2 part kind - rule the stars. Unfortunately epoxies and I aren't the best of buddies. I dunno. I mix well. Really I do. I suspect it is the measuring. Maybe what I should do is load up 2 syringes with hardner and glue and then squeeze out exactly the correct amount.

I think using epoxies is much baking. Seriously... I'm a cook. I can't bake. Oh sure, once ever 5 years I will bake. In fact I baked up some awesome banana bread last week. But really all that ... measuring. it drives me crazy. 1/4 of a teaspoon? Are you kidding me? What happens if i am making a half batch? I then either wing it or google up "whats a half of a quarter of a teaspoon?".

Evidently my poor broken brain agrees. Measuring epoxy is Just Like Baking. I end up with too much glue or too much hardner, or break the not-to-be-broken rule of "Mix Yer Epoxy for One Solid Minute or Else".

I suspect I don't have the attention span of 60 seconds. sure thing I can spend 45 minutes taking apart a piece of machine, or 2 hrs picking through gears the size of a 1yr old's little toenail, but can i sit there mixing Epoxy for 60 seconds? seems not.

To be fair though - there are some epoxies I've had luck with. Just not a consistant result. I'm going to try out this stuff and will let you all know.

so any one out there love a glue?

ClockworkZero out :)

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!

EarthHour in Toronto - lights out

well folk, just a quick update, for the night. There's many new things happening in my life.... but for now, its lights out here soon in Toronto. We're shutting down a bit early and enjoying the darkness.

It's Earth Hour - our second - and the city is getting dark. I do hope our neighbours know about it = the lights are a blazing.

Steampunk Jewelry on WIRED Magazine - Etsy, Technology & ClockworkZero's steampunk jewelry

So there's this Geek Magazine i've read for the last decade: WIRED has a very positive article on ETSY. For all you etsy people out there - do take a look. Share it around - its nice to have some super positive ETSY articles - and WIRED is so well read. Consider yourselves as part of the revolution!

Clive Thompson who wrote the article bought one of my steampunk/cyberpunk vacuum tubes last year. Although I'd read his stuff for years I didn't know he was The Clive Thompson. Months and months later he contacted me and said he'd like to mention my work in an article. I was thrilled - but thought it would be a lot less - something minor - and he said in April maybe.
Except it is NOW - LOL omgbbqwtfomg I've had a few sales.. and so much positive little emails from strangers. It's been great. Now i've grabbed somehow a little bit of web fame.

If anyone here DIGGs stuff or Stumbles - can you do me a fav and stumble/digg the article? please? pretty please? shugar?

So chances are good .. i'm quitting my day job.
what do you think of that?! craaaaaaaaazy

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.

Steampunk in Toronto!

wow, a long time since i have been here.. i'll be better at posting in 2009. most of my posts go up to my livejournal. Anyway...t hings are going like crazy in the Steampunk Jewelry department. I'm really excited to see how Toronto is growing into loving Steampunk. Yay Toronto :D

I spent the holidays working on some new designs and finishing some special projects.One of the nice things that happened was that my jewelry got used in a photo shoot. I had no idea what to expect though, so it was rather difficult to get all excited about it. Anyway, I got a few of the photos yesterday. I'm totally amazed. They were a lot better than I expected or hoped for.

there's a bigger version on my Flickr. anyway, its thrilling to see my jewlry being worn :D

CREDITS:
ClockworkZero (steampunk jewelry): www.clockworkzero.etsy.com
Tasha (stylist) pretty.deadly.stylz@gmail.com and http://www.modelmayhem.com/708099

Bella (blonde model) http://www.modelmayhem.com/208464

Elyse (purple-haired model) http://www.modelmayhem.com/698146

Jenni (make-up artist) http://www.modelmayhem.com/193703

Starkers (wardrobe) http://www.modelmayhem.com/402135

And Danielle King (photographer): http://www.modelmayhem.com/593390 and www.danielleking.ca