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Moving day

O, DEAR READER – I’m moving all my blog content over here as of today. This site is just going to be…I’m not sure yet. I guess a kind of writing portfolio? I’ll have to mess around with it and see. It didn’t feel right for the bloggity bloggings anymore and seems to make more sense as a static page for writing-related work.

Hope you’ll come visit Crown Land. It’s bigger, brighter and more spacious than this old site. Thanks be to Sean for doing all the grunt work on it yesterday!

Bird’s Nest

I know I’m supposed to be focussing on making a million of a smaller number of things for the approaching City of Craft, but I started messing with some of the feathers I had laying around and I really like these necklaces, particularly the circular bird’s nest ones.

All this week I’ll post necklaces and earrings – they’re what I spent all last week doing when I got back from up north.

Today and yesterday I started stitching wallets and change purses, but I’ve still got flasks and some bike bags and hopefully a couple of larger camera bags to work on.

Meantime, my deer hide is drying in the basement. It’s unfortunately not going to be tanned and ready for City of Craft, but it should be ready before the end of the year which will be exciting. I’m pretty pumped to see how it turns out tanned by the pros over at Rebel Tannery.

Home from the hunt

Testing my metal

FINALLY. My necklace, featuring one of the many Crown Land logos Mike made for me, is finished.

It’s copper, it’s sterling, it’s been dipped in liver of sulphur and dragged across heavy-grit sandpaper to give it a more rough and tumble, beat-up look.

I didn’t take a picture of me wearing it because…it was difficult to do that in a way that didn’t feel overly porno due to the length of the chain and the V-neck shirt I was wearing. Maybe I’ll learn.

I also busted off these little bands to get used to the practice of ring-making – a copper one covered with a pebble-y stamp design and a sterling one. I tried to make it look like birch bark with the stamps the instructor had available. Kind of worked?

When I get back from up north I’m going to make a pair of earrings out of this Coleman lantern design I worked out a few weeks ago. Pret-ty excited. Pretty itchy for a saw and some more metal.

But first – Dryden. See you in a week or so, Internet!

Reading, writing, screw arithmetic

This is the price of a poem:

You can read $10 worth of writing in an upcoming issue of The Antigonish Review.

Also, I’m nominated for “fiction – short story” at this year’s Hamilton Literary Awards. Super sadly, I’m not going to be able to attend the awards evening (I already bought a dress for it too), but super happily, it’s because I’ll be up in Dryden hunting.

I’m pretty psyched about this year’s hide haul. There are already four in my freezer (donated by others) and I’m going to have them tanned by local pros this year which means they’ll be supple and floppy and I should be able to make more varied pieces this winter.

Now. How can I incorporate a sparkly 60′s shift into my hunting uniform…? Or should I save it for New Year’s?

Drum roll

Belts were on yesterday’s list. I knocked off four military-style belts in various colours…

All with nice, heavy-duty hardware…

I also made seven bow belts, ranging in size from 25-34 inches. These are meant to be worn high on the waist with a dress or skirt, so I figured that’s a pretty good starter selection. Sadly, no pictures of them since I didn’t finish until 5:30 and by then it was black as night. Kind of depressing, but kind of cozy too.

Paper product

New price tags!

Prep-y

Getting ready to sell. I just picked up some price tags from Copy Dog and I’m waiting on stamps to come in the mail.

 

The quality of these two pictures is off the charts awful because it was dark and I couldn’t stop my phone from using the flash. But the gist is this – I’m making lots of belts and cuffs.

Looooooooots of belts and cuffs.

I versus my (man)

Happy day after Halloween. What did you go as? Sean and I went with these on…

Guesses? Guesses? No? Ok then…

Oh yes.

In other news, it’s November. Are you always kicking yourself about not writing what you want to write? Sign up for NaNoWriMo. I did it once a couple years ago. It’s quite awesome to have an external deadline, even if it’s one with no major consequences…except, of course, the feelings of worthlessness that accompany the crushing defeat of failure to follow through. No biggie!   <——–motivation!

 

 

New E-Digs

Oh hi! I don’t have much to show today except this. BAM. Sean gets the pat on the back for it – taking what was in my head and making it real on the Interwebs.

Now…should I migrate this blog over there? I’m feeling the need for some clean, white space in my day to day. What do you think? Will you miss the dirty old Victorian background to my ramblings?