A few weeks ago, Joel contacted me about possibly shooting my products on Super8 film. With my previous experience of transferring old films including 8mm and 16mm to digital, I was so excited to have this opportunity! This was such a fun film to make! My products plus Joel’s Super8 camera in a gorgeous garden in Austin, Texas. Featured items include Nephele Steampunk Boots, Pirate Hair Jewels, Steel boned Corsets, Linen Renaissance Skirts, Pixie Skirt, Emily Elaine Lace Capelet.
My hat was a custom creation by GypsyLadyHats, and no, it’s not for sale. 🙂
I have been so terrible at updating. D: Okay so, in quick review:
New Pintuck Taffeta Skirts! Well, okay, it was only one, it just sold, and I don’t have any more of the fabric. …yet. I’m planning on having several color options of this skirt, but so far the price of the fabric is a little out of my range at the moment. I want them to be as affordable as I can make them, and not have my price set over $200. It might be a couple of months before I have another one made.
Ama-Con 2013! Ama-Con takes place in Amarillo, Texas. For those who have no idea where that is, it’s the largest town in the panhandle of Texas. Yes, there are far more cows surrounding the area than there are people living in the city, but no, there are no cattle drives going on through the town. It definitely isn’t the old west. As for cool events going on within Amarillo, there really isn’t much.
This was Ama-Con’s second year, and it was another great one day event! People do drive in from all around the area, even some from Oklahoma, New Mexico, and I think a few from Kansas attended as well. Kansas is definitely closer to Amarillo than where I live in Austin. I had a lot of items that I haven’t vended with before, mostly of the Pre-Loved variety. I’ll be adding what I have left onto Kitty’s Closet Sale in the next few weeks. I’ll also soon have a page for the glass bottles with the labels I’ve created. They make for great displays for Hallowe’en!
Now what’s next? I’ll be restocking as much of my handmade items as I can, trying to balance item making with my day job. I also have been taking several custom orders, including a wedding dress for a friend! I’m really excited about creating this dress, and I’m also hoping I haven’t gotten myself in over my head with it! We’ll see, and I hope to post progress reports on the dress as I go along. As for the next event I’ll be vending at, Sherwood Celtic Festival will be taking place on September 21 & 22!
I’ve been accepted for the Austin Mini Maker Faire this year! Happening on Sunday, May 5, there will be a Steampunk area with several makers from the area!
This week I’ll be adding new shoes to the main site! There are a lot of new boots styles, which of course go amazingly with Steampunk themed outfits and make a great statement piece to your everyday wear. Check back this week for the new postings, or like Faire Treasures on facebook to get updates in your status feed!
And now, it’s finished! The drawers are in place, the stain has dried, although still a bit smelly, and the metal fittings are all properly affixed and looking stunning.
As a reminder to myself, and a marker for the family I hope to have in the future, I burned the year into the top corner on the back.
The next step for the chest was to add on the drawer pulls. I got a pack of Tim Holtz drawer pulls for the drawers, only to figure out that the screws included in the packaging were no where near long enough to fit through the wood of the drawers.
Determined to make it work anyway without going out and trying to find other screws that might work, I decided to use my drill to bore out enough to get the screw countersunk on the inside of the drawer. Go figure, the drill bit that was large enough for the screw head to fit into was too big to drill straight into the wood. I had to angle it from several different directions to try to get a hole that was somewhat even in depth.
After much frustration and struggling, I got the proper depth drilled out, stained it, and was ready to add the pulls!
I figured that the solid white would be best in the middle drawer, and then decided which “crystal” pull I wanted against each flourish. I used a flat headed drillbit on the inside screws to help me tighten the drawer pulls down.
After those were done, I added the page corners to the top corners of the chest using two finishing nails for each corner piece.
Next, I wanted to add on the feet. Until I realized that they didn’t come with screws or nails of any sort. The finishing nails I have would be too long for the bottom of the chest, not to mention are so small they go right through the holes of the feet. I was able to find some tiny wood screws at Lowe’s that wouldn’t go completely through the thin wood of the chest. A few screwdriver turns later, the feet were attached!
This chest is going to be mainly for storing my wax seal supplies, maybe some writing supplies like my pen cleaner. I wanted to add a nameplate on the side of the box, but also wasn’t quite sure what to write into the frame. I decided instead of writing something, I’d melt wax into the center of the frame, and stamp like I would on a wax seal. I backed the nameplate with a piece of cardstock, dripped a mix of silver and gold-tone sealing wax into the center of the plate, and stamped it with my flourish seal. I used some more of those tiny screws from Lowe’s to fix the waxplate onto the side, and then covered them with black india ink, since the screws were brass against the silver-tone metal.
I have a few files of flourishes that I love to use, so when I wanted to draw designs on the chest, I went to them for the designs. I free handed the designs with pencil first, adding and removing portions I did or didn’t like.
After finishing the sketches, I moved to using the wood burner. It took me quite a few episodes of Buffy to get through all the designs, but you just get to see the finished flourishes!
With all of the designs burned into the wood, I went to staining all the pieces. I started out on the three drawers, using the golden oak woodstain. I tend to use the cheapest brushes possible whenever I’m staining wood, basically so I can throw them away afterward. I hate trying to get all the stain out of the bristles of a good brush. I never really bother to wipe up any excess stain off the wood, just letting all the stain soak in to get a rich color.
I was more careful with the ebony stain, making sure I didn’t over-saturate it so that the flourishes would be subtly visible. Of course it’s best to let all stained pieces air out on a porch so that you don’t end up with woodstain smell all through your home. (I get too excited about my new pretties and forget about that!)
After letting them set for a bit, I went ahead and added the drawers to the chest to figure out which drawer I wanted on the top and which I wanted on bottom. Next, the fittings!
I’ve had a lack of personal projects lately, and when I came across a four drawer raw wood chest it stuck in my mind as a project I’d like to take on for myself.
Materials:
Four drawer wood chest
Ebony woodstain
Golden Oak woodstain
Staining brush
Stainable woodfill
Wood burning tool
Silver-tone vintage style accessories by Tim Holtz
Finishing nails
#2 3/8″ Wood screws
I started out by just figuring out what all I wanted on the chest, what I wanted to stand out the most, and what I wanted to add for subtle detail that more than likely only I will remember. I knew I wanted to have a dark frame with contrasting drawers, but I of course had to figure out what color to go with. I have a lot of red, a little purple, but I’d like this to pretty much go with anything. So I wanted the drawers to be kept light, and have some awesome woodburned designs.
I already had a few packs of Tim Holtz brand accessories that I’d gotten without knowing what I was actually going to use them on. Using the idea Grimm of A Grimm Design had (she’s awesome, check out her shop!), I decided the Tim Holtz page corners could be the top corner decorations, while the chest would be propped up by the feet on bottom.
Well, as it turned out, the feet would extend over the bottom drawer, making it unusable. My best option was to just remove the drawer and have the space remain open. So I got my general idea sketched out, and began deciding on the designs I wanted to burn into the wood.
On July 21, I’ll be vending at the first Ama-Con! Registration begins on the official Ama-Con website on May 15, and tickets are only $5 per person. Ama-Con will take place in Amarillo, Texas at the Civic Center Heritage Room from 11:00 am until 10:00 pm.
to myself, and a marker for the family I hope to have in the future, I burned the year into the top corner on the back.
the drawer pulls. I got a pack of Tim Holtz drawer pulls for the drawers, only to figure out that the screws included in the packaging were no where near long enough to fit through the wood of the drawers.
to get the screw countersunk on the inside of the drawer. Go figure, the drill bit that was large enough for the screw head to fit into was too big to drill straight into the wood. I had to angle it from several different directions to try to get a hole that was somewhat even in depth.
write into the frame. I decided instead of writing something, I’d melt wax into the center of the frame, and stamp like I would on a wax seal. I backed the nameplate with a piece of cardstock, dripped a mix of silver and gold-tone sealing wax into the center of the plate, and stamped it with my flourish seal. I used some more of those tiny screws from Lowe’s to fix the waxplate onto the side, and then covered them with black india ink, since the screws were brass against the silver-tone metal.
out on a porch so that you don’t end up with woodstain smell all through your home. (I get too excited about my new pretties and forget about that!)
wanted on the chest, what I wanted to stand out the most, and what I wanted to add for subtle detail that more than likely only I will remember. I knew I wanted to have a dark frame with contrasting drawers, but I of course had to figure out what color to go with. I have a lot of red, a little purple, but I’d like this to pretty much go with anything. So I wanted the drawers to be kept light, and have some awesome woodburned designs. 
the Tim Holtz page corners could be the top corner decorations, while the chest would be propped up by the feet on bottom.