Mantid Gibbets (working title)

I recently read an article about how telling a story is a more effective marketing strategy than just giving the bland description of things.
"Wicked Owl Pillbug Dressed In Brown" rather than "Chainmaille Wrapped Marble - Brown and Sea Green", and there's a story behind the name as well. It gives it a lot more personality, and is frankly funner to read about where a design came from, because its a brain child of the artist and it gives you a look into their mind.
I have back-stories and names for my computers, the hats I wear, and my stuff animals (manly men have stuffed animals), but for the most part my jewelry has been stuff like "aluminum bracelet"... So I'm trying to make amends.
Without further ado, here are my latest creations :D

New Items:
The Mantid Gibbets

"New" might be a bit of a misnomer, because I've sold "gibbets" in the past (called them "caged marbles". Imagine that...), but the weave method ended up giving me something a bit unstable, and I like the rings in my weaves to stay exactly where I put them.

This is a picture of the older kind, and the tiny rings around the sides and bottom are free to flip back and forth as they please.

So, in trying to tidy up those rings I eventually found a way to run the bottom rings through the side ones. But, in order for it to fit without putting too much stress on the rings, I had to make the bottom ones larger.
The shape it made reminded me of a mantis face.

Or Mickey Mouse... but good God, I'm not going to call it that!!

When I first made that design it was for earrings, which I think turned out really awesome... but the first pair was made of bronze and came out to .5oz EACH! So, I made an aluminum set and they only weighed half of that.


Here's large versions of all of them. Clicked each image for larger ones.
Ain't they pretty?

The last one is a normal one (blue) next to a monstrosity (brown) which is made with only the next size of larger marble. 1/2" to 5/8" makes a huge difference.

I'll probably be harping on Christmas gifts and ornaments next time... after school is through beating me up.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips With Me!

New Items:

Apparently even upside-down chainmaille tulips multiply >_>

Of course I'm not limited to green stems and leaves, they certainly seem to fit the best.

I've made a couple finger rings, and recently someone asked if I could make wider ones. Dur.

So this is what I came up with.

The one on the left came first, and the right one is the "wide" version. 3 columns wide instead of 2.

Custom Orders:

A special thanks once again goes to Cathain for her support :D

New Listings:

Tulip Earrings!!

This is probably the last you'll hear of it (do anyone actually read this?!) but there's 2 days left of the back to school sale before the prices go back up!!
Go over to my shops (links on the left) and don't say I didn't warn you!


So, 1000markets got bought by Bonanzle, a similar online market place, and so 1000markets sellers have to transfer their shops over there (really easy actually. Just a few clicks), or let the shop get shut down.
With that being said, I have "new" shop over at:
http://www.bonanza.com/booths/Sneath
It might not work RIGHT away, but it should be viewable soon.

New Items:
I just got in an order of finding/bulk chain/french hooks/etc. Because I now have gold french hooks for the first time, I decided to work on some earrings (I rarely do)

and from the back-side. I kind of like it when the leaf is backwards... maybe I'll flip it...


These are... I don't know what to call them yet, but I think they look awesome!


Another part of my supplies order included bulk "white" and brass 2.1mm chain! Now I can finally give a customer something to hang their newly purchase pendant on!!


O gosh! I almost forgot...

This is a recreation of a custom order someone made at Fanime, back in May. I don't usually make rainbow stuff, but when people have seen this, they want it, or bracelets like it. I'll get on that :D

Custom Orders:

emilykay405 over on etsy custom ordered this awesome bracelet :D
A simple and common design, but not something I would have made anytime soon without her prodding!

Take a hint, and give me some ideas :)

New Listings:

Last Week For Sale and FRIED MARBLES!!

This is the last week to take advantage of my back to school sale before I put the prices back!!

Be sure to browse through my shops. If the colors aren't quite what you want, please message me about getting something done custom!
If you at least talk to me about getting something done before October, I'll honor the sale for it. :D
My classic wrapped marbles

Celtic stars

Here's some that are certainly for sale, but I've never listed or mass-produced before


Projects:
Fried/Crackle Marbles:

So, a couple of nights ago I got the urge to finally fry some of my own marbles. I'd seen it around the internet, and I had bought "crackle" marbles before. Actually... I use them in some of my items.


The method I used was a teflon pan on the stove... This is one silly pic out of context!


I eventually put a lid on it to keep the heat in.
After about 20-30 minutes I started pulling them out and dropping them into ice water! *crack* They turned out beautifully, and they're smooth to the touch. All the cracking is internal.


Before and after:



New Listings:

Just a reminder: All of the celtic stars/wrapped marbles keychains/zipper pulls are on sale through the rest of September!!


Customs:
I've been working back and forth with a customer on a few items and figured they were worth sharing :D

The far right one is one of my Ninja Turtle themed bracelets, Leonardo.
For the other bracelet, she asked for the Neapolitan bracelet, but with light blue instead of brown:

and for the star, she asked for this star, but replace the purple rings with brown:


Moral of the story, please don't be shy to ask me if you want anything custom ordered! My view of what looks good is pretty narrow, so my best ideas and color combinations have come from you guys.

New Listings:

Tao Dragon Tail Bracelets!!!

I'm pretty horrible at this blogging thing >_>
I think I missed a few posts.
I've also completely neglected the websites through most of August cause of school starting up again. So here I am.

New Items:
I finally finished 2 more of the bracelets from last post, and listed one (below).
Pretty excited to have finally gotten some of them done!




I also plan on making earring sets for them like this:

Or like this... but as earrings instead of cell-phone lariats.



Projects:
Armor:
I've been working on my armor for about... 2 years, give or take, and I've finally gotten it to a point (again) where its wearable!! A friend had a costume party and I figured this would be great for it, so I got hustling on finishing the shoulders.

The coif (head piece) is new. I had part of one before but I stopped making it a while back because I accidentally made the pattern larger enough to fit someone with a basketball sized head (really, I put it on a basketball...). So, last week I took the whole old coif apart and remade it to fit my head.

For reference, a year ago the armor looked like this:

The plate armor shell is now in the attic :P

New Listings: