Category Archives: Random

July 15, 2016 · 9:41 am

Live Long and Prosper

The Enterprise

Have you ever heard of Vulcan, Alberta? I’m sure many people haven’t, but we decided to stop in for a dose of science fiction fabulousness at the end of our road trip. Here is a quote from the City of Vulcan website:

Contrary to what popular culture might lead you to believe, the Town of Vulcan did not get its name from science fiction. In 1910 a CPR surveyor, who had a fondness for Roman Mythology, named the town after the Roman god of fire. Originally all the streets in Vulcan were named after the gods and goddesses of the classical world such as Juno, Mars and Jupiter.

…

In the Star Trek television and feature film series Vulcan is the name of the homeworld of Spock and his fellow Vulcans. Capitalizing on this coincidence, the town has become a worldwide known tourist attraction with the building of Star Trek themed tourist centre and replica of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek V.

Trek Station

I wouldn’t say that I’m a Trekkie (or whatever the politically appropriate designation is these days), but I described myself as “Trekkie-lite” to the nice woman at the post office who found us and our enthusiasm for Spock a little peculiar.

Canada Post

All I know is that I walked through the town with a huge smile on my face. There may have also been a bit of jumping up and down plus a whole lot of giggling.

Unexpected murals were found around corners, paintings of characters were on windows (we had just missed Vul-Con by a few days), and even the pedestrian crossings has Star Trek logos painted on them.

Here are some pictures – some are quite poor quality due to reflections, but I think you’ll get a feel for the town. I’ll do a separate post on art related findings.

Me in a signed Captain’s chair – photo by Bo (thanks!)

Proprietor, Sole Proprietor

Okay, that heading isn’t quite as catchy as Bond, James Bond, but it is very exciting to me!

I’m happy to say that I have made progress in my goal to set up a small business. I find this sort of thing a bit tricky – all the forms and the figuring out what I need to do – but I have to say, the BC Provincial Government site OneStop BC Business Registry made life so much easier. I was able to figure out what I needed to register for, and then register from the site. The site gives lots of links to helpful publications, and I feel confident that I have completed everything that I need to run my own small business. Yay!!

Now I’m dealing with the detail stuff – business cards, packaging and stamps. The business cards are done, and I’m really happy with them. I had them printed by Moo and the quality is lovely. Packaging has proved to be a little trickier, as I’m trying to find something fairly flat and sturdy for mailing (to keep postal costs low) but available from Canada. The stamps are very exciting, but I have to learn how to use them. I now have a .925 metal stamp, and somewhere in the Canada Post system is a metal stamp with my initials – should be here next week (I keep wanting to say “Yay!”). Now I can finish off my jewellery in a more professional fashion, having identified it as sterling silver and made by me. And the yays just keep coming!

Twisty Tree Artworks business cards

Once the stamp arrives, it’ll be studio time… So looking forward to it!

I know what you’re expecting, and I don’t want to disappoint… Yay!!

7 Comments

Filed under Artsy-Craftsy, Jewellery, Random

Tagged as Business, Business cards, Metal stamps, Twisty Tree Artworks

December 30, 2015 · 9:41 pm

Smart, she is…

That’s my tribute to Star Wars… The ring tone on my phone is also Yoda… it makes me laugh when it doesn’t surprise me and freak me out. 😮

So you’re probably wondering who the “she” in the title is – it’s my sister, Laurel. She wrote a post for BlogHer, which got me thinking about this blog. When I first started this website/blog, I had to give a lot of thought as to its purpose. What I came up with was using it as motivation to produce. I used the words “guilt and shame” in my first blog entry – if you’ve told people you’re going to do something, it’s harder to let it slip away. I think Laurel’s word – accountability – puts a bit more of a positive spin on it.

Over the past 14 months, I’ve noticed a decline in my posting, and unfortunately that means two things – 1) I haven’t been producing as much, and 2) when I do produce, I’m forgetting to write about it.

I’m not a person who make resolutions – I never keep them, and who wants to feel bad about failing? I will, however, work on this whole accountability thing, by putting a thought out there. Something I’ve been thinking about doing, and have been putting off, is creating items and posting them to sell. I don’t know if this website or a link to Etsy would be the route to go, but it’s something for me to start figuring out.

So, that’s me, contemplating the fresh new year. I hope it brings you joy and contentment!

I leave you with some of my latest work, which I had a lot of fun making. Take care all!

Wedding rings – these were intimidating to make!

Rose quartz and sterling silver earrings.

This pendant was in memory of a dear dog, Dasha.

Turquoise and sterling silver bracelet – this is now a pendant.

Lava and sterling silver pendant

2 Comments

Filed under Artsy-Craftsy, Jewellery, Random

Tagged as Etsy shop, Goals, Inspiration, New Year, Not a Resolution, Selling, Sister

November 7, 2015 · 11:49 am

A Tacky Twisty Tree

Every year at my office, there is a fundraising campaign for The United Way and other charities. I am one of the canvassers, and I get involved in different ways. This year I decided to participate in the Tacky Tie contest. We were provided with thrift stores ties, and told to go crazy. The ties will be voted on with purchased tickets, and the two winning ties will be worn by executive.

I chose a clip-on tie so that I wouldn’t have to worry about how the tie would be tied after a lot of unbendy hot glue was attached to it. Turns out this was a really smart move. Here is a picture of the back of the tie (I forgot to photograph before starting to paint on the front), one with the first coat of paint, and one with the final blue (although purple sparkle was added to give the impression of a night sky).

Stages of the tie

Now the fun part… attaching all the tacky goodness. I decided to make a tree, and one of my coworkers had the wonderful idea that I should make it three dimensional. I used gold foil and silver pipe cleaners to build the tree, first cutting a hole in the tie for the string of lights/leaves to come through. I found some reindeer ornaments in the dollar store, so I took one apart, and attached the two halves to the base of the tree. I found that the gold was just too, well, gold, so I added some black paint to the “bark”. It was a little too tiger-y, so I added some muted gold sparkle paint… Success – it became much more bark-like.

Almost done

The reindeer weren’t standing out enough, so they got a coat of paint/sparkle as well. Another coworker provided me with some wooden animal cutouts, so I tried to turn a rabbit into a cat… it might have turned into a squirrel.

And here is the finished product… It doesn’t bend, and could probably be used as a weapon, but it was sure a lot of fun to make!

Finished!

Smudge was very patient through the whole process (she only tried to eat the foil once or twice, and only walked over the wet paint a few times), and was “rewarded” by being put into a Princess of Darkness costume. I’m sure she was wishing she had misbehaved a little more if this was a reward…

Smudge, Princess of Darkness

3 Comments

Filed under Artsy-Craftsy, Costumes, Random

Tagged as Fundraiser, Smudge, Tacky tie, Twisty tree

August 2, 2015 · 11:08 pm

Khaki no more

I’ve had more adventures with fabric paint, as well as some fabric markers that I’ve never used before.

As a birthday present for Bo, a friend and I went in on a fabulous Needles & Things canvas tote bag. I would link to the site, but sadly it is no more. This bag is very expandable with a lot of storage. Bo had given both of us one of these bags, but hadn’t picked up one for herself when she had the opportunity. I’ve filled mine with all my viking knit supplies, and there is still so much room… love it!

The downside of the bag? The lack of colour choice – there is blue and there is khaki. Well, it’s not a downside to everyone, but to colourful people it is a problem. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the blue, so out came the paints!

After a few layers of base fabric paint, I started to paint on some designs. Once there was no sign of khaki, I started adding details. When both sides were dry, I got out the Uchida DecoArt fabric pens and started to draw. I love these pens… they are one of my new favourite things. It was so nice not to have to outline with a steady hand (which I do not have) and a brush, or by squeezing out a line of paint. The squeezing works, but it creates a raised outline, and on a bag that will be rubbing against fabric I worry that it will catch and peel. After outlining, I got out the fabric markers, which were quite sheer. I used them to highlight and shadow.

I’m hoping the paint will be durable… I’ve told Bo that she knows where to find me if touch-ups are needed… Here’s hoping that the fabric stands up to the wear and tear of use!

Bottom view

What are your experiences with fabric paint? Success? Disaster? Somewhere in between?

4 Comments

Filed under Artsy-Craftsy, Random

Tagged as Fabric paint, Painting, sketching

Category Archives: Random

Live Long and Prosper

Proprietor, Sole Proprietor

Smart, she is…

A Tacky Twisty Tree

Khaki no more

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