Andorinha

Separate brands and minds

I decided to set aside Luna Parc for a couple of days. I don't know if this happens to you, but if I look at my own projects for too long  I get very, very sick of them, think they're horrible, and want to throw down the towel (and the projects out the window).

If I refuse to give them any more attention and head space for some time, coming back to them I start to see why I created them in the first place, and that they are not all that bad.

So, I took a break from the handcrafted stuff (Xmas ornaments are almost done anyway, and should be in the post by the beginning of next week) and turned to design, something I really missed doing.

Paraphernalia is easy because I'm not worrying about taking 40 photos with half an hour of good light, that that stitch is slightly crooked (or not so slightly, really), that the glue isn't gluing anything but my fingers, etc. It's clean, not messy, and I can smoke a cigarette once in a while (sorry Maman).

I've opened shops both at Prickie and Cafe Press (I know, I know, but they now have a better printing method and I didn't feel like messing about with vectors to open a shop in a "cooler" t-shirt provider.) I'm still in the process of tweaking them and adding products, but I'll unveil paraphernalia.nu soon enough.

It's odd that I have two very, very different styles, and, as such, two very different target audiences for my designs. It's also nothing short of exhausting to try and market two very different blogs, shops, products. But I know myself, and I know that this is the best way to keep myself happy and not stifle any creativity that I actually have. The truth is that I love both indie design and handmade craftiness, and that I read with awe both We Made This and Posie Gets Cozy. So, two brands does make sense, even if it implies more marketing work.

Anyway, Paraphernalia has a lot of vintage illustrations and victorian designs, besides the Pass It On buttons, an idea I had when walking to the supermarket the other day. I like that idea. I think it may deserve a more distinctive design, but I think I'll get to that later. In the meantime, I have a lot of ideas for more t-shirts, and will start updating the blog and creating more Anatomica jewellery for the Etsy shop.

I'm also very tempted to hold off opening the Luna Parc shop and just updating it's Etsy, now that is all pretty. Humm.

Thank you for the nice comments as well, guys. I'm feeling better now, really!

Coração castanho

Well, the new light tent thing seems to work! So, happy, happy Vanda!

The brooch on the back belongs to a collection I'm working one called Folclore - it's based on traditional Portuguese shapes with a little bit of rustic embroidery and big, shiny buttons. I quite like it! There's four hearts made so far, and I hope to have at least six until I open the shop. I quite enjoy making these as well, which is good. No noxious paint fumes at least (today I've also been finishing the Silhouette collection).

I still have Apple brooches to make, and a lot of things to glue. See you tomorrow!

WIP - Silhouette

I love Works in Progress, and for the 3 people who read this blog, here's one!

These will eventually be the Silhouette collection, after I paint and varnish them. They're smallish (for me at least - I usually like my pins to be big) but very cute and casual. These work perfectly just on a t-shirt or cardigan, me thinks.

I'm still deciding of what colour I'm painting each one, trying to stay away from the obvious. Which reminds me, note to self, I still need to purchase green paint.

The wonderful Mr. Cisco bought me the light tent I was whining about last post! He's such a sweetheart. It will be here on Monday (fingers crossed), and  I'm really excited about that (as you probably got with the glue situation, little things make me happy). Our apartment seems to have a lot of light to the untrained eye (skylights and so forth) but there's never enough to take nice photos with. When it's overcast (so, around 90% of the time), no amount of skylights in the world would make my living room properly lit to take some nice photos in. So, huzzah for light tents!

I'm going to pick some colours for the little buggers up there, maybe do a little embroidered brooch, and I will see you tomorrow!

(That, down there, is an Eenie Meenie called Polly)

So, as per usual, I decided that I didn't like the layout of the Luna Parc store anymore - so I redesigned it!  It's very similiar to this blog now - the colours, etc, and I quite enjoy looking at it now. It was a little bit wishy washy before, I guess.

Shipped two necklaces today to the U S of A, (first necklaces I have ever sold) and I can't repress a little glee at the fact that someone in Utah will be wearing a creation of mine. It's quite a special feeling, I must say. Another feeling is the fear that it will arrive and the person will go "meh" or, even worse, "blargh!". But I hope for the best (unusually).

Putting together the new layout also made me realise how many products I've actually made, or intend on doing, and how entire collections looked so good in my head and then in reality didn't work. I have 8 collections going, not mentioning vintage finds, and have new ideas every day. It's sick, I tell you!

I'm still having a lot of trouble taking photographs that properly show my things. I really, really want one of these but I don't have £20 to my name at the moment. It's very depressing. Next week though, next week!

Yum, lunch now.

Busy Tape Bee

Have I mentioned how much I love
my glue? I really really love it.

I've been making these cute measuring tape rosettes, trying out new styles, and so far, I like all of them! Just got more colourful thin tapes today, so more production. Huzzah! I hope to finish all the Retrotastic pins today as well - they just need their brooch backs glued on at the back.

By Tuesday I want to have several Silhouette pins finished as well, and am working on a new set made of felt, embroidery and sequins, which I'm really loving so far. I'm making swallows and horse's heads so far, but birds are everywhere, and I like to do slightly more original things. On the other hand, I love birds. I'm at a creative loss of what to do at the moment. Maybe apples! Ooh, I like apples.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll post more things!

Glue and Melted Beads

It's amazing how such a little thing as my glue arriving in the post can make me so happy - I feel like curling up and taking a nap with it. Yes, I am that ridiculous.

The truth is, this whole glue thing was positively a saga! I ordered it on-line, waited a week, e-mailed the shop, no answer. Another week, no answer. They finally answered me 23 days after I had placed my original order to tell me they didn't have it in stock! Argh!

So, ordered from another shop, it's finally here, and I can finally complete oh, I don't know, about 30 things I had waiting for the god-forsaken glue!

I'm also melting beads at the moment, in an experiment I hope does not set fire to the house or poison the cat. If it works, oh, the possibilities.

Yesterday me and Mr. Cisco the Boyfriend decided to revive Paraphernalia, a name which has quite a story to it. It started as the name of my very short-lived company that produced candles and incense for a pagan shop in Portugal. The candles were beeswax, colour-coordinated to widely used spell associations (green for money, blue for healing, etc), with related herbs already inside the wax. I also created my own incense mixes that were sold in test tubes with vintage illustrations, and strips of inflammable paper of various colours that you could burn loose incense on top of. It was quite fun, but the shop was in Portugal and I mostly here in Manchester, and after I spent my birthday putting incense inside test tubes and running around like an idiot to deliver it and see all my family and friends I was coming back to Manchester the next day, to boot), and decided that enough is enough.

The second incarnation of Paraphernalia happened earlier this year, when I decided that it would be a great idea to make and sell jewellery and accessories. Paraphernalia was Luna Parc's original name, and I had a domain, and business cards, and everything. But when I started making cuter, nicer stuff, I decided I needed a new name - and Luna Parc was born. I was having trouble letting go of Para, though, and of weirder stuff that did not fit in at all at Luna, so - brilliantly original idea - why not have both?

So, we're keeping it more design-oriented, as opposed to handcrafted-oriented. We're setting up a t-shirt boutique, and a button boutique. The prodigal son of Paraphernalia, the Anatomica Collection, is also returning home from Luna Parc.

God, plastic stinks. I had to get the cat out of here.