A Winter Blessing

The All-Seeing Eye brooch has been completed and is now available in the shop. I'm really pleased with the layered look and all the media I got to incorporate into it. This was the first time I used the blanket stitch on a larger scale, really putting the final seal on it and making it a pleasant little packet that feels good resting in the hand, which I think is a good trait in an amulet.

I also added a new necklace to the shop with a more seasonal vibe: Winter Blessing Necklace. I subtitled it on Etsy as both "rustic" and "runic" because the birch bark texture, hand-stitched detail, and warm red felt lend it a bit of a Scandinavian cabin aesthetic and a bindrune forms the main graphic element. I designed and crafted three of these pieces for the Winter Solstice/Yule and gave two of them as gifts to dear friends, but I decided to offer up the last one for sale. Although all of my work is infused with care and intention and I enjoy working with symbols and esoteric themes, this is the first specifically charged, magical creation I've offered in my shop (it will likely not be the last though). It's not as technically complex as some other pieces I've made, but it has that extra charm that comes with a piece of this nature. You can read more about the purpose and elements of this talisman in the Etsy description.

Horsing Around

I've been plugging away at some projects for the shop but have been remiss in sharing them. This one in particular is not for sale as it was created as a gift for someone in particular, but I wanted to share it anyway because I took photos throughout the entire process. Since it was a Christmas present and I found myself a little bit rushed for time, I didn't have the opportunity to have a proper photo shoot so unfortunately these iPhone photos will have to do.

I've toyed with the idea of doing custom pet portraits in leather and I decided to try it out. I asked my fiancee if he could take a picture of his mom's favorite horse the next time he visited his parents' house, and he brought me back a nice, though slightly blurry, photo of Tully the thoroughbred.

Normally I start by making a sketch which is then turned into a pattern. The pattern is what I use to inscribe the basic design onto the leather itself. This time I used the photo reference from my iPhone and sketched with an awl lightly onto the leather. After cutting the major lines with a swivel knife and some tooling, I was really happy with the dimensionality I was beginning to see.

I didn't want to complicate the background too much as it is a small piece and I didn't want to distract from the portrait, but it definitely needed something. I decided to pyrograph some Celtic knotwork to add some interest. I also used a matting stamp around the horse's head to help visually separate it from the smooth background. I later found out that Tully was born and bred in Ireland, and my fiancee's mother had actually met the breeder there when they visited many years ago.

   

Then it was on to painting! The photo was a bit overexposed so it was even harder to get a true-to-life color match, but I know that Tully is a bay with a white star.

This photo really clarifies the scale of the leather cameo (I forgot to take actual measurements but I'm estimating that it was about 1.5" wide by about 2.5" tall).

It was originally intended to function primarily as a brooch, and it does in fact have a pin back attached, but after I was laying out the felt and other fiber notions I wanted to use, I realized it would make a good ornament, so I added an eyelet to the top so it can be threaded with some ribbon and hung.

Here's what it looks like as an ornament:

My future mother-in-law really liked it, and I freely admit it made my inner, 12-year-old, equine-obsessed self very happy to make it.

A (slightly belated) Happy Holidays to you and yours!

The All Seeing Eye . . .

watches me make things :)

Here is an in progress photo of another brooch in what I'm planning to be an occult/esoteric imagery themed series. The mystic ocular symbol which forms the basis for the design has intrigued me for a while, and I've found that eyes are really fun to tool in leather (I've already started a second version of the central leather cameo). I've layered the carved leather over some tea-stained lace. It's accented with various sized eyelets, some of them set with glass pearls, and three spots. I still need to do some more hand-stitching, attach the pin back, and secure the backing layers together.

The symbol can be traced back to the ancient Egyptian udjat, also known as the Eye of Ra or the Eye of Horus, which had solar associations. It was a favorite apotropaic amulet in that culture. Many later depictions feature the eye surrounded by a halo of rays of light. It was then adopted as a symbol of the all seeing eye of the monotheistic God and came to be known as the Eye of Providence. At some point, it was overlaid on a triangle, which could suggest a link back to its Egyptian origins, but according to some sources the triangle was said to represent the Christian trinity and thus was widely used in a Christian context over the past few centuries to represent their God's omniscient nature. This is rather ironic considering that if you do a search on "all seeing eye" it brings up many links from conspiracy theorists who claim the symbol, which appears on the Great Seal of the United States, is a Satanic/Pagan/Masonic/Illuminati/Insert-Your-Boogeymen-of-Choice icon and indicates their subversive nature.

New in the Etsy shop

We've been having some strange weather today. Just moments ago it was torrential downpour, now it's bright and sunny.

As promised, I've finally added some new items to the shop. One of which is the aforementioned Verdant Skull brooch which turned out very nicely. It's actually available in time for my favorite holiday season: Samhain, Halloween, El Dia de los Muertos, Winter Nights, etc.

The other piece I'd been keeping to myself for a long while. One of the towns which I pass through en route to work holds a yearly carnival. From the road, I can see the tops of the striped tents and that is what inspired this design. It took a while for the whole necklace to come together as this was really the first leather/fiber/metal/bead experiment I've done, but I'm pleased with the results. Since the carnival is in town again, it felt appropriate to post it.

There are additional photos of each piece on Etsy :)

If you've been to the Phée Adornments Etsy shop recently, you may have noticed that something is missing. I'm trying to grow towards a certain aesthetic for my jewelry and leather craft which doesn't exactly mesh with the artwork I am offering at the moment (I'm also a little OCD and like things to be organized into sensible categories!), so I decided to make a separate shop for my art prints and originals. You can now find my available work at www.DesireeIsphording.etsy.com. In addition, I moved the bellydance-specific art (namely ACEOs) to my bellydance shop: www.CarrouselBellydance.etsy.com.

Verdant Skull Brooch in progress

I know, I know... I've been a very bad blogger. I apologize and hope to do better in the coming months. At the very least I'm hoping to provide more in progress photos and visual insights into my design process, so there will be some more images to enjoy. I recently joined the current decade by purchasing an iPhone (the photos it takes are much better than the ones my iPod Touch generated) so that means it will be easier to document new creations before taking the more official, polished photographs for the Etsy listings.

Case in point is a design of a Verdant Skull cameo for a new series of brooches influenced by esoteric and occult imagery.Since the brooches will be relatively small (at a certain point large brooches become too awkward to be functional brooches, in my opinion), it also gives me the opportunity to use up some scrap leather from other projects. I try to always be cognizant that leather was once part of a living being and I don't want to be wasteful. I did some preliminary sketches which were not to scale in a notebook before drafting the design, but the photo below shows the progress from a pencil sketch at the appropriate size, the pattern which I use to transfer the design to leather, and the actual design realized in leather. I recently acquired a new friend for the studio, a Razortip SK pyrography tool, and this is the first time I've combined pyrography with the leather carving I typically do. Now that I have an idea as to what it can do, the possibilities are making me a bit delirious (in a good way)!

What I'm really loving about this brooch series is the prospect of combining leather with various other media. I have some weird fondness for sewing things by hand that I'll get to indulge since I'm going to be layering the leather cameos with felt, lace, trims, etc. Some bead embroidery may also be in the forecast for these. Below you can see the progress made on assembling the actual brooch. I've layered the leather over some vintage lace which I tea-stained, striped trim, and a velvety millinery leaf. I sewed a lovely patina-ed brass key charm below the cameo and added an eyelet so I could dangle a turquoise nugget from the bottom.

I want these brooches to resemble some antique, intricate medals I have seen and I'm really pleased with how this particular one turned out. What the above photo doesn't show is that I've tried to lend a more aged look to the fabric by staining the edges with a sepia-toned ink. I attempted to take some better photos today, so hopefully it won't be long until this piece is listed on Etsy.

Although my time is still divided between a full-time job, an internship, and my various other hobbies and interests, things are slowly falling into place for me and that means I have more motivation and energy to make things.

Truth be told, I've also been holding out a bit on listing some new items until I figured out a new logo and identity for this endeavor. My work has changed so much since I first starting making jewelry several years ago, and I've outgrown my old branding. There were some items I did not want to present until I had something new to replace it. I think I've finally hammered out a design I'm pleased with although I still need to do some additional work before finalizing a new business card, etc. but I feel more comfortable posting those items.

I wanted to share the second version of my Peacock Feather cuff bracelet as an opportunity to discuss reserved listings. I had just carved and tooled the leather portion of this cuff when someone contacted me to ask about the previous version I had made. The timing worked out perfectly. I finished the cuff and listed it on reserve for her, and hopefully she's wearing it right now :)

While I'm not taking custom orders at this time, if there is an in progress piece shown here that hasn't yet been posted on Etsy which catches your eye, I'm willing to temporarily reserve it for you once it is listed for sale. Please contact me via email or Etsy conversation to discuss this option. Reserves of this kind are on a first come, first serve basis and if you do not purchase the item within the specified time period, I will remove the reserve so potentially anyone can purchase it.

A Beaded Gift

I made this brooch as a present for my grandmother's 75th birthday. It's a bit belated but I hope she will appreciate it anyways. I really like the neutral, faded palette of creams and ivories and hope to work with it more. It features vintage (possibly antique) bone buttons acting as cabochons, a resin flower, a brass filigree bead along with several freshwater pearls, glass pearls, crystals, and seed beads.

I have lots of other goodies including milagros, vintage watch parts, Turkoman buttons and other tribal accoutrements that I want to incorporate into similar pieces in the future. My grandmother is a bit on the more traditional side though so I didn't think she would appreciate a more steampunk edge to her particular brooch. I couldn't resist adding a slight grungy touch to this pin though with two primitive-looking, irregular circular beads that look like they may have once been part of a well-loved necklace. I actually have another brooch/hair clip in progress that I hope to have completed soon which has more of an eclectic influence.

Beading is very therapeutic, and taking into consideration my stress levels as of late there may be a lot of beaded items making their way into the shop.

Violet Charm: rediscovering bead embroidery

I returned from the Innovative Beads Expo yesterday with some delightful spoils. I purchased some of my usual favorites including freshwater pearls and turquoise but also some other lovelies including a number of very rustic, tribal-inspired clay and glass beads. This combined with my recent order from Fancy Linda of some vintage buttons and cabochons, etc. has inspired an almost frenzied desire to craft in me. Mind you, I've already been in a near constant state of blissful i-want-to-make-things-iness but this is just fuel to the fire. If only I didn't require money and sleep then I could actually heed all of my callings to make new things!

I also stocked up on Nymo bead thread and beading needles since I've recently rediscovered bead embroidery and find the hand-sewing strangely satisfying and meditative. I blame my renewed interest in bead embroidery on a bellydance belt I've been working on which involves a ton of hand-sewn beads, crystals, sequins, pearls and genuine tribal goodies like Turkman buttons and medallions. I've had to put that project aside in lieu of working on pieces for the upcoming craft show but I've still had the bizarre desire to painstakingly sew individual beads and baubles into interesting patterns. Bead embroidery does make for great late night crafting projects in comparison to some of my other hobbies since it doesn't require much noise (unless you happen to spill a whole vial of seed beads in the carpet...) versus the constant hammering in leather carving and working with sterling silver. I've started on a series of small, embroidered brooches/fascinators to satiate my sewing compulsion (although I did end up making a pair of earrings too).

In Tribal Bellydance it is common to cultivate a headdress out of a hodgepodge of various elements old and new into an intricate topiary. These headdresses can grow and change over time as dancers rearrange elements, plant new ones, and weed out others. Much care often goes into the arrangement of these temporary pieces and in fact, I have heard them referred to as hair gardens on more than once occasion and I don't believe this is just because fake flowers feature strongly in their compositions. The best Tribal hair gardens are like beautifully designed landscapes with well-placed architectural features and lovely views at every angle. I wanted to create pieces which would be perfectly suitable as compliments of complex hair gardens or as striking focals in more minimal arrangements, but also be elegant enough to wear for other occasions or potentially even on an everyday basis. I'm also adding both pins and alligator clips to the reverse sides so that they can be secured to clothing or hair.

The first in this series that I've completed is primarily in shades of purple, plum, and eggplant and is appropriately titled Violet Charm. Purple was once one of my favorite colors and I accumulated a nice little stash of beads in these hues a few years ago which I didn't want to let go to waste. The embroidery was done on black suede and it is backed in black eco-felt made from recycled plastic bottles. The centerpiece of this brooch/hair-clip is a faceted, glass jewel which is set in a peyote stitch bezel surrounded by glass beads, freshwater pearls, and swarovski crystals. I also added a ruffle I made from some metallic trim and draped two swags of beads across its surface. I think it looks like it could be a badge of glamour. While Cabaret style bellydancers don't tend to have such complex hair adornments as their Tribal cousins (they tend to have their hair down when performing and may only wear a headband or crown) this brooch/fascinator really seems to call for a Cabaret treatment with all its glisten and sparkle. The photos really cannot do it justice. I hope someone who currently adores this color scheme will give it a good home.

The next brooch/fascinator (broochinator? fascinooch?) I'm making is definitely geared towards the Tribal end of the spectrum with a nod towards the more vintage/Victorian/steampunk aesthetic that I love. It will feature warm, brassy metal, more ruffly goodness, velvety ribbon, and pearls. Yay!