Halloween Crafting

Lately I've been in Halloween mode (as most people are during October), and I've been whipping up fall and halloween related items. Sadly, I think I've realized one of my problems as far as crafting for business goes.... Rather than being "in the mode" for whatever holiday is upon us, I need to be a few steps ahead. It's going to be hard to do.... I don't like thinking about Christmas and snow when I should be enjoying the crisp, beautiful fall.
Anyway.... the Halloween thing.  About a week ago, I had no idea what I was going to do. I was throwing around ideas... none of which seemed right. Then it hit me.... I've always wanted a Tom Baker scarf (the 4th doctor), and I could put a subtle feminine twist on dressing as him! The only problem.... I was about 6 days away from a friend's Halloween party, and Tom Baker's scarf is ENORMOUS. I'm a pretty constant crocheter, but I KNEW I'd be kicking myself when I got down to one day left and only had about a foot done.... Then I remembered, my mom got me a knitting machine for Christmas last year. I had actually requested it, but when I opened it and found a bunch of small pieces and an (obviously burned) instructional DVD that said not to get started until you've watched the video, I was a little daunted. So, the knitting machine sat quietly for 8 or so months.   Well, obviously now I had dire need for it. I sucked it up, watched the video and set the machine up. I ended up spending around 2 hours borderlining tears, because THIS STUPID THING IS BROKEN! But I kept going and finally (for the most part) got it figured out. It's really bad about dropping stitches, and the cartrage gets jammed often (causing even more dropped stitches), but I made it work. I even figured out how to fix the dropped stitches before moving on to the next row.  So, after about 3 evening and one killer back-ache later, here it is! I sadly didn't have the patience to finish it. It's currently over 15 feet long, but I stopped a little over half-way through the pattern I found. If I had kept going, I would have had a nearly 30 foot, multi-colored, 60's BBC television inspired scarf that would have wrapped around me 6 times and STILL touched the floor. Instead I only have a 15 foot one that wraps around 3 times and still touches the floor.
Ok enough rambling, here are the pictures!

They're really dark, so it's hard to see the detail. However, you can see in the taller ones how far down it reaches... both sides touch the floor when wrapped loosely around my neck 3 times.  Now I just gotta figure out if I can make a hat by tomorrow! :)

So, I'm a really big Edgar Allan Poe fan no matter what the season, however Halloween is the holiday Poe could be most accurately linked to.  I painted this wine glass with a simplistic replication of his most common torture-faced portrait. I LOVE the way the light shines through.

More on Poe.  This is a set of 4 coasters (I thought I had a picture of all 4 together, but apparently I was wrong).
This lady is the cousin-sister-wife of Edgar Allan Poe... Virginia (or Sissy, as he called her). And you read right... Poe was orphaned at a somewhat young age, and was adopted by his aunt. This aunt had a daughter, which would make her his cousin.... and since the aunt adopted him, it would make her his adopted sister.... and then when she was 13 and he was in his 20's, he married her. Talk about keeping it in the family..... Anyway. Edgar and Virginia were very much in love, and she died at a very young age (If I am correct, I think it was something to the effect of tuberculosis, however it's been a few years since I read the biography).  You can definitely read the dispare and sorrow Poe felt from this lost in many of his poems and stories.

Ahh, The Raven. The most well-known work ever to come from the pen of Poe, The Raven is a poem spoken in the first person perspective of a greiving man who has just lost the love of his life, Lenore. He then proceeds to ask the Raven if he will ever see his Lenore again, and as we all know, the Raven tells him "Nevermore". The speaker goes mad speaking with the Raven throughout the course of the poem. I think it's an absolute brilliant work of literature. But then again, Poe was just brilliant all around.

My weird version of his portrait.

Gravestone. It reads: "We loved with a love that was more than love
I, and my Annabel Lee" obviously taken from his work, Annabel Lee.

And back to the Doctor.... I know, weird combo of Doctor who and Edgar Allan Poe. I like diversity though!
Anyway, I have developed a problem where anytime I see a blue rectangle, I want to add the police box banner and little white windows to it. I was bead shopping and came across these beautiful dark blue marbley looking rectangular beads... and I just had to do it. Both sides are painted like the TARDIS.

A closer look.

One with a fancy background...

And here's how they hang! They're a little heavy, but not too bad (I can't wear very heavy dangling earrings, and these don't bother me at all!)
I know that was sort of a random addition to everything, but I just had to fit it in. Hoping to make another pair for etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

Stormageddon!

So, as most would have guessed by now, I'm a big Doctor Who fan.  Recently, on episode 12 season 6- "Closing Time", we are reacquainted the Doctor's old roommate, Craig (season 5 episode 11,"The Lodger"). Craig has since started a family with his best friend, whom we also met in season 5's episode. I'll spare the details of the plot (since those who are interested either have already seen it, or don't want the story ruined, and to those who aren't interested, it would be gibberish). Anyway, the story picks back up after Craig and Sophie fall in love and have Alfie. Since we know the Doctor understands and speaks Baby, we find that Alfie prefers to be called "Stormageddon- Dark Lord of All", and doesn't have the highest opinion of his father's manliness.  By the end of the episode after all the running about and saving the world from Cybermats, we find that Stormageddon decides he prefers to be called Alfie, and that Craig earned his son's respect. This is my version of what Alfie probably would have preferred to wear at the beginning of the episode.





This TARDIS blue onsie was salvaged from a thrift store, and upcycled to fit the smallest of Doctor Who fans. I hope to have this on etsy somewhat soon!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

Doctor Who!!!

I feel like that last post was a bit rambley.  I think I was trying to sort my thoughts.  Anyway, time for something a little more nerdy!

I'm a big (HUGE) Doctor Who fan, and have a slight habit of making Doctor Who related things.  I've crocheted a few TARDISes as well as a few other characters, and I've made a pillow.  I also crocheted a Sonic Screwdriver for a friend for his birthday.  Might take me a bit to get a picture of it up here, but I'll try to snap one next time I go over to his house!

Since the build-up of the season 6 finale, featuring the storyline around River Song and her interaction with the Doctor, I've been working on my own River Song/Melody Pond crochet doll. While I still need to finish up with her dress and make her gun (I ran out of gray), all in all I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome. Anyway, I'm going to post a few pictures of what I've done, as far as Doctor Who goes.

This was either my first or second Dr Who crochet thing... I can't remember if I did this or the Ood first. Either way, neither are that wonderful. I'm alright with it though :)

My Ood. Complete with translation orb (or secondary brain).

Ood, Tardis, and Dalek all together on my DVD rack, where they normally sit.

Crocheted police box..... It's a little wibbly wobbly. I'm sure it's only because of the time vortex...

Small tardis hanging from my rear-view mirror.

Dalek and Tardis EXTERMINATE!! pillow. This was actually made out of an old Vivano promotional shirt I had to wear when I worked at Starbucks, and some fabric/felt scraps.

My current project: River Song/Melody Pond. Boyfriend and I are re-watching Matt Smith's 2 seasons, and because of all of the River/Mels/Melody/Amy Pond/Silence/Doctor hype going on... I couldn't keep myself from doing it. I feel like she's turning out pretty well!

Still need to make the gun and finish the dress.  Also, I couldn't find the right hair. It's supposed to be somewhere between blonde and brown, but this is a little too dark. However, the hair yarn is SO bouncy! You can pull a piece from her shoulder all the way down to her waist, and it springs back up into place. Perfect for replicating Alex Kingston's gorrrrgeous curls.

River, hanging out by a coffee can and my DVD rack to show how tall she is..... roughly 1' 2".  I'm planning on having River up on etsy as soon as I can get her finished!



Check out my shop:  www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

The Difference Between a Hobby and a Business

Right now, I'm in the middle of trying to transition from crafting for a hobby and crafting for profit.  Of course, it's always convenient to be able to whip up Christmas and birthday gifts, and to be able to make things for your own pleasure, but there's a point (at least in my experience) where one feels that there's got to be a way to expand on this.  That's where things like craft shows, flea markets, and Etsy come into play.  Some things (such as craft shows or flea markets) are a little harder to get into initially.   Often times there will be a vendor's fee at evens held anually, or only one time.  Those also often require a vendor's license to be held, which doesn't seem to be too pricey (as far as I've seen), but it is just a little more red tape, and can be a little confusing for those of us who aren't exactly the most organized (...... hmmmm...).  Flea markets can be good, however there's always that monthly booth rent, and often times it's quite the chance to take, considering you probably won't have an estimated idea of how much will sell, or if ANYTHING will sell.  I recently had an experience like this.  I had a booth in a little flea market in my town.  I loved the owners, and the booth rent wasn't too bad.  However, not a whole lot of people in my town have extra cash to be throwing at hand-made and vintage items.  So, eventually I had to give up that booth, because I was only making about half of the rent up in sales... a little counter-productive. Then we come to Etsy. Thousands upon thousands of sellers to choose from.  This can be a dream for some, and daunting for others.  I'm one of those others.  I have such a wide array of interests as far as crafts go (i.e. I have a very short attention span and have to have multiple things to jump around to), that I have a hard time really finding that little niche that I fit into.  On top of the fact that, once again.. I'm scatterbrained and am not very good with creating a method of advertisement.  I'm slowly feeling my way through though, or at least so it would seem.  I spend lots of time on crafting sites, blogs, and crafting tip sites.  I've had a few friends and relatives ask me to custom make things for them... and I guess that's always the first step.