The Obsession Continues!- Typewriters.

Here are two manual typewriters I found at a flea market this weekend!

 This is an Olivetti Lettera 25 form the 1970’s-ish

 And this lovely sea foam colored machine is a Smith-Corona Corsair Deluxe form the 1960’s-ish!

Adjustable Heart Rings With Matching Earrings

Unexpected Result

Here is an art project that has gone awry! The reason? I used a different kind of resin this time. This heart was supposed to be on a platter for a wall hanging like an earlier project I posted. However, the resin I used shrank when it dried and did not adhere to the platter. Luckily it looks good in front of this window with the sunlight shinning through.

A Good Day For Typewriters!

This Olympia Traveller de Luxe is quite a nice machine! I got her today along with a Royal at a Goodwill. She works very well and has her case intact. I have found various contradictory information about her production date, but I think she might be from the 70s.

 Here is yet another typewriter I have collected. This is a Royal Royalite portable typewriter. She smells heavily of barn, yet looks quite clean. She is also missing her cover and one of the zippers on her carrying case is broken. She works very well except the space bar requires a heavy touch to move. She seems to be from the 1960s.

Ira on a Dirigible

This is my leopard gecko Ira modeling one of the clay dirigibles I made.

Typewriter!

I am now the proud owner of another working typewriter found at Goodwill! This one is electric and hums in a most pleasant way!

Finished Necklace

Here is my first completed necklace. The heart pendant hangs from a sterling silver chain that is braided with metallic thread for style and strength. The clasp and jump rings are also sterling silver. Silver colored clay used to accent the back of the necklace.

Busy!

Today feels like it is going to be a productive day! I have much to do- I have to trouble shoot my way through an ordering mistake, plan some super cool rings and hair pieces as well as design some possible octopi pieces.

First Paperweight

Here is a paperweight I made for my brother. It has glow in the dark numbers and clock hands as well as a glow in the dark heart that I made from clay.

Typewriter

Look at this beautiful thing!!!!!!!! I got this today at Goodwill for $7.99! AND SHE WORKS! She came with her case and her original Owner's Booklet and replacement ribbon order form. She is a Smith-Corona Galaxie Twelve from the '70s.

Earrings

Here is a peek at some earrings I made today. I had to make a new silicone mold today from a heart I made to keep the size uniform.

No Balloons!!!

There are no flying airships of any kind in Around the World in 80 Days. They thought about a hot air balloon very briefly in passing but decided it was too unpredictable and ridiculous.

Airship Badges

Here are some airship badges I made. I plan on making a bunch more and I might even make a short tutorial to go with it.

Too Creepy?

This is meant to be a wall piece. It came out a lot creepier than I had intended, but I do like it.

Your thoughts?

New Clock

I made this from a clock kit and an old weird circle I found t Goodwill. I think I will do a lot more with clock kits soon.

Airships!

This airship is the first in a long line of super cool Steampunk vehicles.

Heart Buttons

Check Out My New Steampunk Photos

Check out my Facebook page, I have uploaded many lovely photos there!
http://www.facebook.com/ventricles.apart.crafts

Analog Clock

This is a beautiful old clock that began to tick again as I took it apart.

"Synapses in Blue" Doodle Scarf Tutorial!

Well, here we go! Finally!

The first thing you need to do is gather your supplies. You will need to pick out the right kind of yarn or you will run into some problems trying to felt it together. Choose a yarn that is loose, fluffy and made mostly of wool. For the felting steps you will need to have at least one felting needle. I suggest having multiple needles in a needle felting tool. Also, these needles tend to be a tad fragile and you might break a few if you felt too roughly so have some backups. You will also need a felting pad or a stiff piece of foam for a needle felting surface.

1) Cut three lengths of yarn all the same size. I suggest they be at least your arm span. Loosely tie all three strands together. I tie my knots in the center of the strands. This is because it makes it easier to felt the loose ends together.
1a) Now loosely braid the strands together. Braiding them loosely makes it easier to needle felt.

Repeat the above steps a few times.

Tip: The longer and tighter you want your scarf to be depends on how many braids you make. Don't worry though, if you find you want to add more later it is easily done.

 

2) Now it is time to begin needle felting. Start felting one end of a braid by placing it on a felting pad and stabbing it with the felting needles. Use short, straight, deft strokes and be careful not to bang the tip of the needle into anything hard like the bottom of your mat. Do this for the entire length of the braid and then turn the braid over and repeat. Doing both sides helps keep the yarn strands together tighter. The side opposite the felting needle becomes fuzzier and looser so it is a good idea to turn it over and felt there to make sure everything is tangled up nicely.

Repeat the above step for all of your braids.

3) This is an optional step. I was unsatisfied with the way my needle felted braids were holding together so I took the time to wet felt them together. I filled the sink with hot water and added some dish detergent. I then dunked my braids in the water and rolled them between my palms until the loose fibers on them were very matted together. When I was satisfied I rinsed the soap out with cold water and hung the braids to dry.

 

Tip: I wear gloves while wet felting because the soap and the felt dry out my hands. If your skin is sensitive I suggest you do the same.

 

4) This is when you decide the shape and length of your scarf. Lay out your braids flat on a table. Arrange them over each other so that they meet at intersections and create loops. Needle felt wherever the braids intersect. Make sure to needle felt both sides of the intersection as well. It is crucial that you needle felt these tightly or else your scarf will fall apart.

Tip: Test every intersection by tugging on it, if there is a lot of resistance from the felt it is a good sign that you have done it right.

Tip: To make my intersections extra secure, I needle felted on some extra wool roving to each side. That's where the light blue on my scarf comes from. Not only does it add a bit of flair, it makes it stronger!

 

5) After needle felting all the intersections  wet felt your entire scarf to reduce the fuzz from the needles and to make sure everything was well matted. To wet felt the whole scarf I filled the sink with hot water and added some dish detergent. I wetted the scarf with the water and rubbed and rolled the entire thing between my hands. When I was satisfied that the entire piece was well matted I rinsed out all the soap with cold water and laid my scarf out flat to dry.

Tip: Instead of wet felting your scarf by hand you can also put it through the washing machine on a hot wash and cold rinse cycle.

6) When your scarf has dried it is time to add decoration. You may sew on buttons, beads, add accents with colored thread, etc.

Tip: If you choose to sew on beads make sure they are sewed on as securely as possible. I suggest sewing on each bead individually and giving it its own knot.
 

 

Have fun and have patience!

 

If you make a scarf from this tutorial, or another piece inspired by it, I would love to see pictures!

Thank you!

First Resin Heart Casting

I made this resin heart from the mold I made the other day. I have some interesting ideas for combining resin castings and felt. I'm sure you will be seeing some of that quite soon. The other pieces in the picture came from a store bought mold that I bought last year. This was my first try using that too. I hadn't intended to use it yet, but I had lots of left over resin from the heart. Are there any ways you would like to see me use these pieces?

Coming Soon: Doodle Scarf Tutorial!

I announced over a week ago that I would be making a tutorial on how to make a Doodle scarf. I have finally gotten myself moving and the tutorial will be all set to air this weekend at the latest! Here are the materials you will need to create one of your own:

• Felting Needles 
• Felting Mat OR Sturdy Foam
• Yarn of Your Choosing- Make sure the fibers are loose and fluffy, also mostly wool is best.
• Beads and Pretty Thread for Decoration
• Patience!

First Mold Making Success!

Before yesterday I had never tried to make a mold. I did my best to smooth out the original heart as much as possible before baking it. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

Although I can now make molds of this heart I don't think it will save me too much production time. I would much rather make my hearts unique and one of a kind. However, I do think this new technique will have some interesting applications.

The grey heart on the right is the original piece. The blue blob is the flexible plastic mold and the ugly multi colored heart at the bottom is their first child. It was intended solely as a test piece and I sort of just randomly squished the colors in it.

This is My First Real Wet Felting Success!

I made this heart pocket using the wet felting technique wrapped around patterns. I made the patterns from some card stock covered in plastic wrap. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. I think it might work nicely on a Steampunk style coat.

 This picture is of the back of the heart showing the small pocket on the back.

Here is the first piece I felted. It is the base of the heart and the pocket. I am wet felting it with warm water and dish soap. I agitate the wool fibers with bubble wrap because the texture of the bubble wrap allows the wool to tangle well and the soapy warm water can move under it between the bubbles.

 After I felted the base I made patterns for the superior vena cava, aorta and pulmunary artery from some card stock.

 Here they are after being felted. I cut the molds out of them and then refelted them closed to get rid of the messy ends.

First Day of 'Work'

This was my epic crafting setup for today. I didn't make my goal of at least two pans of things ready to bake, but the hearts I did make came out very lovely. I'll continue tomorrow and hopefully make it up to my goal.

Time to Get Serious

I got a new portable folding work table today that I can plop down where ever I like to get some serious work done tomorrow! Perhaps the weather will be nice enough for me to work on the porch. There will be no snoozing about for me, I will get up early even though I'll be working from home and my goal is to get at least two pans of creations baked. Wish me luck!

The Wonders of A Clay Conditioning Machine

 Here are some unfinished hearts that I have been working on with the help of my new tool! It flattens clay and helps mix the colors in some really neat ways. I am very excited about all the new potential projects this has opened up.

My First Felted Soap

This evening I spent about two hours trying to felt soap. As you can see from the picture the results were mixed. I seemed to get a hang of it by the last two, but I couldn't continue because I ran out of felt. As soon as I have more I will keep practicing! I'm thinking about making some small pouches and wallets as well as lots of fancy soap.

Any tips would be very welcome!

Some Unfinished Weekend Creations

Here is some of what I was working on this weekend:
I combined some clay and felt to make some pretty cool eyeball things on the left. I think I might make them into beads of some sort. Perhaps a very bizarre yet awesome bib necklace? I haven't created a bib necklace yet, but I have an interesting idea for one. The clouds and abstract dirigible thing at the bottom is a bit goofier than I usually go for. It seems like it could be a badge from a flying Steampunk theater group. Now, my favorite, the armored lizard! I am thinking about creating a whole line of adorable Steampunk lizards. All completely unique and hopefully as lovable as this guy.

'Checking Everything is in Place, You Never Know Who's Looking On'

Today I am working on business card designs and website setup! Here is a sample of the business card that I am working on.

Felting Adventures

Recently I have begun to experiment with felting. So far I think it is a medium I could really get into. I don't tend to see much felted Steampunk clothing and I think it is very underused. The mixed colors and textures that are produced from felting are very unique and nothing else looks quite like it.

So far I've learned from felting that stabbing your fingers with felting needles hurts quite a bloody bit, putting your hand in boiling water is not a good idea, and as soon as your hands are covered in soap the cat will start to do very bad things.

'Explain the change, the difference between What you want and what you need'

Today was a good day! My job has allowed me to rearrange my schedule to better fit around my art. I simply explained that I needed to take Friday off so that I could create at home alone all day without being interrupted and late into the night without having to worry about getting up early the next day. Fridays are typically a fairly busy day at work for me, so I was happily surprised that they would agree to the change. I feel that this is another big step for me. I finally have a full day allocated specifically for this dream of mine. Now I just have to make sure I get my ass in gear and don't slack off when no one is watching!

'Pursuing it With Eager Feet'

Well, here we go! This is the very beginning of Ventricles Apart Crafts! I hope to start this blog off with anecdotes about my misadventures in starting up this business venture as well as what exactly I do as an artist.

Today I took the very first step into the frustrating, rewarding and perplexing world of marketing my handmade, heartfelt and heart-filled crafts. I registered my domain name, realized I spelled it wrong, canceled it, paid a cancellation fine and registered it again all in one day. What a great start! Here's the slightly embarrassing story:

When I woke up this morning I decided to follow my big brother's advice and register my intended domain name. Now, I am not the best speller, this was terribly early in the morning, and I was pretty excited. When I went to type "ventricles" into the registration space I realized I had spelled it wrong and used my spellcheck to fix it. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close enough attention and selected "verticals" resulting in an awkward domain name: "verticalsapartcrafts.com." I did not realize my mistake until I got home from work. I panicked a little and called customer support right away without checking the website for solutions and I was walked through an easy cancellation procedure. After feeling like a doofus, I triple checked absolutely everything before resubmitting my application.

What did I learn from this? Under no circumstances am I ever, EVER to try and do important things early in the morning before finishing my tea! Er, and also that one ought not submit forms without rereading everything at least twice.