The Elusive World of Carol Belle

I never thought I’d get into make jewelry, but I’m really having fun with playing with resin, which led me to investigate wire wrapping, and now possibly even beading. But one thing at a time! I get too excited about too many things and then I lose track! Curbing the enthusiasm a little bit has paid off. I’m focusing on getting the resin thing right this time.

So here’s my spread of pieces. I’m not showing you ALL of them, because the first ones were such utter failures that I’m embarrassed to show them. These, admittedly, didn’t come out as great, but I think I know why – and that’s the beauty of trial and error. The learning part. Frustrating, yes, but once we move on from being frustrated, we pick up and try again.

Well, I used up all my resin so I’ll need to wait for another shipment before I can try again, but I do intend to.

So this is what they looked like when I poured the resin in the molds. I waited about two or three hours before I embedded stickers, and topped the backings with glitter. I used some generic glitter from Mal-wart (for practice pieces), but I also have this fine glitter from Doodlebug that I bought special. It’s pretty stuff, and I’ve got quite a bit of it left.

So in experimenting with different mold release agents (home remedy stuff, before buying the “official” bottle from the company), I have so far found that cooking oil is the best. Being clever, or thinking I was being clever, I tried Vaseline on this batch. Don’t use Vaseline… *sigh*

The pieces came out dulled and I’ll tell you why. First, I thought coating the molds with Vaseline would make the face of the resin piece smooth and mirror-finish shiny. Even better, I thought it’d be a great idea to melt the Vaseline into that mirror finish I wanted so badly to achieve. I used a blow dryer to achieve this. Problem is, you have to use the blow dryer (or an exhale through a straw) to get all the bubbles out of the liquid resin that you just poured. What does this do? Melts the Vaseline INTO the still liquid resin, and then it sets funny. Dull.

So – just don’t use Vaseline, is what I say. So far, the cooking oil works well. And I’ll probably just break down and buy the official Mold Release spray from Castin’ Craft anyway. Grr.

I ordered a different kind of resin for my next experiments. I might coat these pieces with it to see how they might look. That’s what experimental batches are for anyway! More experimentation!

I should mention that I’m only using mold release for the hard plastic molds I got (bought them on ResinObsession.com). My prettiest pieces came out of a silcone mold ice tray! It already has a mirror-finish surface. Like so:

The stickers are just a batch of sticker flakes I bought from Etsy.com. I wondered what sticker flakes were when I saw them listed. They are exactly as they say they are. Flakes of stickers, rather than a sheet of stickers. I searched for “kawaii stickers”, and I’m pretty sure the ones depicted above are San-X – not to be confused with Sanrio and the Hello Kitty et al line of products.

And lastly, some wire wrapping experiments:

Didn’t follow a pattern really, but I did do a little research on some techniques for wire wrapping. The first piece is just milk glass (fake moonstone, heh). The second wire thingy was my attempt at making a “kawaii” style heart with a wing. Not carefully planned or anything, just sat down in front of the TV next to the husband and messed with the bulk of “Funwire” that I got. Yeah, I get cheap kid’s stuff before going into the Pro supplies. Smart, huh?

So, those are the latest bits and pieces of my happenings.

So, we got home on Monday, rather exhausted. Mostly it’s the driving back up to Taos that’s exhausting. Two and a half hours from Albuquerque. For the most part, we had quite a lot of fun, despite the attendance of this con being a little thin. It was definitely better than the one we attended last summer. AND we got to stay at the Hard Rock Casino Resort, which was kind of awesome!

I learned how to play Blackjack in a true casino setting. At first, I was super intimidated by the speed of the game, having to add up quickly and determine the winning hands. No touching the cards, and there’s minimum bets, which the dealers would inform you of quite strictly. We won about double of what we started with the first night (we gave ourselves a $100 pot). And the last day it went up in five minutes. But at least we had fun.

Here are some pictures I managed to grab. I wore my clockwork skirt again and forgot to take pics of it on Saturday. But the other two outfits are here.

Thanks for visiting!

Will be doing another craft post soon, most likely. Prolly too late now, but I’m also singing today at 1pm PST/2pm MST. I added the player on the side bar to listen in on the show.

Edit: The show has been canceled, on account of my being female. Well. Just for today, anyway. Girls will understand.

Well, first any pictures I end up with will have to wait until I’m home on my big computer. And darn it, I didn’t take any pictures of me in my cute Bodyline pink and white skirt. I love that thing, btw, so thank you so much to Jaimie who sold it to me! I have to admit that it’s a little tight around my waist, but that just makes me want to set a goal for firming up in the gym! I have a bloody membership to the Taos spa, so I may as well use it.

Also, I found that Bodyline does a modeling contest. A lofty goal perhaps, but their top prize is a week trip to Japan, all expenses paid! I would LOVE to try to get into that and win a trip to Japan. But in the end, even if I don’t win, I’ll come out of it with a lovely frock from Bodyline and a pretty picture to keep. heh. Think positive, I say!

So we sat there for about an hour or so, and people were still just coming into the convention. It’s a small convention, compared to others we’ve been to. I got to meet a Facebook friend name Kattie. She is SO super cute! Only 16 and is incredibly productive and industrious, having made beautiful jewelry in the style of Lolita and Fairy kei fashion. Her mom is so proud, and I can definitely see why. Her sister too, a little younger, is an aspiring fashion designer and mentioned to me she would love to design wedding gowns. What a lovely and creative family! I bought a couple lovely things from them (couldn’t help it!). I hope to wear them soon and get some pictures taken.

Hoping tomorrow will be better! I’ll at least try to get more pictures up. Today was just a sad tired day (we were both pretty sleepy). Until then, stay cute everyone!

Today we find ourselves on the road to attend the Albuquerque Comic Con! I love going to conventions, dare I say it’s my favorite kind of excursion to take (though I really wouldn’t mind visiting some warm, clear beach sometime too). After a leisurely morning spent drinking our coffee, we packed quickly and began the journey of driving the two and a half hours from Taos to ABQ.

So far, not very eventful. But we decided we were hungry and so we stopped at the El Paraguas restaurant in Espanola. It’s a neat little place, with a giant tree growing inside.

We really wanted a cheeseburger from Sugars’ which is just past Embudo along the grade, but alas! They were closed! The little old places like that are the best for classic cheeseburgers (we don’t do franchise fast food) and its only very occasionally we allow ourselves something deliciously greasy like a cheeseburger. I wanted that cheeseburger!

Still waiting here at Paraguas. I hope their cheeseburger is good, at least. Man, when you get a craving . . .

Happy New Year, everyone! Sending felicitations and well wishes to all five of you who read my blog – and my friends who occasionally meander this way too.

Wearing my new clockwork dress for NYE seemed appropriate, ne?

Lolita is as Lolita does. And while I’m at it, I do in my own fashion . . . as a crafty Lolita girl. Also silly. Very very silly. And so here’s a video to illustrate my past time.

At this point, I’ve stopped debating with myself about the true substance of videos on YouTube, questioning myself about making them and why. Instead, I thought I’d give throwing care to the wind a try. I feel wrong if I consider myself someone who can truly teach anything, but I do like sharing the little I DO know how to do.

So when I’m not singing or fixing computers, I’m sewing and crafting. My latest project is a fun Clockwork dress. The print is clocks with pretty turn-of-the-century style women’s faces on it. It was super expensive, from my local quilting fabric shop. I like supporting my local small business, but I don’t think I’m buying any prints there again.

Though I did manage a couple nice skirts out of the 50 bucks I did throw down for five yards of cloth.

And crocheted baby blue headdresses!

I have no idea if such a thing would be desirable, but I thought of making nice crocheted lace headdresses for sale on Etsy. Experimented with a particular stitch and it came out nice enough. I think I have to dress it up a little more, though. Maybe even sew the crocheted bit onto a wider band.

Thoughts?

I have too much yarn, and probably too much time on my hands too. And too much ribbon. And too much restlessness! Must. Make. More. Things. o.O

And I’ll be expecting a new batch of resin to come soon. Hopefully this time it won’t be so old that the pieces come out like gummy bears. Ugh, so disappointing. I have no idea what I’ll make with the resin yet, but my idea is to make little kawaii (that’s “cute” in Japanese) pendants like this!

I bought a batch of old watch parts too, to make steampunk themed pendants, like this.

I should be thinking about making stuff like this to sell, but I really don’t have that kind of ambition. I’m the same way about my singing, I realized. I just don’t care to be rich and famous, or make lots of money selling anything. The most important thing to me is experimenting, trying new things, and having a lot of fun doing it. If it makes me a little money on the side, hey, I can’t complain!

So I’ll keep singing in Second Life once in a while for a few dollars here and there. And make cute things that maybe someone else would like and might pay me for eventually.

I’ve heard that success happens to people when they don’t try so hard and just do the things they love. And I’m in no hurry. ^.^

So, I don’t usually like writing about politics, because there’s too many people with different opinions and I don’t like pissing anyone off. I honestly don’t know how things will progress from here, with the Occupy (99%) protests happening. I am supportive of the protests, and I definitely feel that they’ve been misrepresented in mainstream media – like so many important stories and current events.

I’ve felt that I’ve deliberately stayed out of whatever the “mainstream” way of life is (i.e. go to college on loans, maybe or maybe not graduate, and be a debt slave for the majority of the rest of your life), and I have stayed out of it because I sensed the proclivity of the rat race fairly soon after high school. It seemed endless, and senseless, and the best way to not help the machine is to simply not be part of it. At least, not like that.

I’m fortunate enough to say that I have no credit cards, debt, loans, or anything that needs paying off. I am free from the rat race. Unfortunately, most people in this country have no escaped, and have no means of escaping. It’s an ugly cycle that won’t end until something important happens to change the way things are.

So, I read different websites for alternative news, and I try to come to my own conclusions and not read too much into events. Reddit.com is a source of information for me, and I found an interesting post by a user. Cited here:

The Ruins of Empire

C.F. Volney (Comte de Volney)

From Chapter 15 – The New Age

SCARCELY had he finished these words, when a great tumult arose in the west; and turning to that quarter, I perceived, at the extremity of the Mediterranean, in one of the nations of Europe, a prodigious movement — such as when a violent sedition arises in a vast city — a numberless people, rushing in all directions, pour through the streets and fluctuate like waves in the public places. My ear, struck with the cries which resounded to the heavens, distinguished these words:

What is this new prodigy? What cruel and mysterious scourge is this? We are a numerous people and we want hands! We have an excellent soil, and we are in want of subsistence? We are active and laborious, and we live in indigence! We pay enormous tributes, and we are told they are not sufficient! We are at peace without, and our persons and property are not safe within. Who, then, is the secret enemy that devours us?

Some voices from the midst of the multitude replied:

Raise a discriminating standard; and let all those who {64}maintain and nourish mankind by useful labors gather round it; and you will discover the enemy that preys upon you.

The standard being raised, this nation divided itself at once into two bodies of unequal magnitude and contrasted appearance. The one, innumerable, and almost total, exhibited in the poverty of its clothing, in its emaciated appearance and sun-burnt faces, the marks of misery and labor; the other, a little group, an insignificant faction, presented in its rich attire embroidered with gold and silver, and in its sleek and ruddy faces, the signs of leisure and abundance.

Considering these men more attentively, I found that the great body was composed of farmers, artificers, merchants, all professions useful to society; and that the little group was made up of priests of every order, of financiers, of nobles, of men in livery, of commanders of armies; in a word, of the civil, military, and religious agents of government.

These two bodies being assembled face to face, and regarding each other with astonishment, I saw indignation and rage arising in one side, and a sort of panic in the other. And the large body said to the little one: Why are you separated from us? Are you not of our number?

No, replied the group; you are the people; we are a privileged class, who have our laws, customs, and rights, peculiar to ourselves.

PEOPLE. — And what labor do you perform in our society?

PRIVILEGED CLASS. — None; we are not made to work.

PEOPLE. — How, then, have you acquired these riches?

PRIVILEGED CLASS. — By taking the pains to govern you.

PEOPLE. — What! is this what you call governing? We toil and you enjoy! we produce and you dissipate! Wealth proceeds from us, and you absorb it. Privileged men! class who are not the people; form a nation apart, and govern yourselves.¹

{65} Then the little group, deliberating on this new state of things, some of the most honorable among them said: We must join the people and partake of their labors and burdens, for they are men like us, and our riches come from them; but others arrogantly exclaimed: It would be a shame, an infamy, for us to mingle with the crowd; they are born to serve us. Are we not men of another race — the noble and pure descendants of the conquerors of this empire? This multitude must be reminded of our rights and its own origin.

THE NOBLES. — People! know you not that our ancestors conquered this land, and that your race was spared only on condition of serving us? This is our social compact! this the government constituted by custom and prescribed by time.

PEOPLE. — O conquerors, pure of blood! show us your genealogies! we shall then see if what in an individual is robbery and plunder, can be virtuous in a nation.

And forthwith, voices were heard in every quarter calling out the nobles by their names; and relating their origin and parentage, they told how the grandfather, great-grandfather, or even father, born traders and mechanics, after acquiring wealth in every way, had purchased their nobility for money: so that but very few families were really of the original stock. See, said these voices, see these purse-proud commoners who deny their parents! see these plebian recruits who look upon themselves as illustrious veterans! and peals of laughter were heard.

And the civil governors said: these people are mild, and naturally servile; speak to them of the king and of the law, and they will return to their duty. People! the king wills, the sovereign ordains!

PEOPLE. — The king can will nothing but the good of the people; the sovereign can only ordain according to law.

CIVIL GOVERNORS. — The law commands you to be submissive.

PEOPLE. — The law is the general will; and we will a new order of things.

CIVIL GOVERNORS. — You are then a rebel people.

PEOPLE. — A nation cannot revolt; tyrants only are rebels.

CIVIL GOVERNORS. — The king is on our side; he commands you to submit.

{66} PEOPLE. — Kings are inseparable from their nations. Our king cannot be with you; you possess only his phantom.

And the military governors came forward. The people are timorous, said they; we must threaten them; they will submit only to force. Soldiers, chastise this insolent multitude.

PEOPLE. — Soldiers, you are of our blood! Will you strike your brothers, your relatives? If the people perish who will nourish the army?

And the soldiers, grounding their arms, said to the chiefs: We are likewise the people; show us the enemy!

Then the ecclesiastical governors said: There is but one resource left. The people are superstitious; we must frighten them with the names of God and religion.

Our dear brethren! our children! God has ordained us to govern you.

PEOPLE. — Show us your credentials from God!

PRIESTS. — You must have faith; reason leads astray.

PEOPLE. — Do you govern without reason?

PRIESTS. — God commands peace! Religion prescribes obedience.

PEOPLE. — Peace supposes justice. Obedience implies conviction of a duty.

PRIESTS. — Suffering is the business of this world.

PEOPLE. — Show us the example.

PRIESTS. — Would you live without gods or kings?

PEOPLE. — We would live without oppressors.

PRIESTS. — You must have mediators, intercessors.

PEOPLE. — Mediators with God and with the king! courtiers and priests, your services are too expensive: we will henceforth manage our own affairs.

And the little group said: We are lost! the multitude are enlightened.

And the people answered: You are safe; since we are enlightened we will commit no violence; we only claim our rights. We feel resentments, but we will forget them. We were slaves, we might command; but we only wish to be free, and liberty is but justice.

Yeah. I got bored, and decided I should update stuff again. Sorry everyone! I’m so lazy about this sometimes. I get caught up in video games like Borderlands and Skyrim. Oh, and interning at my new job – well, I say “job” but it’s really just the interning thing for now. Still. I’m focused . . . on that real life thing I nearly forgot about. Ha.

And that video I mentioned. Yeah. I sang this, ‘cause someone was really nice and uploaded an instrumental of this song that I’ve loved since I was three.

And Also …

Thought I’d mention I made my downloads available again. Not sure why I do things like lock pages and make them private, but I fixed that and so if you want to, you can download songs I’ve sung and recorded. Be forewarned, they’re not the best recordings. But meh – they’re fun, I guess. Please enjoy!

Link: My Music Downloads

After making the above video, I played with my toys. I love toys. I swear, I’ll never grow up. I think my husband likes that about me too. Good thing. I ain’t changin’. :P

So if anyone reading this blog decides to get the same kind of kits I did, don’t make the same mistake – the bottle inside the package is NOT what they’re telling you to mix with the foamy “fuwa fuwa” clay stuff. Haa… It’s totally glue. Watery, but glue nonethless. I actually thought about it after I mixed some watery glue into my clay, and wondered if it may end up being a “happy accident” as Bob Ross would say. As mentioned in the video, a friend on Facebook told me the stuff dries weird. Maybe mixing it with the glue is better? heh – who knows. It was fun to play with, but I don’t think I would sell anything made from the stuff.

I like polymer clay better.

But I played with my toy and followed the pictures in the instructions (since I’m not quite up to reading the Japanese – yet).

It’s fluffy and mousse-like. But kinda messy on one’s hands when mixed with a couple drops of water. I kept having to rub my fingers together to get the sticky parts off, and I still have a little glitter on them too. Oh, well. They we were fun to play with, and I love the molds! I tried using the polyclay on the mold, though, and it needs something to come off easier. The polyclay is too sticky, it seems. Perhaps cornstarch on the mold before using polyclay?

I had my fun with the first kit – a jewelry making kit – and was all “funned” out when I opened the second kit. So I’ll save that one for another time.

In other news, I’m using my new serger! Yay!

Working on modifying this dress that used to be way too long for me. I’m only 5’1” so I don’t I look good in full length maxi dresses. Lolita style works much better, methinks. Now all I need is a ruffler foot (already ordered!) to make ruffles and petticoats that are poofy! Milanoo.com doesn’t have very poofy options, sadly. So I guess if you want something done right, do it yourself!

Still with the serger though – I can do things. Like this quick little project of recycling my old high school gym clothes.

Yay, I made a pillow!

I had this horrible pink neck pillow that I got somewhere at the Dallas airport. I got it because it was pink . . . and later I noticed it had the Texas Bullhorn symbol on it. Eugh… Sorry, peeps in Texas, I’m really not fond of the state (or it’s politics … >_>).

So I did something clever! I took the stuffing out of the pillow I didn’t like, and put it into the one that I did! Yay, recycling. I’m not sure I even liked my high school experience that much, but the colors are pleasant, I like the shield with the knight and lancer thing. And I can definitely say I like that MUCH better than Texas-anything.

Well I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t having fun. I think I already mentioned that in an earlier post, though, so now I’m just being redundant and likely annoying. Moving forward.

I went to Etsy.com last night and ordered a few supplies from a couple sellers. I gave myself a budget of 40 dollars and I think I did very well. I spent $35.45 on some cameo molds and cabochons, and other decorative stuff. I’m into this cake making thing right now. I saw one tutorial of how to make a red velvet cake out of poly-clay, and decided to try it.

I used my little cake as a starting point for a little deco-den practice. I’m sure there’s tutorials somewhere for that too. I’m also expecting some acrylic rhinestones to come, and I’m still looking for a good source to buy those. At the Hobby Lobby, I found them for nearly $4 for what didn’t seem like a lot of rhinestones. So I didn’t buy them there. Instead, I found them at Etsy (I love that website) for a $1 for the same amount of stones as in the package in the store.

Maybe Fire Mountain Gems? Or perhaps another online source I have yet to discover?

Anyway, I’m thinking of doing some deco on my Sony camera I keep using to take all these pictures. It’s already a boring Navy blue, so I want that to change. Let’s get crazy creative!

One Last Thing

Randomness at the end of a post about clay stuff, I just wanted to share my recent drawing. I haven’t drawn anything in a while, constantly feeling discouraged about it. I guess at one time I was okay at fashion sketching. This was the one piece of homework I did for that class that I dropped.

The assignment was to choose a designer of the period we were studying. In this case, La Belle Epoque. I chose Mariano Fortuny, the guy who did costumes for theater. I really just wanted to try to draw this famous dress of his, called a Delphos gown. He was inspired by ancient Greece. And he invented the pleating process for the fabric (he was an inventor too – yay, science!).