Putting my sewing skills to good use

It's not too often these days I make something for myself, or something actually useful (plushies might be fun and cute but they're not exactly utilitarian).

So at work we got a bunch of new safety vests for our next field project.

Apparently, they only come in extra large. I could fit three of me in this thing, the picture doesn't do it justice. It goes another inch or two past the bottom of the photo, and one side is folded over a bit.
I tried it on and was absolutely swimming in it. Not exactly... safe.

Looking through the catalogue all the basic vests were also only in large or extra large, the only ones that came in small were the expensive fancy vests. So I decided to do some tailoring.
It was like liposuction for fabric, haha. Took out fabric from the back, sides, bottom, and front edges. Reshaped the neck opening, put in new velcro, and it's perfect! If anything I made it a tad too small, but it still fits over a jacket. It's quite comfy and nonrestrictive when I move (unlike the last plastic-y vest I had). The other girls in the office are jealous. There might be more alterations in my future.

Planarians

Did you get to play with these guys in biology class?

I remember in high school we got some planarians to mess around with... if you cut them in half they'll grow into two worms, and if you cut the head in half it'll grow two heads.

They are flatworms, phylum Platyhelminthes.

I made a few plushies! One small, one medium, and one with two heads. Available now in my etsy shop.

Small
Medium
Two heads

All my babies

In one place:I spent several hours sketching and coloring this page, one of my favorite works. Done in sharpie markers, of course, 9"x12".

The animals are not to scale.

Check out my flickr photo to see notes of all their names.

Going to frame this and hang it in my room :)

Cambrian EXPLOSION

Is the name of the treasury I created today!Click HERE to see the treasury and check out the awesome products/sellers. I could find surprisingly few Burgess Shale creatures on etsy, though you can see I dug up an anomalocaris and hallucigenia. And of course there's the trilobites.

I was inspired to make this treasury because of a custom order I completed this morning... a HUGE trilobite.
It's about 24" long, super soft and cuddly and made out of my absolute favorite fabric.

Here's another order I finished recently: dragonfly nymph and blackfly larvae:
Always looking forward to more custom orders :)

Art on Lark - results

I'm back from the show - what fun! I'm getting tired just thinking about it, craft shows are fabulous but so exhausting.

So here I am in my tent:My boyfriend Josh went with me, so glad he loves craft shows and wanted to help :) He kept me company and wandered around the street with his own giant centipede. I wish I had gotten a photo of us together! A bunch of strangers took pics of us though, wonder if I'll manage to find any of them floating around the internet... here is Josh guarding the booth:
And some shots of my display:
And the million dollar question: "So which is weird, you or the bugs?"
The answer is "both"

And if I had a dollar for every time someone picked up my plush weights I'd be rich! Did well money wise considering there was a huge crowd but no one was buying. Saw hardly anyone walking by with bags or things they've purchased, and by the end the other booths still looked pretty full. Didn't get to talk much to other vendors though, so I'm not sure how well people did overall.

I had a lot of fun talking to people, got to meet a lot of repeat customers and people who remembered me from past shows, as well as a few who recognized me from the newspaper article I was in last year. Passed out nearly all of the business cards I brought so that makes the show worth it no matter what.

My favorite part was talking to kids - I love answering their questions and giving them some good creepy facts to tell their friends. It was annoying having to readjust my display every 5 minutes due to grabbing hands, but considering I make soft plushies I knew it couldn't be helped. So grateful for attentive parents!

Hopefully have some more custom orders coming my way, need to keep myself busy. Only now I have to unpack everything and put it away and do the paperwork for my business - it can't be all fun.

Overall very glad I got to attend this show, I'll hopefully be back next year.

Art on Lark street

My first (and perhaps only?) craft show of the summer! I LOVE this show, had a lot of fun and success last year and am excited to be back.Here's a little map of the show location and I'm pointing at my spot (and I circled it in green)- #51, just about in the middle. I shouldn't be tough to find anyway, my fabulous boyfriend Josh will be there with me and we'll both have our giant plush centipedes.
By the way, this is in Albany NY so if you'll be in the area - BE THERE! June 6th, 10 to 5. Come visit me (and maybe buy something?) and with all the other great vendors and food and music you'll surely have a good time.

Watch the magic happen

I've contemplated making a video of the creation of one of my soft sculptures but never got around to it... until now!

I had fun playing around with the speed, for your sake considering many aspects of the project were long and tedious and a lot wasn't even included.

So here it is, the making of a crab spider from start to finish.

Do I really need another one? Of course!

Thrift stores are dangerous places, especially when you can find a 1976 Singer Stylist 533 sewing machine in perfect condition (with the case and manual) for $25Here's a photo of the new addition, next to my trusty 1947 Singer.

This one will replace my "brand new plastic singer", because it can do zig zags! And it's metal, just the way I like my sewing machines. Mmmm I'll have fun sewing this afternoon.

Also... NEW ADDITIONS TO MY ETSY SHOP: SHARPIE DRAWINGS!
That's right, I debated opening another shop but really don't have the energy to keep up with two. So they're tossed in with my plushies.
Part of the fun is finding funky frames for them at thrift stores, they may have a few little scratches and dents but I think it gives them character. As you can see I've got all sorts of creatures drawn, I really love using sharpies. I'll take custom orders on drawings as well, with or without frames (though the frames will be random, considering it's based on what I can find).

That's my fun for the day... later this week will be getting more info on starting my full time summer job. Going to keep myself busy!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack

Whew what an adventure! It'll take me a while still to get through all my photos and put together coherent posts, so we'll see what happens.

My Desert Ecology class (along with three profs, the directer of the ecomuseum and two herpetologists) went to various campsites throughout Texas, Arizona and California.

Some highlights:
Texas coral snake
SidewinderSeveral other rattlesnake species
Gila monsterFour species of horned lizard
I had the time of my life even with all the dirt, sand, wind, sun, lack of showers, creepy outhouses, cooking/cleaning/setting up tents, and assignments. My class was a really great group of people and we found some AMAZING animals while exploring some great landscapes. I've got scratches all up and down my arms and legs to show for the snakes and lizards I captured.

Now that I'm back I've been unpacking and sewing at hyperspeed, and custom orders are always appreciated :)

Vacation Mode

If you check out my shop now, you'll see it's empty.

I've decided to put things into vacation mode now, considering the next few days are going to be insane. Study sessions, two final exams, and lots more last minute shopping for my trip.

Leaving thursday morning (reeeaaaaaaaally early) and won't be back til May 8th, keeping my shop closed until May 11th.

3 weeks of camping and traveling through the desert... it's going to be fabulous. No internet connection though, hopefully nobody misses me too much.

I'll be ready for custom orders when I return! I'm hoping for a ridiculous amount of etsy convos and emails ;) If you're interested in a custom order and don't want to wait to contact me: weirdbuglady[at]gmail.com