Goblins in Europe!

This January I hopped over the pond for the first time ever and took a lovely two week vacation to Europe with my husband. Before this trip I had only really traveled around the US, I had certainly never left the continent before. We spent about 4 days each in London, Paris and Rome. It was so exciting to see all the places I learned about as a child, like the Tower of London (So awesome, by the way) and the Coliseum. I had an amazing time. We saw castles and towers and snow falling on the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful.

I gotta be honest with you folks, I am not an “endurance” kind of gal. High energy short bursts? Can do. Two weeks of walking, hiking, climbing and six story castles? Not so much. By the last day I was pretty much in tears when my husband said “Hey let’s climb to the top of that castle!” (Literally the very top.) We walked everywhere, to monuments, to the subway, to dinner most nights. Of course it was also winter in Europe, so the weather was just fantastic. *voice drips with sarcasm* Most of our trip either rain snowed or hailed (suddenly and violently) on our heads as we walked the streets.

Of course it was on such rainy, blustery days of walking that we discovered them, the European geek stores. Not just one nestled away in some corner, but many! There were comic book shops, game shops, fantasy shops. They frequented corners and marketplaces in much greater numbers than I had ever seen in a single city in the US. The best part, most of them, well they had Goblins, pixies trolls and more! Needless to say I then proceeded to spend a far amount of my “walking around” money to increase my personal collection. 

 

This Goblin warrior came from a shop in Paris called “Jeux Decartes”. It was mostly a game store, but also had a collection of figurines that caught my eye from the window display. The first day we went the store was closed, so we hunted it down later when we had a little free time. http://www.jeux-descartes.fr/

The second shop was this cool collectible shop. I did actually prevent myself from spending any money at this one, but thoroughly enjoyed wasting some time wandering about the shop marveling at their shinies.

The last shop we came across was in Rome. It was called Storia Magia. We found it when were heading towards the Vatican. The weather, as usual, was awful. It was cold and alternating between rain and pelting us with frozen chunks of ice. In fact, my husband actually fell on some stairs outside of the Vatican, it was so slippery. But I digress. We were walking along the street when we noticed a life sized wizard statue pointing into a little plaza of shops. Naturally we followed the wizard to the store.

http://www.storiaemagia.com/

It was very cool. It was a mixture of so many things. They had replicas and models for basically every major Fantasy genre fandom, swords, décor etc. They even had a section of beautiful quills and nibs for calligraphy, globes and an astrolabe. The back room, though, was my favorite. It was a room filled with nothing but goblins, trolls and fairies. They had a several foot tall troll end table by NYform trolls. (I didn’t dare even look at the price.) I fell in love with the NYform Trolls. They are Norwegian, and they look just like the trolls in the Finish Moomintroll books my Dad used to read to me. As my dad used to say they're "So ugly they're cute!" (He loved my 90's treasure trolls.)

So I ponied up the dough and got these guys! I love them! I also got this adorable little pixie made by “Le Alps.” (Seen below troll)

Fun fact: People in Rome do NOT like you to touch their merchandise. You know how your mom always used to tell you “Look with your eyes, not with your hands”? It was literally posted in ever shop on every shelf. This store was no exception. DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING. I even got in trouble for rotating the price tag so I could read it. Oops. Later we went to a toy store, where the shelves filled with the plastic toys and figurines. A employee yelled at a kid for touching a plastic toy. Now I understood to some extent in the other store, lots of breakables. But a toy store? Definite culture shock. Not that I ran around playing with the stuff in stores as a kid, but they took it seriously!

It was a ton of fun wandering Europe, and it definitely gave me the traveling bug and I can't wait to go on more adventures in new places! Seeing all the sites and history from my books was amazing and it would be awesome to add fantasy art and goblins to my collection from all over the world. Well that's all for todays ramblings! Thanks everyone for reading and sharing in my adventure. And remember, do watch out for your sock drawer Goblins are about!

A tribute to my Dad

I have always tried to stay professional and upbeat on this blog. I have also tried not too delve to far into my personal life. However, today is different. Today I find myself wanting to talk about something very close to me. Today marks a date that will live with me the rest of my life, and one I will think about every day for the rest of my life. Today marks the day that my world shattered.

One year ago today my father passed away from pancreatic cancer. It was cruel and swift and took him from our lives in a matter of four very short months. My world was torn apart in a way that can never fully be repaired. He was everything to our little family. He raised 3 teen girls by himself, after my mother passed of breast cancer when I was 12. He remarried and gained 3 more daughters. He was our rock and a shining beacon of positivity. He was always encouraging, always proud of us, and always there to pick us up when we fell.

Why am I telling this to you about this on my craft blog? Well, because without my father, I would not be the proud geek I am today. I would not have this blog, I would not make Link Cats and Goblins.

 My father would have never called himself a geek. The term hadn't been reclaimed yet, when he was young, like it has been now. However, when your father sits dramatically at the piano quoting all of the poem of the “one ring” or runs around the house shouting. “Inconceivable!” it becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly.

It was my father who got me reading in the fantasy genre when I was only eight. I saw a Xanth novel sitting on a shelf with a cool cover, and when I asked him what it was about he simply said “Well I guess you'll have to read it and find out!” He refused to tell me any more details, despite copious begging.  He was the one who raised me on Mel Brooks and The Princess Bride. Dad loved Labyrinth and always wanted to be a muppeteer for Jim Henson.

The two of us used to go the Library in our little town and race each other around the shelves trying to beat each other to the new releases of our favorite series, thus winning the right to read them first. Dad thought everything you did was amazing, whether it be a silly little poem or a paper crane. Truly I have never met a more supportive loving person in my whole life, nor am I likely to again.

My father never even knew the influence he had on us. I remember a few years ago I went to the final showing of “The Producers” in Las Vegas. I was three rows from the stage. At the end of the performance, Mel Brooks came out on stage. I flipped my lid, a true fan girl moment. The first thing I did after the show was call my Dad. His response, “Oh I didn't know you liked him.” I was dumbfounded.

We always had a good relationship. By the time I was a in late high school, we had developed a good base and he treated me like an pretty much like an adult. It allowed us to interact as adults and develop a closer relationship as friends. He was such a positive influence on everyone he touched and he never even realized it. Hell, he would even tell my husband he was proud of him, which is something my husband was sorely lacking in his own life. And who wouldn't love a father in law who insisted, practically begged, to let him dress like Darth Vader at your wedding?

I am in shock and disbelief that almost a year has passed since he left this world. In some ways It feels like time has stopped, the clock frozen on the wall. In a lot of stories, particularly fantasy, you will come across the “tortured soul” archetype. Someone who has lost everything, or lost their family, or the one they cared most about. They are in every story. I will tell you this. Until that day I had never experienced true rage or true agony. It is something you can empathize with, but never truly understand. Not until you feel it coursing through you veins and ripping you apart.

I always think of this quote from “The Princess Bride”

“Inigo Montoya: Do you hear that, Fezzik? That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when Rugen slaughtered my father. The man in black makes it now. “

Don't get me wrong, I go on about life and I strive to be happy. He would be sad to see us languish. He would want us to be happy. I know that. The pain has receded some, but I know that it will never fade entirely. I know he is watching over me. I swear to God some days he is haunting me. (Usually expressed through electronic devices, especially the radio.) And of course I miss him. Every day.

I would always tell him my latest harebrained scheme or costume or art project. He would say “You don't get that from me.” or “The artistic stuff is from your mother,” but without him there would be no world to inspire me. No mercenaries to shout “Inconceivable!” or R.O.U.S's. No Hobbits on long journeys. There would be no trolls in the woods, and no magical worlds with a shape surprisingly similar to Florida. The world would be missing that spark of magic in it. Without him there would be no goblins.

I will always remember our time together, and I will always miss you, Dad.

The Stock-up Struggle

 Well the holidays are fast approaching, and if my little burst in October sales is any indication, I have to get ready. Time to crack down and build up a stock. Time to spend every free minute crocheting and sewing. Time to repeat the same task over and over again. Time to....*whine*

See, the thing is I have a super short attention span. As much as I love my crafting and my Etsy, I don't think I could ever be one of those people that did crafting as a full time job. (http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/tags/quit-your-day-job/)

I have what I loving refer to as “Crafter's A.D.D” I feel most fulfilled when bouncing from one inspiration to the next. As such I generally have several projects going on at once. Maybe today I feel like crocheting, then I get sick of it and go and do something else. Most of what I make ends up on my etsy. Of course, the sales have actually been significant in my financial situation this year, and I good Christmas sale would just be fabulous. For me the process of sitting down and just mass producing is a bit daunting. I feel like a factory, and a lot of the creative joy gets sucked out of the task. Perhaps I just lack discipline, and need to spend a little time doing some “wax on, wax off” type stuff. :P

The other big crafting event I have coming up, however, suits my crafting A.D.D perfectly. It's a biennial SCA event called “Pentathlon” which is a huge arts and science competition in our kingdom. Have you ever been to the county fair and seen the arts and crafts barns, with projects competing? It's kinda like that. I was in 4-H as a kid, and spent months every year crafting and building and baking to win ribbons at our county fair.

In Pentathlon, to qualify for overall winner you have to complete five projects spanning at least five of the six categories. It is very challenging, because the categories are pretty varied, and you will likely end up having to make something in a category you are not that familiar with. I'm pretty excited this year to work on new things and show other people some of the skills I am working on. I have picked my projects, and will be working on them from now until the competition in spring, so you will definitely being seeing more about it!

Well, lot's of work to do! Be postin again soon!

~Goblin Gal

I'm Attacking the Darkness!

As I have just finished my latest kitty creation, the moogle cat, I thought it might behoove me to take some group photos of my geek and gamer cats. I have had a lot of fun dreaming up the cats and figuring out how to make each one best look like the character they represent.

 Photography is not normally my favorite part of the process, but I had a lot of fun taking these, especially the kitties playing DnD photo. The idea for that actually came from my husband. The day I took the others photos, my husband came home to find all the kitties on the bed with the big plush D20. He then proceeded to arrange them around the die, and then informed me that Link Cat was the DM. Well after that I just couldn't resist doing the picture full scale. I've also included a couple other of the geeky crocheted projects I've been working on, the purple D20, whose pieces you saw in a previous post, and my Mario coin brick tissue box cover.

Gamer Cat Trio

 Please enjoy and thanks for reading!

Goblin Gal

Full Group

D20 and tissue box

Baby Geek Chic!

At some point in everyone's life they begin to notice the different stages of life as they progress through them. For me it started after high school. My friends and I went on our way, began college and began our lives as adults. It was fun, but bittersweet transitioning from teenager to adult. Still, I felt mostly the same as I did in High School.

Then you get to the first one that really shocks you. The marriage phase. In this phase you stop to look at your calender, realizing you have about 5 weddings to go to this year.  This is the first phase where I truly remember looking around and going "holy #$@&!! I am an adult!" My friends and I all have husbands and wives! Careers!  I was a bridesmaid in my sister's weddings, my best friend's wedding, and then they all turned around and flew out to California to be in mine.

(The fun thing being from a different state, Wisconsin, is that the marriage age is different than the coastal marriage age, so my wedding attending phase was twice as long as some folks.) 

And what comes after the Marriage phase? Baby phase!! You think it's odd to think about all your friends grown up and married? Wait till the babies begin! That will really blow your mind! My best friend since I was 12, just a kid myself, has a kid! Another dear friend I've known since the age of 6 had her first child! My next door neighbor? A first born son! And so it only makes sense that as I transition into this new phase of my life, so does my crafting.

These burp cloths were made for a friend of mine for her baby shower! Just to make life's little messes a little more super! (Every baby should have their own super hero sound effects!) I am sure as more friend's and relatives have more little geeklings, more baby geek crafts are on their way!

Until next time,
Goblin Gal

I Have an Inkling

 Are you sick of my bad word play titles yet? Too bad :) Today I am going to talk a little about weaving.

I have always found myself particularly drawn to weaving. I love weaving, and I find it to be very relaxing. It probably started because I had weeping willows in my yard growing up in Wisconsin. It was great! Free materials whenever I wanted. As a kid I would make all kinds of things, hula skirts, crowns, baskets, a “bow” for shooting “arrows” (random sticks I found in the yard.), whatever I wanted to play with that day. It's one thing I miss about living in a temperate forest, all the free craft supplies! As much as I may try to resist it, (NO! I am NOT my mother!) I'm a fiber arts person. My first loom was this tiny little thing used to make Native American style bracelets, and of course, I have been crocheting since childhood.

I still love weaving baskets but sadly they are just not cost effective. Reed is pretty pricey to get out in so-cal, and with every department store on earth selling very cheaply made baskets at super low cost, there's just no turn around for me. Due to this basket weaving is a bit of a dying art form. So, when I weave a basket it is a kind of a treat for myself.

Since joining the SCA I have learned a few new types of weaving. All the trim you see on my Etsy or facebook page is inkle weaving. Inkle weaving uses a small loom to make trim in simple geometric patterns. It dates back to as early the 1600's as it is referenced in several Shakespeare pieces. Inkle is very  frequently used in the SCA to make “period” trims for garb etc.

When I picked this up I discovered I really liked making trim. It's fun, and relatively easy, and I can weave and be social at the same time, watch TV etc. The problem was I started to have way more trim than I would ever use, and my husband doesn't appreciate living in a giant ball of trim. So up it went on the Etsy. To be honest, I was surprised when the first one sold. I figured it was such a specialty item there wouldn't be much interest. Several trims later I am still selling, and very happy to have customers supporting my habit!

I have just sold enough to “pay off” my first loom, woohoo! Although I have now moved on to a bigger loom that my friend James made me for Christmas. He's been dabbling in woodworking and decided to give it a try! (it came out beautiful, and he even wood burned in a wolf for me, which is part of my SCA heraldry)

I still have a lot to learn! There is also card weaving which uses the same loom, but instead of warping the threads directly through the frame, they are threaded through “cards” (this allows for a wider variety in patterns.). There are also a few techniques such as brocading and pick of weaving which also allow for some fancier trims. Hopefully soon I shall have some of these fancier trims for all to see!

This is the latest trim off my loom. After making the purple D20 I was feeling a little purple-y, (to be fair, I'm almost always feeling purple-y.) Today I warped up the loom to make some fun orange and black Halloween trim. Yeah, I know it's only August, but it's my subconscious's way of wishing for cooler weather. (Your fall months will inevitably be filled with tons of Halloween crafting posts :) )

Thanks again or reading!

See you soon!

San Diego Comic Con: Part two!

Saturday and Sunday proved to be much busier days. Saturday we woke up early and went in for the “Adventure Time” and “Phineas and Ferb” panels. They were both great! John DiMaggio, who voices Jake the Dog and Bender from “Futurama” was on the adventure time panel. He was hilarious. They did an old timey radio script featuring the ice king, played songs from the show live and answered questions.

The panel I was really excited about, though, was the Phineas and Ferb panel. It featured both creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as well as the voices of Phineas, Isabella and Perry. It was a really fun panel. Yes, the platypus noise really does come out of a human being, but man it looked like a lot of effort just to get out one growl. Watching Dan Povenmire speak as Dr. Doof was awesome, and Allyson Stoner was really funny, warning little girls who asked questions about Phineas to “Be careful now.” in Isabella's voice. We saw a few clips that are yet to be released, including a song sung by Carl the Intern.

At night we went to the Masquerade, which is a huge costume contest. I love seeing all the costumes and amazing levels of skill and detail. (the prizes are amazing, too) This group one several awards, including some for best sketch, they were very funny, and their costumes were very well done. They even included Hollywood prosthetics and makeup for some of the characters. The masquerade is hosted by the Foglio's of the popular Steampunk Web Comic “Girl Genius” They were great hosts, and usual. I love going to their booth in the dealer hall, because they are always there, super friendly, happy to give autographs and just generally fun. 

 

Of course, the movie I was most excited about  upcoming is “The Hobbit” The WB booth featured a display as well as WETA workshops, who handle a lot of the props from the movie. The WETA booth was great and featured life sized trolls, as well as displays of several of the weapons from the characters. There was a Hobbit panel in Hall H, that had Peter Jackson, and several of the actors, including Orlando Bloom, (even though Legolas is NOT in the Hobbit, and was basically added in for fan service...*grumblings of a Tolkien Purist.*) but as much as it killed me to not go, the line started somewhere around 3:30- 4:00 AM. I had a friend who got there about 5, and was so far back in line she was across the street from the convention center. No thanks. None the less YAY HOBBIT!!!!! 

 (Smaug Statue)

 

 

I spent a few days hunting down this acorn label pin. It was swag from the WB booth. Eventually after getting a lead on when they would be giving out swag, and stalking the booth for 15-20 minutes, we were able to get in line and snag the swag. We got superman t-shirts, the Hobbit pin, a ton of exclusive magazines and more pins.

Swag hunting is always a fun part of a convention. We did pretty good this year. My main score included two shirts (Superman and Iron Man) a aluminum water bottle, two pairs of sunglasses, a inflatable tomahawk from “Assassin's Creed Three” and my precious Hobbit pin. Here's a pic of the haul all together. I generally avoided things like posters and papers, because lets be honest, most of them just end up in the recycling anyway, (but I did get a couple.)

All in all it was a fun time, and we learned a ton to make next year even better!

Thanks for reading!

Goblin Gal.

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