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!

~ By 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!

 by GoblinGal

Full Group

D20 and tissue box

#DnD #Geek #Mario #D20 #Moogle #Stuffed Cat

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,
GoblinGal

#babygeekchic #babygeek #geekburpcloths

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. (Fall months will inevitably be filled with tons of Halloween crafting posts :) )

Update: Since this last post I have also decided to learn card weaving. I wrote a post about making the switch from inkle to card here.

Thanks again or reading!

See you soon!
~By GoblinGal



#SCA #InkleTrim #Weaving

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!

To see day one click here.

Thanks for reading!

~By GoblinGal

WKVP78KC4WCU


#ComicCon2012 #SDCC2012

San Diego Comic Con: Part One

My second year at Comic-Con is what I would call a learning experience. It had it's ups and it's downs. Our second two days ended up much better than the first two. We got a pretty late start on Thursday, and didn't get a lot in. Lesson one. A hotel is worth it. The past two years we have spent the con with my Grandma-in-Law about 30 miles from the con. It saves us on some gas money, but still, with the drive everyday, the gas, and the parking, the idea of having a hotel within walking distance seems heavenly. My legs still haven't fully recovered from all the walking.

Lesson two: avoid ballroom 20 and Hall H on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, there weren't really very many small panels we were interested in, so we figured we'd try to get into Game of Thrones. HAH! Close but no cigar. The theme of the weekend quickly became “1 hour earlier and we would have made it in.” We kept getting right to the front of the line, just to get cut off because the room was full.*sigh*

See the problem is, Comic-Con doesn't clear the hall between panels. Why don't I like this? Well think of it this way. They expected 126,000 attendees this years. Hall H holds approximately 6,000 people. The way Comic Con does it, those 6,000 people can get in line at 5 AM and sit in HALL H all day, through 5 different panels, leaving no room for anyone else in line to get in. “So what?” you might say, “They put the time in they should get to stay.” Which would be fine, if those 6,000 people actually wanted to SEE all 5 panels. What usually ends up happening is that those 6000 people sit through 4 panels that they don't even care about, to get into the one they do. This effectively blocks thousands of people who wanted to see those other 4 panels. If they cleared the rooms between, yeah, maybe you would have to pick and choose which panels you went to, but overall way way more people would be able to get into at least one major panel.

So Thursday and Friday ended up being kinda slow for us. Mostly we wandered around the absolutely enormous dealer hall and worked the SCA Iron Brigade demos. Speaking of the SCA, G4 stopped by with Janina Gavankar from “True Blood” and did a little spot. They filmed a with our heavies fighters, it was cool to watch. (Watch it here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK3ZuhUzQ3s Although they did insist that we are LARPers despite repeatedly trying to correct them. I guess Historical Recreation just doesn't pull ratings :P

Other celeb sightings this year included Levar Burton, David Boreanaz and Vincent Caso (Bladezz) from “The Guild.” I didn't get any autographs though, too cheap, Haha. My husband did pick up two older “Amazing Spiderman” comics though, so he is pretty psyched. Next post I will go over some more exciting stuff, the panels I went to and our great swag hunt!

~By GoblinGal




#ComicCon2012

Rough Weekend

Hey guys,

Sorry it's such a late post for reporting on Comic Con. It's been a hell of a weekend, and writing has just been impossible. It started with a huge clash with with my MiL, and then later ended with my 17 year old kitty having to go to the vet for emergency surgery. She wandered into a neighbor's yard and came back with a pretty large wound in her side. (Thus confirming my choice to NOT become a vet it looked pretty bad) She's getting out of surgery today. Ugh. Some days you just wish you could erase.  Well if anything this weekend was inspiration to work harder to help me get to where I want to be. I did have a lot of fun at Comic-Con, and the post shall be forthcoming. 

WKVP78KC4WCU 

~By GoblinGal

My Day in the Sun

Many of my weekends, especially in the summer, are spent at day tournaments with the SCA. This last Saturday was Caid Prize Tourney, which is an event to raise money for our branch. The day features competitions in several fighting forms, game booths, and perhaps the largest raffle you will ever see in your life. The coolest thing about the raffle? A great proportion of the items are hand crafted by amazingly talented people.

Now, normally I have about zero luck, but lately I have been on a streak, the likes of which have not been seen..well...ever. For example,  I have just back gotten into Magic: The Gathering, and I have pulled six mythics. This is just ridiculous. Six! (I am beginning to suspect that my new black kitten is actually bringing me good luck....perhaps I should be weighed against a wooden duck.)

ANYWAY

It ended up being an extraordinarily good day for me. I took third in Thrown Weapons, and then, low and behold, RAFFLE ITEM!

 I won this absolutely gorgeous pitcher, which was hand crafted by Master Hroar Stormgangr of “Two Hearts Entwined Pottery.” I adore pottery. A kiln is definitely on the “dream house items” list, and I would absolutely spend all day playing with clay if I could. It's even in my favorite color, purple! After the event, I went to a bacon party. That's right, bacon party. The kitchen was full of fabulous dishes all made from bacon, entrees to deserts.  All in all it was a fantastic day.

The only downside to speak of  was that I acquired a massive sunburn. My first major sunburn in all my 26 years. You see, normally I do not burn, I tan. The lesson we have learned though, folks, is that after 6 hours of throwing spears in the sun, it doesn't matter what your skin type is....you will burn. Ouch. (I think my husband, who burns all the time, may be enjoying my sunburn learning curve just a little.)


Thanks to everyone who reads! Starting Thursday I will be heading off to Comic Con. Wohoo! For geeky Comic-Con updates, check back!

More of Master Hroar's work can be found here






~By GoblinGal

#SCA #Pottery

Rolling the Dice

I got started selling crafts for a few reasons, one of them is simply, I had too much stuff! One cute stuffed crocheted cat is cute. Two is reasonable. After that I just look like the creepy stuffed cat lady, (which is slightly more creepy than a crazy cat lady with living, breathing cats.)

The first year was pretty slow. I sold a few things, and I ended up in the black, which was thrilling! I wasn't just breaking even to “support the habit” I actually made some extra cash! This year things have exploded. All of a sudden I am selling more on Etsy, and getting tons of special orders. This is new to me, too. I am a conservation bio major, who is now learning about business and business transactions.

One such thing I learned in the last week is that, sometimes less is more. Learning how to deal with negotiations and pricing can be a tricky thing to learn. What did I learn this week? Sometimes giving too much information is a bad thing. I gave the client some information because I wanted him to be informed about the breakdown of the his costs, and it backfired on me. Sometimes when you roll the dice you get a 1. Critical Fail. Ugh. I'm trying to not beat myself up too hard and just move on, but man, that account would have been fantastic for my business. This was a "next level" type of deal. Sigh. Lesson learned.

But onward and upward, and speaking of dice! As I work on getting new types of geeky crochet out there, I have been working on my crocheted D20's. It has to be my favorite thing I've made this year so far.

A friend of mine said “Hey I noticed you are making some geeky crochet, do you think you could make a D20 for a friend of mine?” To which I replied “I don't know, let's find out.”

Three experimental versions later I finally ended with this.

I was thrilled with how it turned out, her friend loved it, all was well. And then I promptly swore to never to make one again. Between fine tuning the pattern and shape and beading, I had had it. (I despise embroidery, stupid beads.)

And yet...here I am, making another one. Why? Well , in the end I just can't help it.  They're just too darn cute. My husband insisted they would probably do well, and as it turns out, I just needed a little break. Now that I have the pattern nailed down, and my beading skills have improved dramatically, I'm even finding myself rather enjoying making these guys.

So here's to rolling the the dice, may you all roll 20's.

~By GoblinGal

#D20 #D&D #Dice #Dungeons & Dragons

Welcome!

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my blog, home of my crazy crafting, latest inspirations, and of course, goblins! I am a crafter, artistic dabbler and amateur costumer. I love to do a little bit of everything, from making full ballgowns, to sculpting, to historical crafts like inkle weaving. With more hobbies than any one person needs, I often refer to it as “crafting A.D.D” In my spare time I often play as Lady Dyrfinna Drengsdottir in the SCA , a medieval recreation society, am an avid gamer and enormous book worm. Nature and fantasy hold great inspiration for me, and I am currently working on finishing a degree in conservation biology.

Here I hope to post my latest projects, inspirations and because I probably just can't help it, a rambling rant or two!

I run an Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/shroudedgrove as well as a website http://www.shroudedgrove.com and a Facebook page

I hope to see you all soon, and here, as I promised! Goblin!!

This is my Kitchen Cerench Goblin, a limited Brian Froud Plush that was put out by FAO Schwartz a few years ago! I love her so much!! I am hoping to be able to improve my crocheting or sewing skills enough to make more little goblins to scamper around my house.

~By GoblinGal