Announcing Tolkien Month


A couple of months ago, I heard about Hobbit Day. It's the "official" Tolkien celebration day, according to the American Tolkien Society and Wikipedia. Mark your calendars-- September 22nd, the birthday of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins!


"My dear Bagginses and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfoots. Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday! Alas, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
Plus, the new Hobbit movie is coming out this year! Words can't express my excitement.


Since I'm a big Tolkien fan I thought it would be a blast to do a Lord of the Rings/Tolkien-themed blog series! (oooooooooh, yeah!)


I hereby declare September 2012 to be Tolkien Month at Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe!
You know what will horrify you, though? I haven't actually read LotR in three years. Three whole, stinking years. I've read bits and pieces, of course, and recently read all of the poems aloud to my four year old brother (many, many times... many more times that I necessarily wanted to read them-- I think we've both got "Troll sat alone on his seat of throne" memorized!). I re-read the Hobbit last month and remembered why I thought it was funny but slow. 


Why am I announcing this so early? To get you psyched, of course!


That is not the only reason, though. I need help! As I'm sure you've realized by now (considering the fact that I mention this almost every single week), I am a very busy highschooler. If I actually slow down and think through my grand plans properly, I know I will be able to finish only two or three of my big, Lord of the Rings projects and just few of the posts I'm planning. I know for sure that I would not be able to write the six-million essays worth of awesomeness that Tolkien has sent bouncing through my brain. This is where you come in!


If you love Tolkien, please consider helping me make this party a blast!


I'm mostly looking for guest bloggers. Just email me at shealynnsfaerieshoppe{at}gmail.com (remove {at} and replace with @). Unless your suggested post is not family friendly or anti-Christian, I will most likely say YES. I don't bite-- so please, feel free to email me no matter what your idea is!


Here's just a couple of ideas, but be creative!

  • Why you love Tolkien/Lord of the Rings
  • Tolkien-themed art, crafts, sewing, or cooking. Tutorials would be super awesome.
  • Posts about anything inspired by Tolkien, his books, or the movies/music based on his books. This could include anything from Celtic knotwork to learning to play an obscure instrument to an analysis of the costumes to fancy hairstyles to an analysis of the cinematography styles used in the movies to favorite Norse myths to archery in movies! Whatever floats your boat, as long as you can tie it back to Tolkien in some way. :)
  • Short stories, fun essays, poetry, artwork....
  • Roundups of your favorite Tolkien things on the internet

(Please note that I will be busy enough with running Tolkien month and won't be able to reciprocate guest posts.)


I'd love to host a couple of giveaways. If you run a craft business, jewelry business, calligraphy business, etc, and would like to do a giveaway, let me know. I did a bunch of giveaways a little less than a year ago and heard that it brought a good deal of traffic to small Etsy and Artfire shops. If you do a giveaway, you also get a free ad on the blog during the month of September! The giveaways don't have to be handmade-- if you have a stash of Lord of the Rings toys or books or something that you want to get rid of... you know who to email. LOL!


I will also try to set up one of those linky lists starting on the first of September, so if you want to join in the party at your own blog (or Tumblr, Flickr, etc) during this time, you'll be able to share the link to your site where everyone can see it!


You can also help by getting the word out! Mention the party on your own blog, twitter, facebook, pinterest, etc, and see if any of your friends want to join in this celebration of all things Tolkien!


Shealynn's faerie shoppe

Experiments in Paint and More


Acrylic and glitter on masonite board, 1 hr.
Sometimes I feel as if I were a wave, stuck in a strange dichotomy between the world of chaotic water crashing over rocks, and the serene beauty of a sunset over the endless sea.


(That's supposed to be a clever simile inspired by my painting of my Papa's photo. I don't think it quite worked, so... *insert witty simile here*)

I had such high hopes for this summer. I'm not sure if it was a success or not-- I didn't do all the things I wanted to, but I was both enjoying myself and being productive the whole time.

For example, I've blogged irregularly over the past three weeks. I've been teaching an art/jewelry class to around five young local girls, visiting with friends (and going and visiting with family friends), touring colleges-- I'm sitting down to write this half an hour after a scholars' day event--, attending my cousin's wedding, and attempting to get the August issue of Ink and Fairydust put together. Plus, there are other things. Playing with my lil' siblings. Exercising. Eating. SLEEPING. And playing some epic board games with my family!

One of the failed hopes for this summer was spending an hour or more each day on art and getting my entire portfolio ready before the school year. Didn't happen. But I did manage to fit in several smaller art projects, in the one to three hour range-- experimental stuff.

I haven't done a proper art-project post in a long time. It's about time I did another! I am, of course, going to get you in the right mood. Ready? Set? Listen to words of great wisdom and let's GO!


"Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if one only had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~G.K. Chesterton

I felt as though I were drawing on the ceiling with a five-foot pencil for some of these pictures! Paints, in particular, are very unwieldy. I have so much to learn.

(Someday I will get the scanner to work properly and will upload these to my DeviantArt page with proper descriptions and whatnot.)


A memory-painting from our trip to Colorado. Acrylic on canvas paper.


Colorado has some truly WONKY trees that are very, very intimidating when done in monochrome! Acrylic on canvas paper.


This would have worked better if I hadn't tried to incorporate designs from a total of five different images. The colors don't balance well. But for what it's worth, this is my attempt to copy Korean DanCheong, a type of ornamental art used to cover architecture in historical Korea.

Half-dried and quite uncooperative acrylic paint on masonite board.


My first attempt at painting with only a palette-knife. Oil on canvas board.


It leaves a great texture! But it's hard.


I don't know how long I spent on this painting; I was outside with mosquitos and creepy crawlers inching their way all over my legs while I listened to Sherlock Holmes and painted in perfect bliss. I have a feeling I put in around 2 1/2 hours before I got chased inside by creepy crawlers biting me.


Acrylic in a bristol paper notebook.


Dragonfly in prismacolor colored pencils.


A clockwork dragonfly (I already mentioned this one here).


I love taking pictures from unusual angles. ^_^



A miniature painting with a palette-knife. Acrylic on stretched canvas.


30 minute watercolor from my imagination, done as a challenge with a friend.


Audrey Hepburn in a painting that I tried to fix... and ruined... seriously ruined...

 

CELTIC KNOTWORK SNOWFLAKES. The top right one is entirely original, I didn't even look up usual motifs for circular knotwork. This was inspired by the movie Brave (more about that here).


A WIP of my first painted still life, done in art class. Oil on canvas board; mine is the one facing you. It's finished now. :)

You can always see some more of my art here. Just click "older posts" a few times and you'll find all sorts of old, embarrassing projects. I've learned a lot but I'm sure that in just a year or two, I'm going to cringe at what I've just posted...

By the way, this week I am beginning my first week of school. It's strange to think that I am nearly done with high school! Wish me luck!

Swirly Ear Cuff Tutorial



This is not the easiest ear cuff tutorial; if you are just getting started, I'd suggest making several of the Simple Ear Cuffs to warm up!

A primer for those unfamiliar with ear cuffs: You don't need peircings to wear these! They slide on to the cartilage of your ear. (Here's a description of the proper way to put on ear cuffs). It's typical to wear only one ear cuff for bold designs, but the simpler ones worn in pairs are great replacements for regular earrings. They are far more comfortable and customizable than clip-on or screw-back earrings!


This swirly design is by far my favorite and it is the best-selling ear cuff style at my Shoppe.


For this tutorial I am using 20 gauge enameled copper wire to make a right-ear ear cuff. My favorite wire to work with for this type of jewelry is silver plated copper; it is pliable enough to bend, sturdy enough to last, and of course is very good quality.


Begin with several inches of wire. The basic swirly cuff needs only 6 inches.


Create zig-zags an inch (or slighly over an inch, depending on your ear type) long, just like I did in the simple ear cuff tutorial.

Add the swirly at the top and bend the bottom wire down. Make sure the swirl and bend are not in the middle of the "arms." At this point, you need to have either a left-ear cuff or a right-ear cuff, or else the cuff won't fit either ear properly. (See the Simple Cuff tutorial for details, study the blue cuff in particular).

Bend the bottom bit of wire at one inch.

(Note: if you want to dangle a bead on these ear cuffs, make sure that the swirl you add in later does not overwhelm this bend. I'm not really sure how to describe this, but you'll notice that I keep the end of the ear cuff pointy. Usually I make it even pointier than I did for this tutorial.)


This is the perfect time to hammer the wire to harden it, if you so desire. Don't hammer the "arms" and make sure you don't harden the wire so much that it becomes brittle. I didn't hammer this example.



Fold around an appropriate marker and use pliers to finish bending the very ends so that the cuff creates a proper circle. (See the other tutorial!)




The finished ear cuff! The left image shows it worn normally (but slightly cricked; I didn't have a lot of patience while taking these photos!) and the right image shows it worn upside down on the "wrong" ear.






You can use a longer piece of wire and add in extra swirls and twists and all kinds of goodies on both the top and bottom.


A couple more fancy designs, click to englarge.



(I did warn you last week that you'd be seeings lots of pictures of my ears! Do you know how difficult it is to get pictures of your own ears???)

This ear cuff (which is on my shoppe) uses interchangeable dangles. You can see that I left the bottom of the swirly extra pointy. On the right you can see that it makes my ear look a little pointy and elvish. :)


This is a double ear cuff set with many interchangable dangles made from Czech glass leaf beads.

It's meant to be worn by people who don't have peircings for normal earrings. I like double ear sets to be very simple and elegant and in neutral colors so that they can camouflage as very unique earrings. Normally when I make bold ear cuffs, I only wear one.

And voila! You are set to make and customize your own ear cuffs! If you make some, leave a comment or send me a picture (shealynnsfaerieshoppe{at}gmail.com), I love seeing what others do with my tutorials. :)

You may use this tutorial to make your own ear cuffs, or your own modified design, for personal use or even for selling. All I ask is that you please reference me (Shaylynn Ann / Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe), and include a link back to my blog where appropriate. I do put a lot of time in coming up with tutorials and offering them for free, so thank you for this courtesy! And if you don't feel like making one of your own, they are available in my Shoppe and can be custom ordered!

Giveaway Winner!


Wow! This giveaway was a sucess-- so many people entered! Thank you all, and I really wish that all of you could be winners!

The winner of the Slender Elven Jewelry Set is Entry #260, Brenda W. (Contacted via email.)



Now, as to the question I quizzed you with for the mandatory entry:

For those who decided to choose their favorite item, I was surprised and pleased to see that all my various jewelry styles (fantasy, classy, guitar string, etc) were picked as favorites.

Tutorials are definately in store. I've got a more advanced ear cuff tutorial planned for later this week!!! And for those who specifically mentioned book crafts, there are three projects I'm in the middle of. They're kinda taking forever, though!

I was surprised and pleased (again) that you asked for more photoshoots and more in-progress artwork. More coming!

"More arts and crafts" was a big one. Mostly from people who had never seen my blog before, I'm sure, but that's OK! That's what I post the most about here, so you're to see more.


Thanks for the great response about the stationary. As soon as I finish this issue of Ink and Fairydust I'll buckle down and draw some designs.

Any requests for specific designs?

Simple Ear Cuff Tutorial


What you've all be waiting for... an ear cuff tutorial! I've been making ear cuffs for over a year, but unfortunately haven't had the time to make some of the insanely complicated designs I've dreamed up. This, however, is a very simple ear cuff that takes only a few minutes to master!

Ear cuffs (also known as ear clips, cartiliage cuffs, ear vines, and more) are fabulous for people who don't have pierced ears-- or pair them with other earrings for a "double piercing" look. They are easy to wear, and stay in! I wore one on several rollercoasters and it stayed in place. The only thing to watch out for is hair tangling in them; tug your hair, and you might tug off the cuff.
I've had many friends test these ear cuffs and the sizing shown below has fit everyone because it is adjustable.

All you need is pliers and some wire (the pictured wires are 20ga blue silver plated copper and 20ga enameled copper in various colors).


Begin with 3 inches of wire.


Fold at one inch.


Fold again, creating a little zigzag.


Twist the ends into swirls and pinch the swirls until they touch the center wire. Having loops on the far left and right edges makes the cuff more comfortable (so don't pinch the zigzags into a straight line).


You will need a mandel to form the ear cuff correctly. Anything in a good small circle-- I found that this PaperMate marker was the perfect size. Bic pens are too small for some people, and other markers are way too large. Experiment and find what works best for you.


Push the ends down...


The tips of the ends will still be straight. Using pliers, gently twist them to complete the circle.


Tada!


This brown ear cuff fits both ears. The swirly decoration sits on the outside of the cartilage. Next I'll show you have to make an ear cuff specific to one ear-- a very important skill for some of the more difficult ear cuff tutorials I've got planned.




This ear cuff is for the left ear.



You can use a larger length of wire and create bigger swirlies. You can then add a simple wirewrapped bead dangle onto the cuff.



Or, create something a bit more gothy or piratey by adding chain and a stud earring! Be creative!


UPDATE: I've made tutorials for two more ear cuffs, the 'Swirly Ear Cuff' and the 'Double-Loop' style, and I plan on posting step-by-step or behind the scenes shots for some more complex ear cuffs, which you will be able to find here.


As I said before, ear cuffs are not my idea, but this tutorial is. You may use this tutorial to make your own ear cuffs, or your own modified design, for personal use or even for selling. All I ask is that you please reference me (Shaylynn Ann / Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe), and include a link back to my blog where appropriate. I do put a lot of time in coming up with tutorials and offering them for free, so thank you for this courtesy! And if you don't feel like making one of your own, they are available in my Shoppe, and can also be custom ordered!

UPDATE AGAIN: I made a video tutorial! Watch it below, or, if it won't load, here's the YouTube link.

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