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Total matches for choker: 47
Pleasant Non-Threatening Plastic Customer Service Smile
This sure is a real piece that I sure did spend weeks working on. Not to mention developed another technique regarding the way weight is distributed through the netting itself, so it ought to be a lot more stable while remaining flexible. (I mean, I haven't had complaints or breakage reports, but this is just sort of what I do.)
If nothing else, this is a prime illustration of channeling one's rage into creative endeavors. As much as the creation of this piece was inspired by this Vox article, the feelings have been around for a long time. I joined Etsy in 2007, when it still felt like a real agent for artists and artisans. Now it feels like a farm run by people who have only ever seen an animal on television. All hail the venture capitalists, etc.
I wanted to mention here that the clasp is, not so ironically, from an Etsy shop not at all involved in the rest of this. I was looking for something different than what I've used before and I just... happened across this. There are still good things there, and many good people selling their wares and supplies to make more wares. But we're all being crushed under a company that no longer wants to be unique and serve its user base, but to serve their board and be Amazon Lite. Art Ebay. So yes, I say wholly and sincerely, fuck Etsy. And fuck whatever survivorship bias bullshit is sure to be tossed in my general direction. I'll crawl along as long as I can because really, what are they gonna do, fire me?
Of course they could, in a way. But I'll bet the chunk of cash they'll get if this ever actually sells is more important. After all, I won't pay extra to be in searches. And nothing else will ever get free shipping. Consider this being me metaphorically shitting in your blueberry field, Kalin.
(For Sale)
Nera's Choker and Earrings
Commission for both the earrings and the choker from the Dragon Quest series' Nera Briscoletti. Not gonna lie; while there was plenty of initial annoyance regarding materials and some things that had gotten damaged and needed replacing, I had a lot of fun getting these together, though.
The earrings themselves are "plunger-style" clip-on gold-plated hoops, gold-plated base metal beads, and... cardboard. Layered, reinforced, hardened, and then made to look like gold. No, it's most definitely not going to bend, warp or fall apart anytime soon. The beads themselves are dangling from 4 extra-strong beading thread... er, threads. So they're dangly!
As for the choker, I tried quite a few fabrics to see if I couldn't simulate the texture and look of gold, and ultimately settled upon some lovely soft suede. With a nice little mostly hidden bar clasp, there's enough comfortable stretch to the suede itself to allow it to be worn without, you know. Choking every time you try to take a drink of something. (I know cosplay isn't about practicality, but I have my priorities.) The jewel is a little sky blue fiber optic/"cat's eye" cabochon.
The gold coloring itself? Took (4-6 layers of) one paint, one pigment wax, two additional iridescent pigments, and a variety of mediums to get that shine.
Gatekeepers Be Advised
One of those ideas I'd had in mind for a while, but didn't really get to designing and then completing it for a bit. As soon as I saw that glow in the dark seed beads were finally a real thing that I could buy, I knew what I needed to do with them. ...I only realized later that I'd designed a 2,550-bead panel centerpiece. Welp. That explains why it took so long.
Not that it's exactly noticeable, but I tried another technique for the diamond webbing that both went faster and actually turned out to be a little bit stronger than what I'd been doing. Learning experience + glow in the dark beads + STATEMENT = win.
There's no one specific reason for me to make this beyond it's a universal truth and I felt like it. Nothing better to do with annoyance than make something neat out of it, right?
(For Sale)
Something Else
Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" popped up on random while I was laying out the pieces to start this, and... there could not have been a better time.
I needed a mini-break from building the enormous and all-consuming yearly chocobo, so I picked up a few beads I had laying around, some cord, and one of the gorgeous heated and dyed agate pendants along with a swivel bail so it's easy to show off both sides I've had hoarded for a little bit. A two-day project in the middle of a ???WEEKS??? bout of madness. Yes, good.
(For Sale.)
Heart of Dawn
The heart and soul of a world cast in darkness, it beats with the essence of light; and indeed, perhaps, hope. That will be up to the one who will wield the light within.
Ever just have a dumb idea and then you stumble into bits and pieces of exactly the right things to accidentally make it much better than you ever imagined it could be? Yeah, this was weird. I'd played with the idea of making a tiny representation of the crystal from Final Fantasy XV, but I'd wanted to get to learning how to make an artificial druzy/geode first. I was a little surprised to come across the perfect, real geode for the project without meaning to, and it all... snowballed. As things will.
Once I had the geode in hand, I wanted to sculpt around the outside to more resemble the crystal in the game itself. Thanks in large part to this Tumblr post (and later to Episode Ignis), I'd made certain... observations about the crystal itself. It looked blown open, for one, exploded. And where it's pierced to secure it in place, it appears to be leaking or bleeding. That combined with the "tendrils" underneath made it both beautiful and unsettling, some odd mix of organic things, and obviously I kind of love some of that horrifying stuff, so I had to run with it. I'm also pretty proud of managing to make it look like stone. The wire emerging from the sculpture itself is iron (later coated in protective enamel), because that gave me the sturdiness I needed in such a relatively "thin" gauge of wire. While the stone plus all the outside sculpt itself added quite a bit of weight, underneath the molded epoxy is a wire harness to make sure everything is fully and completely secure. The fact that the chain is a very heavy gauge steel (along with the clasp) helps too.
Then it came time to work out the interior. I'd toyed with the idea that maybe I could make it glow pink or purple, but didn't really hold much faith in being able to do so because of how difficult and expensive it is to get those colors... but I stumbled across a place that sold very small quantities and I went for it. Boy am I glad I did. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PHOTOGRAPH CORRECTLY, but with the aid of a few seconds of blacklight, the resulting glow is astonishingly bright in vibrant pink, fading out to purple, then blue. It does charge in full sun, as well, but won't glow quite as brightly afterward and be more purple than achingly neon pink. There's a range of color and glow possibilities and I love them all, is what I'm saying. So once I had the glow color down, it was a simple matter of layering blue and purple iridescent pigment to finish the rest of the interior while still showing off the actual natural crystal. No matter the lighting, it is awesome, shiny, and glowy. Success, level up.
...The result is also a little painful. You can tell what experience Final Fantasy XV fans had with the game by their reaction to this. Though I should hope the bulk of the reaction is somewhere on the spectrum of "Ooohh shiny!"/"Ooohh glowy!" I'm really happy to share the pain and passion in this manner. Clearly
This is, and is meant to be, a one of a kind piece. I will never do anything quite like this again. Which is... probably a blessing, though one of these days I might get back to playing with making artificial druzies. Just not anytime too soon, and certainly not this large.
(Sold.)
Thirteen Kings
No secret around these parts that FFXV has more or less destroyed my life. ...I mean not in the worst way since it's inspired me, right? That's what I keep telling myself. So there's this Armiger in the game, a collection of sparkly super weapons to collect so you can kick all the ass. On the pause menu, they each have a little tiny icon.
But that was too easy, wasn't it. Initially I designed all 16 icons in a larger size, 30 pixels high. ...After making the first one, I realized how incredibly huge the whole line would turn out to be (and how much extra time it would take), so I completely redesigned all of the symbols at 16 pixels high. Ish. The Rouge got an extra pixel so I could pull off the detail, but I believe we can all agree she deserves it.
4,176 beads for the main design. Yeah, I didn't really want to know that either. 3+ weeks and... well. I really don't want to think about that. The result is kind of amazing, though. I wound up picking beads that I hadn't expected to pick (more on the process here) and I am so very pleased with the result... but of course the different ways the beads shine make it so, so very difficult to get good pictures. I did what I could and I'm incredibly happy with the result.
(For sale.)
With Abandon
Gonna level with everyone here. This is the result of doing things I deeply do not enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy them! But the process... no. Just, no.
It started with the choker. Which I didn't even really plan to be a choker; just a couple of inches of a brick stitch demo with these incredibly lovely scale/spike beads because I wanted to try out other shapes and textures. And let me tell you, I had no idea I would dislike brick stitch as much as I do (and yes, I know it "looks better" with uniform beads, but I really wanted to play with the slightly "chunkier" ones for texture reasons). But it looked good and I... just kept going even through the mental grumbling. And of course near the end one of the beads turned out to be fragile and broke, so I had to go through hoops to replace it and there's one row at the back that looks crooked, but it's in the back and if anyone complains they're welcome to do it all over again themselves. ...Ahem.
After that harrowing experience, I then decided, "You know what else I don't like doing? Plain strung necklaces." GIANT SHRUG, I have no idea why this seemed like a challenge to take on, but it did. I dug through my bead drawer and came across this hematite pendant I'd had for years, just part of a random grab bag of things, and designed around it while keeping the look of the choker in mind. Instead of just one or two threads, there are five holding the weight of the pendant and holding the necklace itself together. Because I never trust single-thread necklaces.
Like I said, I'm actually really happy with the result. I just. Never want to do this again.
(For Sale)
Snake Lariat Necklace Commission
I was contacted with a remarkably specific request for this pale yellow and cream snake lariat necklace, and was extremely happy to work on something like this again. I do hope it’s being greatly enjoyed. Date: 04 March 2017