Busy, busy!

It's that time of year. Busy, busy, busy.

Tonight I sculpted 3 pendants, completed 6 orders (including a deluxe and a single strand knotted), fired up the torch for some lampworking, and I think I'm off to sew.

I'm not complaining. It's nice to have the time to do it all.

Am I the only one super excited that Prince William got engaged? I don't usually follow celebrity gossip, but...they're royalty. Sure, it's not my usual preferred time period, but I just find the monarchy fascinating. I anxiously await more details of the wedding (as I plan my own!)

Find Duchessa on Facebook!

So I caved and created a Facebook fan page for Duchessa.

The page will allow me to share information on upcoming products, contests and more!

EnhanceYourself and Duchessa contest

The masterminds behind EnhanceYourself and Duchessa have teamed up to offer our loyal readers/watchers/customers a chance to win their very own custom Boleyn style necklace.

Head over to EnhanceYourself and watch the video for full details.

The contest will run from now through November 19, with the winner announced on November 20. To enter, you must follow EnhanceYourself (hearting Duchessa on Etsy couldn't hurt either!), and post either a comment or your own video on the EnhanceYourself page discussing what Anne means to you.

The winner will be contacted by me at the close of the contest so I can get her/his specs- letter, gold or silver tone, white or offwhite pearls, necklace length, and closure preference- individually knotted on silk cord.

One runner up will be chosen to receive a letter B pearl enhancer, which can be worn on almost any necklace.

Good luck!

My first video review

Been super busy lately, but I wanted to share this.

Kirsty of Enhance Yourself was kind enough to do a video review of one of my custom Boleyn necklaces. I sent her a goldtone B with the individually knotted pearls, but she discusses different versions as well. She even goes into some history on Anne, which I thought was wonderful!

Enhance Yourself

On a seperate, but related note, I have awesome customers and I'm so glad to be able to work with such great people!

Introducing Tudor Totes

Introducing a new project I've been plotting all summer...Tudor Totes.

For the time being, these are decorated pre-made canvas tote bags. Eventually I'd like to offer a deluxe version which is entirely handmade and more heavily embellished, but I've just not had the time yet! Four are currently for sale in my Etsy shop, ranging from $14-$21 based on materials and how perfect I think they are (the original prototype which is not 100% perfect is least expensive.)

Featuring Catherine Howard on beige patterned fabric with green and gold trim, gold plated beads and mother of pearl.

A close up of a Tudor Tote featuring Anne Boleyn, mounted on black and grey patterned fabric with swirling red, black and silver trim, embellished with gold filigree and faux pearls.

Creep...

So maybe I'm a little bit of a creep, but I am having so much fun with these.

Prepping for the big medieval festival in a few weeks, and one of the new "sections" Avealina and I are debuting has a sort of gothic theme...including these bad boys.

A selection of the rings I've made.

Glass alligator eye stud earrings (claimed by Avealina.) For the festival I have an assortment of cat, fish, and bird eyes. All on equally hilarious earring cards.

Tudor Treasury

Thank you, Helena, for featuring my deluxe Boleyn necklace in your treasury, "A Little Bit of Tudor History! "

Something new...

I'm so very excited that I'm writing about my new project even though it's not ready yet.

I'm working on a new line to add to my shop. Versatile tote bags embellished with some of our favorite queens. The base version will be unlined and moderately embellished, while the higher end ones will be lined and more decorative.

I have the first of the base version done, with my first deluxe one nearing completion. Pictures soon!

Magical?

Have I begun the new things I wrote about in my last post? Well, no. But thats because I've been busy with some other very cool things. I just finished up a super cute little project, which was inspired by a few thing.

1) I love little glass bottles.
2) I saw The Sorceror's Apprentice and thought it was adorable.
3) My best girlie over at Avealina commented that she wants a jar of eyes.

And thus, the Sorceror's Supplies were born.

This set is an apartment warming gift for Avealina, but I'm thinking of making some smaller versions for the upcoming Medieval Festival. I think this is just too cute (but then again, I think it's acceptable to decorate with jars of herbs, so maybe I'm biased towards them.)

*No mythical creatures were harmed in the making of this product.*

Upcoming

Well, I've re-opened my shop and have been completing custom orders again. It's nice to get back (somewhat) to normal. My biggest problem is moving around- I can't really carry my supplies from one place to another on crutches.

Right before everything went crazy, one of my lovely customers asked if I'd consider expanding my line of Boleyn themed jewelry and accessories. The timing was funny, because I had been working on a little something new (which I will finish...one of these days.)

The plan is to bring back my The Tudor's inspired tassel necklace (which I just haven't had a chance to restock!), bring back the Boleyn style bookmark, and maybe even come up with a few new special bits. I'm also planning to make a few more one of a kind pieces based on some of Anne Boleyn's lesser known jewelry (like the AB pendant I made a while back, purchased by a young lady with the initials...AB!)

Medical drama

Wow. So to make a very long story short, after 6 months of dealing with pain in my thigh from a "strained quad", I finally went for an MRI, the results of which had me sent directly to the hospital. I somehow acquired a staph infection in my femur (which actually isn't all that uncommon, though it sounds utterly alien), which required just over a week in the hospital and 3 surgeries.

I'm home now, with IV antibiotics for several weeks, and strict orders to not put weight on my leg for 3 months (imagine how much fun moving around my high ranch is.)

So I'd like to start working again, and open my shop soon. Custom items will be done, just slowly since my mobility isn't great and I'm at the mercy of my (wonderful) family for help.

Thank you to my incredible customers for the well wishes and words of support. Everything should be up and running as normally as possible, very soon.

Life gets in the way

I've been incredibly busy recently, and much of it leads to this.

Due to a health issue I need to take some time to address, Duchessa will be temporarily closed.

I look forward to feeling up to re-opening, however I cannot hazard a guess as to when- it would be a few weeks, it could be much more.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

474 years

"She who has been the Queen of England on earth will today become a Queen in heaven" - Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

Today I wore my little B pearl enhancer in honor of Anne. I thought I was being smart, and clipped it onto a short strand of nice white pearls my aunt gave me several years ago. At lunch, a coworker asked what the B was made of, and as I reached up to take the necklace off to hand to her, the thread snapped and I found myself holding a broken strand of pearls. Bad luck or a message from the lady herself?

I got out of work early today, so I had some extra time to get a jump on orders. It was quote poignant, sitting by myself, in the perfect silence, working on some custom Anne Boleyn style necklaces on the anniversary of her execution. I suppose I pay tribute to Anne often, recreating her famous necklace, but it just really felt fitting today.

This item isn't about making money, or even the craft of it really (though I do enjoy it), but a celebration of the life and legacy of this incredible woman. Cheers Anne- 474 years after your death, and still we remember you.

"Justice is a Woman"

Wow! One of my pendants has been featured in an excellent mixed media piece, "Justice is a Woman Tudor framed collage" by etsy user Mimosette. It's very rare that I'll sell a component for use in something else or resale, but I think this was worthwhile.

There's a whole lot going on here. Decorative pieces, inspirational bits, and a satisfying bit of revenge on Anne's part.

The full collage.

The custom B I made for her.

I love it, its such a funky, clever piece, and quite aesthetically pleasing as well. The collage is currently for sale, it's definately worth taking a look at!

Something blue!

Made a lovely necklace a few days ago with tiny sterling silver beads mixed with white jade and blue crazy lace agate. The pendant is a stand out, and the color is just incredible. I'm glad I picked up an extra pendant to keep for myself! I love it!

New!

A long time of thinking, several weeks of scheming, and one wonderful artisan to work with later, and I am pleased to introduce my hand sculpted letter B pendant in bronze!

Cast from one of my sculpted letters and polished to a high shine. Freshwater pearl drops with delicate gold plated bead caps, on an individually hand knotted pearl necklace.

I've wanted to do this for a long time. I'm super excited with the results. The pendant has much more weight to it than the polymer ones, but it is not uncomfortable to wear.

Tea time!

Isn't this adorable? I made a little bitty tea wallet, just big enough to protect 2 tea bags from getting too crumbled in a purse. I made myself a 6 slot one a while back to throw in my bag for work and I've been very pleased with it. I love the fabrics on this, its just so sweet.

From the outside.

Inside view, holding two of my favorite brands of tea.
Just redid my fiance's paternoster for him, and then what? Sculpting, printing business cards, maybe I'll even draw for a bit tonight. Imagine that!

Photos taken with my new Canon Rebel, which I need to learn how to use. It. is. incredible. And the camera bag I bought from Janine King Designs is quite lovely as well!

New treasury on etsy

I got a message today that my Deluxe Anne Boleyn necklace was featured in a lovely Tudor and Elizabethan themed treasury on etsy, created by user erinf115. What a pleasant surprise!

Every piece in the treasury is really lovely. In particular, I've been eyeing those gorgeous hairpins from Wychbury for a while- I'm no good with my hair. It's either down, or pulled up in a ponytail or messy knot. Which is why I haven't ordered those pretties yet.

This is the first time I've seen the stained glass tudor rose, by belladluna. Gorgeous. Awesome collection, I'm honored to be a part of it.

Expansion

I just created a new shop on an interesting site called ArtFire.

View my shop.

The hardest part of running two shops, I'm sure will be keeping myself organized. For now, I'd say my best bet is to list each item in only one shop at a time. Then I can't get mixed up, right?

I've been working on some very cool stuff. I've finally learned kumihimo (an ancient Japanese braiding technique), and am working on some viking weave pieces to sell. I made a bracelet for my fiance and he loves it. Hopefully I'll have some more ready to go soon!

Queen Elizabeth inspired...

I had an idea yesterday that I am so excited about. Of course, I'd be even more excited if my camera could capture it properly. But anyway.

I find Queen Elizabeth's locket ring very interesting. It's a lovely piece, with a mother of pearl hoops, table cut rubies and diamonds and a pearl. Gold, with an E, for Elizabeth. Even better, it opens to reveal miniatures of Elizabeth and her mother, Anne Boleyn. It is said that Elizabeth always wore it, and it was only taken off her finger upon her death, and taken to her successor, James VI of Scotland as proof of her death. I believe the ring is now housed in the National Maritime Museum in London.

I've never read this anywhere, and unfortunately, can't find very many pictures of the ring to study it from different angles, but I'm pretty confident that the blue enamel we see peeking out from under the gold and diamond E is an enameled letter R. Again, I've not found this in any research, and none of the replicas I've seen have it, this is just my own observation. And why not? So there's an ER on her ring, for Elizabeth Regina. I included the R in my piece- a clay pendant with garnet and pearl, a slightly shimmery blue R (shimmer courtesy of my Orglamix quartz eyeshadow) peeking out from under a three dimensional gold E set with swarovski crystals. It's not a replica, but it was done in the spirit of the ring. My initials are IR, so I'm considering making myself a custom one.

And just as an aside, we got a bit of snow here yesterday and I walked into the park and down to the water. I thought it was very pretty.

Love is in the air...

I've found myself with a whole lot of heart components. So, just in time for Valentine's Day...

"Burning Love," listed a while back. An awesome glass pendant on three strands of fiery seed beads.

"Funky Punky Hearts and Pearls," just listed. The photo doesn't do justice to the awesome pendant. The red and black swirls make a plaid design which I just love. Dark red pearls and onyx beads, all hand knotted.

"Hammered Spiral Heart Earrings," just listed. They may be upside down, but they still look like hearts to me. Very low price on these, because they were an experiment and I'm not going to sell something full price that I'm not 100% confident in.

"Sweet Ivory," just listed. I just love it. So pretty and feminine. The pendant is gorgeous, and the lampwork beads with the tiny roses matched perfectly.

All these (and much more of course) can be found in my shop.

Not so bad news

So it looks as though I just did quite a number straining my quad...none of the more serious things I feared. Still hurts like hell and is restraining my mobility a lot, but its still good news.

I was rather productive tonight, though my back suffered for it (its been killing me for weeks because I'm all out of place, this isn't fair!) I have some pretty new pearl necklaces up in my shop- a lovely burnt gold, purpley/grey irregular, and the lovely aqua ones I posted a few days ago. I love blue, but WOW on those aqua ones.

In other news, I ordered myself some "cheer up" gifts and the first arrived today. Three little stacking rings, garnet, moonstone, and amethyst from Birka Scandinavia. The stones are gorgeous, the craftsmanship is perfect, she ships quickly and is easy to work with. SO happy I finally ordered them. I'm waiting for some crazy color eyeshadows from Orglamix as well. I have a few of her other colors, and they're so vivid, I love them. I'd highly recommend both of these sellers.

Updates, check. Shout outs, check. Sleep? We'll see...

Lets leave it at ow.

I've been trying to deny it, but there's no use. I've busted my knee pretty badly (no answer yet on what exactly I did), and its slowing me down very much. I'm still getting orders done, just a little slower than usual.

Aside from that, the Boleyn style pearl enhancers I debuted a few weeks ago seem to have taken off. I thought it was such a genius idea, I don't know why I didn't think to start offering them sooner.

I've also got some incredible pearls to string up, as soon as I can find the time to attend to them.

Etsy Treasury

Etsy Treasuries are short lived enough that I'm not going to post the link, but my double strand Boleyn necklace was featured in a lovely Treasury done by member Masquefaire. A lot of my favorite Anne related items are on here, and I was thrilled to be a part of it!