Stashbuster Steampunk Necklace

Stashbuster Steampunk necklace.
In an attempt to tame the massive amount of beads I have been given by various people I came up with this design. I an rather pleased with how it came out.

Throwback Thursday- Steampunk Kaylee

Here is a Steampunk Kaylee costume I made for Wild Wild West Con 8.

Friday Craft - Steampunk Ocean Necklace

Ocean inspired necklace I made with various pieces I found.

Friday Craft - Zombie Necklace

I decided to make a necklace for mt costume for Thrill the World this year. the cabochon was given to me by a friend.

Throwback Thursday- Steampunk Dorothy

Here is the Steampunk Dorothy and Robo-Toto I made for Steampunk Spectacualar

Friday Craft- Following Eyes Box

I decided to create a following eyes prop to hide my fog machine.

 I took a cardboard box and painted it to look like wood, I them cut out some planks where the fog would come out and for the eyes to peek out from. 

The eyes were have from two halves of a plastic ornament I had laying around and I painted on the details and then sprayed with some frosted glass spray paint. I then cut some holes in black poster board and hot glued the eyes on. 

The poster board was glued into the box about an inch back from the front openings and tea lights were placed beneath the eyes.

As the eyes are concave instead of convex they create the illusion of following you as you move. this is an extremely affordable prop to make. I was able to make this prop with things I had laying about the house so the final cost was $0.

Throw Back Thursday: Phoenix dress

Probably my most complex costume to date. Complete with motion reactive neo-pixels and LED's in the mash ans shoes. I won best workmanship at the local convention for it.

Friday Craft: Halloween Wreath

New wreath for this Halloween's theme.

made from a wreath from Target and Items found at the dollar store. Made for about $8.

Watch part jewelry

A while back I ordered a pound of assorted watch and clock

part of Ebay. I have been having fun making jewelry with the assorted bits.

Making a beaded spider

One of my favorite crafts is making beaded spiders. They are simple and fun to make. Recently I have been asked by a number of people how I make mine, so I am attempting a quick tutorial. This is my method, there many other ways to make spiders, but I find this the easiest.

You will need:

2 large beads for the torso and the head.

Seed and bugle beads for the legs as well as larger beads for added interest. I prefer 4 or 6 mm bicones.

24 or 26 gauge beading wire.

Round nose pliers and wire cutters.

Optional: Head pins - these are great for using with skull shaped beads.

Super glue to help stabilize the legs.

To begin:

Cut a length of wire and shape into a U and string tow seed beads on. These will form the eyes of the spider. Then string on the head and torso beads, with the wires exiting out of the torso. Then use the wire cutters to cut the excess wire to a bout a half inch and use the round nose pliers to create a loop.

If you are using head pins just string the head and torso beads on and use round nose pliers to make a loop.

Legs:
For the legs cut four equal sized lengths of wire.

Gather them up together and bend into a U shape.

Wrap them around the spider body in the gap between the head and torso.

You can them begin beading the legs in whatever pattern you want. To finish a leg just cut the excess wire till the end is no longer that half an inch and make a loop with the round nose pliers.

Repeat for all eight legs and you are done. Bend the legs to your desired shape. For extra stability I like to put a drop of super glue on the bottom of the spider where the legs join.