Updates & Zentangle Diva Challenge Wk 186 – Leaves

New-Old Digs

I am very behind my usual routines as I have just moved my old desk out of the utility room, which used to be my personal craft studio until my cats came along. I am trying to carve out a little workspace in the spare room.

We shut the meows in the utility room at night, and they have grown a little too fond of this room – they see it as theirs! I have tried to sit there, only to be sat on in turn. So because I can no longer work in there, lest I get cat hair on everything, I considered myself properly ousted.

I tried to put up with this ‘arrangement’ for the past half a year – sitting and working on the floor in the spare room, mostly. It is a very uncomfortable arrangement and I’d get neck and backaches from long crafting sessions, especially if I had to prep items for my flea markets. I simply did not have enough storage or desk space to work elsewhere in the apartment and I do not have the budget to purchase additional furniture (because everything is funneled into booth rental and material costs, until things stabilise).

I finally gave up decided that a more comfortable working space will result in a more efficient working pace and fewer bodily aches will be a lot less distraction too, so I can really focus on my craft. Not to mention, I just felt really guilty for the mess that had accumulated in the spare room 😛 My poor spare room also houses the Hamstery, food and bedding supplies for the Hamstery, food and cat litter supplies for the meows. So to include my shop inventory and stash of beads, charms, spare parts, etc etc etc…. it just became really cluttered and stifling, despite being the largest room in our apartment.

This month seemed like an ideal month to make the shift because I have nothing on the shop schedule until 10 October 🙂 I had also greatly reduced the number of swaps I am participating in, as I know I would be more tied up this month than usual.

Most of my stuff has been moved – yay! I have tons of film (I am old skool, and used a film camera right up until 2003) and photographs (I still enjoy printing photos too.. there’s something special about holding a photo in one’s hand xD) that I still need to go through, but the overall mess is nowhere as epic as it once was.

I hope to get everything back on track as soon as I can 🙂

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Potato Pearls

I am not sure but it sure seems that pearls are the latest trend around these parts 🙂 It is just that I seem to be continuously crafting up more and more items featuring freshwater pearls! No complains from me 😛 I just never knew so many people liked pearls, especially chunky ‘potato’ pearls, until I started receiving many custom requests for pearl bracelets and earrings.

Here are some of my more recent creations featuring pearls. (Clicking the images will take you to Flickr.)

I also finally photographed my friend’s heirloom pearls. They are still waiting to be cleaned and upcycled into something wearable and loveable, but I must admit I like them in their original state, as much as I am excited about how they will look after upcycling 😀

 

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Diva Challenge Week 186 – String Theory – Leaves Leaves Leaves!

For the challenge this week, we were to use leaves in our string and use leaf inspired tangles 🙂

I knew instantly that this challenge would be one of my favourite ones 🙂 One of the reasons I enjoy Zentangles is because I deeply appreciate how organic and nature-inspired the art method is. I never thought I would be able to create my own piece of art-mimics-nature until I started tangling in July this year.

For my string, I decided I wanted a ‘leafy pile’ 🙂 [Leafy piles are nearly non-existent here, our nation employs very efficient cleaning services. Fallen leaves get swept up even before they are allowed to form a pile, even in our parks.]

I penciled in about 8 leafy shapes for my string, which I then filled and lined with more leaves, leafy tangles, and tangles shaped to look like leaves 😀

I truly, truly enjoyed this challenge 🙂 I enjoyed it so much, I nearly forgot to include my hammy insignia xD

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Cabbit – a tangle by hesedetang *

Before I go back to working on my messy spare room/craft space/etc, I thought I might just share my own tangle here.

Cabbit is a tangle featuring a mystery animal, a hybrid between a cat and a rabbit 😛

Depending on the length of those ‘ears’, the tangle may resemble either animal 😛

I will probably post step-outs soon, but here is a monotangled Cabbit just for fun 🙂

Seeya later!