Silver Haunt

Sci-Fi on the Rock...FIVE!

2011-03-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a quick blurb to let anyone who's looking know that Silver Haunt will again, this year, be attending Sci-Fi on the Rock! Newfoundland's premier science fiction and fantasy convention, held in beautiful, windy St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

For more information, check out their website;

http://www.scifiontherock.com/

Etsy Shop is OPEN!

2010-11-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

Great news for the day, and that news is that my Etsy shop is FINALLY open! I officially have listings in it now, so it's open for business!

I'll be posting a few more images tonight of new goodies that I've done, and yes, they're in the shop!

I'll be updating it frequently now, and for anyone on here please don't be afraid to ask me if you want something in the shop customized just for you! I'm happy to do such things. ^^

So, here's the shop link, and please drop by to visit! I also urge everyone to sign up on Etsy as well, and support your artists and crafters. Support hand-made!

Silver Haunt Etsy Shop is now open! Click here to visit!

Flea Market, Shop Reopened, and more.

2010-09-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

The fleamarket was grrrreat! I mean, we were only there for about three hours, so one can't expect massive profits in such a small amount of time, but for the time we were there I'd say we did good.

The best part, though, is the fact that the fleamarket is so much more laid back than the convention was. Don't get me wrong, the convention was great, but the fleamarket is just so much more friendly. So much more fun. It's easier to escape for a few minutes, it's not as fast paced, and I find people talk to you more, ask you more questions, etc. I love it.

Anyhoo, I'll have to post some pictures of my new glow vials--they sold great tonight!

Lots of new things to post, just haven't the time!

ALSO - the artfire shop is open again, and rather soon I'll have an etsy shop on the go as well!

Links to all pertinent associated information to Silver Haunt may be found in my portfolio, here --> [LINK]

In the meantime, I need to get to updating the shop. Tata!

New Portfolio/Studio

2010-06-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

Your attention, please!

Please keep in mind that I have now moved my gallery website to a new location, due to the constant and unecessary URL changes suffered by my previous host. Therefore, from now on, you may find my portfolio at:

http://silverhaunt.darkfolio.com

Thanks, and have a great summer!

See you in the fall,
Tara

Shop Status for the Summer

2010-05-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

I had meant to post this sooner, but in case anyone is wondering, the artfire shop is shut down for the summer at least, possibly indefinitely.

I might be moving over to Etsy simply because the venue is far more established, and has more web traffic. I certainly won't be putting a subscription back into Artfire, because the shop won't pay for itself in the least.

Anyhoo, I'm exploring more types of jewellery for the summer, and expect a massive bunch of new stuff come fall, though you might get some between now and then.

Ta-ta for now, and have a good one!

~Tara

Convention Status: Success!

2010-04-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

The convention went great, it was wonderful fun! Silver Haunt did awesome there, we sold a whole bunch of stuff, and it made me very, very happy. I saw a lot of friends, got to meet a whole bunch of people, and spent the weekend with the people I love hanging out with.

Here's a few pictures of the table we had;

On a non-business related note, I got to meet two wonderful actors--Max Grodénchik and Casey Biggs. They were awesome, hilarious, and made the Cantina awesome. I had my picture taken with them, and took it back the next day and had them both autograph a print off of it. Unfortunately, my printer was evil and gave me a hard time printing it, and I also only had 4x6 photo paper. X_X I was so angry about THAT, but you know what? It's a picture of me and two DS9 actors, and it's signed by both of them. That's what counts.

Here's that picture;

Also, both Casey and Max do a lot of music, and I picked up a CD from each of them--Casey is actually a member of the same band that one of last year's guests is--Vaughn Armstrong--and it's called the Enterprise Blues Band.

While I like their music, I find Max's CD far more amusing, because some of the music is just downright hilarious. The CD had me laughing so hard I was crying at points, especially the rap number bonus track. I loved it.

And as a final bit of amusement, my piratey self got to have a picture with the honourable R2-D2.

Darren, you guys did GREAT. I loved it. I'm already itching for next year, and planning out the new costume. I'll definitely be there as a vendor again, and now I know what people like! =D I've also got some great new ideas for the future, too.

TTFN!
~ Tara

PS - The shop MIGHT close down for the summer on artfire, since I won't be in town to ship things out, and will have to rely on Chris to do it for me if I keep it open, which I won't ask him to do. It's a lot of work. We'll see.

Sci Fi on the Rock IV

2010-04-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

So it's convention time now. In about three and a half hours, maybe four, I'll be heading down the road with my friends, carrying all the stuff I need to set up my table. There's not a heck of a lot of stuff to move, but there is enough. I've got about three or four different displays, the merchandise, table cloth, all the goodies. Plus I have to lug everything else down there that I'm going to be using to work on stuff throughout the convention.

Reason I'm working on more stuff is that my con partner backed out and now I'm short stocked because I hadn't been expecting to need quite that much stuff.

As it stands, I should be okay.

What also doesn't help is that tomorrow morning I have an exam from 9-11 AM, and the convention starts at 9. Goodie goodie. I have to get my boyfriend and Jason to keep an eye on the table while I write like crazy, then get my arse back to the house, into costume, grab my stuff, and then walk to the convention. It's going to be crazy.

Here's hoping that I'm going to do decently with sales.

Wish me luck, and if you're coming, see you there!

A downside

2010-04-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

I've just lost my convention partner because she has decided that she isn't ready to try and sell at a con. This has an upside and a downside.

Upside being that I now get a whole table,

Downside being that I now have to fill the whole table.

Ugh, things just keep getting more and more annoying.

On the bright side of things, here's a pretty thing that I made today for a friend;

Lots of love,
Tara

Time grows short

2010-03-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Rather quickly, in fact. Time flies, flies, and never comes back.

And we only get busier and busier in this season when all the shows start coming up.

In the meantime, I've started getting back into the groove of sitting and making piece after piece for the sake of getting stock up for the shows (people seem to love a lot of the same, which is maddenning on my sanity but lovely for my wallet).

On a lovely bright note, I've discovered another hit with my store--people seem to really like the hacky sack toys. No idea why, as I figured they would only sell to younger audiences at shows, and only put a couple up on the off chance that someone might grab one. Well, one got grabbed.

Real surprise for me, but certainly no complaints. It was enough of a sale to pay for my artfire shop for the month. Happy happy.

On the upside of things, I believe I've successfully acquired time off work for the convention weekend. It was a nasty move for them to give us a schedule for the whole year and then change it three weeks after I confirm and pay for my table at the convention. It was very irritating, and amazingly it's rather daunting to think about trying to explain to your Sergeant and Warrant Officer that the reason you're missing a rather important weekend is that you're selling jewellery at a sci-fi convention. Geekery isn't always openly accepted at my job, and things like this are very touchy subjects.

In the meantime, I've given up on the candles for the time being because they're rather expensive and not offering me a return. They're fun, but at the moment not feasible to continue with.

I think the next project will be to create some wire wrapped crystal-point necklaces. No pictures at the moment for those, since I haven't done any and can't find a decent one on photobucket at the moment to post.

Tah-tah for now!

A lot has been done, now.

2010-03-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

Finally, I've started getting things done. I think it was the potential of possibly needing to do another show that lit the fire under my butt to get me moving, but I'm thankful of it.

Things I've gotten done that needed to be done:

- table cloth--check!
- change apron--check!
- jewellery tree--check!
- new work posted to artfire--check!

That's decent in my books. But there's actually more!

Things I've gotten done that just kind of...happened.

- found a new form of jewellery that I love and that everyone else seems to love too!
- have spurred my convention partner back to work on her own art
- am half finished one of my other costumes
- printed off all my flyer advertisements

Things are moving right along excellently. I can't wait for the convention, though I'm pretty ticked about the prospect of my final exam interrupting that morning. That exam is going to get flown through faster than I've ever done before, because I'll have motivation. I'm going to study like crazy, so that I know everything, and can have my butt out of there in an hour, instead of two. I don't think the convention really gets going as early as ten...ugh, nevermind, I checked. The workshops are in progress by 9. Not good. Oh well, I'll manage just fine if we can set up the night before, because then Chris can just watch things for me for an hour.

2010 has flown so far. It's nice, but staggering.

And there are still a number of things I NEED to get finished;

- more product for the convention
- displays
- business cards
- finish costume
- icepack rig

Overall, though, this list is far less daunting than the last one.

And here, finally, are the pictures of my two newest pieces!

I love making these. They're between 1 and 2 inches in diameter, usually closer to 1.5.

They are SO fun to make, though not when the wire springs and sends things in every direction. Like hard to see beads that are sharp when later stepped on.

That's all for now! Have a great week!

Progress and New Ideas

2010-03-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

I've amassed a huge list of things to do with myself in the coming weeks before the darn convention, and right now I find that I'm feeling a wee little bit overwhelmed.

Most of it, however, is my own fault. I keep putting stuff off that I shouldn't, and it's making my life more and more difficult.

For example, on the weekends I've been trying to make myself sit down and work on the multitude of things that I NEED to get done for Sci-Fi on the Rock IV, and it's just not working. I keep finding excuses to do things I don't need to, like play D&D or sit and watch DS9, or work on models, or any number of other things that I decidedly don't need to be doing in place of what DOES need to be done.

The list, at the moment, of things to be done;

- A table cloth
- a change apron (I don't like fanny packs, so this is what I'm making...the things waitresses always have.)
- a jewellery tree (thankfully, I just finished that)
- about another 50 pairs of earrings
- jewellery displays (only 2 out of about 5 are done)
- business cards
- posting my new work to artfire
- getting in gear and actually spending an evening at the flea market to see how things go over
- finishing one of my costumes (haven't even STARTED)
- sewing an icepack rig so that I have a useful way to keep one on my shoulder while I work rather than stopping every hour (torn rotator cuff makes things horrible.)

- and any number of other things that I just haven't gotten the motivation to do.

It's nothing but laziness on my behalf, and I know I'll get it sorted out in the next few weeks, but I only HAVE about another 6 weeks until the convention, and I need all the time I've got, compounded with school, and work with the military. I really, really need to get moving on this stuff.

What DOESN'T help is that with the recent nonsense going on with Canada Post has delayed my Ring Lord order by nearly a week now, and a lot of the stuff I'm working on is hinging on that order. But I fear I've been using that as a bit of an excuse, and I need to get myself OUT of that particular rut right away.

On the bright side of things, the aformentioned jewellery tree has brightened my day, though the prospect of patina-ing it has only irritated me. Patina-ing it with nothing but a BIC lighter is also making it worse.

The one thing that is making me happy right now is that I can make a lot of the things on my list, particularly all the fabric related things, without spending any more money. The sheer volume of fabric in my closet is staggering right now, and I have GOT to use some of it up. Now I just have to hope that I have a few bolts in about a three metre length to actually MAKE the damn tablecloth useable. I'm one for hoarding fabric, but I usually buy it in about a two-metre length for use in small projects. That's where I run into my trouble. I'll have to see what I've got in a useful amount of fabric before I determine whether or not I can justify going to the fabric store. I really, really don't want to, but I might not have a choice.

I also have to do another batch of candles. Ugh.

On that note, here's some quick pictures of the jewellery tree, one of it filled, and one of it empty--

I will almost definitely update again later today to see what else I've managed to get done. I'm dedicating the day to getting things done. We'll see how that goes.

- Tara

Convention time!

2010-02-14T09:35:00.001-08:00

So it's just been confirmed that Silver Haunt will be attending Newfoundland's premier science fiction and fantasy convention, Sci-Fi on the Rock IV. It's in its fourth year, and here's wishing it as much success as it had last year!

More information on Sci-Fi on the Rock may be found at the conventions home page through the banner below.

Also! Made another few sales lately, which is keeping the spirits up thankfully, and I'm working on a whole new batch of things for the shop and for the convention. Wish me luck!

Feelin' good!

2010-02-03T15:27:00.001-08:00

So I just made my very first sale on Artfire, and it feels absolutely awesome. Seriously, I have this whole on top of the world feeling going on, even though it's probably small compared to how I would need to be selling for it to start counting against how much I've put into it so far. Whew. But honestly...that someone loves my work enough to buy something...it's so, sooooo nice. You have NO idea.

It was also a great experience working with the lovely woman who purchased the set of earrings. Poor girl has nasty metal allergies, and instead of moving on and clicking by my shop, she contacted me to ask if I could put sterling silver hooks in so that she could still wear them. Of course I can. Certainly. I love making people happy. It feels great.

I'm going to ship it out first thing in the morning. ^^

Oh, these are the earrings that were purchased:

There is a link to my shop on the right in the list, where many similar pieces may be found. I'm certain there will be something to suit anyone's taste. ^^ Please, take a look and enjoy.

Pirate Swag

2010-02-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

In keeping with my thus-far pirate mood of the day, I'm going to throw up a lovely little piece of glittery gold and silver booty to be ogled at and enjoyed. Feast your eyes on a piece of deliciously gold and silver coloured work, composed of a multitude of tiny little rings that have come together to give you this absolutely beautiful pendant--

The lovely illusion of silver and gold presented by this delicate celtic vision star pendant is created with nothing but aluminum--the eye-catching shine of the bright aluminum gives us silver, and the slightly more full beauty of gold with yellow anodized aluminum rings. This is a light-weight piece that would make a great addition to any swashbuckler, and a great addition to the rest of us landlubbers as well!

Click the image to lead to the artfire lot for this item if you want to add it to your collection right away! Only $5.00 USD plus shipping and handling to your location and this beauty can be yours.

~Tara

Avast, me hearties, yo ho!

2010-02-03T07:40:00.001-08:00

All pirate talk aside, I've just finished setting up this here blog. I don't know how often I'm going to be updating the place, but I figure I should at least have it around.

And now, onward to attempting to figure out this bloody interface.

~Tara