Steampunk Necklace

To start off, I'd like to clarify that despite the fact that this is my second necklace-making post on this blog, I am definitely not an avid jewelry maker. However, I have been digging the long-chain-with-pendant necklace trend this past year, and lucky for me, it's a pretty easy one to replicate! So, without further ado, I present my easy-peasy steampunk pendant necklace:

Pause. Backtrack. I realize that I might need to clarify the term 'steampunk' for some, so let's take a brief rabbit trail, shall we? Steampunk.com gives a pretty nice definition for the term:

[A] literary genre, or least a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that includes social or technological aspects of the 19th century (the steam) usually with some deconstruction of, reimagining of, or rebellion against parts of it (the punk).

I know what you're thinking - OF COURSE it started off as a literary thing! And it's true - think Jules Verne, à la The Time Machine:

Source: Travel News

The image above illustrates one of the key aspects of the steampunk trend - its ability to transcend media. Steampunk.com gives examples of steampunk games (Bioshock II), steampunk graphic novels (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and even steampunk movies (Sherlock Holmes) and TV shows (Warehouse 13). And it doesn't stop there! Which brings me to my necklace, an example of the steampunk design aesthetic:

What with all the cool contraptions in the stories, it was only natural that some people would decide to make some of them (or at least things like them). Thus, steampunk gadgets came into the real world. People have “steampunk’d” everything from computers, desks, telephones, watches, and guitars, to cars, motorcycles, and whole houses. These objects can vary from a grungy look of a forgotten antique to the shiny overwrought newness of a Victorian gentleman’s club. Think brass and copper, glass and polished wood, engraving and etching, and details for the sake of details. So, steampunk is also a design aesthetic. (Steampunk.com)

So interesting, right? But, I realize that I probably need to actually start talking about my necklace at some point in this post, so onto a chat about keys. Yes, one of the key elements of steampunk jewelry is an antique key. I've always loved old keys - I would buy them at yard sales when I was a little kid (weird? or telling?). At any rate, I love how popular they've become within the steampunk design aesthetic, especially paired with other classic steampunk elements (compasses, gears, clocks, etc.). Take a look:

Bronze key/compass combo on Etsy

Super steampunk'd key on Etsy

Source: dragonweave.com via Marc on Pinterest

Michaels actually has/had a steampunk section in their bargain aisle, which I visited several times (mostly to lament my inability to figure out uses for various items I wanted... which meant they stayed at Michaels). I did find a set of steampunk keys for $2.00, though, that I snapped up immediately. Pardon the picture quality - my phone is remedial:

Only $2.00!

I knew from nosing around Etsy for ideas that I wanted to incorporate another element in my necklace, and this collection of charms in the jewelry section of Michaels caught my eye:

Not a fan of wings, but the owl was adorable.

I also picked up some necklace chain (see pics below) for $3.99 that complemented the tone of the key and charm - as it was just chain, it didn't come with a connector. However, these necklaces are long enough to slip over your head, so you don't really need one. I just used needle nose pliers to snip off the length of chain I wanted (around 30" give or take) and then to connect the chain into a loop after slipping on my key pendent. Full disclosure: I initially threaded the chain through the key's preexisting loop, but I didn't like how the key kept twisting sideways with that setup. A jump ring connecting the key to my chain fixed the problem. I ended up using two jump rings in my necklace - one to attach the owl charm to the key (using pliers again) and another to attach the key to the chain so it hung in the right direction.

Closeup, with real camera

In-store, with (sub-par) phone camera

And there you have it! Here's a quick photo of the hanging length, if you're curious:

Owl Pillows!

For my very first blog post, I'm going to talk about a project that I actually didn't do the lion's share of work on (nice, huh?). I am not a sewing person - don't let the cross stitching fool you. So, for this project, my mom was the driving force, although I did have full say in colors/fabrics and helped with the hand-stitching.
 
It all started with this picture that my mom printed out and tucked into a letter to me back in early December:

She found it on Pinterest, and after a bit of nosing around, I found out that it is actually from an Etsy shop. Since HollyGoBrightly is on 'vacation,' I didn't feel too bad when my mom suggested we try to recreate these cute little guys on our own. I had thought they were adorable when I first saw the picture, albeit a little college-dorm-room-ish. However, with a more sophisticated color palette (and an unexpected textured felt option), they fit right in with my trendy-modern (ok, IKEA) living room.

We decided to make three owls to go on the loveseat and chair in my apartment's living room, with colors that would coordinate with the existing sage green/cream/black-brown decor. So, off to Michaels we go!

We sifted through the variety of felts that Michaels had and discovered that they have a small selection of textured felts (pretty awesome, right?). Also during our search Mom convinced me to mix in a third color, and we loved the blue textured felt we found. Taking up pretty much the entire aisle, we selected and laid out our color choices (forgive the poor quality, my phone is old-school):

The light tan is textured as well as the blue - on the blue owl, we flipped the tan felt over so that it was smooth (we decided one textured piece per owl was enough). We also opted for cream eyes, the same color as the belly of the blue owl. Our next stop was the embroidery floss aisle, where we picked up thread to match each of our colors (light tan, dark brown, cream, black, orange [feet/beaks], green, and blue).

To give an idea of scale

Having not decided to attempt this blog yet, I took absolutely no pictures of the creating process besides the one above. A few tips, however:

Body: Mom created templates for each piece, making each body the size of a single piece of felt. Remember to make the ears a bit wider than expected, since they will narrow a bit in the hemming/stuffing process.

Eyes: We discovered that the eyes take up about a third of the owl and are placed at roughly the midpoint of the body (we had to resize our first eye pattern). Also, be sure to make the pupils 'look' down toward the nose, otherwise they come off startled and/or cross-eyed. The highlight in each pupil is created by a stitch of the cream thread in the process of attaching the entire eye to the body.

See the texture?

Feet and Beaks: The beaks are simply stitched across the top, allowing for a little flap. We hand-stitched the feet (mini-pillows themselves) and all the decorative elements to the top pieces, then Mom machine-stitched the pillows themselves, tucking the feet in after adding a little stuffing.

Any mistakes (like our little bellies... don't look too close, but they are a little off-centered!) we attributed to the owls being "handmade" - the perfectionist in me wasn't happy about that idea at first, but it was a lot of fun picking out the pieces with my mom and sitting with her, stitching and talking together. And now, for the price of felt and floss, I have three super-cute, 'handmade' owl pillows propped around my living room.