random pictures

1946 singer ready to be ripped apart...

 OK so I do random thoughts from time to time, but my brain in fried in a light mix of extra virgin olive oil and butter, so how about semi-random pics?

vintage key earrings, thank you dear Neighbor!

ever popular and always different pocket watch necklaces....

This is Kya, grumpy cause I woke her up to take her picture.

Variety of brand tags from various machines.  all but one of these is sold.... the bottom left that says Model AAA still left.. from 1950's movie projector...

I'm Back!

vintage pocket watch ceramic face, brass stampings and chain.

Or rather the Internet is!! I'm so happy that I can actually do things on the computer for the first time in weeks without it stopping every 5 minutes!!

Tomorrow is Valley Junction Art Market 11-4pm.

I've got to say, I love the hours on this!! As long as Jerry and I get there for set up around 9am, we will be ready by 11.  I actually get to sleep in on a show date!!

Don't get me wrong.. I adore Farmer's Market and we had a lovely time today... but getting up at the butt-crack of dawn really isn't my gig.  I mean for heaven's sake, my company name is Midnight Kat Productions!! There is a reason the Midnight part is in there.  I just don't stick a word like that in my company name just cause it sounds nice....

To get to Farmer's Market in a timely fashion, we get up at 430 to 5am.  Seriously, do I look like the 430am gal to you??

Some shows are even worse.. typically, any show within 2 hours of driving we will drive that morning and save a hotel for a night.  So if a show starts at 9am, and it's 2 hours away, that translates to getting up and out the door by 5am... so it's 3 to 330am call.  ugh!

Still not complaining really, cause we do love Farmer's Market.  One of the nicest parts of a Farmer's Market weekend is we are done by 1pm, which leaves most of the weekend intact for other activities.  And I love the energy at the market.. and the variety of food stuff of course.

We almost always get fresh farm cheese curds, and some of the best bakers in town do Farmer's Market, and you all know how much I enjoy a good cookie.  (Sadly, my favorite cookie pusher at the market wasn't there this morning... Confections by Kelly They have wonderful oatmeal scotchies and snickerdoodles) 

We get to do another Farmer's Market next week... and then not again til July.

Bead Soup Blog Hop Reveal!

Earrings, aren't they cute?

The lovely clasp with some dangles, cause everything has to have dangles...

I wanted to keep it simple to really hi-light the wonderful focal bead she gave me!!

 This post will be quick quick quick.... for the past 2 weeks our Internet access has SUCKED.  It works for 10-15 minutes then goes down for hours and hours... so I have this one thin slice of time.

I wish I could spend an hour or so going gushing how lovely the beads are that I received from my Partner Kandice but I've lost the Internet 3 times trying to just get this.

so check out Kandice's website today, and all the other blog hoppers..

and hopefully you get to see this, and eventually the damn Internet gets fixed!!

boy am I tired....

brass wing stamping, crystals, chain. 

Just finished day 2 of the Pella Dutch Market and boy, I'm tried.  The show runs 9-7pm, and that's a long long long day.  One day left... The weather today was sooooo much better than Thursdays' weather... heck, last year we got snowed on!!  And tomorrow's weather will be even nicer, it's going to get up to 68 tomorrow.  So come out, smell the tulips ( yes, some of them are in bloom!) and buy neat stuff at the market.

locket series ........

watch part tin, non branded... I added a new material cog and vintage clock part by rivets on the front.

 Well it's that time again, when I have none.  This Thurs - Sat is Dutch Market which is part of the Pella Tulip Festival.

This starts a chain of shows that lasts for 10 weeks at least, so my blogging will probably slow down as it does every year around this time.  Bead soup reveal is next.. this Sat.

I'm sharing pictures of the first of my locket series.  I've  been planning this for almost a year.  I made one last year and enjoyed it so much I wanted to make more, but I needed the small vintage tins to do so.  I've been picking them up at flea markets and antique shops whenever I found interesting ones that didn't cost an arm and a leg. These three boxes didn't want to be super fancy... but a few in my pile are whispering " I need wings ", "I need a row of crystals hiding inside" , or "I want color".

Those boxes are not done talking to me yet, so I can't make them yet.  Of course if they don't hurry up they aren't probably gonna get made this year...... time time time.

here are the first three.  These just wanted to be simple.. but... a couple of the little boxes are calling out for more more more

Time and Obsession

earrings using vintage watch and clock gears.  I know these don't match, they are from 2 different pairs  :)

"knight in shiny armor" earrings, using vintage pocket watch bridge pieces, vintage clock gears, and brass dangles. 

Making pieces for my Mechanical Romance line --- love playing with the gears, odd bits of metal, etc.   My favorite parts are from watches and clocks.. but you all have probably figured that out. 

It's not just because they are incredibly kewl looking, and amazing to think about- the first ones were hand made, can you imagine???? - because they are about our obsession with time itself.

Do you have enough time to do everything you want?  Will you lose your job if you are not on time everyday?  Look how fast your kids grow up, where did all the time go? How much time did you just waste messing around the Internet?  How long are the commercials on this show?   Why is that car taking so long to move, they have the light!!  Sorry I'm late, I lost track of time.  The train ran on time.  Tea Time.  8 hour work day (HA!)

You get the idea.

Time is indeed a "versatile performer," as Franklin P. Jones once observed. "It flies, marches on, heals all wounds, runs out, and will tell."

1st show this weekend!!! Mini Shopper Showcase April 19th in the Junction!

dragon bracelet

 This weekend from 10 to 4pm is my first show of the year!!! woooo hooo! Come see me in Valley Junction with over 20 other vendors this Saturday April 19th.  It's called Mini Shoppers Showcase.  Below are just a few of the new jewelry pieces I've got done in time for this show... You can view more info about the show here.  I don't have my "full" 10x10 but I'll have some of the new displays out so you can see them in person.  We are located at 415 5th St Valley Junction, IA.

various brass and change bracelets

Mechanical Romance earrings... vintage pocket watch parts, crystals, yummy!!

table set up ... sneak peek

I've been updating, or maybe "retro"dating my set up.  I'm pretty pleased how it looks so far.   The tables focus on selling my main line, Mechanical Romance.  Mechanical romance is using recycled parts from clocks, watches, adding machines, sewing machines, etc and turning them into art jewelry.  I'm really pleased on how this new set up compliments what I'm making!!

I still have the 2 shelf units, which will feature chain-mail, crystal and pearl jewelry. 

The top picture shows a 1920's singer sewing machine wood curved box that I've wired a dowel rod with hooks on it, to display chain necklaces.  On the other end is the lovely trunk from my last post, and in the middle is the drawer from a 1945 cash register.  It's hard to tell from my crappy pics, but it will host my cuff bracelets and such.

The second table has 2 altimeters (1940's and 1898) used as props for extra height.  you can just see a vintage camera ( 1930's ) peeking around the earrings.  This weekend I picked up another older camera cheap.  I haven't dated it yet, but it's definitely older.  I'll be keeping my eye out for more small items to enhance my display, but I think it's a nice balance between functionality, portability and style.  What do you think??

At the outdoor shows, we also have a vintage metal stand and we are planning on putting one of the 1920 singer sewing machines on it.  I haven't decided if I'm going to try to use it for jewelry, I'll probably just use it as a customer draw. 

Trunk Display !!

OK I know I've promised on facebook to show my new displays all set up from the mock up I did last weekend of the booth.. but... I'm sooo proud how the suitcase ended up, I want to show it off first, and then next blog I'll show you the new set up.

Jerry holding the adding machine "bones"

 
Let me tell you about this suitcase first...


A couple of months ago, we were at the Des Moines Flea Market at the fair grounds ( which BTW is a excellent flea market.. if you haven't made it down there, be sure to do so, it's pretty much the first weekend of the month except for August, when the fair is on. That means this weekend if you really want to go.. we are going tomorrow)  Jerry and I missed it the first go around; fortunately, we had the kid and her friend with us.. her friend is the one who spotted a large, clunky ( probably 1950's) adding machine in it's own, sturdy, beat up travel case.  A haggle and a ten spot later, we were the proud owners of a Clary adding machine, and with research it indeed looks like a 1950's model. 

The outside has rough charm, the inside was butt ugly!!

I love the well used grungy look of the outside!

Side view.. didn't do anything to the outside

The finished trunk display, done in faux-suede and distressed faux-leather

It's a fun piece that makes my imagination run wild... it had stickers on the machine that indicated it was a rental... it boggles my mind that someone would rent this out to small businesses.. how many companies rented it over the years?  It had to weight 15+ pounds, and now, assuming it's not just a computer program, a machine like this might weight 6 oz, it's all plastic and circuit board.

 Jerry is still ripping it up, and it's got some juicy mechanical parts on it...  but I fell in love with the case.  It's such a interesting size and shape, it's only 10 inches wide, but almost twice that in length. 


I knew I wanted to Incorporated it somehow in the booth set up.  I did some researching online and ran across a picture of someone using fabric covered paint rollers as bracelet bumps, and that is when I knew exactly how to pull this off.  Regular sized paint rollers are just 9 inches, fitting in the case perfectly!!  The hooks are just brass from the hardware store that I rough up and painted to make them look older.

Jerry and I bought some great fabric to redo the insides... fake leather in a rich, dark distress brown, and fake faux-suede in a complimentary lighter beige shade.  I bought off Etsy vintage 1950's upholstery tacks that worked great.

I'm guessing the case cost around $45.00 start to finish.  I think it's a deal at that price, it's feels so good that Jerry and I made it, and it compliments our Mechanical romance line beautifully!

My conceptual drawing, done on my new IPAD!! woot!

chock-full of goodies !!

I need to be a better person

Feeling pulled in a couple of directions today... first I've been teaching at my day job, and it's amazing how much it sucks out of me.  Everyday I come home from work and I'm just useless for a couple of hours. 

I'm getting excited / nervous about shows .. just found out today I got into a BIG one... The big downtown Omaha Summer Arts in June.  I'm up to 17 shows so far for the summer.  I'm only looking for a couple more, and of course I'm hopeful to sneak in a Jazz in July or 2, and East Village Sunday Bazaar.  I always start freaking out this time of year over how much or how little inventory I have.

The big pensive feeling of the day is My hubby's lovely dear Grandma Violet passed away today.  She's been doing poorly for awhile now, but it's still something of a shock, not quite 2 hours after I heard the news.  Jerry and Little Bit are dealing well, but again, it's pretty fresh and hard to process just yet.

  We hadn't visited in over a year, and I feel really bad about that.. for health reasons I couldn't really go, so I didn't push Jerry too hard to visit either.. and with school schedules, work schedules, and shows, finding time to visit just kept getting pushed to the side. 

I really regret that.  I hope she knew we cared, even if we weren't very good at showing it.

It makes me think of the people in my life I care about, and I don't make enough of an effort to see.  Even if our lives are incredibly busy, we need to make that time. 

busy busy busy

1920's Sewing machine parts, aluminum rings, crystals, pewter lobster claw

In a few minutes going to Celebrate my Mother's __ birthday! yeah!!! I have a feeling she would kill me if I put the actual # of years in that, but I'm 45, the youngest of 5, and my oldest sibling is **almost** 60, so you figure it out.

Happy Birthday MA!!

Busy Busy Busy... First show is officially less than a month away, so I'm suddenly TERRIFIED I'm not going to be ready.  This week, in the few spare minutes I have, it's gonna be all about inventory inventory inventory.  This weekend I hope to finish up the display redo's, and then I'm gonna do a quickie check of what I have and see what's in the most need.. and then focus on that the new couple of weeks.

Bead Soup sent and received .. woo hoo!

 I got my beads! I got my beads! I got my beads!

Kandice sent me gorgeous lampwork she made... you can see them in the pics below.  To accent she sent crystals ( and we are talking the good stuff, swarovski!! ) lampwork spacers and copper beads and a lovely copper leaf clasp.

I've got them setting sitting on one of the work benches, and when I walk by I can eye-ball them.  I have a few ideas so far, but not the ding ding in my heart yet.

overall shot, pink and mint green is the theme.. the colors of spring!

close up of the bigger spacers.. personally I'm thinking earrings!

I adore this focal!! each side is different, it's like a flower dice!

 I sent her a really pretty Russian Lace Agate pendant, agate pebble beads for spacers, and a bunch of fun vintaj brass stampings and clasp.  I also sent  vintaj chain and wire, so she has maximum design options.

Isn't this a awesome photo? I wish I could claim I took it.. but Kandice did of the soup I sent to her!!  My photos were poor, so I'm bootleggin' hers....

it's shaping up to be another fun Bead Soup Party!!

More Shows, working on displays

Here's my conception sketch for one of the new displays... done, I'm proud to say on my new baby: I got a IPAD!!

Working ever soooo slowly on the displays. Part is deciding exactly what I want to do and then how to do it.  I don' want to muck them up... and in the case of the Singer sewing machine case.. I don't want the changes permanent.  Still I have hopes to having them done this weekend.

I have several more show notifications, so my schedule on my website will get updated again this weekend with that info.  I'm delight to announce that we are in ArtFest again in June!! and I got my bead soup... but I'm waiting to reveal til my Partner has hers as well. 

Lots going on!!

The countdown begins.....

this is such a interesting clock!!  look at the colored gears... droool...

I'm happy to report I've updated my show schedule, which you can see here

I'm up to 9 shows, 7 of them Downtown Farmer's Market, which I'm just absolutely thrilled about -- that's the most slots they have ever given me!! wooo hoo!!

I'm waiting on notification for several shows, and now that I know my farmer Market schedule, over the next couple of weeks I've got more apps to fill out. 

Doing all these applications, and then WAITING, WAITING, WAITING!! to see if I get in or not.. it's really one of the worse parts of doing shows.  

This weekend I'm going to start working on the new displays, and I am hoping I can get them done as well.    I really need to concentrate on making more inventory.  The clock has started.. my very first show is just a month away, April 19th, Mini Shoppers Showcase 10-4pm in Valley Junction.   I get a one week break, and then it's Dutch Market in Pella for the Tulip Festival.  From there, hopefully it's going to be back to back shows til September.  I'm sure I'll have a week here or there free, but it's all up in the air til I hear back from the shows.

So.. keeping Finger's crossed, I need to get going -- the displays await.

More etched bracelets.....

Something different with recycled parts......

Etched copper, brass and copper wire, parts from 1960's adding machines, 1950-60's cash register, and 1920's sewing machine

Another view of the bracelet

1950-60's Adding machine parts with etched brass

bottom Part from a 1920's sewing machine,  top part from a motor but I can't remember what the motor was from...

side view, you can see the etching better

top row type writer, middle 1960's adding machine, bottom 1920's sewing machine

side view

I love the shape of this one, parts from 1960's adding machine and 1920's sewing machine

more goodies coming soon.....

 One of our recent fines, but not yet ripped up, is a very old cash register, I would say mid 1920's or earlier by the shape.  Jerry's spring break starts next weekend, I have hopes I'll start getting new bits to play with !

There is a tag really dirty and scratched up with a possible serial number on it, so once he can pry it off and I can clean it up, I will hopefully be able to put a date to this.  I imagine this was very grand in it's hay-day, with brass embossing.  you can see some pics of this type of cash register here
aren't they gorgeous!  Course we can't afford the pretty pretty, and wouldn't have the heart to rip them up anyway, so give us the grungy, dirty, greasy, rusty non functional ones.  YUM!

check out the giant , almost 5 inches across gear. 

I have a blog hop partner!!

drum roll please::::

Kandice Seeber of coloraddiction!! you can see her blog here 
that is such a good name, color addiction!!

She's a lampworker!! I'm already droooling at the lovely stuff she makes..

you can actually buy her beads via a monthly subscription or in sets...

I can only imagine what my beads will look like!!   It's funny actually, about a month ago ran across some great Jodie Marshall disk beads I bought, probably 2 years ago.  Since I'm mostly working on my Mechanical Romance line, I'm not working with lampwork but they really called to me.  So I made the bracelet below.

It's funny how hard it is to change design gears from working with recycled materials to something like this.

Fun though!!

I look forward to getting to know my partner.

Jodie Marshall lampwork disks, brass findings

Steampunk at it's best.. with watch parts!

Etched copper washers, pocket watch parts

 Most of these were made in Late Jan, early February time frame.  I'm almost up to date in my photo folder!

small vintage watch movements rings

vintage Pocket watch part, crystals, ring says "believe"

Sort of a goth fairy , on lovely vintage pocket watch part.  This necklace is really recycled.. the blue beads that are copper wired wrapped are from a necklace I made years ago that just never quite looked right, so I ripped it up.  When I decided to use the cobalt blue drop pendant -- I remembered the wrapped bead pieces and tadaa! It looks great! (Cathie, I know you aren't big on steampunk / mechanical romance... but it's cobalt!  )

pictures only today