The First Batch Of Hand-Embroidered "Gems"!

Took early three days (and some nights) to embroider six of them. But I loved every minute of it!

Also loving the "embossed" texture. Can't stop touching them. Haha.

These are to be made into a necklace for an upcoming show in March, to shown alongside the MonoWing and another new embroidered piece (yet to be made!).

When I'm done with that, I might start making some for the shop. Woo!

An Army Of Granite & Musk Sticks (Version 1.0)

#109. A new product! Whoopeedoo!

It's a hand muff! And it's about time this old-school Winter accessory makes a grand comeback, I think!

My hands are always cold in Winter but I hate wearing gloves because they make my fingers look scary. But mittens, I love!

However, it's a hassle to have to remove them when trying to do things like dig in my bag for my bus pass. Or for change to pay for newspapers.

I own only one hand muff and a girl can't be seen wearing the same one all the time, can she? So I thought I'd make my own! And for you too if you'd like one.

Continuing with the The Empress Dowager's New Jewels Go To The Gym Winter theme, I made the hand muff from an army of the same fabric "gems" as #104 - grey sweatshirt fabric with bursts of neon pink tulle overlay.

It hangs off an adjustable strap because some us are shorter/taller than others.

And you will never lose your hand muff like you do with gloves.

Hanging it on your person also leaves your hands free to do things like dig in your bag for you bus pass or change. Tee hee hee. When you're done digging, you can stuff your hands back in to keep them warm again.

You can wear it to the side, if you like, to keep it out of the way when you're indoors.

It is lined with the same sweatshirt fabric but the fluffy side.

And I've added a little secret pocket in the lining. For important things like your bus pass (so you don't have to rummage in your bag!) and bank/credit cards. Nifty, huh?

This is a pretty time-consuming piece so I don't think I'll be putting ready-made ones up in the shop...until I have a bit more time (crazy making some exhibition pieces for March now!).

But if you'd like to help me bring the good ol' hand muff back into fashion before then (and keep your fingers toasty at the same time), I'd be happy to custom-make one of them shnuggly things for you. Write me at likklegirl@gmail.com and we'll work something out! xx

A Clump Of Wrinkly Ivory

#108. A commissioned piece.

This piece has already been shipped, a week ago, but I've been finding it hard to write about it here.

It is a really pretty piece, all nude-y, textured with a bit of lace for fastening - one that I would have happily kept for myself. But it has also got quite an angry story behind it. A story which I was deliberating to share or not - it won't be very professional of me if I was to bitch about my customers, would it?

Then I thought, "Hell, why not? Potential customers, people who are thinking of getting a piece custom-made for themselves should know how we go about doing things here and how I feel about my work. The customer-in-question already know how I feel about the whole episode anyway through all the emails that we've exchanged. It's not like I'm talking about her behind her back."

So here goes...
I didn't have a very good feeling about her when she first emailed me out-of-the-blue (I get these feelings about people and things and most of the time, they are pretty spot-on) but hey, business is business.

She requested for a piece similar to #103 - in nude-y neutrals and easy to wear with everything in her wardrobe. I said, "Colours like cream, beige, off-white?". She said, "Yes!".

Then I asked if she'd like it in the same Clump "setting". If not, she can look at my back-catalogue and pick one that she likes. She got back to me and said that she doesn't like any of them because they are all too big and clumpy! (See, told you I had a bad feeling about this one.)

I wrote back to say that she might be looking for a necklace at the wrong place because all The Empress Dowager's New Jewels are MEANT to be big and over-the-top. Not for shrinking violets. I know that making commissioned pieces is a two-way thing, exchanging of ideas, but all the "settings" are the way they are because I have tried-and-tested many and these are those that work best.

It was apparent that we are not in the same team so early in the game so I said that we should stop wasting each other's time because it was very obvious that what I do is not what she's after. She wrote back, apologising profusely and said she wanted the Clump.

I accepted her apology and went about looking for suitable fabric. Found this lovely textured number and sent it to her. She wrote back saying she had black, grey or white in mind!

What?!!!!!! When she confirmed that she wanted nude neutrals in earlier emails! That was it for me. A sale is a sale but this was causing me more grief than the pittance I charge for a unique one-off piece that I put a lot of love and time into making. I told her to take her business somewhere else.

She wrote back apologising again but it made me wonder if she really wanted a piece of New Jewels at all when she doesn't seem to know what she wants throughout the whole process. I don't want my hard work going to people like that.

But I'm a softie. I said that I'll make the piece when I have the time and put it up in the blog shop. If she get there before someone else does, she can buy it. She wrote a few weeks later and asked if it was ready. It's done, I said, just haven't had the time to photograph it to put up. She said she wanted it anyway so I said "yes", thinking that's the end of it. But, man! The payment and shipping is another hassle-filled episode altogether! I'll spare you the details.

So there, that's the angry story. I am not a prima donna when it comes to my work. The more I sell, the better it is for my pockets but it pains me to see such a good piece going to someone who doesn't really understand it.

A Clump Of Bubblegum

#107. Another commissioned piece for the lovely Anne!

Only a few weeks after she received her first piece - A Clump Of Striped Marble!

She wanted a piece that's in a neutral shade again. I know she wears a lot of that so I thought she might like to add little hints of colours this time.

I found this really pretty fabric in a medium taupe with bubblegummy running stitches woven through it and sent a photo sample to her.

She emailed her approval, I got to work and she received her new Clump two days ago.

Another joyous collaboration! Thank you, Anne, for making it such a hassle-free project.

I hope you love the Bubblegum as much as the Striped Marble!