First pumpkins, and now...

Apples!
I made a minor change to my pumpkin bracelet, and made it with red instead of orange. Now it's an apple bracelet! This thing is perfect for a teacher's gift!

Kinged Vipera Berus - slime green

After the great success of my last convention, I an in need of major stocking up of inventory. In a month, I have the biggest con I have ever attended, and I want to be ready!
I had some great sales at the last con, and I have even gotten some Etsy sales from attendees already! I'm super excited about that.

My ring supplier had a limited run on a special color that they called slime green. I bought some in several different sizes, and I combined it with some black to make a Halloween-ish bracelet.
I made this in the Kinged Vipera Berus weave, just like the all silver one I posted about a while back.

I really like this color combo. I'm tempted to try making another one, but reverse the colors to have the green as the base, and the black woven through it. Maybe eventually. I have too much to make right now, otherwise.

I'll keep updating with my new things! I will have a post about some dice bags very soon!

Plastic dividers, where have you been all this time?

This isn't really a crafty post, but it's about my craft organization.

So, with the glass cabochon necklaces that I make, I have been keeping them in a plastic shoebox-type container. To keep them organized, I had some cardboard dividers cut out to place between rows. This worked, but it was kinda wonky, and it was a big pain to load up and keep everything upright. I put up with this method for a while now, not knowing about the awesomeness of these plastic drawer dividers.

Here is a small section of one:

They are amazing. I can't believe I never thought of even looking for something like this!
I can now easily arrange my necklaces in the boxes.

I got a great deal on this on Amazon, and I ordered more than I needed for my boxes. I predict these are going to be used in many different places around my crafts/house.

What?! A Chainmail dragon?!

For a while, now, I have been interested in making a chainmail dragon, but I never bought the instructions, I just admired them from afar. In one of my chainmail groups, a member started posting a bunch of dragon pictures, and I knew that it was time. I HAD to make one!

I went to my supplier's website, and I bought the instructions and a kit to get started.
The kit color combinations available weren't really speaking to me, but I just picked the one I liked the most, just to learn. I figure I can make more later when I know how and have some experience behind me.

The first part of it, making the body and the head, went by pretty easily. I didn't have any majorly huge issues with it (just a minor problem attaching the last ring for connecting the head to the body).
Then came the scales down the back.
Here is where I was at this point:

I started adding the scales down the back, and I realized about 2/3 down that my dragon was too "floppy", and wouldn't stand up very well. I tried adding some rings under a few scales to tighten things up, which did help, but the whole thing just felt "off" somehow.  In comes the super amazing-ness of my chainmail Facebook group.

I reached out to another member of the group to see if she could figure out what I did wrong. It took several pictures going back and forth, but it looked like my scales were not attached correctly. So, I had the oh-so-fun job of taking them all out (along with the extra rings I had added previously).

Once I started re-adding the scales, correctly this time, it did make a difference. Even if it didn't seem tighter like I wanted, it felt and looked better. I didn't even try testing it, I just went ahead and added them all, then tested its standing ability.
He does stand better! He still wasn't working as well as I wanted, so I added a couple tightening rings again, and now he looks great!

I got the tail done, and then came the scales at the very end of the tail...
I tell you, there is something with me and scales that just don't seem to get along.
I connected them all right, but had them upside down. I had to take them all out and redo them, as well.
After typing this up, I just realized that I used the wrong scales for the tail, too. I have laser etched scales for the tail, and I just used regular ones. I may just leave it. 

I can finally say, though, that he is finished! Isn't he so cute!

Throughout the whole process, I just stuck to the standard of what the pattern showed, even though I found some ways to tweak things here and there to personalize them. I wanted to get just one done regular, and now I'm free to tweak away! I can't wait!
I have plans for several more dragons, so keep an eye out for my next ones soon. I will need to make a supply order first, but there are so many ideas going through my head, now!

Con Review: Name Your Game Expo 2019

Convention Name: Name Your Game Expo 2019
Date: Oct 5&6, 2019
Cost: $100,1 table ~ 6x5 space
Location: Broken Arrow, OK
Grade: A


This one was a larger con, held in Broken Arrow, OK. If you couldn't tell by the name, this one is a gaming con, for all kinds of different games. They even requested that we gear our offerings toward gaming, as well. The price was pretty good. It's a little higher than the tiny cons I have been going to, but still not bad at all. I was actually worried about getting accepted into this one. I do have some game related items, but not a large percentage.

Check-in was super easy. I walked in and ran into someone who took me to the guy in charge, who then showed me my table. It was almost a little too easy.
My booth space was only a table with the space behind it. I was prepared for this, so I knew I wouldn't get to use my large display. (I always take both the large and the portable one with me to all events, though, because you never know).

My booth location was amazing! The artists at this event were just tables lining the hallways. My booth happened to be located just across the hall outside the exhibitor/vendor room, though. So I got to see all that traffic, too! I had a very successful weekend.
There was one downfall, though. I was right in front of a window, which wasn't bad. But, this venue had the vents right above the windows, too. With the air conditioning being on, we were freezing. Since the weather took a downturn into cooler temps, it felt like they didn't adjust the air conditioning accordingly. I grabbed a light pullover and a scarf from my car, and I used some fabric that I use as table covering as a blanket, but it didn't help much. That first day we were miserable.
That first night, I went to my hotel room and took a very long, very hot shower. It was glorious.
The second day, the guy in charge had the venue raise the temperature, and he also offered to move us to a different spot that became available. We both chose to stay, since the location was so good. The second day, things were better, temperature-wise.

This con was a lot bigger and busier than I was expecting, which was great! I really enjoyed myself, and I will definitely return again next year. There was a special guest who showed up on Sunday, too. Apparently he was in town for another event on Saturday, and they were able to get him to the con for Sunday. It was Marcus Mauldin, who voiced Brick in the Borderlands video games. 
His table was very close to mine, so I left my table for a few minutes, and got a signed print for my husband (big Borderlands fan). I was super excited to meet him and get his autograph.

Overall, this weekend was a great success. I only wish I had requested Monday off from the day job. I didn't get home until about 9PM, and I'm exhausted.
My next con is in a month, and it will be a BIG one. I will need to make a bunch of stuff to gear up for it. Can't wait!

Pumpkins for the fall!

I was inspired by someone's pumpkins, and I just had to make my own.
Here is a chainmail pumpkin bracelet! I love it so much, that I had to make 2!

I'm going to make one in red to be apples, next. Well, once I get a chance to. So many other things to make right now!