Thursday, July 26, 2007

Featured Seller: Twinke Chan!

Warning: this entry may make you unbearably hungry:

Twinkie Chan makes yummy food-themed scarves, and sometimes plushies, mittens, and other goodies. Her love for fake food is wide and deep. She used to spend all her allowance on fake Fisher Price kitchen toys and meals, with the squishy "rising" muffins and the plastic hamburgers.

She has been crocheting goodies like tiger-head Kleenex cozies, frog hats with dangly legs, and BBQ pork bun dolls for her friends and family since she was ten years old. When her Grandma Wendleton first taught her to crochet in the 80s, she made lots of misshapen brown squares for a long time and called them "mini blankets." You have to start somewhere!

Her recent love for food-themed scarves began with moving to San Francisco where the fog rolls in at night. She often shunned scarves because they were bulky and boring and reminded her of old ladies, so she set off to create cozy scarves that were fabulous, fun, and funny! She is inspired by the cookie aisle and bakery section at her local supermarket.

Twinkie opened her website, www.twinkiechan.com, in 2005 with a dozen scarves and some tater-tot dolls. In order to avoid disturbing her roommates, she'd crochet on the floor of her closet at three in the morning, and she has been buried under yarn and pom-poms ever since. Her work has been featured in many style and craft blogs throughout cyberspace, was highlighted on HGTV's craft show Uncommon Threads as well as mentioned in a "bump" on the Cartoon Network, and has been in print in magazines such as Giant Robot, Nickelodeon Magazine, and Glamour Italia.








This one made me so hungry, that I'm making this for dinner.


Where you can find Twinkie Chan:
www.twinkiechan.com be sure to sign up for her mailing list!
Twinkie Chan MySpace
Twinkie Chan LiveJournal

I'll be on vacation from July 27th to August 5th - so enjoy this entry because it will be a while before I can post a new one!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Featured Seller: Supayana!

When she was just a young girl, Yana began her career by creating dresses for her dolls and stuffed animals. Her childhood interest in creating clothing evolved into her line called Supayana. There's a good chance this name sounds familiar, because Yana's clothing has really taken off! This isn't surprising considering her unique designs, attention to detail, and flawless construction. Her clothing has been featured in several publications and also worn by celebrities. Supayana recently was voted Fred Flare's Next Big Thing.


Yana of Supayana

So playful!

Breathtaking!


You can find more information about Yana & Supayana at:
www.supayana.com her website with more information, portfolio and where to buy.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Featured Etsy Seller: Katwise

After seeing this seller's work and reading about her on her website, I fell in love with her lifestyle. She travels all around the world and documents her travels on her website, www.katwise.com. She doesn't just create clothing, though, so be sure to look at all the cool things on her site!

Kat uses textiles gathered from her travels combined with other recycled (upcycled) clothing. Her pieces are more than just clothing, they are artwork. Some of her cloting reminds me of beautiful folk art work I've seen in museums. This idea as clothing as art is captured even more by Kat's photos of her clothing taken within a frame.
One of her costume creations - I love the lobster!

I hope one day to own something this incredible.




You can find Katwise on:
katwise.etsy.com - this is where she sells her goodies!

www.katwise.com - her website - be sure to check out the painted bus, and her stories from around the world!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Featured Etsy Seller: Jacci

I saw this designer's unusual corsets and was blown away, and her resume is extremely impressive. Jacci says:



I am a costume designer for theater, film, and television, and my corsets are a way that woman can take home a part of that vision. Each one is created as a piece of art, and are all inspired by my costume design work, mostly from theater. I want to make women look AND feel beautiful, which is why all of my designs are sopisticated yet still very sexy. They are meant to be worn by sophisticated, confident, powerful woman----women that want to stand out and be original.

This is my favorite - Sailor Girl

Matinee

Flash






Jacci can be found on :

www.JacciFredenburg.net
www.myspace.com/corsetsbyjacci
Jacci.etsy.com

Sunday, July 15, 2007

A note from E. McKinstry concerning muting on Etsy

I've never been accused of not being fair, so please check out E. McKinstry's blog (fondly known as "merp" on Etsy) concerning her recent muting on Etsy. Welcome back, merp!

EMC's Blog

One thing she mentions in her message is that drama should be kept off Etsy and I totally agree. This little unused gem is waiting to be discovered, and might be helpful.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Featured Etsy Seller: soapylove

Soapylove is the PERFECT name for this Etsy shop. I adore her soaps - they're almost too pretty to use! The soaps have the most creative shapes and colors I've ever seen. They sell out quickly, so if you see a soap you love, you'd better buy it now.

** My name is Debbie Chialtas and I am an apparel professional by day, but when I was pregnant with my son over 2 years ago, I got inspired by glycerin soap. Since then I discovered Etsy where I have built Soapylove and the rest is history! My son, husband, and I live in San Diego, but dearly miss Central California where we spent our college years.
** I find glycerin soap so versatile and full of potential. It captures color, translucency, texture, scent, and best of all - practicality. The soapsicles have really tapped into a whole world of people who either enjoy something silly, colorful, nostalgic, or want to get a gift for a little friend of theirs. It's so nice to create something that just makes people smile. I love that!

One of her Lemonade Soapsicles - yum!

Sugar Cookie Soaps - mmmmmmmm

Waffle soap scented with Vermont Syrup fragrance. Soap bananas and blueberries included. Forget your bar of Ivory, kids.

You can find Debbie's soaps at:
soapylove.etsy.com
www.soapylove.com

Friday, July 06, 2007

Featured Etsy Seller: Sweetheartsinner!

It's hard to find something you DON'T like in this seller's shops. Edit: I just bought one of her Geisha necklaces :) Ranging from rockabilly, goth, geisha, horror, retro, you name it, she's got it:

I am a 23 year old female and a graduate student with just 1 year to go before I earn my advanced degree. I currently have a B.A. degree in English. I plan to start a new sort of business entity after school is done. I have many interests including a deep infatuation with popular culture-especially from the 1930's to 1960's. I have a large collection of items ranging from pulp paperbacks to pop surrealism paintings to vintage photography. My collections are my obsessions!

About sweetheartsinner:


To start, I have a love of retro kitsch and popular culture in general. I love 1940's to 1960's imagery and designs. Whenever I wanted something cool with a cool popular culture design (like a shirt or necklace, etc...) I would go to the regular corporate stores like Hot Topic to look for cool things. Sometimes I would get lucky and find something really cool but for the most part, everything out there I found was lame or expensive.

As a student, I wanted stuff I could afford so I started to make things myself. Things I wished stores carried. Things that were good quality but inexpensive. I figured out how to make necklaces after careful consideration of how to design something I would like. I then made a few necklaces for myself. They were super cool. When I started wearing them, people noticed-they had not seen anything like them! Some friends thought they were cool, so I started to make some for them too. I had so many compliments from people asking me where I "bought" my necklaces, I decided to see how they would sell on ebay. I also thought about how cool my necklaces would be on more people. (there is satisfaction knowing someone somewhere is wearing something you made!) I know only cool people are going to want my stuff so I knew that my potential customers would be a bit like me-out of the norm, unique and into fashion and culture. So it was easy for me in choosing designs to make into necklaces. Because I knew that for the most part, that the people who would buy my stuff are probably like me, I made sure that when I started to sell my DIY, that I would offer my creations at reasonable prices using designs I liked at prices I could afford. Sure, I want to make money, but I also want others to wear my DIY creations. My items are not things you can buy in a store. Sweetheartsinner sprung from this and has been going strong for over a year now.

Though I have sold a lot of necklaces by now, I cannot ever imagine anyone running into someone else with my DIY creations on. These are truly unique in that sense. Also, my process is such that every necklace is different in some way. All have minute imperfections which come with any handmade product. But I am not a robot or a machine. I handmake almost every aspect of my necklaces. I use a homemade kiln and hand cast 98% of the settings/pendants I use. I hand-sand and handpaint my pendants. I then cut and hand apply each image and hand coat twice each and every pendant with a durable, glossy coating which gives my DIY necklaces a glassy finish. I do not think a machine would even be able to be applied to my process of making these creations. I hand assemble the jumpring and ballchain in each necklace I make (jumprings and ballchains are about the only items I do not make myself). I then make my own packaging to keep each necklace in. I do not hire anyone. I make everything myself the way DIY things should be made.

One thing that I am proud of in my design choices is that I feel I have a good grip on what is cool. I have been collecting popular culture stuff for a while now, am fanatical about art, especially lowbrow, goth, and tattoo artwork, and chose designs (and digitally design some myself) that express what I think most of us outside the norm think is cool in design and culture. Uniqueness is something I cherish.

I have sold some items whoesale to a couple of stores-but these stores are all independant stores that sell other cool stuff and not corporate megaturds like Hot Topic or some other mallrat skunkshop. My stuff is not mainstream and hope it never goes that way.

Please check out my wares at http://stores.ebay.com/Sweet-Heart-Sinner-Creations. Also, please also check out my wares on ETSY at: sweetheartsinner.etsy.com. Also, please check out my myspace at http://www.myspace.com/sweetheartsinner. My wares are affordable with over 95% of my items under $10.00!




Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Featured Etsy Seller: Kitty Pink Stars!

When I saw this seller's items on Etsy, I KNEW I wanted to put her in my blog because her stuff is just so darn cute! Kitty Pink Stars creator describes herself as, "a kooky pink girl who makes things to make people smile!" She has a 6 year old boy and four cats and has to be the coolest mom ever - I wonder if she'd adopt me ;o). She learned to knit and stitch from her "nan" and "mum" (she lives in the UK). Kitty Pink Stars was also featured in Little Miss River's blog - Dreams and Words back in April, and in Pink World!, back in February

This is Ms. Kitty in "socky" form :)


Kitty calls theses creatures "Ice Creamies" and they sure look delicious!


These look good enough to eat....


You can buy her goodies on Etsy
Catch her on MySpace
And be sure to check out one of her rockstar socks on YouTube!