To You My Friends....

Wishing You and Yours....



A Merry Little Christmas!

Celebrate His Birth

My Relief Valve

I'm sure many of you have experienced the loss of sales as compared to that of the same time in 2010.  Having felt the impact of a dismal 2011 and with all the changes made by Etsy, it's left no doubt in my mind that between such changes and this flattened economy many have suffered tremendously this year.  I'm at 7-9 sales this far into December as compared to 22 at the same time last year averaging 1 sale per day.

On top of the aforementioned is this influx of characters who have become part of the Etsy community that are now (actually have been all year) buying wholesale goods and passing them off as home/handmade and vintage.  Also are the same who seem to have no consideration for those of us who sell genuine handmade or vintage goods.  It lends to the overall experience I had with Ebay.  I'm one just like the other who is thrilled with any sale, however more importantly to me is the complete satisfaction of my customers.

More and more I'm finding that buyers are very concerned about spending or purchasing an item, so they inquire about a given item with questions like, "Is the item just as described?", "Can you ship in time to receive by a specific date?", and "Do you except returns?".  I can understand ones concern and am all about replying in an expedient and informative manner.  What truly gets me is post transaction communication.  Non-existant.  It's something that's happened time after time and accounts for approximately 25% of the feedback lost in a given year.  One would think that at very least a customer would convo telling me that they received their item and were either happy or disappointed, simple.  It's relatively easy to determine receipt of a package/item by tracking systems.  It's the simple fact that some people give a rats ass about how dedicated some of us are in insuring to the best of our ability (sometimes beyond) that we provide a quality product, at a reasonable price, and in the least amount of time possible.

I very rarely rant (ok, maybe once a month?? lol), but I'm just peaved right now and wanted to vent.  I've just seen this "Ebayish" kind of mentality overtaking Etsy this past year and it truly bums me as Etsy is NOT at all what it was when I first joined, many of the new sellers are NOT like that of the vets here.  Alot of the buyers are NOT at all what they were, and those who are allowed to re-sell Chinese and Malasyian crap on etsy need to be banned and strickly enforced.  I for one cannot and have not seen any good or positive come from the changes they've made and allowed this past year and although many are clinging on (including yours truly), I'm afraid if all should continue in 2012 as in 2011, Etsy will suffer of their own demise and so will we.

Thanks for stopping by.





Rescued....

from the clutches of doom (the dumpster) is this fabulous vintage leather jacket with handsewn beadwork.  Unfortunately the jacket shows damage to the fringe on the back (I need to find someone who may be able to repair, if at all).  The lining is a green satin.  By the type of materials used, I believe this jacket to be from the 1960's.   Beadwork shown on front top, pockets, and back just below the collar is just awesome.   

Wonderful Shoulder Beadwork

Fringe damage/missing

Leather Covered Buttons

Leather Stitched Button Holes

Handsewn Beadworks

Green Satin Lined

  

Get Your Grinch On



Here's a little number that I recently came across and couldn't wait to list in my shop on Etsy.  This is a vintage 1960's Lilli Ann cropped sleeve green "Flare" dress similar to the "Red Flare" that was available for Barbie back in the day.

However, Barbies "Flare" didn't have the "Jackie O" styled Mink fur collar as the "Grinch" coat offers.

Which is in marvelous condition for it's age.  The green material is almost that of a "mohair" and also exceptional in condition.



The lining is also something to brag about (not that i'm bragging, lol) in that it is of a beautiful golden satin and testimony to the quality of this Lilli Ann coat.

You can find this and other vintagicities in my Etsy shops NeverTooOld and Vintagicity.

Season's Greetings

Very Very Cool Giveaway



What a blog, what a giveaway, what a gal....

HONEYBEE IN THE CITY

Visit Honeybee's blog for your chance to win a.....

WHITE APPLE iPAD2 16GB

YOU CAN'T WIN IF YOU DON'T PLAY!

For The Love of Vintage Militaria

This just does it for me.  I love when I happen upon vintagicity such as this....

A WWII Airforce dress uniform that includes the original Ike jacket, (with patches, ribbons, and stripes) pants, and shirt.  Along with the dress uniform was a standard issue uniform of the same less the patches and stripes.  In the inner pocket of the jacket I found this patch....

The young man issued this uniform belonged to the 15th Airforce established November 1, 1943.  Vintagicity like this is just hard to let go of, however, I can't keep it all so I'm hoping a militaria collector may find this of interest.

 

Thank You

Having so much to be thankful for this past year would require me to add a post longer than that of my interviews, lol.  One things for sure, I am sooo very thankful for having such wonderful cyber friends like YOU.

Wishing you and yours a
 Happy Thanksgiving Day

Is It the "Real Thing"?

I come across vintage tins all the time and try to stay away from them as there are sooo many reproductions these days.  Two varieties of tins I most always stay away from are Coke and Pepsi, however every now and again I come across one that I just can't let go.  Here is an example of what I am talking about.

After searching the web and finding nothing specific about this given tray I am hoping that someone might shed some light on it's authenticity.  This tray measures about 12" in diameter and is about 2" deep.  As you can see by the pics there is some rusting, chips, and the red appears faded.

There are no maker's marks or identifying marks that I can find.  I had read somewhere a while back that the federal government requires companies that produce repro tins to print the company name and date on the item. 

There are experts out there that can turn a repo into what appears to be an authentic, but this one just appears to be the real deal.  I hope that if you are familiar with authentic Coke tins you will take a moment to post any comment that may help me in determining this trays authenicity.

Intriquingly Imaginative

Steampunk is known primarily for fantasical contraptions, attire, artworks, and jewelry that generally consist of a blend of  historical, scientific fictional, and or fantasy along with a host of other variants.  I'd actually never really known it as "Steampunk" until I joined Etsy and have begun to read more and more about it as I'm intriqued with the endless possibilities associated.   It has no limitations, so one's own ingenuity and those who possess the talent and skill can create awesome steampunk works of art.  One such person who possesses such in her beautifully creative works I've featured here today.

I'd love for you to get to know a little about my featured seller and that I may share with you her special blend of steampunk, pirate, and wolf inspired jewelry. 

May I introduce you to....

Kat

Who owns and operates Etsy shop....

KLOCKWERK KREATIONS

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Who is the person behind the works at Klockwerk Kreations?

I was born in Detroit, Michigan a very, very long time ago – June of 1953 to be exact.  I cannot remember a time when I was without the company of a vivid imagination.  If you can envision the entire Little Rascals gang in my head from around the age of three – my castle was under the brick front porch, my house was under any table with a blanket thrown over it, my Cadillac convertible was my tricycle, I could construct a ticket booth out of a refrigerator box and put on my own variety shows in our spooky basement (with the assistance of a small band of friends who were somewhat easily convinced to do stupid kid stuff when I really put my mind to it).  Mother (a housewife) insisted I take piano, ballet and tap dancing lessons at that same age, so I was a busy child with a full plate, but we didn’t have day timers then so I tended to be scatterbrained at times.  I managed to get to school every day, marry

Paul McCartney when I was 11 (that imagination again), travel to Europe where I fell in love with London and Paris, especially Whitechapel and Montmartre, attended Oakland Community College and the University of Michigan.  I held a plethora of jobs to include (but not limited to) employment as a maid at a Holiday Inn, a receptionist at a hospital ER on the graveyard shift, and staff photographer for several famous ‘rock’ bands in the 70’s.  Went total glam for a while, but I was always a Goth kid at heart.  When I was that little kid again, I had this unshakable belief that my father (a surgeon and team doctor for the Red Wings) was Bela Lugosi and I still find it plausible because he did look just like him and his side of our family was of Romanian, Slovakian, and Hungarian descent.  My favorite color has always been black and it comprises most of my wardrobe.  But I digress.  I was a DJ at WCPZ radio in Sandusky, Ohio (Leisure Rock 103), moved to Colorado in 1984 where I worked for another radio station, KBRQ, and later at Cable Value Network.  In 1989, I became a secretary for a county sheriff’s office and have been there now for 22 years.  I have a husband who’s an engineer and loves muscle cars (Mopars exclusively).

 No human children (never felt grown up enough for that responsibility), but I’ve always had feline dependants.  Currently, we have three black cats: Spike, Drusilla and Angel (That vampire thing again).  The five of us live modestly, yet comfortably, in a fabulous little house in Denver, Colorado.  I am a writer (three books), avid reader, pianist who needs more practice, jewelry maker and part-time pirate.

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When did you first become interested in jewelrymaking?

 I have always made jewelry. Started off with ‘pop beads’ in the sixties. Just loved those things.  Graduated to stringing crystals and beads for my wolf and pirate jewelry and merged into the steam punk genre some years ago.

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What does “steampunk” truly mean to you?

Boy, this one may be difficult to explain because there are many levels of SP that I identify with.  First, while I enjoy life and love living it, I’ve always carried that tiny fear in the back of my mind regarding ‘doomsday’ or the ‘end of the world’ (probably due to subconsciously hearing about building bomb shelters, the atrocities of World War II, a Cuban missile crisis, gas masks, etc. when I was too young to understand what it all meant and later, the fact that the first two Terminator movies are included in my top 10 favorite films list).  Secondly, one of my very favorite time periods is the Victorian Era.

That affection began when I first heard Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which was read to me when I was that little kid referred to above. The visions of Victorian London streets, the grand opulence of the rich and the harsh poverty of the poor in that ancient city are still as clear to me today as they were fifty years ago. I have a particular interest in the Jack the Ripper case of 1888. I have studied it carefully and voraciously, and even chose my steam punk name in homage to my favorite Ripper victim, Catherine Eddowes. Thirdly, I love and am incessantly intrigued with anything mechanical. I am fascinated by the inner workings of antique clocks and anything gear driven. (I have to say antique because almost all watches and clocks are now battery operated and made of plastic, which is very sad to me. Modern technology has certainly made our lives easier, but it is also destroying old world craftsmanship and durability in its wake. Someday there will be no more watch makers, or shoe cobblers, or book makers, etc. With their ultimate disappearance future generations will lose those fascinating arts and crafts that took years of skill and training to create.)

To me, the ticking of a grandfather clock is one of the most soothing sounds on earth. And, lastly, who doesn’t love those nasty zombies who must be eradicated at all cost, lest we become one ourselves? So, to that very lengthy end, I love the fact that those of us in the steam punk world had the stamina and fortitude to somehow survive the war to end all wars, had the intelligence and ability to revert to the old ways and hone lost skills to create the necessities we need to live, we’ve got the coolest clothes ever, we can take out a nest of zombies in a heartbeat thanks to our unscrupulous fighting tactics and combat training, we must travel by train or dirigible, which has put an end to traffic jams and road rage, and all this can be carried out in the gracious manner of a bygone era when proper decorum, etiquette, respect and gallantry were highly regarded as admirable human traits.

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Who or what has been your biggest influence?

My biggest influence was the first time I saw Big

Ben in London.

Now it is every time I first open

 the back of a time piece and see the way each

 gear, spring, screw, cog, etc. were put together

 to make that incredibly efficient device. There

 have been times I have rebuilt a piece exactly

 the way it looked in the clock just because of the

 sheer beauty of the original design.

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What

 inspires

 you?

My inspiration comes from the intricacies and beauty of gears and parts that must work together as a unit to create a piece of art. I like to sit with my plethora of different kinds and sizes of gears before me and with the sound of the ticking of my old world clock behind me, I start with one or two interesting gears and continue to add others until they eventually merge together and ultimately make a new pendant.

******************************

What is it about your works that sets you apart from others?

I am very fortunate in that I know a wonderful gentleman who owns a clock repair shop not far from my house. He keeps a box of those pieces that can no longer be used and supplies them to me for a nominal fee.  In the last year or so steam punk has come out of the closet so to speak and buying original clock pieces can now be a costly venture – especially online and in antique shops that have caught on to what an older watch can mean to one of our kind.  Each piece of my steam punk jewelry contains real gears from actual timepieces, i.e., watches and/or clocks that were once part of a working instrument.  I believe it is the utilization of these real gears that set my pieces apart from the others and because of that each creation is one of a kind and cannot be replicated.  By the way, I cannot kill a clock.  If I come upon a mechanism that is still ticking, it joins my other operating clocks until it no longer functions.

******************************

Do you have a favorite piece?

I have two favorite pieces. I made a wrist cuff and a Clockwork Orange inspired belt buckle.  I also love my SP weapon of choice, my derringer. My husband makes guns and my purses, which actually light up. We hope to offer some of those items for sale in the future when we can find a cost efficient way to produce them.

******************************

Where can one go to find and learn more about Klockwerk Kreations?

A blog, FaceBook, or Twitter?

I’m rather computer illiterate, so my very good friend, who is a phenomenal graphic designer, has graciously built my Etsy store and website for me. She is in the process of creating the Face Book, Twitter aspect of all this.  This media is all new to me, so it’ll probably take some time to get me up to speed on that technology – after all, I haven’t found a useable gear in any computer to date, so I have a very hard time figuring out how they even work in the first place.  Heck, I don’t even know how this ‘Blog’ thing you’ve created works.

******************************

Just for fun....

Name one word that describes you best?

Curious ( Both definitions apply)

Ha!  I found 3!!

1. Eager to learn more.

2. Unduly inquisitive; prying.

3. Arousing interest because of novelty or strangeness.

They all still apply? Hehe!

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What was your fondest Halloween memory as a child or adult?

My favorite holiday, by the way. The first Halloween I discovered candles, pumpkins, and 1995 in New Orleans, where my best friend and I attended the Memnoch Ball hosted by Anne Rice.  Pictures of each event included.

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Do you remember your first kiss? How old were you?

A dear friend and confidante. We were perhaps seven or eight, had no idea why we did it, and did not do it again. It also happened to occur on a Halloween night. 

(Maybe he liked my fabulous Woolworth’s Five and Dime witch costume?)

******************************

What is under your bed at this moment?

My Louisville Slugger baseball bat… and dust.

I suppose the bat's not under there for spring try-outs?

******************************

And lastly....

If you were to set a world record for Guinness, what would it be?

For writing the world’s longest novel (that is never to be published until I’m six feet under and roaming the streets of the French Quarter as a ghost).

I started it in June of 2007. To date it contains 3,183 pages, 1,266,572 words, and has an average length of 269 pages per each of 12 chapters. The story will continue until I can no longer type or I end up in the Quarter in that previously mentioned misty condition.

I wish you much luck as you'll beat the current record by 2 volumes and you need only 833,429 words to set the new worlds record novel!!

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We hope you've enjoyed the interview with Kat and that you'll stop by for a visit and browse of her awesome shop....

Klockwerk Kreations

Sweet Vintage

I've always had a fondness for vintage apparel.  I especially love fashion apparel from the 1940's, which in my opinion was the heyday for glam gams.  Although the 40's was my fave period, I dig most all vintage apparel both women's and men's.  Here I have for you an Etsy seller with some fab vintage garb that I think you'll appreciate and may pursuade you to want to see more.  Let me introduce you to....

SWEET MELISSA'S VINTAGE

Following are a few of my personal favorites....

Vintage 1950s Jameshire Beige Cotton Ladylike Skirt Suit XS / S

Vintage 1960s Koret Off-White Ostrich Handbag & Coin Purse, Classic

Vintage 1960s Pink Gingham Floral Embroidery Skirt & Top Cotton Play Set XS / S

Vintage 1970s Andrea Pfister Brown Snakeskin Reptile Purse & Matching Heels 7.5

Vintage 1970s Salvatore Ferragamo Beige Nubuck Leather Heels 8

Stop by

 SWEET MELISSA'S VINTAGE

as you may find something you just can't live without!