Haiti Fundraising update...

Just a quick update.

The necklace went for $40 to a good customer I know. :D She'll be paying me this week and I'll send the cash off to the Red Cross.

Next, the $5 / per sale of stuff on esty = 13 x5 = $65

so the total for January in contributions will be $105.
Not bad.

I'll be making a piece for the "Hearts for Haiti" fundraising that Etsy is doing as well. Photos will need to be taken. I think I have a few pieces in mind.

Steampunk Jewelry Explosion... the Aftermath!

holy crow. I've managed to complete more new pieces of jewelry this past 2 weeks than I have in months. Most of it is a steampunked style of jewelry - pocket watch pieces, gears etc. And of course a few pieces of "cyberpunk jewelry".

With the weather halfway decent I could finally take some photos. Thats the problem with a Natural Light obsession. Cloudy dark days don't do it for me. Bright sun also has its own problems. Today looks like another good day - bright and flat skys.

What does this all mean? Basically I've been working like a fiend to get new designs up to Etsy. I do not know if the Shopping Holiday craze has decended or the sporadic marketing attempts I've been doing.

In the past week I've almost had 30 items up on etsy. For me that is a HUGE number. I custom make all my designs... so its just me sitting there in my little crowded room, trying not to drop tiny gears on the floor where they'll get lost in the cracks. This should be easy but it isn't. :D I work a few hours every day for my brother - doing that driveway thing - but when its done - in theory I've got a few hours to make some steampunk earrings, some necklaces and work on some weirdo sculptures.

In reality:
5 hrs for my brother: 9-2pm. or so
1 hr for: lunch, minor cleaning: 30 min. shower, dressing, more minor cleaning: 30.

Suddenly it will be 3pm.. emails. Posting stuff. Shopping. Making dinner.
Wait! the light is great.. take those photos!
Wait, another email from someone re: steampunk jewelry!
Wait.. wait.. wait..

Next thing I know it will be 5:30 and I've CREATED NOTHING... but dinner.

So to get 28 pieces of jewelry up on etsy is an accomplishment. I don't know how other people manage to list 50 or 100 or 200 things. omg. They prob work full time at it. Or have a co-op or something. Listing 28 pieces is for me an EXPLOSION of jewelry.

But now .. I've had sales. The last 2 weeks have been almost as busy for my store as the time that I had the article about my work and etsy in WIRED Magazine. I'm tripping over myself to make sure the work gets sent out promptly and well packaged. and now i've gotta plan for 3 craft shows in Dec!

rains it pours. make hay while the sunshines. It will likely be very quiet in January!

Steampunk Telescope necklaces and a craft show in Toronto

I've done a lot of new work for the Craft Show tomorrow: 557 Queen Street West in Toronto - its the Underground Craft Show. It is one of the 2 shows I've signed up to do.

so for the Underground Craft show I've been making and making and making stuff. Steampunk jewlery. Cyberpunk Jewelry. Geek jewelry. Lots of jewelry but almost no sculptures. No time. I am thrilled will a lot of it. If people come to the show tomorrow I suspect they will see some of the best work I've done - and some of the most unique. Still will the rain and crap weather I really worry. Maybe no one will show. In which case I'll have work to photograph and place on etsy.

A few pieces are up there now - but these of course may sell tomorrow... My new Favorite: a mini steampunk telescope necklace! and of course the Steampunk Russian Pilot necklace/brooch (it can be both).

I'm really thrilled though that my beetle wing necklace sold - the 5 wings. It has probably more hearts then almost anything else. Over 30 I think. I'll be working today on a 2nd one too.

But.. this craft show thing stresses me out. I've done so few - and they always go well - but i fret. Plus I worry mostly about money. Its the independent artist dilemna. Do I sell online or do shows? Do i try and get into shops? Because the work takes so long to make, and its just me sitting here in my chilly room full of watch parts, machines, gears, glass and remains - it means I'm a one woman shop. I honestly don't know how people manage to keep 100 items in their stores on etsy.

And, this has been a learning curve! I never realized how competitive the Craft Show market is in Toronto - and between now and christmas I've got only 2 small shows lined up. Part of the reason is that I didn't know that 10,000 jewelers would apply and secondly, to be honest, it was partly cash. I needed to pay for the tables - and had a serious cash crunch due to some confusion with my "pay". (yes there are quotes there). So rather then sign up with bouncing cheques I didn't sign up at all. Now of course I have the cash - but there is nary an opening in sight. sigh. Next year I'll be better!

What is Steampunk Jewelry? and WTF is steampunk anyway? Science Fiction Dreams....

Sometimes I stumble around when I try and explain "what is steampunk" or why do I call my "steampunk jewelry". I'm sure for many "steampunk jewelers" they see it as a "victorian influenced jewelry" - Victoriana, New Gothic, something-with-watchparts, a Trend.

For me its a lot more personal.

I write Science Fiction / Horror short stories(and gawds, some has even sold) while I'm pounding at the SF novel(s). I've also created jewelry since my teens - which was like 1000 yrs ago. I even made watch-part Victoriana jewelry in 1993 for a gallery in Montreal. (it didn't sell. lol. "too odd").

So Steampunk jewelry - and the cyberpunk jewelry - is a personal style. But I get asked all the time about "why I call it steampunk.. and wtf does that mean?" I also get asked "what influenes your style?"

I tell people i make: Steampunk Jewelry. Cyberpunk Jewelry... Geek jewelry. To me it is basically all the same - its what i make - from the one thing that has influenced my entire life, that I read, watch, fan, and create.

Its all really one source.
TWO WORDS:

Science Fiction.

I'm very familiar with the literary end of the genre of Steampunk and Cyberpunk. I'm a Science Fiction addict. Read it. Write it. Watch it. Talk about it. Start Communities about it. About the genre and sub-genres too. And Steampunk is a sub-genre - of literature - Of Science Fiction. (oh sure lets just start a debate if Science Fiction qualifies as literature? Pull out your gloves!). I still have my 100s of books bought in the 1980s. I've read SF since I was old enough to read. But the authors of my youth are still beloved. K.W. Jeter (Dr. Adder still scares me). Gibson (always). Sterling. Cadigan. And of course that new guy, Richard Morgan.

Steampunk and Cyberpunk. Wild. Alternate histories. Dystopic. Brilliant. It has evolved out of books like many of the ideas created by William Gibson - its muted - and gone wild on the world. Its Memed. Its broken out. And the ever so helpful wiki also sums it up nicely: "Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other)."

So I had quit making jewelry for oh.. 8 years. 10ys? Carpel Tunnel got so bad that I would wake up with numb hands - so I bid goodbye to all the bead work. Masks, beads, watch parts, bones, etc all got tossed into a Very Large Heavy Box. And stored.

And then a few years ago someone said, "hey what do you think of this piece of jewelry?" It was a photo of a chunk of crap. ::cough:: whoops. It was a $25 rusty washer on a chain, glued to something, iirc, not crap. Not good eitehr. And I immediately thought, wow. I could make something much better than that.

I was working in a Geek Shop at the time. Tech support. Web-hosting tech support for a backbone provider. I'd been there since 2000. I went home that night and dragged out my Piles Of Beading Crap, sorted through masks (once-upon-a-time I was a maskmaker), and found the stuff from 1990+. Watch parts. Gears. But since then I'd also accumulated a packrat-on-crack variety of Computer bits, findings, electronica, hardware and whatnot. Shiny bits.

And at that moment I thought: once upon a time I made this stuff. I still love it. There's gotta be a way to combine the things I love: geekery in all its flavors, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Steampunk (though i didn't quite know to call it that yet), TheInternetz, ComputerCrap, hardware, gears, bones (yeah i have this thing for bones and have a collection), everything...

all into something. Something new and for me, personally exciting.

I wanted to create again: items of adornment, curios, small sculpture. I wanted to make new works that were beautiful. And somehow I wanted to merge it with all those influences of my life. So I started making jewelry again.

Its steampunk, cyberpunk, geekery. And hopefully its beautiful, and elegant, and sometimes I think it shows how much I love what i do and where it comes from. Sometimes it is a bit scary, strange and peculiar. At least it isn't boring.

And maybe next time someone asks I can point them to this post and I can ask, "ever read any Gibson?". Maybe I'll say, "couldn't you see someon in Blade Runner wearing this?".

And maybe one day I'll be watching some ultra-cool SF movie, and someone will be wearing a slick piece of old tech turned into Cyberpunk - one of my own vacuum tube necklaces, a pair of magnetic switch earrings or some bone & clock gear creation - and I'll think: finally. Yeah.

Some time when they turn one of Richard Morgan's books into a fantastic movie, they'll think: wow, we need some real science fiction jewelry, something cutting edge, unusual and wild.

Now thats the dream. ;)

CyberPunk Teminator sculpture: Spiny Rat skull - something completely different!

Sometimes it isn't just about jewelry - it is about creating something radical and different... I guess this qualifies. Natural history..or perhaps Un-natural History? Well, you won't find this on etsy - it sold before it was even completed. lol

The concept here encompasses the mythos of the "Terminator" movie series. Why restrict the creation of cyber-monsters to humans? Here this skull shows a bit of steampunk and cyberpunk influences - two genres of Science Fiction that have influenced countless movies. This piece was has a strong literary influence as well - this was inspired by a short story by Kat Eason, where rats and re-engineered werewolves fight among the remains of a future city.

This skull is from a South American spiny rat (family Echimyidae). I carefully wired the jaws to open and close and the wires come through the where the optic nerves were - and thread through the base of the skull. All together it took about 15 hours to complete. Tiny watch parts were set into the bone, including two watch rubies.

I really love how the teeth look in the profile piece. You can see how deep they are set into the skull. Science fiction and a love of intricate and tiny things has influenced my life - not just in what I read but what I create. Steampunk jewelry but also the cyberpunk sculpture as well.

Steampunk in Toronto!

wow, a long time since i have been here.. i'll be better at posting in 2009. most of my posts go up to my livejournal. Anyway...t hings are going like crazy in the Steampunk Jewelry department. I'm really excited to see how Toronto is growing into loving Steampunk. Yay Toronto :D

I spent the holidays working on some new designs and finishing some special projects.One of the nice things that happened was that my jewelry got used in a photo shoot. I had no idea what to expect though, so it was rather difficult to get all excited about it. Anyway, I got a few of the photos yesterday. I'm totally amazed. They were a lot better than I expected or hoped for.

there's a bigger version on my Flickr. anyway, its thrilling to see my jewlry being worn :D

CREDITS:
ClockworkZero (steampunk jewelry): www.clockworkzero.etsy.com
Tasha (stylist) pretty.deadly.stylz@gmail.com and http://www.modelmayhem.com/708099

Bella (blonde model) http://www.modelmayhem.com/208464

Elyse (purple-haired model) http://www.modelmayhem.com/698146

Jenni (make-up artist) http://www.modelmayhem.com/193703

Starkers (wardrobe) http://www.modelmayhem.com/402135

And Danielle King (photographer): http://www.modelmayhem.com/593390 and www.danielleking.ca

creating steampunk - a personal history

yes, 2 posts in one day!
I'm stuck at work.. can you tell? :D
Anyway someone asked me about how I got into making steampunk jewelry and its rather funny. i have been making jewelry now for ... a long time. Since highschool actually. Then in the 90s when I was living in Montreal, I opened a tiny bead shop. At that time I had a strong interest in Victorian jewelry - in particular jewelry made with hair, and keepsakes. I made some really awful stuff then - but some nicer things that got sold in a gallery as well. One of the first pieces was a pendant with my BF's photo - set into a watch case - and covered in gears. I found it just recently... lol.

By the mid-90s though i had to give up jewelry. I made an attempt to become a silver smith - took courses etc - but my hands/wrists were getting wrecked. Carpel tunnel! Finally by '99 I quit it entirely and got into tech support.

I'm sure there is some direct relationship between goth, steampunk, SF and Geeks. Heck, I know what it is - cause that's me. Aging goth who has written SF forever becomes Tech support Geek, finds other geeks, phases out of Gothdom and transitions into ... steampunk.

I started hearing about steampunk as a more modern goth alternative a few years back. Then, a friend used to send me a bunch of links and we would chat about it, and I continued my non-jewelry making life. Then one day he sent me a photo of some steampunk jewelry that was really, really terrible. Just - poorly made, cheap and well.. ugly. Even in the photo I could see the glistening glue glob, the fact that the jump-rings weren't closed and that the weight (which appeared considerable) would cause the necklace to hang crooked AND break.

so i started making my own stuff.

I feel lucky actually - because most of my customers are amazing people. Sweet, interesting and so far, pretty happy. I always try and correct any issues (and trust me, even I can make some mistakes when making jewelry even after all this time) and they seem happy.

What more can i ask?
Maybe one day to do it full time. Call it a steampunk jeweler's dream. Though, i must admit, I love the cyberpunk stuff too.

i guess, really, it isn't that interesting a story after all.

Scary Steampunk Halloween jewelry by clockworkzero

something scary for Hallowe'en... tiny jaws from some unknown animal that were quite old.
The watch parts already reminded me of jaws or claws. Since I did the "Art that scares you" fundraiser I thought of these.

Anyway, there is something very cyborg like in these pieces. what is nice about these crazy, scary pendants is that they are 2 sided. so you can wear them either way. something like a bone sculpture.

Ah well... can you tell I'm a fan of the Terminator movies.. the first 2 anyway. And yeup, the series as well.

I've got a friend who is looking up what kind of bone. I'll let you know.

Steampunk Jewelry on etsy!

I finally ... finally! got my etsy account set up. Shocking - but I already made my first sale. I'm dropping it in the mail in about 1 hour. Off it goes down to the US.

the url to my etsy account is
ClockworkZero.etsy.com

I posted my first piece up there - so far I've only got my steampunk earrings up and the steampunk jewelry - in particular a few steampunk pendents.


I re-photographed some of the work... which I hope will make a difference. I used some lovely Japanese papers. This one has 2 layers:


I think the blue works with the amethyst.
the lovely gears really work.


As well, I just found a Toronto Craft group on flickr. hopefully I'll meet some more canadian crafts people!

clockwork insects: my steampunk bugs

I don't think I really have had a chance to talk too much about the steampunk insects I'm working on. This one is the first, and so far the best. I do though plan on making a few small ones - only an inch or two across. Last night I was doing some soldering of old vintage brass onto old vintage watch pieces. This one though - the wings move - which makes it special I feel.

The drop is, I believe, Peridot, set in sterling silver. The shape worked best with this Steampunk Insect... suggesting beauty and danger. Perhaps a deadly drop of poison? I think it is a beautiful, dangerous clockwork insect. I'll have to see about designing a chain for it as well.
I love making steampunk jewelry. Makes my heart tick!

Published....

yay! the Desolate Places Anthology is out finally. I'm one of the authors there... but i'm not saying who. lol. Yay! it is a science fiction short story about a technician who has to go into a ossarium - a bone yard, basically. The short story is called "Gifts of Bone".

anyway, thats the cover... it is really quite beautiful. I'm excited as all hell's get out. heh. my first published piece.

I get torn about making the jewelry sometimes because I feel like i should be writing. When I'm writing I sometimes think I should be making jewelry. But lucky for me - I can think about writing when I'm doing the steampunk jewelry. I'm thrilled anyway.