Riveting is fun ! Steampunk first attempt followed by Nosferatu....

Who knew that riveting eyelets could be fun. I've started on a new necklace, my first Steampunk creation, a bit nerve racking as one of the included items is a one of a kind item and I really do not want to make any mistake whatsoever. Apart from that, I really am quite enjoying the rivet part of it --now that I know the correct way to install eyelets. Just like Helga from Artchix studio, I too had squashed unhappy eyelets but nevermore ! Here is Helga's post which I hope will help you become a happy riveter too:
How to set an eyelet

Annnndddd here are some photos of my Steampunk attempt:

After I had cut the brass around the Skywaymen image, I realised I'd cut too close to the wings and left little room for jump rings, so I've glued it to another piece of brass & am first adding the eyelets before cutting around the image again ( and the cut edges will be smoothed ). Hanging below it will be a vintage repurposed brooch which I've attached to an interesting necklace piece, love the gear-like look of the ends.
Back to the eyelets: there are two corner sections on the Skywaymen brass that didn't completely flatten to the back brass so I may add four gold coloured eyelets to each corner and then perhaps glue in some vintage rhinestones ooh la la ! What do you think, maybe some aurora borealis stones, or shimmery yellow rhinestones or how about red to match the lower stone ?
This necklace is intended for my Etsy shop but right now I'm not so sure.

Here is another necklace I do and don't want to list, just waiting for everything to dry first:

Why it's none other than good 'ol Nosferatu ! Actually, it's a Nosferatu mask taken from a monster mask advertisement from a 1993 Fangoria magazine.
I was going to place it inside a silvertone lace bezel but as soon as I placed it inside this beautiful vintage Florenza necklace setting...oh my ! Instant Gothic gorgeousness ;)
Tempting to wear it out just once. Now I wish I'd printed the image instead but we're out of black ink booo !

Is Steampunk and horror where my art path is taking me ? It's a lot more fun than flowery things.

Sneak peek at fresh pendants with a vintage touch

Yay, I'm slowly getting some fresh new pendants created, finally. My vintage shop was taking over there for a bit while my art shop was gathering dust.

This pendant was the first made, using a pink and white flowered plastic surround ( purchased from MimiLoLo ) . The white was painted black with black glitter, I drilled a hole for a jump ring instead of a bail & finished it with 6 dark pink rhinestones. Printed images were collaged onto the glass cabochon, love the Eiffel Tower ! BUT...and this is where I get really picky...if you look closely you can see the Eiffel image is not straight and there's dried glue around the image. It's the image not being straight that bothers me the most, so maybe I'll still list the necklace but as one of those 'OOPS' items that's been discounted ? It bothers me THAT much yet it's too nice to take apart. We'll see.

Now this pendant is one of my favorites. I'm calling it 'Foreign Object in Eye' because the image came directly from a 1959 St.John Ambulance course book & shows a person putting a matchstick over the eye & then rolling the lid up, to get to the foreign object. Kinda different but hey, I'm kinda different too & think oddball items like this are fun. So, am I being picky about THIS pendant ? Ummmmm, it looks great left as it is but I'm wondering if I should attach a lobster clasp to the ballchain. It's a 24" chain, slips on/off the head but opening the ballchain can be a little difficult because of it being the tiny 1.5mm chain. Like I wrote above -- We'll see :)

And finally is this neat-o piece. 'Skywaymen' was taken directly from a 1930's Boy's Own Paper book ( B.O.P's 'The Skywaymen' was some group you could join to become a remote control pilot ) and decoupaged on to a piece of brass which I hand cut & etched with my dremel. That's all I've done so far. The brass edges will need to be smoothed down. It will become a necklace but it needs some bits attached to it, maybe some gears dangling below ? I don't want to go overboard but it's definately calling for more of something. Rivets would look cool  but they'd have to be teeny-tiny ones which I don't have, Hmmmm, I could glue it onto another piece of brass and then rivet the fresh brass ? Can't wait to see how this turns out.

Steampunk Sneak peek !

STEAMPUNK !

You'll get to see them in their entirety when I've completed two more brooch-pendants. Yes, they're going into my Etsy shop sometime in the next week. They're my new Steampunk Chic treasures, created on childrens wooden game pieces.

I'm on a Steampunk kick ! Steampunk was influenced by, and often adopts the style of the scientific romances of the 19th century, by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, and Mary Shelley. Imagine cogs and rivets, watch bits, hardware, brass, the future, the past, cyberpunk and more.

The train from Back to the Future 3 is a wonderful piece of Steampunk:

I'm really hoping this is something I want to stick with for a long time. Finding my creative niche has been difficult lately. I want to create so many things but find it gets quite mentally tiring, always thinking thinking thinking of having to make everything I create completely individual. That's why I had to walk away from my altered art and focussed on Scrabble tile pendants, thinking that's what I wanted to do. But it didn't take long for them to get boring, they were just too easy to make ! I began perusing the Etsy treasures and discovered Steampunk. Wonderful items with plenty of things I love to use. So I'm giving it a try !

How many of you have played around with various art ideas ? Have you found your niche yet and how did you know it was where you wanted to be ? I would really love to hear from you.