Finally!

I haven't been so happy to be this close to the end of a project in a very long time. Tonight I finished all of the things for the Kickstarter. Yes, that Kickstarter. The one that came to life back in April and promptly ate my soul.
Well there's the end of the tunnel. After 7 total supply orders, countless cursing and test tasting, getting opinions and running around like an insane person. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow I finish packing the boxes.

See, I managed to get most all of it done in stages, up to the $60 rewards. But when looking at what I had left, I couldn't do it in stages. I had to put nose to the grindstone as it were... and I packed and packed and packed. I blended and prayed.

It's really exciting to be honest.

Will I do it again? Probably. I have too many ideas swimming in this brain not to. Will it be soon? Probably not. Maybe in two months? Maybe next year? Who knows. All I know, is that I have SJ Tucker songs on my brain, screaming to be brewed into tea. Oh yeah, and I have her permission. :)

Faerie Market

Once upon a time there was a market in Faerie. In this market you could find almost anything, from keys to glitter to scraps of fabric fashioned into bits and bobs. Then there were the jewels, the broaches that could only have come from the highest royalty's clothes, and sometimes, if you were lucky you could find an item of true magic.

That market faded away with the changes of the tides of time, and I was sad to see it go... 

Missing it has spurred something new in me though; the possibility of creating a new market, one made of magic and whimsy. One that you could get the shiny bits of Faerie even in the mortal world.

I'm sure that I have enough baubles that I could easily start this market all on my own, from beaded bits to glass, to keys that I rescued from abuse in Faerie. It's going to be an interesting start, and I really really hope that all of my friends will take a gander and pass the magic on when it starts up!

With Love,

Rubiee

Busy!

Well, let me tell you that life isn't slowing down at all!

From gigs to work to kickstarter and back. Crazy days have come and gone and I hope that they're winding down... knowing full well that they most likely are not.

This weekend Pandora Celtica heads to Beltania. This is where I will be... camping. Imagine it with me now, this Pooka... camping. I'm not going to fib, I'm kind of worried about it. I don't so much do camping, I haven't in the past because I don't consider anything but sleeping in a tent to be camping. I've been sewing, broke out my new serger and everything. I thought that maybe I was crazy yesterday- see, I'm making coats... and then the rain started, and I saw the forecast for this coming weekend. More rain. So! I refuse to be a wet Pooka. Coats it is!

Gearing up for Scarborough too... and then there's the Kickstarter.

So, I officially have so much tea to make that my head is threatening to spin right off my neck. I am sooo grateful for the people that have offered to help keep me sane. You all are so amazing!

And the band's kickstarter... I'm hoping that's going to go up... tomorrow? Don't hold me to it though :)


Time to run!
<3

Choices

In the last post, you found me at the brink of realization. I ran with that realization... right into a wall. Which I scaled, and found the other side full of... choices.

The past month has been so very full of choices it isn't even funny. I have made many of those choices gladly, and some I have made begrudgingly. Regardless, the choices have been made and I can not and will not look back. ....Growth can really suck sometimes.

But then! I reach the other side of these choices, and look at the vast field between where I am and where I might want to one day be- and let me tell you, it is breathtaking. 

I have started a new business venture. Inspired by three things, my once best friend and forever sister, my love of tea, and my band. This was one of those choices that I made that I wasn't fully aware of the.... path it would take me along.

But, I am there. No use looking backwards.

There is a Kickstarter to start the project off right. And after the Kickstarter you will be able to find the teas at Pandora Celtica shows. I am very excited about this.

And a new chapter starts.

Of new endeavors and emotions

Along with my distraction post I can't help but think about how blessed I am to be able to be so creatively... erratic. There really is no other way to say it.

I have this amazing friend, we've known each other for years and years. When I visited her she and her wife took me to the best fiber shop I've ever seen. I bought so much roving I almost couldn't get it all home in my suitcase.

This led to the interest for spinning and felting from my best friend and her wife. I was sad at first, and to my embarrassment it wasn't because we live too far away to spin together. No, it was because I wasn't sure that I was "special" anymore. That was my inner emotional parts talking, as logic quite often takes a while to catch up.

So I sat there and I talked it out, and felt foolish for it (logic caught up). I realized that there are so many arts and so many people that do said arts in the world, even if two best friends do the same thing, that thing will end up completely different. It's always going to happen that way.

Take spinning for example, my best friend took up needle felting with the wool, her wife? Spinning. She then commented to me that she didn't know how I got the thickness I did and made it look so easy- and that she was still very excited to get the skein that I'm making her.
I think all art can be like that. Trying something new gives you an appreciation for those that already create with that method.

I also think that we can learn from one another, even if we do the same thing. :)

(Random thoughts of the Pooka brought to you by the color Tangello and the letter Cookie.)

GalaxyFest 2012

About a week ago Pandora Celtica was down in Colorado Springs gearing up for GalaxyFest 2012.

As a new con we really didn't know what to expect but I have to admit I was rather impressed. Now, let me state that the hotel was this weird maze of halls that all intersected in an almost box-like pattern, and I was lost for the first... day. (Ah, the joys of being a directional-challenged Pooka.) But even that couldn't stop the fun!

Our first night's performance was in a room that was no where near the dealer's room, it was past main events and I admit that I got lost. But the performance itself was really good! We had fun and I was oddly hyper, it was great to be bounding across the floor and dancing. AND! I got a shiny from a very amazing lady.

Saturday was long. I managed to make my feets all sorts of thrashed and paid for it the rest of the weekend. Yay ace bandages to the rescue! Saturday's sets were downright fun, and I managed to catch a touch of the fashion show even!
Though I missed the kilt blowing because I went to change.. and fell asleep. Whoops.

Sunday was just as amazing as the rest, I got to see even more of some of my favorite people and got hugs! Bought shiny things in the dealers room in the form of leather bits and just had FUN! But boy was I ready for 6pm to go home.... :)

Here's to next year!

Distraction (Or, why Rubiee does many things)

Many of you have seen me go through stages. From jewelry design to lampwork, to singing and tea blogging to spinning yarn and everything in between. I am a creative soul, an artist with a desire for the new and exciting.

(Photo thanks to Broken Glass Photography)

Yes, I still make jewelry. (Mainly keys for the band table)

I still torch (less than I'd like,but it happens.)

and I still blog. 

I'm working on some super awesome things that have been in the works for over a month now. Things that I haven't talked about because I want to make sure that the time is right, that the energy is right, and that I'm doing it right.

Yes, more projects mean less time. But also along that same vein is the idea that I don't like having idle hands. So I find projects, new and exciting things that pique my interest. It's both a blessing and a curse. I can try new things almost constantly, but at the same time there is the constant spending of monies to try new things and the fear that I can't try to focus my art to a pinpoint.

There are some things that I have been able to focus on. Glass being one. I'm very happy for this, and won't ever question my changes in art interests. From here on out I have no idea where the Muse and the creative arts will take me, but I am so very much looking forward to it!