Tea Balls

Also known as "tea steepers" or "infusers" this nifty little tea balls are a great way to brew loose leaf tea.

Especially when they're decorated with handmade lampwork beads! 

Cranberry Pink with Goldstone designs. Available on Etsy.

Metallic shades of gold blue and purple over a magenta base. Available soon.

Periwinkle blue swirled with grass green and encased in clear. Available soon.

Deep pink overlaid with metallic blues and purples. Available on Etsy.

Organic ivory yellow with shocks of purple and green. Available on Etsy.

Purple with mirrored silvers and golds. Available on Etsy.

Ivory and blue. Available on Etsy.

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

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!

Tuesday Tea Post

On Tuesdays I normally post a tea review. I admit, I slacked off this week and I've been drinking some old favorites (that I've already reviewed). So what does that mean for this Tuesday's post?

A question.

How do you like your tea?

These lovely teacups are made by Carol Broadley of Carol Broadly Pottery on Etsy

Friday Random Post!

Today's post is going to be one of random and shiny!
Are you ready?

 A bottle wrapped with Sterling Silver wire, with added shiny in Citrine, Carnelian, Aventurine and Swarovski Crystal.

 The focal for a seaside piece I made. Biwa stick pear, shells, Opalite, Swarovski and Mother of Pearl beads.

 Carnelian and stunning champagne colored freshwater pearls with Thai silver in between.

Sterling, Swarovski crystal, rose quartz, ribbon and a lampwork focal.








See anything you like? Feel free to email me!

Shiny Bits Thursday!

Yet another post of shiny bits! These are shops that I love, mostly from etsy.

Fairy Folk

Needlefelting awesomeness. Seriously, have you ever seen such cute toadstools? They also have felted acorns, which are just gorgeous.

Beadfreaky

Gorgeous, stunning porcelain buttons that I drool over. 

Emergent Glassworks

Okay really, who can live without octoplode earrings!? And they have octoplode hairsticks and all of these neat things. (Octoplode = Octopus) 

Bread and Badger

Awesome glasses. Seriously. Go look.

So there they are! The shiny bits I'm currently loving! 

How it's done

If you've been following my blog you might have seen photos of glass beads and comments that I make glass beads.

This post is to show you a bit of the behind the scenes stuff. I took some photos while working yesterday, and I'm going to share them with you.

Let's get started, shall we?

This, is my workbench. Yep, where all the glassy magic happens. Its not usually any cleaner than what you see here.

And apparently I've started collecting cute things to go on top of my ventilation hood. I'm okay with this fact. Right now I have a turtle and two pirate duckies with an old fashioned coke bottle behind them. This collection may grow.

This is my kiln. This is really where all of the magic happens. When I'm done with a bead I pop it into the kiln (960 degrees! or 954 in this case, it'll get there.) and the kiln will control the cooling process at roughly 400 degrees an hour so the beads don't stress fracture.

This is my glass. I have a lot of colors, but I also have room for a lot more. I work with 104 coe glass, coe is the Coefficient of Expansion. It's pretty awesome but I won't bore you. :)

All of these things allow me to make works of art like:

Where have the days gone?

It's December.

Seriously. Where did the time go?

I find that the tree has gone up, the lights are on the houses... and there are presents being wrapped. Have I mentioned that's my favorite thing to do? I LOVE wrapping presents! All of the choices make me SO HAPPY. I mean really, the greens, the candy cane print... I love it all!

(Yes, these are actually presents that are under the tree over here.)

Along with wrapping presents, and shipping presents I find myself at the torch a ton more than normal. Today I took more beads over to The Peacock Shop. Lots of Triton beads, which I am very excited about. Triton is like Clio, only blue. (Don't know what Clio looks like? See this post)

I'll probably get a photo of all of the new goodies soon though, until then I have lots of new beads up on etsy.

So, tell me. What is your favorite part of the holidays?

Lucky!

(Photo thanks to Copper, Glass and Recycled Trash)

So a few days ago I was reading through my blog list when I came across This Blog holding a contest of sorts. She asked for suggestions of what to put on her "Treasure Tubes" and whoever she chose would get a Treasure Tube with their chosen word on it. Being me I suggested "Believe" and I got an e-mail today telling me I won!!!!! :D

SO EXCITED!!!!!

I can't wait to do something AWESOME with it, and *gasp* wear it on stage!

I'll post photos when I get it!!! :D

You can find her Etsy Shop Here.

New glass!

So some of you may or may not know that I melt glass. Yep. I make shiny, awesome things out of glass. (I just think they're shiny, but people like Kyra tell me they're awesome.)
Well since Dragon*Con I hadn't been torching much... and honestly it was just about killing me. I'd wander into my studio and stare longingly at my torch and kiln... and then I'd wander back out. Too much to do, too much to do.

But! I have stolen away bits and pieces of time! (and there was much rejoicing!)
Remember: You can find my glass beads for sale here. I also take commissions and offer bulk discounts for jewelry designers. Just e-mail me.

My Faerie Bubbles beads. Kyra has used them in her designs.

These are made of Clio. One of my most favorite glasses ever!

 Spacers! 

Something in the fall spirit. :)

The Insanity Explained

So some of you may or may not know that I enjoy doing something simply called "Bead Embroidery". You may ask what bead embroidery is, well it's the act of hand stitching millions of tiny beads together to some variety of backing to create a work of art like this:

Sadly I didn't time how long that piece took, it was my very first. Since then I've done a few more:

Well, I find that doing work like this is very relaxing (as crazy as that sounds, I mean come on. Who doesn't enjoy sewing bajillions of tiny beads down?) and so I've started on a new project.

See this corset?

Soon, it's going to be COVERED in beaded embroidery.

Yep. You read that right.

I'm insane :)

Of shiny, dreams and insanity.

I'm a bad Pooka aren't I? It's been almost two months since I've posted here... I swear I'm not slacking off!

Instead I'm going to make a photo post of all of the things I've been making. Ready for it? :)

Yay photo spam! What else is going on? Well (in case you didn't know) this Pooka is crazy. I'm plotting something completely shiny-filled... It's going to be epic! Sadly it won't be done in time for Dragon*Con.

Speaking of Dragon*Con- less than a MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!@!! @$#%^&%$%^%&*^ 

I'm not ready!!!!! I feel kind of like my brain is rattling around in my head as I try to but together countless keys, bottles, costumes, clothing.... Oh heavens.

And what else? Oh yes! Pandora Celtica got a new website. This new site includes new photos, songs that you can play, forums, and even bios for each of us! I'm very excited for this new addition. 

Exciting news!!!!!

Well my lovelies, it looks like Pandora Celtica will once again be at Dragon*Con!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How exciting is that?? I know that I'm bouncing off the walls and jittering with excitement. I had such a blast last year that this year only promises to be x100000 better!!!! (Maybe this year I won't get turned around and lost in the hotels....)

Also? This coming weekend we will be at Beltania! I'm very excited to go back and visit the people and the land again. Last year was magical- and I still remember the morning that we had fresh coconut for breakfast. It was so much fun!

New gigs means new costuming. Today I get to go out and buy fabric for two new skirts! They will be simple, but that's okay. I just need more than a black skirt. (Yes, Mab still needs to pay me more.)

And I'm working on a second belt. As if my first one isn't enough... But this second one I think will have more black and silver on it. After all, a Pooka can't have too many keys!

Starfest!

Pandora Celtica had the pleasure of singing at Starfest for a full three days!!! What does that mean exactly? It means that this Pooka worked her bum off with the rest of her bandies and the amazing Circa. Who, mind you, had a birthday on Saturday! 

(Happy Birthday Circa!!!!!)

Starfest was an absolute blast! I got shiny things!

(Taken by Brian of http://www.ahsomephotography.com/)

I got to see so many people whom I adore, and I got a new glitter gun! And I met new people and got doused in faux snow! And Sunday was my birthday, I'm officially 2640 years old! Can you believe it?

Next up? Beltania! :)

Favorite Things....

I started out wanting to write a post about scents, abut my favorite 'smelly' things. But after competing in the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival I'm pretty brain dead. So! This post is going to be allllll about my favorite things!

First off? Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. See? I have to start with the scents after all. This is the perfumery that I wear scents from almost every day. Personal favorites? Black Rose, Lust, Come To Me Boy, Samhain, Devil's Night....

Timeless Trends. Most if not all of my corsets come from here. I love the fact that I can get a corset that holds up to the wear and tear I put it through.

Music. Right now my fascinations lie with Abney Park, the Tangled Soundtrack, Sisters of Mercy (still), Kerli, Glee, and Great Big Sea.

THIS Shiny Key. :)

This is all of the shiny bits that I got at the show. Lots and lots of shiny bits! I’m really looking forward to incorporate all of these into pieces, like key pendants, bottles and even my belt! That’s what the bells in the bottom left are for- my new belt.

Yes, I’m making a new belt. I’ve decided that the one I have now is very summer/fall themed so I want something else that I can wear too. Now comes the gathering of even MORE keys, glitter, chains… and now? Crystal! This new belt promises to be very very shiny.

Until then I’m awaiting the arrival of a new skirt, it seems that I can’t find the time to make another one. Mab really should consider giving me a break before Titania takes the throne on the Spring Equinox…. Like that’ll happen!