Cami's Art Stuffs

[Imbecamiel]

I'll probably be posting some sketches and stuff when I get around to it, and maybe take requests if anyone's interested... but right now I'm all excited about the jewelry my sister and I have been working on so I had to get some opinions. ^.^

 

I love Steampunk-style stuff, but most of the things I've seen have been either 1) waaaay beyond my budget, or 2) cool, but a leetle larger or more elaborate than I'd be bold enough to wear everyday, instead of just with a costume. Well, the awesome-but-insanely-priced stuff we saw at a fair recently prompted us to wonder if we could manage something that'd still be cool, but not absolutely destroy our budgets. So we tried. And here are the first results.

 

Group picture of some stuff:

 

And close-ups! First the necklace:

 

And the hairpins:

 

Pins:

 

And a couple of in-progress things:

 

The moon closer in (blue stuff is just putty we're using to hold things together as we try out possibilites):

 

And a closeup of the moth:

 

 

Erm, photography is srsly not my medium. But - whatcha think? I'd love to hear any suggestions/thoughts people have. Heh, I've loved making jewelry and such since I was younger, but this is the first time in years I've actually made a serious attempt at it, and now I'm all nervous.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Imbecamiel

[Daciana_Adena]

Wow, those are really neat looking! I especially love the necklace and hair-pins!

 

I have seen plenty of steam-punk art around the web, but I don't believe I have ever come across anything people have done with it in real-life (which, come to think of it, sounds like something I should look up). So, this is definitely a first.

 

How long did you guys spend making these? Some look insanely intricate. You also mentioned wearing these with a costume, do you guys already have something in mind?

[Imbecamiel]

Thanks, I'm glad you like them!

 

LOL, yeah, at this point some of these are taking hours upon hours to make... but a lot of that's simply trying out one thing after another, trying to figure out what works well together. Once we're more practiced in planning things out, I'd say one of these would probably take us, oh, an hour or less to put together?

 

As far as costumes go, though - nope, we haven't actually made anything for that. At this point, it's just a theoretical "Hmm, wouldn't it be fun if we ever make it to a Con..." sort of thing. :3

[Daciana_Adena]

Hours upon hours? Well then, you certainly must have a good deal of patience, especially considering the size and sheer complexity of the parts you have there.

 

You also say you make your own costumes too? That certainly is impressive.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what other steam-punk items are you planning on constructing?

[RheaZen]

Oh man those are so awesome. Where do people buy all the cool parts, anyways? Like the tiny gears.

 

Love love love the butterfly <3

[Imbecamiel]

@ Daciana_Adena - Heh, yesterday alone I think I spent about an hour on the moth, just trying out different embellishments - and then in the end I took them all off again. But I've always loved making super-intricate things. I should post a picture of the chain mail I made for a Breyer horse a while back... *g*

 

Far as costumes - whew, it's been a few years now since I last did one. I had a Lord of the Rings one (partially homemade, partially purchased) that won a couple of contests, though. I'm hoping to make a new one when The Hobbit comes out, for the midnight showings. ^.^ For steampunk... we've got plans for several more pins, and a few more necklaces (including a more challenging one - but I'll need to get a few more parts first, I think). I'm hoping to do at least one leather-bound journal with fancy decorations as well, if I can find one to work. After that... we'll see.

 

@ Rhea - I'm glad you like! We haven't found one reliable place to buy parts, yet. A lot of basic supplies (things to use for backgrounds/bases/pins/etc.) are at general craft stores, of course, but the gears and watch parts... Ebay can be great, or awful - you've got to really hunt around, or you wind up getting a great deal and then getting killed with shipping. A lot of online jewelry supply places are starting to carry batches of dissembled watches, though, and if you look around you can sometimes find good prices. (I'd give you the name of one based in Canada, but they're pretty much out of stock for those now, and the shipping's kind of crazy unless you're buying a bunch.) I'm thinking that checking with some of our local watch repair shops might be good... if I can get over my ridiculous shy streak and work up the courage to try to persuade them to sell us broken/worn out bits.

[Switch]

I just have to say, baahhhh those are so awesome I want ;3; <333

 

Especially the necklace and pins. I love how they look.

 

Those are so amazingly intricate. <3

[RheaZen]

I'm always afeared about working with metal bits, it's irrational but I keep thinking about heavy metals and such. But I suppose watch bits don't have anything to do with that

 

Do you have any favorite steampunk artists?

[xFlame990]

Whoa! these are crazy! I love them c: You do a great job on these, and your patience is awesome (I definitely don't have any).

 

I especially like the necklace one, if I had one I'd wear it everyday

 

Keep it up! (:

[Daciana_Adena]

Yes, you should definitely post a picture of the chain mail! That sounds really neat as well.

 

And I can work with somewhat intricate things or things that simply take a while to complete (not to near the extent you do), just not when it requires a great degree of creativity to do so. I have to have it pretty much outlined for me or I probably won't finish whatever it is I happened to start.

 

And how would you make a costume that's part purchased, part homemade? Perhaps you started with a base and added a bunch of embellishments?

 

I am curious as well as to whether their are any other artists you admire.

Edited October 15, 2011 by Daciana_Adena

[Imbecamiel]

I'm so glad y'all are liking them! ^.^

 

@ Rhea - Yeeeah, I know some places, because some of the parts are from real old watches, have warnings about possible lead content and such... But really, unless you're eating bits of it, I think it's pretty unlikely there's going to be anything real likely to be dangerous. *g*

 

Favorite Steampunk artist... huh, y'know, I honestly don't think there's any one that I can point out as a favorite, any more than I can name a favorite dragon artist - really, it's more a matter of seeing individual things I like. (Dunno why, but somehow I've never approached favorite artists the same way I do favorite authors.)

 

@ Daciana_Adena - I'll try to get a photo of the mail to put up tomorrow, then! LOL, I like to tell people that I just gravitate to super-intricate time-consuming things because I'm such a boring person myself. I just get obsessed focused and don't get bored easily with spending a long time working on tiny details. It's kind of what first attracted me to spriting, I guess.

 

Oh, regarding the homemade/purchased thing - we were doing Elf costumes. What happened was that my sister and I made some really awesome capes, went all out to get higher quality materials and all. Srsly, I would wear that thing every day in the winter if I could get away with it. *g* We'd originally had plans to sew dresses as well, but it didn't happen due to time/budget/etc. So we needed to wear purchased dresses (largely covered by the capes). Then we needed Elf ears, but nowhere sold any prosthetics that would work... so we bought some, and cut/fixed them into what we wanted. I can't remember exactly how much of our jewelry was made vs. bought... And then, of course, a big part of the authenticity was our hair: at that point we both had past-waist-length hair, so we did it Galadriel-style. Anyhow. That was all I meant by some made/some purchased. *g* /long-explanation-is-long

 

 

And while I'm here, I guess I might as well put up one of the drawings I've got uploaded. Does anyone else watch White Collar? This is my version of Neal Caffrey as a dragon:

 

 

I'm kinda bugged by some of the anatomy now, but anyhow - I had fun practicing coloring sketches with my tablet. ^.^

[orange]

Aww That is so cute! I just wanna hugs it foreva! Lol Neal Caffrey gotta love that dude!

[Imbecamiel]

I'm glad you like it! Also - yay, another White Collar fan! Love that show so much.

 

Annnd I haven't gotten a picture of the chain mail uploaded yet, because I stink as a photographer and can barely get our camera to function at all. But! I've asked my awesome sister to get one for me, so she's planning to do that tomorrow. And speaking of my sister being awesome... srsly, she is so good at photography and staging things. For example...

 

Another necklace!

 

And the finished moth pin:

 

^.^

 

And a sketch I did this week. I've had tons of trouble with trying to do mechanized creatures. I just have so much trouble balancing natural and artificial looks, it generally just ends up looking not at all mechanized, or so busy and confusing it's hard to tell what's what. I think this one worked out better than they have in the past, though.

 

Question, especially regarding the eye area, with the wheel/gear right there - what do you think, is it too busy or confusing, or can you see what everything is easily enough? I'm kind of afraid the wheel ended up looking like a second eye, but I've looked at it enough that I can't tell anymore.

[Daciana_Adena]

Ah, I was wondering why you hadn't gotten around to it. But glad to hear your sister is willing to help!

 

As far as the new photos, I love the new necklace as well. And I will most definitely agree that your sister is good at staging, both those pictures really look professional, and it greatly complements the items!

 

On to the sketch, I don't believe that looks busy or too confusing at all. And I don't think the second wheel looks like an eye, its pretty easy to tell what it is, especially when one notices the more prominent first wheel right under the horn. In other words, the sketch looks great!

 

Are you planning on coloring this one? I really love what you did with the Neal Caffrey dragon, and I think this one would likely look good as well. ^^

[Imbecamiel]

I'll pass your complements along to my sister! ^.^

 

And thank you - whew, good to hear this sketch isn't too confusing. \o/ Ooo... I hadn't thought to color this one, but I should try that... I'll have to get a higher quality scan and have a go at it. :3

 

Here are the chain mail pictures! Not all staged or fixed up, 'cause I just wanted a few that'd get the point across. *g*

 

Sideview:

 

Front view:

 

And detail:

 

Basically... the triangle at the front and solid band it's attached to that runs around the sides to the back were a necklace that I saw at a dollar store or garage sale, can't remember which. I wouldn't have worn it as a necklace, but it gave me the idea of making some chain mail for one of my horses. So I went to a craft store and bought a whole bunch of those little metal rings they sell for necklace clasps and jewelry attachments... and put the rest together one link at a time. (So - the triangle-shaped section that hangs over the horse's chest was already done, all the mail along the sides and over the back I did - if that makes sense?)

 

I actually made two identical ones like this, because I had so much fun with it. But it took forever and a half, so I haven't done any more recently.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Imbecamiel

[TheDarkCynder]

You're good at drawing AND crafting?

 

Not fair!

Edited October 23, 2011 by TheDarkCynder

[Daciana_Adena]

I believe her sister is the one who is good at both photography and crafting, and she is skilled at crafting and drawing. Maybe photography to a lesser extent than her sister at least. But you're right, it isn't fair.

 

But really, considering the time and effort you seem to put into these works, you and your sister seem to be pretty deserving of your skills. And as usual, your work is impressive, the chain mail looks really nice. Is it hard as well as time consuming to link those parts together effectively? From my lack of experience it seems the linking may have been daunting in and of itself. And while not staged, your photography skills actually aren't that bad here. ^^ Or did your sister take these too? Sorry if I am mistaken.

 

(And sorry If you think I am posting too much as well, I have indeed been replying a lot. xP)

[Imbecamiel]

Aw, thanks guys. <3 It's funny, I don't usually think of myself as being good at crafting things, because most of my past stuff has been kind of... crazy random things that I don't really know what to do with, so it seems kind of like a waste of time. But I do have so much fun with it! ^.^

 

And yep, my sister is the photographer for all of these. Our current camera... well, I know how to turn it on, and what button to push to take a picture, but if I need to so much as change the focus I'm pretty much out of luck. *g*

 

I wouldn't say it's particularly hard to get the links together... it can be pretty fiddly, working with such small pieces, and if your hands aren't really steady you wind up dropping links and needing to redo things several times. But mostly, once you get a system down, it's a matter of patience - and making sure you keep track of the big picture, instead of getting so focused on fixing the individual links that you miscalculate and the whole piece doesn't lay right in the end.

 

(Oh no, though - I certainly don't think you're posting to much at all! I enjoy hearing what you think. <3)

[Imbecamiel]

Haven't been uploading much in the way of sketches lately, because drawing's been pretty meh. I'm so frustrated with my inability to get a handle on anatomy, it's not even funny. :/ Think I'm going to have to find some place I can take lessons, because seriously, no matter how many tutorials and good pictures I stare at, I can't seem to get a handle on it.

 

So... I get lazy and just draw the heads. Because they, at least, tend to turn out better. Sometimes, at least. ^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Griffins. Sometimes those work too.

 

 

 

Heheh, I tried to do a leetle baby for the steampunk-ish dragon too, but it didn't work out that great. *pokes*

 

I was going to upload some new jewelry photos, and some ones I took of my sister all dressed up (Practicing those photography skillz! Because when you're that bad the only way to go is up!), but Photobucket's being ridiculously stupid today and keeps crashing my browser. Sooo.... maybe later. :3

Edited December 2, 2011 by Imbecamiel