New Sample Products: Earrings

Lately, I’ve been finding myself drawn to the intricate designs of laser-cut wood. While, a little more fragile then I like (I take a long time looking over the stuff before purchasing) they are very light and beautiful. I’m one of those girls who gets headaches when I wear really heavy earrings but with these sorts of earrings they are painless. :) These should be up on Etsy soon. By the way, 10% of all my sale proceeds are going to Doctors Without Borders for the Japanese Earthquake Relief.

I have actually left Marionette Atelier so I will be making a new shop soon. Which I will link here. I’ll wait till my listings expire before doing so officially. I may be having second thoughts about the whole thing but in some aspect my partner and I have such different business ethics that they clash. Plus, I’m on a whole different scale of art then she is. I’m all about progress and she’s all about whim. We fought like crazy but both came to the realization we are best as friends right now. We still plan on opening a boutique together in the future and I have best hopes she’ll up her creational ability to my level. At least a a boutique she can re-sell all she wants. I can create all I want.

I think the new store will be called The Quaintrella. It’ll encompass all the styles I like: Gothic, Lolita, Mori Girl, Dolly Kei, Otome, Retro, Vintage…etc. I’ve already begun on my Otome collection. Just waiting for my supplies to arrive from abroad. I love the colors of Fairy Kei but the juvenile look really isn’t for me. So, I love the Otome style of Baby Ribbon and I’m inspired by the modernity and femininity that Otome style has.

Have any of you go through a partnership gone awry? Did you let it affect your friendship?

Dolly Kei Swap - Finished Handmade Items and More!

Dolly Kei Swap items: the elusive Baroque HUE tights, handmade headpiece and handmade upcycled aboriginal hunted fur with removable bow and chains. 

I finally completed my Dolly Kei Swap items! My besfriend, Aya has been looking for those HUE tights since we saw it on the Anthropologie website. We've tromped though some of Toronto's best and high-end legging stores in Yorkville (3-4 stores to be exact) and never found it. It wasn't until we went to the iconic Bay on Queen-Yonge that we found a few pairs. Aya, Em, and I bought them out. Scary - herd mentality among friends. I bought two pairs: one for my Swap partner because she wanted tights and since we seemed to have similar tastes I went ahead with the purchase. It was a really really good sale. (You'll hear this a lot on here because it's my sad attempt to justify my spending habit). 70% off the original price. These are expensive and limited edition tights so it was really worth it. 

I just finished her headpiece since she liked Mori Girl (like myself) I thought a small and subtle headpiece would be good for both Dolly and Mori Girl. Finally, the epic fur tail. She requested for accessories and wouldn't mind fur. It's upcycled fur - it's not new nor vintage. It's aboriginal-hunted and it's a true wild fox. I cut the tail in half and gave her the top part. I hope she likes it. She stated maroon as one of her favorite colors. Since, I like that color too I had really expensive Mokuba (Japanese-imported) ribbon with a medieval feel, made a rose, and added some Dolly Kei-esque charms and viola! Done. The bow and chain is removable so she can use it in her Classic Lolita outfits, too. Versatility is key to whatever I make. 

Here are some close-ups of the handmade items:

 

And...some pictures of the process of making my flowers:

I hung out with a friend and we went to Zara. He ended up buying a pure leather jacket for a awesome price of $59.99 - so jealous! I bought that pink top and the teddy bear top on sale, also. $6 and $10, respectively. The skirt was an early 2011 buy for $10 at H&M which I knew I could coordinate into Dolly Kei. Oh, and there are my pair of Baroque tights by HUE from The Bay. 

 Lastly, a picture of my coordinate for yesterday. I toned down the eyeliner and I forgot to put on my glasses as I had by sister take this picture with my iPhone before she went to work. Tehehe. I have a fatty face and I'm beady eyed without my glasses. One thing I can say about this coordinate is that playing with 5 colors in Mori Girl is hard.

Headpiece: Handmade by Marionette - my brand 

Cardigan: Costa Blanca

Necklace: Handmade by Marionette - my brand 

Ruffled Lace Top: Shopruche.com

Long Shirt Dress: Shopruche.com

Skirt: Pmall

Belt: H&M

Tights and Boots: Aldo

Handmade: Little Wool Beret Hat

I've been making a crazy amount of wool headbows. I'll post those pictures later! But, I think wool is so awesome. Some people are allergic to it - but it's so easy to work with because it doesn't fray. It's textured, it can be re-felted (have to learn that), and it feels natural. I love it!

I made this little beret hat headpiece from small wool scraps I bought from King's Textiles. Which reminds me. I should really go back and buy more wool - their student discount is great. I also need some pompom trim - I wish Mokuba had tiny pompom trim. But, they don't. Which surprises me. 

I plan to make more little wool hats like this but in different colors and embroidery. 

Love, Life, Lust.

Aya and I with out Lady Gaga Headbows from Pmall!

I have a lot of missed posts to make.

But, my accumulative posts would sadly be about my spending habits, shopping, and inspirations. Mostly, my shopping. However, I promise to start updating all my blogs (maybe even LJ) more often. I have to start planning some sort of scheduling and posting inspiring posts. Must drill into myself more self-discipline.

Yesterday, my significant other and I went to see the of Get Him To The Greek. It was surprisingly one of the better comedies I have seen in a while and he agreed. It was vulgar, random, self-deprecating, and good to honest hilarious. I was very surprised that the general opinion of netizens didn’t differ from my own (via my iPhone Movies App that is paired with Rotten Tomato Reviews). We then stopped by Aya’s workplace and picked her up so we could go eat Wanda’s Waffles (they had sadly raised their prices by almost $1) - which my significant other was quite into and then dropped by a McDonald’s that Aya’s friend is the manager of - discounts for the win. Business and personal life was discussed. It somehow felt as if when we both took two steps forward somehow something in our personal lives would set us back a little.

Earlier in the week we had both visited Pmall to officially close our Gagoo Locker Box:

Goodbye, useless locker box at Pmall which never sold much because you had shitty sales people. Lesson learned, we will never ever do consignments with Chinese fobs again. I’m sorry, but you guys don’t take the initiative to know us, our product, or learn how to make sales. It’s pathetic. Worst business mistake we have made since we started.

Somehow, Aya and I wanted the huge sequin headbows we both saw on the Liz Lisa site. As you may perceive - one of my bestfriend’s, Aya, has gone GAL or GYARU. Most of her recent purchases were through a shopping service in Japan for Liz Lisa stuff. She has the bags, the OPs, the skirts. Liz Lisa and Vivi have been mostly her constant inspirations and she is basing her brand on this sort of thing - not surprising seeing that she is a part time OTT Sweet Lolita.

The bows were being priced at an unbelievable $60 dollars each. Aya had been there before and we were both indecisive even when offered the for $40 each. We then mentioned that the Liz Lisa site had them for $20-$25 and as we were about to leave the sales lady offered us $20 each which is what we considered to be their equivalent worth. We paid, and were happy:

Then, she treated me to Korean and Sushi dinner at one of the restaurants at Pmall. We de-stressed about Anime North and our personal lives. God, it’s been a whirlwind of stress, stress, stress for both of us. But we ate well - her food though smelt like rotten preserved cabbage:

We then went more window shopping and fount this cute top which reminded us of Emily Temple Cute. I didn’t buy it because it looked much too easy to make.

And, yesterday I sent in my skirt order for the Korean Lolita brand Mew&Lief.

I am buying a skirt in this colorway and print:

I didn’t buy the JSK because it was much too big for me and I had seen the SKIRT IN REAL LIFE! A fellow Lolita visited our Marionette Anime North 2010 Crafters Corner table and I just had to snap a picture of her with Aya’s iPhone. OMG. And I TOUCHED IT. IT WAS A MUST HAVE. AND, my friend - Emily went Sweet Lolita for AN 2010. She’s normally Gothic - but she looks so awesome in Sweet!

Some god ordained a screw-up at the factory Mew&Lief printed at and they had to switch printers and open orders to meet the larger quantities of printed fabric.

This is a skirt I would KEEP KEEP KEEP forever and pass down to my…progeny?

Also, here are some skirts I had made for Anime North 2010. Not my entire stock - I didn’t have the time to take pictures of everything. But, the Candy skirt sold but my ‘Granny’ stuff as my little sister calls it, didn’t. Note to self: Gothic, Sweet, and Sweet-Classic sells at AN.

But, I didn’t want that skirt to sell. I love the old feel of the print and vintage feel it gives me. Of Dolly-kei. I feel like I will be working with Mori Girl and Dolly Kei more then ever. Been so inspired.

Here, I leave you with pictures of my most recent purchases and what I have to work with. Boater hats that were bartered down from $13 each to $20 for two. Thanks, to Aya again. A really adorable fabric I bought 1.5 yards of.

VM georgette chiffon that Aya found at an Italian fabric store on Queen West we have to make something out of.

Eye Obssession - Geo Circle Lenses

Recently, I mentioned in a previous post I started buying circle lenses.

Just a couple days ago I bought a pair of new ones. The Geo Ashwing circle lenses. Not exactly up to my standards in terms of the look. While the do make my eyes seem bigger they blend in with my dark eyes more then my Geo Nudy Brown's. Quite sad, I would think that the grey would make my eyes 'pop' essentially but instead they gave my eyes a blended look. Partially exotic but definitely not as stand-out as the Nudy Brown's despite having a black circle around the edge of the contact lenses.

Here is a brief picture of exactly what I am talking about:

Forgive me for the rather unflattering photos. Being a vaguely nocturnal creature, my source of light at 2AM in the morning is limited to fluorescents in my bathroom. The first picture would be that of my Nudy Browns and the second being that of the Ashwing.

The first was bought from Pacific Mall located at Kennedy/Steeles. At Kidult for $45 + $1 for a case. The second was at Dreambox for $42. My friend, actually somehow got them cheaper then I did at Adultkid for $40 + case. What the hell.

Either way, this won't be the last time I buy them. My next ones should be Nudy Green and Angel Violet. I will be getting my prescription done very soon so that I can stop experiencing halos and blurriness after I wear them. :)