Splitting up

Chained to the Strange started as your source for Chainmaille, and a little bit of geekery. Over the last few months the maille has really taken a backseat to the other projects, especially since I sprained my wrist.

While there is some overlap, from a marketing prospective it was becoming a real problem. Dividing up my shop was especially troublesome. The clear answer was to split off the Geekery, leaving Chained to the Strange to be what it originally intended to be, a mailling blog.

Hence, Nostalgic Nerdom was born! There will be my geekery, and my geek musings. It's still pretty empty at the moment, but take the time to become a Fan on Facebook and check out the galleries for a sneak peak!

That said, this blog will still be only occasionally updated. Mostly when I'm doing major projects or special events.

Hope to see you on Nostalgic Nerdom!

I'm doing Science and I'm Still Alive!

Classes have started again, meaning my attention is greatly divided.

Most of my work on the shops has been transferring over my main selling venue back to etsy. I love Artfire dearly, I think they're better run, and better features, better admins... but they are lacking in traffic. I don't have time to drive the traffic to Artfire myself, so, back to etsy I go!

That said, I have played with my perler beads a little. Check out the awesome Robot Pendant! His arms, legs and body are free to move and dance about!



I've also brought over the current stock of d20 Pendants!

A new coat of e-paint

I've had the blogger interface open for 3 days now (what, turn off the computer? For shame!) planning to post. But, I kept putting it off because I wanted to finish my new project! Well, things still aren't quite finished, but I am so in love with the new set of banners I have for my Artfire Studio, and for ads and whatnot!

Such as... my new banner!

I'm so happy with how the style turned out. Simple enough that it doesn't annoy the viewer, but very eye catching! As one person commented, it's very reminiscent if a 50s Sci-fi title, or a comic book. Geekery indeed! Let me know what you think!

I still have a lot to do with the studio itself, I have a number of circuit board items to list, and more pictures to take, but it's coming together! Focusing on a theme will make things much more marketable, jewelry on a whole is difficult to do.

Closing off with my animated square!

Geekery abounds!

I... am a geek. I've mentioned this before, and I keep proving it over and over.

My order of d20s finally came in, and I spent Saturday drilling holes in them. But totally worth it!

I have a couple up at my Artfire shop, and will be listing more later. But, if you'd like to have any of these just send me a message and I'll see if it's still in stock!





Also new in the shop are some pixelly fun!

We have some gamer goodness:




And I am in LOVE with this duck. I don't know what it is about it, the cute little bill, or maybe the adorable googly eye, but it just screams SQUEE!

Exploring my Shop - Earrings

I love the categories feature (which they call shop sort) that I get by being pro at Artfire. I'm a lil... obsessed... with keeping things tidy (online anyway!), and this and the other sorting features let me keep things tidy. Check out all the other amazing features! If you want to upgrade, lemme know, I still have a couple of codes for the lower rate :D

I've been doing some tidying in my shop, and decided to do a feature on each of the categories to show off some of the beauties that have missed their time in the spot light :)

Earrings

This earrings are SO customizable! I personally have a half dozen pairs in various colors that I've made to match my outfits. At $5 a pair, they're perfect for every day and for evening! If you want 5 or more, message and I'll do 5/$20 for you :)



Want something more dynamic? These are also highly customizable, but the micromaille gives this piece amazing movement.


For for an even more striking bit of dangle? Check out this scale earrings! Still just as customizable, but also make a lovely tinkle sound as you move! Perfect for performers both on the stage, and off it!


As you may have noticed, I love customizing any and off of my pieces. Custom orders are just more fun! Even if you are just wondering if something is possible, head over to my Artfire Studio and send me a message!

Dice Storage!

I admit it, I love dice. When I got a custom order recently asking for gold plated d20s (that's a 20 sided die) I was in heaven! Digging through dozens of gaming sites, looking at all the beautiful colors. Yes, I may just be a bit of a geek.

One thing every gamer needs is a way of transporting their favorite dice! Making these bags are almost as fun as playing with the dice themselves. Of course, you can put many other things in these as well, some of the more elegant designs make for great evening bags!

But, for the geek at heart, a triforce protecting your precious cargo:


As previously mentioned, shiny dice are my friend. And I know I'm not alone in the need to collect epic looking dice. So why keep them hidden? Show them off with this loose weave bag:


I've got a lot of supplies on the way, the sci-fi convention cleaned me out! Here's a sneak peak at what you might be seeing in the future:

Vacation!

More or less anyway. I think I'm physically incapable of taking a "real" vacation.

However, I am spending a week and a bit at my parent's place. Eating their food, and generally being lazy. But, I get bored easily, so I'm still playing around with my wires :)

Gave wire braiding another go, this time using 19g copper only. MUCH MUCH easier! I brought home some 20g aluminum that I might try later. I'm still getting the hang of finishing the ends, but I think having one longer to wrap around might fix that in the next one. There's also the issue of how to have them keep their shape. Maybe wire a 12g frame onto it?


The other thing I've finished as of today is this lil japanese ball. Nice bright colors!