After some hours of delay, assumed coding problems, and many thousands of panicked writers around the world…the 2016 Wattys are up and running. The Wattys are Wattpad’s *huge* annual writing contest, split among many countries, languages, and genres. It’s a fascinating way for me, as an American, to see some of the best of the…
Read More The Wattys are hereIn my work I get to see some amazing metal chains, both as premade necklaces and by the foot. During a bout of insomnia + random Google cosplay searches, it struck me that most hobby jewelers and beaders have no idea how to take chains to the next level. These are the folks content to…
Read More Etsy Showcase: a few gold chainsIn 2004, in the midst of a fairly divisive American Presidential election, I made this fiber art book. This is one set of pages, embroidered in red and blue cotton thread on cotton and linen ground, with fore-edges tasseled in cotton thread and glass beads. This is the original poem I wrote and embroidered into…
Read More Continental Divide: 12 years laterDown to three unanswered queries out of my list from early February. I have Some Thoughts about this process, but it’s not considered polite to vent about agents while querying, so I won’t. I do notice it’s very similar to certain job interviews, wherein one tries to strike the balance between assertive but not too…
Read More May 25: a mixed-bag dayMy stars above, I want to do this. And some of this. I live near older ‘seniors only’ communities, where the first generation to hobby-paint with Bill Alexander and Bob Ross are now dying out. The hobbyists’ yeoman efforts have been making their way into local thrift stores for a good twenty years. Sounds cruel…
Read More Adding Monsters to Thrift Store PaintingsIn honor of The Sovereign and the Thin White Duke*, and as part of the Kids Need to Read charity’s events at the 2016 Phoenix Comicon, I will be donating ‘First Frost’, a black wire and crystal bead mask** inspired by that wonderful ancient fantasy flick ‘Labyrinth’. This is the second wire mask I’ve made…
Read More First Frost Mask, Phoenix Comicon3…2…1..let’s do this. It’s April of 2016, and the Hugo Awards nominations have been made public. If you don’t know what the Hugos are to the science fiction and fantasy genre (or don’t care), you might want to leave now. I’ll forgive you. If you stay, I’ll assume you already know last year’s Hugo history.…
Read More Another year, another Hugo Awards pie fightNew feature on this blog: Etsy Showcase. I’m going to be looking at other artists’ work on Etsy, and analyzing pieces that I love, like, or think I could adapt. (I’m also going to try to find the ‘ultimate expression’ of that craft, if I can.) I did not make this crystal and river pebble…
Read More Etsy showcase #1: pebble pendantAs I type this post, I’m looking at a small package filled with about $40 worth of art supplies left over from the scrapbooking binge era circa 2003 to 2006. Which I scored not long ago for $3 at a local thrift store. There are expensive, well-made plastic circle templates spun on tiny ball-bearings. Pewter…
Read More Useful Objects: craft, thrift, and mortality(Because usually I have the opposite problem, clocking in SFF tomes of 130K to 160K, which must all be pruned.) Anyway, I’m glad the reader liked the book. I was a little puzzled at first, when they mentioned, “The book is too short” And I fired off a generalized funny tweet about it. Dear reader,…
Read More Dear reader, I’m sorry my book was too shortThere are three large jewelry supply companies I have been buying from since 1979, 1983, and 1989, respectively. 1979 and 1989 were once known for high-quality merchandise and great customer service (at least in my dealings with them.) When I first found them, their catalogs, and their stores, I had never seen that many beads…
Read More Jewelry supply companies and co-op galleriesThis will be a miniature (under 3″) coptic-stitch fiber art book pendant with inlaid shell covers. Embroidered cotton pages are accented with scrimshaw on white shell plaques. I’m really happy with the technique I learned for scrimshaw on shell, and plan to use more of it in future books. This is a trial run. The…
Read More First look: ‘Twilight Arc’ pagesI am very happy to announce my association with the jewelry-making supply firm Plazko.com. Since 2010, Plazko has been a go-to supply destination on Etsy for high-quality sterling silver and gold-filled wire, jewelry components, and silver charms. Last year the company expanded to its own online sales platform…resulting in thousands of satisfied return clients from…
Read More Plazko: Jewelry DIY for the rest of usFor the 14 people who regularly read this thing, do not panic. The Blue Night blog will be undergoing some cosmetic changes over the next week. I’ve set it up with the WordPress 2016 theme for the moment, as that is supposedly very stable and clean. Plus, no light text on dark backgrounds, for those…
Read More Do not adjust your screenIn writing, art…really, in life, rejection happens. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, our efforts don’t match with what the other side needs or wants. How we address those rejections can have a vast impact on our future efforts, our risk-taking, and well-earned self esteem. Here are some tips I’ve learned in some 30-odd…
Read More Rejections happen. What do you do next?Confirmed. I have to say I’m flinching at this. Crystal Skull was just…so incredibly, unbelievably bad. So bad ‘South Park’ eviscerated it. Even with Lucas out of the picture now, there were still too many multiple movie sins for me to think the new one will be better. Harrison Ford proved in the new ‘Star…
Read More Indiana Jones 5?1. Mission Foods now has Gluten Free tortillas that approach the taste and feel of wheat tortillas. This is important. I am from the Southwest, and I know one great secret truth of everyday cooking out here: no matter what the filling is, once it gets folded into a tortilla, it is a taco. To…
Read More Continuing positive notesMore happiness:
Sorting and packaging a trove of gemstone beads, soon to be up on the Plazko.com website. Prettyprettypretty.
Making a cosplay piece comfortable enough to be a housecoat.
Chai. Chai is always happy.
I need these moments because 2016 is not being particularly nice on its own. ∞
So, right then, the news: Samhain is shutting down, after realizing that their sales were foundering over the last two years and they couldn’t keep up with the changing book industry. Samhain was one of the strongest (until now) of the digital erotic romance pubs, known for a great catalog of LGBTQ titles as well…
Read More Samhain, KDSpy, and Ebb tides in publishingWhat I like about Spring: perfect weather, spring cleaning (both physical and mental), taking self-publishing workshops, finishing new art, plotting out new books, and finding new authors and art galleries to follow. What I don’t like: knowing that summer temperatures will be hitting early this year, spring cleaning, doing a cost analysis on what I…
Read More Spring Things