madebykris

I just added a bunch of strawberry, floral, polka dot and gingham hair clips to my site!

http://www.lusterstudio.com/index05.shtml

<3
Kris

I've been using resin for years now, and while I have worn gloves for a lot of it I haven't been religious about it.

WEAR GLOVES. EVERY TIME.

And make sure your gloves are opaque. Translucent gloves don't offer enough protection. Disposable style is nice, too - you can use them quite a few times since you're not dealing with bodily fluids or anything, and throw them away when they're too resin covered. I know I don't like to throw anything away if I don't have to, but your skin is way more important than the small amount of additional landfill you're taking up doing this. I've been using purple medical gloves I found at Wal-Mart - they're all style and they keep me safe.

I've developed a resin allergy over the past few months. If any kind of uncatalyze epoxy resin gets on my skin it gets irritated and itchy for days. It really sucks.

If you're having this problem I highly recommend Aveeno Anti-Itch Cream. It has oatmeal and calamine in it, and really reduces the itching and speeds up the healing.

I also recommend waxy feeling plastic cups for mixing - most resin will harden and pop right out of those. That'll save the landfill from all the little paper cups you're probably using. (I'm pretty sure I should have told rocketbox that months and months ago, but I suck at life so I hadn't.)



This is just one of the million things that have been holding me up lately. I really probably need an employee, but I'm not quite ready to commit to that yet. And I need to buy more supplies at once because everything sells out so fast and if I don't have findings I don't have more jewelry. But I'm making great strides toward keeping myself organized and getting things done better and faster. The more my business grows the better I get at it, even when I'm frustrated. I shouldn't be complaining that I have too much business, but I kind of am. Everything will work out, I just need to keep getting smarter.

This:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8590220

is on the etsy frontpage this morning!
http://www.etsy.com/


I'm in the middle of catching up with everyone on everything! I promise!

I'm feeling so much better than when I made my copying post. The people that I targeted know it now, and I'm sure they won't stop but the two things that really matter are:

1. I'm better at it. From a chemistry perspective. I know more about the chemicals I'm combining, what's going to work and what won't. I know how to make things archival. I've probably spent more time researching that topic than most of them have making what they're selling now. I live this stuff, it's much more than a 9 to 5 for me.

2. I'm designing things now that are so much better than that stuff. I feel like I'm constantly improving as a designer. And it feels good. I'm also working on some projects with some other awesome people, and that's helping.

I'm working on a bunch of fun post-holidays improvements to my site. I've got a bunch of new collections planned. I love what I'm doing and when I'm focused on that there's nothing better.

I hope you're all feeling as good as I am (even if you are under an inch of rock hard ice like we are here.)

xoxo

I've been cutting and punching up a lot of nice quality scrapbooking and colored papers lately for some projects I'm working on. The leftover pieces are pretty small - the space between hearts and stars and rectangles, but if you were a paper maker they would be awesome for chopping down and mixing into solids for bright flecks.

So...

If you're interested in this I'll start saving up my bits and pieces, and when I have a nice box full I'll ship it off to whoever wants it. It's all bright colors and otherwise it'll end up in a recycling bin.

If you're interested drop me an email to luster at lusterstudio.com.

Thanks!

Kris

Carly and I will be spending the next few days going to Austin/showing off my robot at Maker Faire (http://www.makerfaire.com) and coming home. While we're gone I'll be posting pictures to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15172848@N05/

as often as possible. If I can I'll also keep our blog updated at

krisandcarly.squarespace.com

It should be a pretty awesome time, full of really ridiculous things. And when I get home I'll be adding tons and tons of stuff to the site. I hope everyone has an awesome weekend, and I'll be back to here as soon as I get home.

*hugs*
Kris

a super duper way to cast faster, better, and with almost no waste materials. I cut an hour's worth of work down to 10 minutes and didn't throw any mixing things away. Go me. I am sooooo excited.

Hello to my new friends - feel free to introduce yourselves if you like, but I've already looked at your journals and such ;-).

If anyone is in Texas or plans to be October 20 and/or 21st Carly and I will be at Maker Faire with the painting robot I programmed/modified/whatever. http://www.makerfaire.com

Hugs!
Kris

PS - This is me trying really really hard to be more available on here. I just like being at the art table better than being at the computer table. It's a problem ^_^

Thanks for taking a look!

<3
Kris

As of this moment (as soon as the shipping labels are done printing) I have EVERY SINGLE ORDER packed and ready to go out in the mail. It's been months since this happened, because every time I get everything packed up there's a new order. So, for at least a little while, I'm going to stop stressing and relax.

I'm in the middle of some super awesome giant upgrades which should have orders going out faster and tons of new stuff. I'm super excited about all of it.

If you're waiting for an order give it another week (longer for internationals)!

*HUGS*

First of all, thank you to EVERYONE who sent me birthday wishes! That was so sweet of all of you!

Secondly, there are some super major hardcore changes going on around here. Success is a tricky thing - too much too fast and you can't keep up. Which is where I'm at right now. You've probably noticed that I'm doing well to actually get online and post/respond/whatever once a week or so. I'm getting so many orders that it's taking all my time to keep up, and I feel like things are going out slower than they should as well. That's not okay, but I'm only one girl and I'm doing everything I can to keep up.

So I'm doing something about it. I'll be doing some major increasing in the amount of inventory I'm carrying. More inventory (should) equal faster shipping. I'm quite certain it will. The details of exactly what I'm doing aren't important (and are complicated - I'm regretting not getting a chemistry or similar degree.)

What this means to you is:

- I'm still working on getting clothes and strawberries online. I'll be doing this as soon as humanly possible, but I feel like a jerk adding stuff to my site when I have a stack of orders I should be shipping.

- Not much is going to change for a bit, but major new things should be happening early to mid September. I may take my site down for a week or two during between now and then to catch up on orders and build some inventory on some of my classics. I also have a lot of new stuff to learn for what I'm working on.

Thanks, hugs, and love for all the support! Don't give up on me, things should be getting much more awesome very soon!

<3 <3 <3
Kris

I keep promising an update, but then getting a bunch of orders, spending all my time getting things shipped and not getting my updates done. Sorry if you've been waiting around, new things are coming, just as soon as I can finish getting them done.

However, I've posted something awesome for my friends. I've written up instructions to make this:



It's a cast resin light with LEDs in it to form the shape of a constellation. I know a lot of my friends have expressed an interest in learing resin casting, and this would be a great way to learn. It looks a bit intimidating, but it really is something you could do without much experience.

While you're there you should also check out these:
Immortalize Deceased Electronics as Wall Art
Make Your Own Encaustic Medium


Here's the thing:
I'm competing for some glory, equipment and pride on that site. Your clicks, reposts, blog entries, or any other promotion is VERY appreciated. If you are a member or choose to become one your positive ratings and positive comments are also very helpful. Winning the contest involved would allow me to do a whole bunch of jewelry give-aways and other assorted fun things. If you do re-post or promote this let me know (sending an email to luster at lusterstudio.com would be the best way!)

Thank you so much for your support and I hope you'll give one of my projects a try!

<3
Kris

Hoodies/Plans/Other Ramblings

I had planned on posting more stuff on ebay tonight, but....

I had forgotten how much more work ebay is than my website. It takes way longer to make an ebay listing look good than to put things on my own site.

Ebay was giving me errors and such when I tried tonight. It really didn't want to work at all, so, even though I'm not much for signs, I took this as such.

I NEED to get some inventory made. My orders are going out slower than they should because I just don't have enough things pre-made. So I'm going to take a bit of a break from adding things to the old webpage and CATCH UP.

I promised fashion show pics, and I should have already posted them! There are some awesome ones to post!

I'm working a whole lot to make sweet lolita things, I've been coming up with some really awesome clothes (beyond the hoodies) and I've got a couple more collections I'd like to finish up.

Last, and possibly most important, is that I've been sick about 3 times in about 3 weeks. Just cold/flu sort of stuff, but I need to take it easy long enough to get really healthy again. Like I said, nothing even worth mentioning, except that I'm SO ready to start feeling awesome again, so I'm going to make it happen.

I hope everyone is having an AWESOME week, and I'll be back with more stuff/pictures/jewelry/other stuff as soon as I possibly can!

xoxo
Kris

Because of some magic of the internet I don't understand the images in my last post may or may not actually link to my ebay account when you click them. Just in case, here's the link....

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZluster_studioQQhtZ-1

Replies as soon as I catch up - probably later tonight!

*hugs*
Kris

So I FINALLY got some things listed on ebay - you should go check them out....








I'll add some other (and hopefully more) stuff next week, but all of these are one of a kind, so grab them if you love them!

I know a lot of people aren't that keen on ebay, but I'm doing these there because I haven't gotten an 'only sell one' kind of cart on my site, and I really can't re-create any of these. As it is I've had terrible problems with double-selling things (which makes me feel like a horrible person!) and there's no way to do that on ebay.

xoxo
Kris

i've spent 5 of the last 8 days traveling to bead, rock and fashion shows. i'm REALLY looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, followed by a day of posting photos and catching up with everything that's happened in the last week. the fashion show was awesome, pics will be up asap....

hugs
kris

They're totally not done yet, but they will be this week. Here's a preview of what I'm doing.



I hope you like them!

I'll be listing them on ebay, and I know a lot of people like to wait and bid at the last minute, sooooooo - is there a day of the week/time YOU would like me to list them (you know, if you care)?

Thanks!
Kris

I know I haven't been reading/commenting like I should, I was overwhelmed with orders so I'm still catching back up on the rest of my life!

Ever since I posted a blog about people copying me a whole lot of super sweet people have pointed out even more copycats than I realized where out there. So this is fair warning.

IF YOU COPY ME, YOU WILL BE BLOCKED.

And I will no longer be nice about not making a big deal out of it.

This is my life, this is my business, and I put everything into it. Copying me affects me. And I'm NOT okay with it.

Don't say I didn't warn you.



And to everyone who has been nice, who has respected my work and my copyrights, thank you. You are the reason I keep doing this.

<3
Kris