d.Kei by DarkFire Designs

New rings!

2012-01-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

I've been experimenting a lot with rings and focusing on more metalwork. While my repertoire still needs a massive expansion I wanted to include what I knew, which is mainly hammering. XD

I also wanted to include more of my fused glass and try to mix metals and textures. This is what I came up with.

This is a mix of 14g sterling silver wire and 20g silver plated copper wire. The base/ring shank is sterling, and I hammered the ends flat and sort of shaped them around the glass. I used the plated wire to anchor it further. I really like the mix of wires. The glass itself is a small sliver of blue foil CBS 90COE dichroic glass, capped with 90coe green Bullseye and fired to a medium fuse.

Etsy listing: http://www.etsy.com/listing/89617835/fused-dichroic-glass-and-sterling-silver

This ring is has a base of 14g brass wire, hammered in the same way I did the sterling silver. I used gold-plated copper wire to wrap the glass in the same fashion. I was worried the brass and gold colors might clash, but in the end they went together beautifully. The glass is a base of yellow 90coe Bullseye, with a strip of CBS 90coe iridescent dichro, capped with a piece of orange scrap I had on hand and fired to a medium fuse.

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/91548091/solar-candy-dichroic-fused-glass

I know the last one doesn't have hammered ends but I wanted to include it anyway. I got the piece of glass from my former metalworking professor and I really like how it turned out. Sterling silver ring shank with silver plated copper wirework and anchoring.

Etsy:http://www.etsy.com/listing/91528377/evening-colors-fused-dichroic-glass

There will be more, when I can get more of the sterling wire. :)

The latest kiln firings...

2012-01-09T01:01:00.000-08:00

Yikes, it's been awhile! Kicking things off with the latest to come out of the kiln. I did three firings over the holidays. I did two soft tack and one medium fuse. These will all be for sale in the Etsy shop.

Super happy with how these turned out! :D

New Pieces and Sneak Peeks

2010-08-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies! :D

I am designing a new collection for the upcoming fashion show in Sacramento. Tentative dates
are October 22nd or November 5th, and for the sake of time am cheering for the November date. XD

This collection, like the last, is inspired in great part by Japanese fashion, bits of Visual Kei and Gothic Lolita, and the many wonderful flamboyant pieces of clothing lurking in Daisuke Asakura's closet. I would LOVE to see that man's closet. XD

Anywho, here's a sneak peek of what's to come!

The red shirt is not part of the outfit, it just looked nice under the jacket. XD The shirt itself...is now in pieces. :P You'll get to see what it is soon enough! :D

I'm working roughly half repurposed, half from scratch. Repurposed at this point is my strongest point as a designer, and I found some fabulous pieces I can't wait to start ripping, cutting, and sewing.

New Collections

These are mini-collections of pendants, with exception of the Iceland pendants.

These are dichroic glass peace signs I got in Arizona, and as far as I can tell they have been slumped in a mold. I made simple necklaces out of these. Only four are available on Etsy, and I have price them at $5 each.

Dominoes! This idea got a pretty good response on DeviantART, and so I've kicked it off with the first five. These will be on Etsy in a few days.

Aaaaand here's the lastest batch of Iceland Pendants. One of the clear pieces has already been sold. :)

That is all for now. I'ma go get some much-needed sleep today. XD

Urban Flea Market

2010-06-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

I will be selling Iceland Glass Pendants and more dichro at the Urban Flea Market tomorrow! Come out and support the Iceland Rebuild! Specials include:

Dichroic Glass Pendants - $10 each, 2 for $18 or 3 for $20!
Polymer Clay Charms and Beaded Earrings - $1 per charm/pair or 6 charms/pairs for $5
Polymer Clay Goddess Dolls and Incense Burners - $3 each or 2 for $5

I am also working on more skirts, T-shirt Corsets, and jewelry. Stay tuned for details!

2010-06-13T14:21:00.001-07:00

The festival so far is awesome, though the foot traffic was severely diminishd due to the closing of the Hazel bridge. Tempest has finished playing their first set and will play another this afternoon. The winds tried their hardest but the booth and most of the inventory stayed anchored. Two and a half more hours!

Events for the Weekend

2010-06-10T00:41:00.000-07:00

Aaaand we are off!

First and foremost is the fact that the sixth annual Celtic Midsummer Faerie Festival is this weekend and I will have a booth, selling fused glass, more clothing, and other oddities. It is at the VFW Hall in Fair Oaks. Its located on Kruithof Way, off of Hazel. A NOTE TO ANYONE ATTENDING THE FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND: CalTrans has decided to close the Hazel Bridge because they are losers, so we were advised to take Highway 50 to Sunrise, hang a right on Sunset, and double back. Its about half a block from Sunset to Kruithof, and while the street sign isn't visible the VFW sign is, and they will have signs out to direct festival goers. ^_^

Second Saturday is also this weekend, and a friend of mine will be selling her fused glass, along with my jewelry and the work of another friend. If you can't make the festival head out to 21st and K street. If my memory serves me right its right around The Depot and Badlands. XD

That is all for now. I have been busy gearing up for both events this weekend and its back to work I go. ^_^

Events and happenings

2010-06-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

This poor blog has been languishing, and now I'm going to dust it off and put it back to good use. ^_^ There will be many new posts coming up relating to all the stuff that's been going on as of late...

Clothing - As an early graduation present, I got a Babylock Imagine from my grandmum and a friend gave me her Bernina Activa, so now that I have the proper equipment I have been sewing like a crazy lady.

Glasswork - More stuff came out of the kiln, and will be getting the proper findings attached and ready to vend.

Etsy Stores - DarkFire Designs is back up and running, albeit with a much smaller inventory as I slowly go through what I have and what needs to be redone. Faerie Footprints will be closed until after the Faerie Festival.

Iceland Pendants - I am putting more pendants on the Etsy store today. :) I will also have more pendants at the Faerie Festival(see next note) and at the upcoming flea market.

Upcoming Events - I have a full calendar this month!

June 12th & 13th - Celtic Midsummer Faerie Festival, VFW Hall, 8990 Kruithof Way, Fair Oaks, California, 95628 - More Info

In addition, a friend of mine is vending at Second Saturday on June 12th in Sacramento and will have some of my work to sell. I will post details as I get them.

June 19th - Sacramento Flea Market, details TBA

That is all for now. ^_^

New article on DA!

2010-05-17T15:30:00.001-07:00

So, after months of letting this thing collect dust, I now need to brush it off, and post more. ^_^ I got buried under schoolwork and the fashion show, which I will blog on later this week. It was awesomesauce. XD

Anywho, article...

Fashion Report: Black, White, and Blue

Second Firing...

2009-10-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

The second batch came out of the kiln and I am so excited! These came out better than I thought they would, and they're going up in Etsy tonight. :) Or tomorrow morning. I'm kinda tired.

Here's a comparison of what went in to what came out:

In addition, this is one
from the first firing:

There's a few I didn't keep track of and can't find. I'm going to see if there's a lost and found and hope nobody made off with them. The moral of the story is to initial everything with that neat little pain pen. :)

I'm having a blast seeing how things fire and how the colors turn in the kiln. A few prefires I posted in the last entry aren't up here because they turned into lifeless blobs, and I have decided I dislike the looks of the hard-fused pieces intensely. I don't like how they lose their shape. So...I'm going to stick mainly to soft-tack firings.

I have some new colors and textures of glass I bought today, as well as another sheet of silver foil, so I'm going to include those in the next batch. :)

I've taken a bit of a different approach to new pieces and am starting to incorporate lace and ribbon into a new set of chokers. I will be posting my results later in the week. I'm steering towards a lolita look, which I've wanted to do for a long time. :) Stay tuned!

First Firing!

2009-10-27T20:32:00.001-07:00

The first firing is finished! Five have been completed, two are still at school, and two need another firing. Here's what is done so far...

This...did not turn out well, hence the name. I didn't like it going in either. But my professor wanted me to fire it anyway because this is an art in which you just don't know.

A bunch more went into the kiln yesterday. We should be getting them back in a week.

This batch was a soft-tack:

This will be a medium fire:

And these will be a hard fuse:

I'm super excited about how this next batch will turn out. I'm experimenting with colored glass, seeing how things will fire and how things will layer, what floats and what doesn't, etc. I'm going to put the money I make selling these aside to get a kiln of my own and really step it up. :)

Glasswork!

2009-10-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

So after sitting through weeks of enameling(an art form I royally stink at) we finally started glasswork this week in art class! I put together my first pieces this week. While some are choosing to start with the basic sandwich of base glass/dichroic/cap sheet, I dove in full-force and started experimenting like crazy.

These are going to be fired to a soft-tack, which means that they'll all melt together, but the piece will keep its shapes, just with softer corners.

This will be fired to medium. This will melt into a sort of blob, but will retain some shape.

These will be fired to a hard finish. The layers of glass will melt into one full layers and the dichroic pieces(the shiny foil-like shards) will melt and disperse and look really cool.

This piece has ridged dichroic in it that will melt into horizontal lines across the surface.

I'm not too excited about this one. I figured I'd fire it for grins and giggles. We'll see what happens.

The foggy spots on the glass are super glue, which is used to hold the pieces of glass together while they get transferred to the kiln. If you work close to the kiln and are very careful you don't even have to use it, you can just plop the pieces on and fire. The glue will burn off clear with no ash.

On Monday I will post the results.

Wikipedia article on Dichroic Glass - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichroic_glass

Coatings by Sandberg(fantastic glass company) glass article - http://www.cbs-dichroic.com/FAQ.asp

Shameless plug for my professor's dichro website - http://www.dichroicinc.com/dichroic-glass.asp

2009-09-02T14:25:00.001-07:00

Testing the mobile blogger to see if it works. We will see when I get home.

Claying like Crazy...

2009-08-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've not been keeping track of this like I should with school back in session and all. Yikes.

Anywho...I've been claying like a madwoman in prep for the harvest fair. I am doing lots of little fruits and veggies this year. Some of what I have done include...

Red, Orange, and Yellow Chili Peppers
Bananas
Oranges
Lemons
Strawberries
Eggplants
Blueberries
Raspberries
Artichokes
Onions
Carrots
Tomatoes
Potatoes

I will be doing much more. I would also like to do Peaches, nectarines, plums, kiwi, avocado, leeks, garlic, lettuce, cabbage, apples, pears, grapes, and whatever else I can think of. ^_^

And that is all, for now. XD

Ribbon. ^_^

2009-08-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

I've been working a lot with ribbon lately, and a lot with the three jars of beads I found at the local thrift shop. They really don't make them like they used to. These are the kind of beads that are in beautiful colors, that can take a beating. You can't find them in today's catalogs. Yes, I love glass pearls, but the vintage acrylic pearls are just something else. *love*

But I digress...

There are the latest pieces to come out of my brain and into manifestation.

Earth's Treasures by =DarkFireRaven on deviant ART

Pastel Citrus by =DarkFireRaven on deviant ART

Dusk by =DarkFireRaven on deviant ART

I like the idea of necklaces that tie with ribbon. They have a softer more couture feel and the wear softer on the neck, especially when its sticky and humid as it is in most parts of the northern hemisphere during these months. ^_^

I have things I need to reshoot because the lighting was crappy. But...I haves new lightbox! :D I can't wait to give it a spin.

This concludes this hour's musings. ^_^

Sooo...

2009-08-04T19:16:00.003-07:00

This be my new blog! XD As you can see there isn't much to it yet. I have to get it up and running and customized and such. Stay tuned. XD