new girdle and carcanet set for a customer!

Here are some photos of a jewellery set just finished for an order.

(Had trouble getting the photos to shop up by email, so am putting them here.)

Nice formal "all done" shot

Closeup of centerpiece of girdle on my messy jewellery bench

And closeup of the necklace. I sure love those Montana blue stones.

All in all - a lovely order :) Can't wait to see photos of her wearing it!

Jewelry set finished!

Here's the absolutely GORGEOUS totally finished set of Elizabethan jewelry :) 

Once again, may I say that everyone...EVERYONE should get a photography setup  in their home. This should have been a required class in my training. Cause - I took this picture:

I know, right?

I added bar pins at the center and at the 5th ouch, so that the girdle can be made to follow any bodice front, easily. I've tried it on my dress form., and it works great so far. Back closure is adjustable by about 2"

 

I? Am thrilled with the way these are finishing up. I would be proud to wear them myself, and that's pretty much my bar for things I will sell. 

Can't wait to get them up on my website. 

(Oy, the website.)

Look - sparkly jewelry!

(I just want to make stuff - not websites. Oy)

Girdle design options!

 Here are a few of the girdle designs I've been playing with. I'd love your opinions on these. Also - I wanted to share just cause the photos are so pretty. These can be made with any of the ouches in any color combination, but at this time I only have black stones for the large centerpiece stones in centerpiece option A.

 I've only got the oval rhinestones in claw settings in black right now as well. Other colors are on order :)

So -What's your favorite?

New style of Ouches!

New style of Tudor Ouches!

I'm pretty jazzed - look what came while I was away!
These are very like the square black ones I already had (which I just got a lot more of, btw.) in that they are pierced earrings, but they are a great shape and style to be used in Tudor gown and Jewelry bling!

They are 5/8" X 3/4" Plated metal alloy with acrylic rhinestones. They will be $1.50/Pair. I got 100 of each color, but if we like them, I can get more. They came pretty quickly.

The come in these colors and this finish only - but both looks pretty perfect to me!

angle view - see all the awsesome sewy holes?

front view

Money shot (haha!) for scale

Black ones could pass a glass stones. (Red ones less so, but they still look good.)

Front

Penny for scale

Here's the back, as they come out of the package.

The post bends very easily. I thought I'd be cutting them off, but found with the square style that bending them and poking them through the fabric was a good placement aid before stitching them on.

Side view, so you can see how "tall" they are.

 

And a comparison shot with one of the larger style ouches. 

So - whadaya think? I only got 100 (50 pair) of each color to give them a look. Do you like them? Should I order more?

Sparkly flatcap

I begin to think that perhaps I like these sparklies on everything.  

Beaver hat - with kettle curl, jewelled band, and extrafloof!

It's been a while since I've posted, and these so much to tell you - but you'll have to settle for just some pretty pictures.

Here's a new custom order, that came out really spiff!

Super-duper closeup of the yummy beaver fur blank and jeweled hatband:

 You can kinda see the kettle curled brim on the image below - I'm learning how to do that, and really enjoying the results!

 You can see the curl here too. It takes SO much longer, but I really thing it's worth it.

 And just a nice angly shot of it, all done. With a hat this tall, I just really had to have extra floofy feathers.

Ouch Ordering Information

 Ouch Ordering Information

Since it's taking me WAY too long to get my online store up and running

(apparently "Learn to code Wordpress templates" is a bit larger of a task than I had somehow  thought, silly me)

I've decided to put all of the Ouch Ordering Information, (which assonates nicely, don't you think?) right here, so that at least I've got it all in one place, and can link or point people to this post.

Here are the FAQs:

What's an Ouch? Ouch (rhymes with "pooch") is a historical term for a certain type of metal-set jewel, dating back to at least the 1500s.  I have to assume that the word "brooch" comes from this, but the original ouches aren't likely to have a pin on the back like a modern brooch does. They were sewn onto clothing and headwear and made into jeweled belts, called girdles. I don't have an image of the back of an extant ouch, so I can't guarantee that my four-loop solution is accurate, but it certainly makes it easy to attach and make into the pieces I wanted. This lady below is covered in them. Blue ones, I might add. (Most of the rest of the ones in portraits are either red or black, but when I found this here blue ouch lady, I just started ordering a bunch of colors.)

Did you make these? I'm not casting them personally, so by most definitions, No, I'm not making them. I have had these custom made by a jewelry manufacturer, who has been lovely to work with.  I hope to have more designs made through them in the future, but for now, these are the only ones.

What do the backs look like?  This:

How much do they cost?  They are $1.50 each. Since few people need just one of these things, I've set as low a price as I can, so that it's actually possible to cover a dress in them, if someone wanted to do that.

How big are they? They are 26mm square, which is about 15/16ths of an inch. They are about 1/4" thick.

How many do I need? Only you can figure this out. But - I used 17 of them to make a back billiment on a French hood, and that was with 10mm glass pearls between them.

I've had several people order around 80 to sew onto their court gowns, in case those numbers are helpful.

Can I get a discount if I buy a bunch of them?  If you need 300 or more, they are $1.25 each, though that's actually more of a price break than I get at that quantity. (My cost only drops $.09) Again - I'm trying really hard to make these as affordable as possible. You can mix colors to get to that 300, as long as I have them in stock, or even if I don't (though if I have to order them, there's a four to five week delay.) You can even get a bunch of friends together to make the minimum - it's all the same from my end, as long as there is only one invoice for me to send and one mailing address.

What are they made of? My manufacturer has described them as "Plated Metal Alloy" and I am told that means Zinc...mostly. Though sewing them onto things should be perfectly safe, I would not recommend allowing children to suck on them. Cause you never know, right?  I certainly don't. The pearls and jewels are acrylic, but they look like glass.

How do I order them? You can send me an email at truly.carmichael@gmail.com and tell me:

• How many you want, in what color and finish (Antique or bright)
• Your mailing address
• An email address to which I can send a paypal invoice

That's it. I then box them up, print a shipping label, send you the invoice, and drop them in the mail.

What payments do you take? Paypal or personal check.

Can I have custom colors made? Yes, actually - you can get pink and light green ones or whatever you like. IF - you need at least 50 of them. My minimum order in one color is at least twice that many, but I'll take the chance that someone, somewhere, sometime will want the rest, so I'll cover the rest of the order. (For cabochon stones or AB rhinestones, the minimum order is 300, so you'd need to want at least 200 of those, and I'll cover the rest.) Aren't I awesome? I'm totally awesome. Oh - and if you custom order some, there will be a four to five week delay. Nothing I can really do about that - other than let you know.

What if I want more than you have in stock? It takes four to five weeks from the day I place an order with my manufacturer till I can get them to you. If your need is urgent, I can ask what the cost would be to rush them.

What colors do you have in stock? Ok - here they are, grouped by stone color

Blues:

And I just added these two

Closeups, with color names:

Montana Blue in Antique Gold

Montana Blue in Bright gold (New!)

Aquamarine in Antique gold

Sapphire blue in Antique Gold

Sapphire blue in Bright gold

sapphire blue in bright silver

 Greens:

Closeups with color names:

Emerald in Bright gold

Emerald in Antique gold

 Reds:

Closeups with color names:

Combo Red and jet in Bright gold

Combo Red and Jet in Antique gold

dark ruby in antique gold

 Blacks:

 

Closeups with color names:

jet in antique gold

jet in bright gold

Red and Jet in Bright gold

Combo Red and Jet in Antique gold

And these! These are two different styles of post earrings that can be  strung onto wires through the holes in the edging, or you can bend the post back and sew them on.

 Red and Black and antique gold only.  These are $.75 each.

These are 3/4" square, metal with black  acrylic stones

  Purples

  

Closeups with color names:

Amethyst in bright gold

amethyst in antique gold

side view to show the amethyst stone color, which I found hard to capture in the straight-on shot

Limited edition custom colors:

These are the remainders from some custom orders. I have fewer than 50 of each of these, and when they are gone, they are gone. BUT - these are what I have now:


Ones that I don't have, but could get:

AB stones (Aurora Borealis, or rainbow washed stones.)

I currently don't have any of these except the sample they sent. What do you think of them? Should I order them? They would be getting the AB stones just for me, and the cost might be a few cents more, but what do you think? Are they over-the-top GOOD or just over-the-top?

 

Here is the chart of stone colors that I can get them in.: 

Ok - that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but I can edit this later :)

Cheers!