68; Om Namah Shivaya (New Year's Eve)

Jacket: Maurices • Top: French Connection UK • Pants: Bullhead (for Pac Sun) • Docs + blue vile necklace: eBay • Head scarf: Fanneuil Hall, Boston • Naga earrings: SOULMATES (coming soon) • Spike fringe earrings: Hot Topic • Coyote vertebrae necklace: DIY • Crystal ring: Hivennn • Evil eye bracelet: Waloosi's Emporium • Bone carved bracelet: antique

Kathryn had this brill idea for new year's eve: perform puja (a ritual with offerings) for Shiva, Hindu god of destruction, famous for his dance of creation. The idea was to shed off the old, the past year, to make way for the new and upcoming year. We set up our 'shine' (the surface of our dresser) for Shiva, complete with a lingam for Shiva (a large smoky quartz point) and offerings of flowers. If you've ever seen him, he is depicted with blue/grey skin, and it is said it is because he spends his times in graveyards and is covered in ashes from cremated bodies. Basically, he's the gothic death-obsessed metal-as-fuck god of the group. Based on this, we bought three candles to burn: blue, black, and white. (They had no grey, so we had to improvise.)

Thus, I decided to wear dark, muted colours. I was going to wear my dark blue leopard print dress -- perfect both for the colour, and because he is drawn wearing a leopard print cloth -- but I wore this to go out to the Oriental market and just fell in love with the outfit. In the last photo, I'm half-assedly trying to imitate Shiva meditating:

 

Fun fact: the spout of water coming out of his hair is the Ganges.

This is also why I decided to wear so many bones (you know, like how I usually do on a normal day): his signature death aspect, especially the Naga earrings I've been working on. Also, the blue vile necklace, which contains some ashes from my deceased cat, who died in 2007 from cancer. Symbolic for a few reasons, obviously.

Kathryn and I wanted to fast for the day, only consuming fruits and milk as one would for something like this, but with her being sick and me being 95 lbs, we ended up deciding to not. We ate Indian cuisine for lunch (Punjab Eggplant and spiced vegetables) and Japanese for dinner (vegetarian mushroom buns), as well as a crapton of tea throughout the day. We attempted to clean the room; made an impact, and took down our Christmas tree, but didn't accomplish as much as we wanted to. Basically, it's not so much clean as it is less messy. We did perform our puja, and our set up was lovely.

Smoky quartz point as our Shiva lingam, with a Ganesha beside it, per puja standards. In the background you can see many other Ganeshas, as well as a baby Krishna. We sort of love Ganesha a lot; that, and finding Vishnu figures is a pain in the ass.

Making our new year's eve dinner was great. Our trip to the Oriental market was a huge success -- they typically end in disappointment since we can't read Japanese or Korean, so what we pick out usually aren't to our taste -- and I had gone out on a limb to buy some vegetarian mushroom buns.

 (I had to perform a shirt change for the evening, as the owners of the house prefer the place to be on the chillier side.)

Hello, Kathryn's hands!

These. Things. Are so delicious. I was leery at first, because a lot of imported Asian food is chock full of preservatives, yet these had no preservatives in them and were frozen. How awesome is that? If you have an Asian market near you, I highly recommend these. They're Chimei brand, and even if you can't locate them, see if there's an equivilent; the ingredients list should be in English. (Hopefully!)

The bummer about NYE: being scheduled to work the next morning at 6 am, meaning having to get up at 5. SUUUCKS!

Resolutions: get a new job (my current one is just killing everything inside me), learn more German (I have been terrible about this!), read more books, and learn to use my sewing machine. I kind of hate having just one resolution. I want to make sure I'm kept busy for the whole year. Oh, and to do more bicycle crunches. I am so wimpy about exercising.

Did I accomplish any of the resolutions I set for myself this year? Aside from getting a job...not really.

Stay tuned for the next post; I have a giveaway coming up!

Tweet

65; Om Naga Deva (SOULMATES preview!)

Top: borrowed • Leggings: Ebay • Boots: Etsy • Crystal necklace: SOULMATES (coming soon) • Rattlesnake vertebrae earring: SOULMATES (coming soon) • Chainmail bracelet: renaissance faire • rings:various (crystal ring from Hivennn)

Kathryn said this outfit looks just like the last one I photographed. No it doesn't, I say! Totally different shirt and print on the leggings, boots instead of wedges...the vest was a last-minute decision as I was going out the door. (Though I understand that she was just giving me a hard time.)

So, dig the SOULMATES necklace and earring? The necklace is pretty bland considering what other designs I've come up with in the pendant department (this is actually the first one I made) but it's one of the few I actually have completed. You'll get to see the other pendants in the future, promise! I have other crystals waiting in the wings, mostly clear quartz, but I have a collection of these curious red and black coloured clear crystals as well, that look just wonderful.


The rattlesnake vertebrae earring (yes, real vertebrae!) will be sold as a pair, obviously, but this is the one that I have done so far. I preferred to wear just one anyway, plus it seemed to fit perfectly with the outfit, so how could I not incorporate it? I'll see what I can do about making earcuffs in this style, as well.


I have opened the SOULMATES Etsy shop finally, though like I've mentioned before, it won't be running officially for another month or so. (I had initially decided to not spend any money on this project until after Christmas, but my brain just exploded with ideas when my last paycheck arrived, and I couldn't refrain!) Until then, you're more than welcome to add it to your favourites if you like what you've seen here, so that you'll be the first to see the listings go up! (For more updates, you can check out the SOULMATES twitter.)

I have every intention on making all of my jewelery as affordable as possible. At the moment it looks like my wares will cost no more than $30 per listing, and that would be the price for something really special, or for a one-of-a-kind piece. (The necklace and earrings shown here would probably cost half of that.) I've been extremely lucky in finding such affordable resources for my jewelery and I hope to keep the sale price of my jewelery low enough for people to feel comfortable buying something. I know what it's like to see beautiful items on Etsy and elsewhere and not be able to shell out enough money, and while I really do hope to make some money (and what money I make will probably go back into making more jewelry, or real life expenses like feeding my cat!) I don't intend to just bleed money out of potential customers. I've never run a shop before, but with Kathryn having taken a business class in massage therapy school, I'll have some help in trying to be the best shop keeper I can be. ♥


Kathryn was nice enough to transfer the logo I had in mind onto the computer. Saved me money that I would have otherwise had to spend! (I will be coming up with more variations of the patterning; I get bored easily.)

 

I have a lot of prep to do: buying little jewelry gift boxes, get the logo above printed into stickers for packaging, restock my suede cord (if I can even find the same colour; it's somehow eluding me in all of the stores I can get to locally) and finish my inventory. I hope to later on, after the shop is open and running, to add alterations to some rad thrifted finds and sell them as well. What would that be marketed as, exactly? Upcycled/recycled? Altered thrifted? We'll see. Might choose the latter one.

I really didn't expect to write such a massive post. I'm sorry! I guess I'm a little too excited; I've been wanting to do this since early this summer, and seeing everything finally come together is really thrilling. I'll shut up now.


Tweet