Jewelry Experiments

Happy Monday Everyone!

Hope the holidays treated ya'll well, mine were a bit crazy but we made it through! I have a bunch of projects in the works right now, but I thought I would shift gears and talk a little about my biggest seller: faerie wing jewelry. 

This isn't going to be a 'how its made' or anything like that, really just a little blurb to let everyone know what I'm up to this week. The necklaces and earrings are actually my main source of income, and I supply 3 boutiques in the area at the moment: The Hummingbird and the Honeybee in Thousand Oaks, Salem Magic in Simi Valley, and the Rabbit Hole Cafe in Agoura Hills.

Additionally I'm going to be in couple holiday craft and jewelry sales over the next few weeks. Yay! The first of them is the Moorpark College Ceramic Sale this coming Wednesday and Thursday. In preparation I decided to toy around with some new styles of necklace. I thought I'd post a little sneak peak at some of the different styles I'm going to have at the sale. These pieces all have a mix of metals and some sort of fabric as well as wire wrapping all done by me. I hope you enjoy, and if you're local be sure to stop by the ceramics sale at Moorpark College December 4th and 5th!

Best Wishes for the season,

Stefani Lee

Collecting Curiosities

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Just wanted to post a little something about my current obsession- Curiosity Cabinets! Back in the 1800-1900s it was popular for adventurous types to keep a display in their homes of curious items they collected in their travels. Some of these items included rare plants, exotic animal parts, medical oddities, and artifacts from other cultures.

Personally, I want to create my own curio that is one part magical creature specimens, and one part witch's potion ingredients. It's kinda my holiday present to myself I suppose. Some of these ingredients I bought online and had shipped from around the world, and some I collected from my own imaginary island....anyway, here are my beginnings of my Magical Creature Curio.

My first three items are all magical oddities, potion ingredients perhaps. I found an old antique dark wood wall display to start assembling my odds and ends in.

The first item is a beautiful hank of Silver-white unicorn hair. I found a fabulous woman on Etsy who owns a farm with unicorns, cockatrice, and other manner of domesticated creatures. Unicorn hair is of course great for strengthening spells and healing magic although not as potent as powdered horn.

Here is one a specimen I retrieved myself, grade A phoenix tears. Extremely hard to come by, I was fortunate to collect this vial while hunting for phoenix chicks in the Dark Crags of Metanoia. Phoenix tears are best used in calming spells and to bring good fortune upon a household or persons.

Last but not least a preserved rattle from the tail of the deadly cockatrice. Also sometimes called a basilisk, this creature's toxic venom is so potent it actually calcifies a body from the inside out, giving the appearance that it has been turned to stone. I have yet to discover a practical use for this beast's rattle, but finding one laying perfectly severed in the woods was too much to pass up.

That's all I have to share today, but a handful of new magical creatures will be entering my shop, Lee's Menagerie, later in the week. We're expecting a small shipment of Jewel beetle sprites, young phoenix chicks, and even a dragon hatchling or two, so stay tuned!

Faithfully Yours,

Stefani Lee