Systematic Chaos

Ultros (FF6) and Spikey-eared Pichu (Pokemon)

2011-10-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the hiatus! Now that school has started, all of my crafts have come to a complete standstill... =(

Until recently! (dun dun dunnnnn)

I celebrated getting over my first midterm with a few Perler and clay adventures. And bubbletea, but that's a completely different story. I'll talk about the clay creations later once I finish them up. They still need to be glazed and prettified. <3

As for the Perlers, I whipped up a sprite of Ultros, one of the antagonists from Final Fantasy 6:

He's making his own, tentically ":3" face... <=D

I know I've mentioned my love for this game before (it is my absolute favourite!) and now I'm going to expand on that elaboration. The antagonists in this game were spot-on. One of the reasons this game was so damn enjoyable was because the bad guys was a funny octopus dude (Ultros) who doubled as a receptionist on his down time and a crazy-assed psycho (Kefka). Their appearances, as well as some of the other antagonists that make cameos, make the game so easy and enjoyable to play. I'm so thankful that the creators did an amazing job with the plot and the antagonists in this game...

Buuuut I digress. ^^;

The other sprite I made was one of the adorable Spikey-eared Pichu that you can catch in the Pokemon games:

This project only confirmed a couple of things for me:

I need more shades of yellow. As it is, this is a shiny Pichu. A Pichu with the spikey ear can only be caught in an event. She's rare enough... and I just added another element to the mix. ;______;
I need more shades of grey. The ears and tail do look okay, but I think with a shade of grey just in between the black and the one I have now, it would be perfect.

I think he's cute, and he's on my mantle with his buddies Articuno and Thor (a plushie I bought my boyfriend). I really miss doing my crafts, that's for sure... I hope I can have some time to do them on my weekends. I left my job (I used to work at a restaurant) where I would work on Sunday and Tuesday evenings, so I have time freed up. Unfortunately for me, I filled up some of that time with work at school in the form of tutoring and notetaking for people with disabilities. They're the most rewarding jobs ever, by the way.

Oh, and then I study. A lot... @.@

Anyway... I'll keep you posted on the clay figures. I also made another keychain for a friend (Victini from Pokemon!), so stay tuned! :3

My direction + Vaporeon and Flareon figures

2011-09-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

I did a lot of thinking about the direction I wanted to go with my figures and charms. After Slinky Dog got so much attention and admiration, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm usually very particular about detail. I'm also a perfectionist (being a Virgo and all). So with my next work, I decided to incorporate my new answer.

Quality > quantity.

I want to ensure that people get a unique, one of a kind product from me. I want to make sure that it has my flare, that people will someday know it's something I created just by looking at it.

So I gave it a shot with making Vaporeon from Pokemon:

I added extra detail in the tail, ruffles around his neck, and spine. I think he turned out exceptionally well and I'm very proud of him!

He took about 3 hours in total to create.

Then I got the idea to try to do all of the Eevee evolutions from Pokemon. I tried my hand at Flareon next:

To be honest, Flareon was probably one of the hardest figures I've sculpted to date. In total, he took about 6 hours to create. His legs gave me the most trouble. I also had troubles figuring out how to do the fire. I knew I wanted to use liquid clay to create a firey texture, but to my disappointment, I couldn't find liquid clay anywhere. So I was forced to make my own... which was tricky and very time consuming. As well, my intentions with the fire around his neck, on his head, and at his tail, was to be transparent. I had worked in regular clay with transparent clay but unfortunately after he was baked, the fire wasn't transparent.A real disappointment on my part, considering I worked so hard with the fire parts.

Oh well... it's a learning experience for sure! All I know is that I would love to remake Flareon the way I had pictured him from the beginning. I intend to do so once I get a little more experience under my belt.

More charms, magnets, and a hair clip!

2011-08-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

I'm a busy bee on my days off, as I'm sure some of you can tell.

Before my trip to British Columbia, I had made these charms for myself:

Sailor Mercury

Terra (FF6/Dissidia)

As well, I made some more charms before work one day:

Finished up Wolverine with some paint and glaze.

Happy pop tarts! <3 Blueberry, S'mores, and Wild Berry!

NES controller.

Pedo bear.

I had a lot of requests for more Zelda charms (everybody loves the triforce), so after making so many triforces, I made a little Link charm:

...And out of personal interest, I made myself a Yoshi... because everyone loves Yoshi, right?!

I also turned some of my Perler creations into magnets...

And made a new creation and turned it into a hair clip!

Inspired by the recent loss of a friend I went to high school with, I also made this charm: a mended heart:

Busy bee, I tell you... And now it's time to work for the weekend. =(

Commission: Triforce and Treble Clef charms

2011-08-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

I recently reinstated my facebook account in an attempt to attract an audience with my artwork and jewelry. One of my cousins flatters me too much and sent my link around, which caught the attention of one of her friends. She asked for a Triforce charm done smaller than the perler version as well as a Treble Clef charm.

So off to work I go!

For the Triforce charm, I mixed in a little bit of Mona Lisa metallic dust to the yellow to add some shimmer in the sunlight. It felt like I worked at Marble Slab/Coldstone Creamery, which is always fun. <3

With the Treble Clef, I dusted some of the metallic shimmer on top of the charm before I baked it. You can see how it shines in just the regular light.

I think the treble clef was the most fun to do. Who knew!? And I think the finished result of both charms is pretty awesome. =)

My facebook fan page can be found here: Charm 'N Geekery

I do custom models and charms. Interested? E-mail me at krista.lynn.macpherson@gmail.com for inquiries.

Commission: Slinky Dog from Toy Story

2011-08-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, my friend Marcie bought me a 3 month premium membership to Deviant Art and I intended to pay her back. I asked what she would like me to make her, and she listed 3 characters from Toy Story: Slinky Dog, Three Peas in a Pod, and the Dinosaur. I chose the hardest of the three, in my opinion: Slinky Dog.

Why? Because I love challenges, which this commission certainly gave me, but in the end, it all worked out!

I started by making the various parts of Slinky Dog:

...And I started to piece him all together.

Now what Disney/Pixar doesn't tell a person is that the weight distribution of their characters might not be all that accurate (probably because nobody really cares, unless they're OCD or making a model replica like I was)... thus why the front of Slinky Dog looks so... blah. He kept falling over when I put him all together, so I had to fiddle around with the legs, which created lame stumpy legs in the front.

After that, I baked the little guy for about an hour. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of me baking him... I was too scared of what might happen in the oven. =(

After his sauna sans steam treatment, I painted on his eyes and eyebrows and gave Slinky Dog a little glaze. Here's the finished product:

The total time it took was about 4 hours. I don't think that's so bad considering all the rocky bits I had. =D

And now Slinky Dog is en route to my friend. I padded the hell out of his package... x.x

What would you like to see next?
I do custom models for commission. Interested? Contact me: krista.lynn.macpherson@gmail.com

Freshwater Shell and Pearl Necklace/Earring set

2011-08-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at these shells for a while now, wanting to make something out of them. I've been holding off until I got around to buying copper links. I finally got around to buying those and constructing the necklace, only to realize I then needed copper headpins. Oops!

So this baby has been a work in progress for a couple of days. I finally finished it the other day. =)

It fits loosely around a neck, allowing for a diversity of necks to wear the necklace. Because they are shells, the necklace is also very light.

I also included accent beads in both the necklace and earrings. There are turquoise-coloured oval beads lined with copper at the center of each earring and the necklace.

All in all, it's a very nautical styled piece. I was inspired bymy childhood (and adulthood) of finding shells on the river in Drumheller!

Enjoy!

Charming

2011-08-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

You would think by the way I switch mediums around like the plague that I become obsessed too easily...

...Annnd maybe that's true.

Lately, I've been making charms of random video game characters. Sooo many charms. Let's start first with Marvel vs Capcom 3 characters:

Spiderman, of course. Marvel

Thor. Marvel.

Tron Bonne. Capcom.

HULK. <3 Marvel.

Megaman. Capcom.

Ryu from Street Fighter. Capcom.

I also made a full figure one of, in my opinion, the best coupling in Pokemon: Pikachu and a ketchup bottle:

I'm impressed at how cute it turned out! I also have a couple others waiting on a glaze for when I get home (I'm currently out of town).

These all have little eye hooks in them to hang them from various things, like the gym badges do. I also remade some of the gym badges after a critique I received on my DA page, saying that I should focus on line work.

I finally bought glaze to put over these charms. I'm using DecoArt's Triple Thick Brush-On Gloss Glaze, which works great! But I'm beginning to wonder if I need a special brush for it... I'm just using one of my watercolour painting brushes (Oh, and go figure, as soon as I find a link to the product information, I also find that I should be using an acrylic brush. Oops!).

Speaking of which... I took a look in my art supplies box that I packed when we first moved into our condo in April of last year and scored large on supplies I forgot I had! Anyone who has had to buy acrylic paints knows that they are hella expensive, but I managed to find the main colours I would need: black, white, yellow, brown, and blue. I guess I could also use a red, but for now I'm not worrying about it.

I have a cheaper solution in mind for paint jobs, however I need to discuss it with a hobbyist at a hobby shop.

As for everything else, I have ideas as to what I want to do with my Perler's, though I have to wait for a shipment of specific colours to come in. I tell you, it's gunna be Christmas in August in a week. I'm getting that shipment, a shipment for beads, and a shipment for t-shirts I ordered from Threadless for cheap.

Eheh... ^^;

PS: I made a Twitter account exclusively for my crafts! Check out @CharmNGeekery on Twitter! =D

Indigo League Gym Badge charms

2011-08-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

So maybe my interests have been hovering around Pokemon lately. Yesterday, I made a set of gym badges from the first Pokemon series' of games:

While I'll be the first to admit that some of the badges need a little bit of improving upon, I think the work I did was awesome for a first attempt. Especially the Rainbow Badge, which instantly turned into my favourite. <3

I also made some Pokeballs the other day and used one as a little end piece to my bracelet:

I'm having so much fun with this clay. Once I get my perler bead shipment in, I'll be back on a perler kick!

Earlier today before work, I also organized all of my craft stuff. I want to buy a little Tupperware shelving unit to keep it all together nice and neatly. That will have to come eventually.

Finally, my friend @marcieness was so kind to buy me a 3 month premium membership to Deviant Art after I pouted about being jealous of her membership and being too broke to buy my own. She's so sweet... so I'm gunna make her something. <3

Geekery

2011-08-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've been making a lot of geek jewelry lately.

To make my life easier, I added the two words together and chalked it up as "geekery." Pretty sure someone coined it before me, but I would be tickled if I thought that one up all by myself. =P

Anyway.

So I made some geekery in the past few days. Some with perlers, some with clay. Yeah, clay is also my new obsession. Fricken... shoot me now. But first, the perlers:

Pokeball (from the Pokemon series)

Triforce (from the Zelda series)

They're super cute. I was wearing the Pokemon one around yesterday and our waitress at the restaurant we went to complimented me on it. She probably had no idea what it was, but she was sweet. =)

Yesterday, I bought some clay and decided to have fun. I had no idea what I would make, but I got home early from work last night and played around. This is what came about:

Pikachu charms (Pokemon)

Dratini earrings (Pokemon)

When I made the first pair (Pikachu), I fricken nearly died of a cuteness overload. They are soo tiny...! I'm pretty sure I could spend my life doing geeky jewelry.

Some other stuff I made that I plan to turn into magnets:

1up mushroom (from Mario)

Fire flower (also from Mario)

Invincibility star (again, from Mario)

Terra Branford (Final Fantasy 6) in Esper form

And I made these cute earrings too:

That's all for now! I guess you can tell I've been busy, hey?

Perler Bead Pokemon

2011-08-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

I think I have a new obsession...

Lately I've been seeing a lot of pictures of various cartoons done with Perler beads. To be honest, I forgot all about these things until I saw the pictures! As I kept looking around, the gears in my head started to turn... I realized I wanted to make beautiful creations using these beads. So... one day on my day off, after I ran all of my errands, I went price shopping for these beads.

Turns out that in Canada, Toys-R-Us is one of the cheapest places to buy these beads. Sadly, they don't sell the square boards. So I paid an arm and a leg for the boards at Michaels. I had to go there anyway for some jewelry stuff anyway, as I'm getting impatient with my latest online order... oops. =P

Because the beads are all assorted in buckets, John and I started the tedious task of sorting them out... by shade... in baggies. I'm really quick about it now, but damn, was it a pain in the butt at first!

I was thinking about sorting them into individual colours later, but realized upon making my first creation that sorting them by shades is actually quite useful. :3

John asked me, amid our romantic night sorting beads, "What shall you make first?" I had no clue. I had a lot of ideas, sure. He suggested that maybe I start by making one of my favourite Pokemon. So I searched the internet for my favourite Pokemon teams over the many, many years...

>.>;

...and decided on Articuno!

The problem with some of the Pokemon sprites (like Articuno) is that they are huge. Like... 80 some-odd pixel huge. My pegboards are only about 29x29 (I think that's what John counted), and I have 4 of them. After some little adjustments (shrinking and putting the image onto a grid), I got to work.

In the first night, I accomplished this:

It only took about 2 hours! That's okay, right...? But after that initial 2 hours, I was hooked. I worked on it in bits and pieces before having to leave before work and working out.

Finally, last night, I finished him! (...Or "it," because Articuno is sexless, technically...)

Ironing this badboy was the tricky part. We only had the tiny pieces of parchment provided, so next time, I think we're definitely going to buy bigger pieces. It was certainly a learning experience, but I'm happy with what I created! I think this was an ambitious first creation.

...and needless to say, I'm going to have to get more blue beads. ^^;

Any requests for other Perler bead creations? Please let me know... I could do this all day! ...if I had all day.

The Phoenix

2011-08-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since the last time I drew something. To be honest, I can't even remember when that time was...

A few months back, I received an e-mail from a woman on a very old art account I used to have when I was much younger. Humouring myself, I clicked on the link. Much to my surprise, this woman had gotten a tattoo of one of my drawings on her arm. It was this one, something I had drawn for my mum back on August 4th, 2003:

I drew it on a whim and showed mum. She loved it so much, so I dedicated it to her. Since then, I've always associated the phoenix with my mother. Little did I know how much of a coincidence this piece of art would hold for my future.

My mother got very sick around this time: August, 2009. I remember visiting her one day in the hospital and seeing a card from one of her sisters, my aunty, there. It was a card with a phoenix on it. My mum struggled a lot throughout her life and in the hospital for 3 months before finally passing away in November of the same year.

My sisters and my step father all talked about getting tattoos to commemorate mum and remember her by. I knew I wanted to get a phoenix over my heart. I just needed the idea.

Finally, today, the idea came. Like most of my ideas, it came out of left field, out of nowhere. The moment it came into my head, I needed to get it out. So I did. An hour after the seed was planted, this is what transpired (one day shy of the 8 year anniversary of my first phoenix drawing to my mother):

My boyfriend and I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets the other day. In the movie, Dumbledore explains to Harry that phoenix tears have healing capabilities. It all made so much sense. The pool of phoenix tears will sit right over my heart, which is in a constant state of healing. And mum will be perched upon my heart, the phoenix trying to heal my perpetually aching heart.

I don't remember much of how the drawing came to be. To be honest, it felt like I had blanked out... almost as though I was in a trance. I do remember crying, and hurting. After it was all said and done, I felt better. I think there was so much more healing than what the drawing was meaning to give me.

I needed that release.

Trying my hand at making some jewelry

2011-07-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's nothing fancy... yet.

So far, certain thoughts or memories have inspired me to make a couple of pieces of jewelry. Two beads that I bought recently managed to fit inside one another to make a really cool African-inspired pair of earrings.

I saw these two beads and couldn't resist buying them to make them into something. I am thinking about how I can make a matching necklace or bracelet for these.

I made the earrings sometime last week, though because work has been so hectic, I haven't been able to share them until now.

This morning, I decided to try my hand at making a bracelet, and this is what I came up with:

Some matching earrings...:

As for inspiration, I'm really not sure. I was playing around with the beads... I knew I wanted to use those flowers (or stars, depending on how you see them). After I grabbed some pink beads, the bracelet started to remind me of Kirby and playing Kirby's Dream Land on my very, very old gameboy.

You know... the one with just 2 colours? Okay, maybe you don't know... haha. Either way, this bracelet makes me happy in that it reminds me of my carefree childhood.

That's about it for an update for now!

(...actually, that's a lie. I baked my first ever cherry pie, but I'm going to ask for a redo on that one. Hopefully take two will yield better photo opportunities. This pie ended up looking like something you'd find at a crime scene... the cherry filling wasn't all that forgiving or helpful).

I'll keep playing and finding inspiration. Until then!

Crocheting away

2011-07-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

I re-learned how to crochet less than a week ago. The first few attempts at it was frustrating and slow. The slowness added to the frustration, too, so it ended up being a vicious cycle. After a bit though, I began to get the hang of it.

I decided my first project would be coffee cozies, or reusable coffee sleeves. Once I got the basic chains down it was just a matter of deciding how long and how tall I wanted each cozy. My first one took a painfully long time to make. I also realized I stitched it wrong... it still looks okay, though. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and with every mistake, I'm learning how to fix it and make it better for next time.

My first cozy you've already seen, but I am going to flaunt it again... haha.

I can't even describe how proud and happy I was to have made it. It was a huge sense of accomplishment. It made those feelings of frustration feel worth it.

Since then, I made a couple other cozies-in-the-making.

The top (pink) one I used a different stitch and made it while on the bus to work. I believe it's called a double stitch. The second (camo) one I made at work yesterday, as it was a pretty slow day. The stitch for that one is a single stitch... what the poppy cozy was supposed to be, but what (I think) is the actual correct way to stitch it, haha.

With my first coffee cozy, I realized I stitched the cozy too long... I was trying to think of a way to fix it without wasting all that yarn when I realized I could make a little button out of it. I saw a pattern for how to stitch a tiny flower and decided to give it a go. Again, a slow and painful process where the petals looked wonky, or the petals fused together, or whatever, but I got it done: my first flower!

I thought they were so adorable, so I made a bunch more to practice. I think I finally got the correct way to do it down with my last one, the camo flower.

The mistakes make the flowers look pretty unique, I think. Just like in nature, nothing's ever perfect or perfectly symmetrical... right?

Anyway, that's what I've accomplished in my less-than-a-week at crocheting! Some other things I really want to do is a baby blanket for my baby niece and maybe also a nice headband for her. Eventually, I'd love to get to the point of making clothes, but time to get the basics down first...

Take care!

How this all began...

2011-07-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

After my trip to Ghana, I came home to realize that I don't feel quite right in Canada anymore, in particular, Calgary. Something about the world was scary to me... Calgary is a city that is very self-centered, cold, and reserved. Most people only care for themselves, and those actions are evident in areas such as driving, line-ups, people telling stories (about themselves), opinions on various things, people walking down the street with earbuds in... Granted, I'm also guilty of blocking out the world via earbuds when I'm traveling around the city on my own, however in my defense, what I need to say will fall on deaf (or already occupied) ears.

As a result, I find myself terribly alone in this country.

Not only that, but I work in a restaurant while I'm not in school. This adds to the loneliness, as I work nights and during weekends, so where it was terribly difficult to connect with people for a person in a similar situation, it is damn near impossible for me to do it now. Something about going to Africa changed me, too... I don't see things the same way anymore. Some people's comments or opinions really bother me and I can't seem to connect with people on this front either. Rather, their comments and opinions hurt my heart and push me away.

Life isn't black and white for me anymore. It's not ethnocentric. We aren't the center of the universe, contrary to popular belief. There are people around us, people who carry equal influence and importance. Maybe the sheer recognition of this fact is why I feel alone...
or set apart...
or something.

In an attempt to calm my heart, keep my sanity, and cope with this loneliness, I decided to (re)learn how to be alone. The other day, I re-learned how to crochet, and made this: my first coffee cozy.

Feeling inspired, I bought a ton of beads and yarn. I want to outlet my feelings into something constructive instead of sitting around and moping or whining or crying. I want to get back into artwork. I miss having people ask me to do things like design them a tattoo.. there's no greater feeling than knowing what you have to offer is appreciated.

And hey, maybe that's what I crave, ultimately. So ... "Systematic Chaos" is my creativity blog.

It is also one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands, Dream Theater.

<3