The sun sets and she appears...

Hello internets. Yes ... its been a while. A long while. Oops.

 This is me, trying to get back on the blog horse again. Like all those other times.

However, since October I've found a lot of new pieces in the jigsaw puzzle that is my physical & mental health, and my own personal brand of Chronic Fatigue. Wheat gives me hangovers, and yet I tested negative for celiac disease (but that's apparently not unusual). I've been diagnosed with a sleep disorder called Alpha Wave Intrusion, which barely any part of medical science has studied except to notice that it happens sometimes. Sweet potatoes give me tummy aches.*shrugs*

I also had a nice “Aha!” moment relating to the sleep disorder. Maybe the anxiety problems I had about five years ago aren't so much over with, but I've just somehow learned to ignore them better. And looking through my old self-help books on anxiety vs. depression rang a lot of bells.

So for right now I've decided to take a break from my social life, while maintaining home and work lives for my basic survival needs, but this time on purpose. I need to work out what's wrong with me and how to either fix it or live with it. Sacrifices had to be made, especially when it came to vending engagements and cons. But without so many distractions, I'm forced to examine where I am and what I'm doing, and its already starting to make a difference.

On the other hand, when I do get bits of energy back over the norm, I can just put that right into jewelry without being tempted by the outside world. Because it is a low-energy activity that I've loved for years, and things that make me happy and content are rare nowadays.

This means there will be blog and Etsy shop updates! Not sure how long they will last, but I've broken out my old seed beading skills for my lunch breaks, and went to the NY Whole Bead Show in March, so there will be new stuff. I even photographed all of it last weekend, with some new backdrops for my light box, which is about as exciting as it gets around here.

If you're interested in seeing my daily dance with chronic fatigue, and my latest adventure in organizing my life for maximum savings of “spoons”, plus tarot fun, take a look at my other blog:
Chrysilla on Dreamwidth!


If you're just here for the shiny stuff, here are a few tidbits to tide you over ;-)




Luv,
Chrysilla ;-)

Summertime, catching up!

Hello all! I hope your summers (or winters, on the other side of the globe) are full of awesome so far :-D

I've spent the whole summer so far trying to figure out, and maybe fix, my health problems. Results have been mixed to say the least. My symptoms persist, but some illnesses and common family problems have been ruled out. On the other hand, western medicine can't treat what it can't diagnose. So I've also been experimenting with a gluten free diet, cutting back on refined sugars, and seeing an acupuncturist.

This past weekend I finally had enough energy to photograph a backlog of 'new' pieces I finished between January and May, which had not sold at Wicked Faire of the Steampunk World's Fair.  So now I can finally upload them to the Etsy shop. Progress! Accomplishment! Hooray!

While I'm not sure if this means I'm definitely on the road to permanent recovery, or if I'll be able to get back into my old shiny habits again permanently, at least I have some shiny things to show you all for the next few weeks ;-)

And while this is by far NOT a financial emergency (bless you full time job and health care plan), purchases made in my Etsy shop definitely go towards medical costs and zillions of blood tests. So if you have room in your budget, go take a look around and thank you for your interest!

Luv,
Chrysilla

Queen of the Cat People, Class with a cult following.

Coming Out of Hibernation!

Hello! I am still alive.

Actually, I feel a bit more alive today than I did in August. Not sure if its the weather (not all that much different yet), the return to my normal school-year work schedule, the receding of allergy season, or my new vitamins. Either way, I hope it lasts.

Since my last posting, I have:

• Learned to use my sewing machine. Sewing became very satisfying (albeit time consuming, OMG) in the midst of my creative block. As long as I was pattern sewing, I didn't have to be any more creative than "What color fabric do I want?" and yet I was making things. I may show off a few items I've made here as soon as I figure out how to photograph them.

• Started writing a web-radio series, and then dribbled to a halt due to heat melting my brain. But I'm picking that up again too! It has much potential to be awesome.

• Left my improv practice team. I really like performing teh improv, but it is very time consuming, and I miss my other projects. I also miss going to watch improv as a humble audience member. But I'm still on their mailing list, so I look forward to seeing them perform in the future :-) I am in a short term class right now (which actually relates to the web-radio show), not sure if I will take more classes in the future. Cash is a leetle tight right now.

• Picked up a folding table for my sewing habit, but it also looks like a good set up for the light box I photograph jewelry with.

• Recieved some conical shaped bud vases which may work well for photographing bracelets. One of the reasons I don't make more bracelets is that I find them tough to photograph.

• Taken lots of naps.

• Attended DragonCon. I was somewhat sick, stressed, and sleep deprived, but I still had a mostly good time. And the con itself helped me realize how I want to prioritize my non-job time for the next few months.

A big theme in my life now is whether I can balance *making* art with *performing* art. I like doing both, but I think now I want to focus more on the making.

I took all of August off from social activities, with a couple exceptions, to rest. There was a really crazy late winter-into-spring period that I hadn't given myself a chance to recover from, and August usually melts my brain, so I just holed up in my Chantry and watched Star Trek. Once allergy season blows over, I hope this helps renew my stamina.

And thanks to a month of reflection and a weekend of DragonCon, I am going to prioritize jewelry, my writing project, and starting Tai Chi classes. After that come sewing, watching improv, and getting back to the cultural activities I used to enjoy (costume parties, readings, etc), cash flow allowing.


But this blog will of course be devoted to the jewelry :-) If I can start this week, I should have photographs up by October. Yay!

Right now I'm planning to do some work on a gothy color palette (I have a ton of onyx in storage), develop a new polymer clay project, edit an old polymer clay project, make more Game of Thrones pieces, and work on more talismans.

Last night I dreamed of buying magic crystals and gemstones, and will take that as a good omen.

<3 Chrysilla
aka Queen of the Cat People

Summer Vacation!

Its been a rough 2011 so far. Was very busy with life for the first three months, and overwork and overstress quickly segued into the worst allergy season ever. Including some of the worst spring colds ever. And now it is summer in NYC, which is well known for brain-melting heat and humidity. I've made only a couple of new pieces over the last several months.

I'm very sad that I've lost the yen to bead, but until my health improves I don't see how it will change. I am having some fun with a writing project, however, and would like to focus on that for a while. So I'm going on a summer vacation from jewelry.

With luck, I'll be back on my feet in September (after Dragon Con ;-D) with new energy and new shiny things. I can't fathom that this isn't a temporary situation, as jewelry has been a large part of my life for over a decade. But we all burn out sometimes.

My Etsy shop will stay open to customers over the summer, but I can't guarantee that I will be available for custom orders until September.

Thank you for your interest and your support! I will be back :-)

Still Treasured :-)

I'm in a lovely Etsy Treasury today, among such illustrious artisans as Parish Relics and Emblems! Wow! Go look!

New jewelry content to update ... argh, I can't promise anything right now. I'm still making new shinies but its slow going, photography is becoming a problem, and there are a LOT of other things going on in my life right now. Balance continues to elude me.

Rest assured, I'm still mailing out all ready-made pieces in a timely manner, and there are plenty still up on my Etsy store.

Present and accounted for!

I'm still here! I just needed an extended break from most of my usual habits and responsibilities, so I could build them back up into something more functional. Beadwork got heaped into the "keep" pile, thank goodness.

I also had a creative block for a couple of months, but divine intervention and financial pressure is getting me back into gear again. I'll feel that much better just working on work to sell again, even if my sales don't actually increase. Every little bit helps these days.


My latest project is experiments with wire wrapping. I own a variety of un-drilled objects, collected over many years, that I would rather see added to jewelry than collecting dust in a bowl on my dresser. Mostly semiprecious stones and the like.

And wire is kicking my butt so far, especially free-form. The more exact a pattern I have to work with the nicer the outcome.

It is often a good thing to run into an artsy technique that you suck at. Builds character and if/when I finally get it, I will understand it that much better.


I tried putting my seed bead kit back together last night, but could not find my thread. I don't remember the last time I made a new spiral necklace. But I've completely scaled back on in-person sales, and they haven't been at all popular on Etsy, so there is not a big rush to work on them again. Although I would like to finish up all of my seed bead supplies. The seed bead kit was also convenient to take to work for my lunch breaks. If only I could find my thread...


There was a big push in my life to clean up my home. It has remained very tidy for weeks. Setting up my light box for more photos will not be as big of an ordeal as it used to be. But first I need to make more shiny things to photograph.

Cya soon!