Etsy.com - buy and sell handmade!

If you know me in person, you know that I've been looking for a way to turn my talents (or my secondhand SCA stuff) into cash. I tried both Windows LiveExpo and eBay, with minimal success. eBay is just too expensive, and LiveExpo, well, if this is the first time you've heard of it, I wouldn't be surprised.

Enter Etsy.com. I've just joined, and I am amazed at the talented artists who use it. Granted, like any free service, there are those who are uploading junk (like plastic earrings for $99?) in the hopes that some fool will buy it. But the great thing about Etsy is that if you want to sell your own handmade items, each listing only costs you 20 cents. For four months.

Here's a more detailed description from Etsy's help page:

When you list an item there is a $0.20 (US) fee per quantity of one. This covers an item listing period of four months. For example, if I list a scarf (and there's only 1 in stock) it'll cost 20 cents for 4 months. If I gave the listing a quantity of 3, it would cost 60 cents. When an item sells, there's a flat 3.5% fee on the final sale price. All fees are in US dollars. There are no other fees on Etsy. All listings are created equal, with 5 images included in the price.

If you browse the site, you'll see that all items are listed in reverse chronological order, newest first. Try it with the word 'medieval', and select "items:tags, titles, descriptions" from the dropdown search menu for the greatest haul. There are some mighty cool things on the first few pages, but you'll see as you page back, the ratio of junk to cool goes up pretty quick. That's because the good stuff sells fast.

It appears that there are a couple of SCA'ers on Etsy already, but I'd like to see more!! Check out The Gift of Garb, Procyonidae, or just take a look at my favorite items for some real quality goods. All handmade.

Scrambled Ramblings

As I was not so gently reminded by one of my readers the other day, it has been WAAAY too long since I've posted anything of worth here, and I'm sorry for that.

Let's just say that working too much overtime, moving and settling into a new place will do that to you. Oh, and getting totally sucked in to HBO's Deadwood Seasons 1 & 2 DVDs. I've never liked westerns. Until now. It's Shakespeare with the most incredibly vulgar swearing. I'm totally hooked. But don't worry, I'm not going to run off and join another reenactment society! But to reenact the old west would be anachronistic indeed! Too bad I just can't get over the guns. I'd much rather fence.

Moving to Caerthe has lessened my commute to Caer Galen fencing practice to only 25 minutes! Not that I've been able to fence much lately, though. Oh, moving is SUCH a bother. Speaking of 'bother', did you know Winnie the Pooh got a star on the hollywood walk of fame? How cool is that?

I mostly feel like Eeyore right now, though.

Hopefully my mood will change with the coming weekend. I'm heading up to Unser Hafen for Luck of Heroes. I'll be bringing a couple of boxes of SCA stuff I want to sell. Not that I'm trying to compete with the auction.... OK, I am. But I'll give over an item or two for that. I'm not completely selfish.

On the horizon - I'm starting a couple of new and finishing up a few old sewing projects. So if you happen to be wandering around my new neighborhood and hear screaming, it's probably just me.

Other projects: An updated version of the Outlands Map by 20th year. Even though I can't make it to that event...but can I pull this one off? I sure hope they get cloning perfected soon. I'm going to need four of me this summer....

Speaking of summer, the camping event season officially opens for the summer at Grand Outlandish, and I really REALLY should go. The new site is apparently much better than the previous sand traps. And I've heard something about a ShadowStag party?

It's only SIX WEEKS AWAY. SIX.

Unless a bag of money falls out of the sky into my lap, I don't foresee this one working out. Maybe I'll get incredibly lucky and find a job in Denver. One that wouldn't mind me taking four days off right away. Sure.

And more time off for Glory. And that wedding that conflicts with 20th Year.

Yeah, and I'd like MORE time off for that free trip to Trimaris...I wonder if there's any good events to crash? Hmmm...Trimaris is the home of TheQuarter.org. Maybe a reconnaissance mission is in order??

Multiple Persona Disorder and other interesting news

Some of you who knew me waaaay back when I started in the SCA might remember how completely obsessed I was with Celtic stuff. I filled my library with countless reference books, taught classes on Celtic knotwork technique and even played the Bodhran.

But, after many years, I was eventually seduced away from the tunics, the plaids, the fibula pins...and I turned to the 'Middle Eastern' side. Since starting fencing a few years back, I've added another element to my persona, that of the Cavalier. I have accumulated a rather large and confusing mix of SCA things to support my MPD (Multiple Persona Disorder), and it's nearing time to clean out my closets.

I've decided that when I move to the Barony of Caerthe (within the next month or so) I'll be selling a bunch of SCA stuff that I no longer need. There will be books. There will be garb. There will be actual period artifacts. I'll be posting links here on my blog back to an eBay store I'm setting up for this purpose.

In other news....

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Coinage of Pratsutagus, the husband of Boudicca

I have read several fictional accounts of Boudicca, the Queen of the Iceni. "The Eagle and the Raven" by Pauline Gedge was my favorite. But I digress...

It seems that some coins found many years ago in Great Britain have turned up some evidence that her husband was a bit more Romanized than originally thought.

I'll have to look at the Celtic coins I'll be selling soon. I might actually have one of these.

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Unearthed Mural in Mexico shows both Christian and Aztec influence

We all know that Hernan Cortes and his Spanish troops conquered the Aztecs in 1521. They forever changed "The New World". (Hmmmm, I still need to see that movie...)

One of the earliest surviving works from the period was probably painted by Aztec artists who were educated at an unusual college set up by Franciscan monks for the children of Indian nobles.

From the Lansing State Journal.com article: "The vivid scene of animals real and mythical cavorting around the edge of lakes that once shimmered in Mexico City was painted by Aztec Indians in the early 1530s during a rare, brief moment of tolerance in an era when Spaniards were obliterating Aztec culture to cement their own rule."

It's a nice long read. Check it out.

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Salvatore's Historical Yellow Pages

I missed finding a printed copy of Salvatore's Historical Yellow Pages at Estrella War. Want one? They are FREE, and you only pay for shipping!

Don't want another phone book? His searchable online version is anachro-licious!

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Sharks with Frickin' Laser Beams!!

Apparently, they are not as science-fiction as we think.

Ok, so what relevance does this have to the SCA? None.

Let's keep it that way, shall we?

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That's all for now.

The internet is lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have boxes to pack,
And food to eat before I sleep,
And food to eat before I sleep...

Sorry Robert Frost. You must be turning in your grave.

Female action figure parade

Way back in the early 90's, I started an action figure collection. But only female figures, because they are usually rarer and have better details. Yeah, that's justification if I ever heard it.

When I finally hit 100 figures I knew I had a problem. Since I'm already a pack rat, this didn't help my ever-growing storage problems. At one point I did manage to have every single one of them displayed, but they literally covered all the wall space in that room. I've since sold off some, but I still have 70 left.

They are all still in thier original boxes, with minimal damage to the backboards. There are some real gems in here, like the Platinum Angela from Spawn, and the green Orion dancer from the original Star Trek series.

I would rather sell 2-5 figures at a time, to cut down on trips to the post office and packing supplies. I'd really love to sell the whole collection at once. I am working on a massive spreadsheet with all kinds of things like serial numbers, paint variants and accesories, plus current retail values.

This is a collection any geek would love. Just please don't make them all captives of your GI Joes.