Delightful Dragons

When I was little, I was completely obsessed with all things fantasy oriented, and to be honest, I still am. In every sculpture class I ever took, I would make a small dragon to sit on my shelf at home, and watch over my belongings and room when I was away at school. But anything I made in class could never hold a candle to the absolute masterpieces that Donna's Dragons provides.

Opened in 2013, Donna's Dragons has been creating dragon sculptures for people around the world, using polymer clay, household items, and the owners own creativity. Not only does she have some ready made dragons in stock, but she is also happy to take custom orders and create the dragon of your dreams.

Like she did for me.

Meet Asha, the 4 inch long, 2.5 inch tall dragon who now graces the corner of my dedicated desk/workspace. Her name means "Hope" in Sanskrit, and she's going to be my little daily reminder of all the turmoil I have overcome in my life. She's small enough to be unobtrusive in my workspace, but not so small that I'm scared I'll lose her.

Which is a good thing, because if you've ever seen my workspace, you would understand how I could lose things easily.

Donna goes to great pains to pay attention to details such as spikes, gems, and general body placement. Not to mention the lovely little "possessions" that many of the dragons come with. Asha came with a key curled up in her tail, but Donna has used things such as flowers, spheres, tiny skulls, religious symbols, eggs, coins, butterflies, or even separate creatures, such as a memorial to a deceased pet.

If you can imagine it, she can most likely bring it to life with her amazing craftsmanship skills. But don't be fooled, she can create more than just dragons. Unicorns, dogs, deer, bears and more have all been made and featured on her Facebook Page.

If you know someone in your life who loves dragons and the fantasy genre, any of Donna's creations would make the perfect gift. For little one's though, I would suggest letting these be "look only", as they can be fragile due to the detail put into them. Despite that though, I find Asha to be sturdy enough to carry around and pose for many photography sessions, as she has quickly become one of my favorite photography subjects.

In the end, I could not be happier to have such a gorgeous creation adorn my desk, and keep me company during those long photo edit sessions or graphic design jobs. Everyone could use a little fantasy in their lives, do you have any?

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Wire Wrapped Perfection with Gel Art

When it comes to jewelry, I usually just throw on my O2 necklace and I'm done with it. But every great once in a while I find something that I just have to own, and this is one of those times!

I recently found out about a wonderfully sweet woman in Australia, who runs a small business out of her home called Gel Art. I had seen a few of her pieces show up in my Facebook feed over the last few weeks, and thought that they were gorgeous, so I knew I had to share with you!

The packaging was amazing for an overseas seller, with plenty of bubblewrap and tissue paper to keep the pendant from damage. Once I pulled it out of the package, I noticed it was wrapped in a smaller parcel package (as shown above). Inside, the pendant itself was placed in a lovely gold drawstring bag, which I know I'll be able to use again!

On her Etsy Shop, she has a ton of ready-made pendants that you can purchase as is, or if you're willing to wait for a little bit, she also does custom orders! Being the fox fanatic that I am, I knew I wanted one with a vixen on it, but didn't see any on her shop that really called to me. So I went to place a custom order, and was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy it was!

She has a note on her Facebook Page titled, "How To Order A Custom Pendant", which has a very easy to follow order form. You just pick and choose everything you would like out of the options she has listed in various albums, so that you can see the colors, textures, etc.

After looking through everything, and having the hardest time narrowing it all down, I finally came up with the perfect pendant for me.

I chose the traditional tree style, with a copper wire hoop base. I loves the idea of mixing my wire colors for the actual tree, and she was more than happy to intertwine the antique brown with the green. I chose Jasper for my stone 'leaves' though she has a multitude of other stones and gems to choose from. Jasper is a stone I like to wear when I'm lacking confidence, or feel I need a touch of courage, and since I intend to wear this pendant at conventions with my Steampunk Fox character, it's the perfect stone!

She even went so far as to paint the silver fox charm for me, so it looked like a tiny red fox hiding under the shadow of a large tree.

The roses were a last minute add in I decided on, and I just love the contrast they create! 

Gel Art is run by a stay at home mother of three. She started her business to help pay the bills, and originally was making gel candles. But after a while, she expanded her line of work to include wire wrapped pendants and gem trees, which is most of her merchandise now.

All in all, the experience was great when working with her, and the outcome is just beautiful in my opinion.

If you'd like to see more of her stunning work, please feel free to visit her sites:

Etsy
Facebook
Pinterest
Google +
YouTube

Love and Lightning Bugs,