After Midnight

On 17th April I launched a Facebook page for my little business. Please follow the link to see the things I've made and works in progress. 

[Click here]

Where did this come from?

Since wearing Lolita fashion I've found myself making hair accessories to go finish off my outfits. First it was just little bow clips and then it moved onto headbands.

  

At the same time as developing my own collection utilizing things learnt from interning in the bridal industry, I enjoy taking commissions since I never know what the next thing will be and I love a challenge! At the moment my work is very Lolita orientated but I look forward to expanding and creating things to cater to anyone who wants a special handmade piece. Having worked in bridal, I would like to create some pieces that are a bit daintier for brides, bridesmaid and even flower girls.

What kinds of things do we make now?

Here are a few commissions. The possibilities are endless and and I will be happy to make you something as long as I have sufficient time and I can get the materials needed!

 

How much do you charge?

That varies depending on what it is you'd like. Flower or bow clips start from £3 - £5 each depending on size and if I already have them in stock. Bow headbands start from £10 and floral headbands start from £20 depending on the design and the types of flowers and embellishments used. 

Lastly, Why 'After Midnight'?

Because that is why I feel most lively and creative! Most nights you'll find me working away with an old anime on in the background for 'company' or doodling up design ideas! I also like to watch things late at night while I make petals since that can take a while even though I don't need to be too focused. Game of Thrones and sewing goes surprisingly well!

Getting Crafty

Back in July I learnt ho to make fabric flowers at work and in the past few months I've been working on another floral project but very slowly ^^'

Every part starts off being a triangle. I added a gold edge onto my nay triangles to both seal the edges and prevent fraying and to match the rest of the gold elements. A running stitch goes along the two shorter sides and the fabric is gathered together to make the leaves.

 

A made four leaves and then attached them to a hair comb. Gold organza was wrapped onto it so the leaves had something to hold on to and of course to match xD 

They were mostly sewn on but a little super glue was needed to make sure they didn't move.

The flowers are made using the same technique. Bigger triangles were used to make the base flower. The centre is a cute button from Hobbycraft

The flower was then arranged and firmly stitched onto the leaves. Also added a little glue for security. It would be sad if the flower wobbled off.

The rest of the flowers were attached in the same way. Gold and pearl beads were then made into a chin and attached to the comb. And here we go! Ta-da!

And here it is, all boxed up with navy OTK's. To HK we go!

So you think you're winning huh?

If you're female, I can do presents. If you're male, I'm going to try hard. 

It's that time of year again, Mr Rachel's birthday is creeping up and I really have spent the last month or so wonder 'what do?' because guys are hard to buy for. Especially this one. 

Since he got me started on playing Mario Kart I thought maybe something along that theme. I have to admit he's very good at the game, even with a delayed start. (We played the Mario Kart drinking game - gotta finish your drink but no drink driving! He always finishes the drink first and then goes on to come first.) However, he always gets all pissed off when the blue shell hits him...so, I decided to make a thing! A BLUE SHELL!!!

I was going to make a cushion but then decided to turn it into a stuffed shell and now it's kind of stuck in between since there wasn't enough fabric to make it the right shape when fully stuffed ^^'

Makes a good elbow rest though!

Here are some pics of it in progress.

And it is STILL in progress but I'm nearly done! I have until Friday, I can do this!!!

*EDIT*
(Wednesday 1st October)

Ta-da!
Just some finishing touches but it's pretty much finished! WIN!

Chess Cookies

This weekend I decided to bake since I hadn't made anything at my flat yet. At first I was going to make a cake but then remembered that I only had plain flour, not self raising ^^'

So, I decided to make chess cookies.

The goal!
(image from fifteenspatulas.com)

Ingredients: 

* Butter
* Sugar

* Flour
* Egg
* Cocoa Powder

***

White squares:

 50g butter
2.5 tbsp sugar
1/2 beaten egg
100g flour

1. Mix butter with sugar

2. Add the egg

3. Mix in flour

4. Form a ball of dough 

5. Shape into a cuboid (rectangle) Mine were approx 2" x 2" but I forgot to take a photo ^^'

6. Put in the freezer for 30 minutes

***

Chocolate squares

 50g butter

2.5 tbsp sugar
1/2 beaten egg
80g flour
20g cocoa powder

* I used 70g of flour with a 28g packet of hot chocolate powder

Repeat steps 1 - 6

***

1. Remove rectangles from the freezer. Cut each rectangle vertically so you have 3 equal slices.

2. Swap the middle piece 

(white-chocolate-white an chocolate-white-chocolate)
3. Wrap up and freeze for 15 minutes

4. Flip the rectangle so the solid coloured side is facing up

5. Repeat step 1 and 2 so you get a checkered pattern

6. Freeze for 15 minutes

7. Slice into squares

8. Bake for 15 minutes at 170°C

Ta-da! 

Mine were wobbly because I was impatient and didn't leave them to freeze for long enough ^^' so important note for all, let it freeze for the required amount of time so you don't get wobbly cookies!