10 Things I Love on Etsy November 2018

It has, unfortunately, been a bit of a while (uh, since May, guys) since I've done one of these posts cataloging some of my favorite Etsy finds from the prior month. This has not been by choice, mind you, but more due to principle: Your girl Nau has been way, waaaaaay too busy working on making that money to worry about the idle ways in which to spend it... I know, a shame, but I'm back at it with this post and happy to share some of my sexiest finds from the Etsy-sphere!

Let's get started!

1. ROSE QUARTZ moon ring size Us, made to ORDER, raw jewelry, copper electroformed, crescent moon, knuckle ring, midi stacking, moon phases

Um, have we ever talked about how much I love gemstones? I can prattle on for a ridiculously long time about how much I adore the sunny shades of citrine or the soothing purple of amethyst, but who can resist pretty-in-pink Rose Quartz?! It's such a feminine, gorgeous shade of pink and the stone itself is symbolic of love, both that ever-rare love of self-acceptance or unconditional external love, rose quartz is all about the warm and fuzzy feelings.  Anything lunar is a guaranteed win in my book, too, so, naturally, I can't resist this gorgeous hand-made moon ring! 

2. CRYSTAL PIPE - Lunar Blue Goldstone gemstone pipe, boho smoking pipe, psychedelic smoking bowl, rainbow galaxy pipe, gift

Yoooo, get your chakras right with this gem-stone pipe! The shop is currently on break, but you might be able to catch them again soon so if you dig this piece give it a favorite and Etsy should notify you when they're back online! 

3. Mandarin Mimosa 9oz Soy Candle - Classic Collection

This Mandarin mimosa soy candle is right up my alley this winter. I've been burning so many candles, and luxuriating in their fragrances to the best of my ability. As a partial anosmiac, I don't have a very strong sense of smell to cull from, but working with essential oils and mindfulness I've been able to bring a little more depth to a sense I normally never noticed. This has given me the ability to appreciate a whiff of vanilla from a candle where before I might have simply gotten a headache, so this new appreciation for all this scentsual has brought on a strong desire to sniff ALL the candles! And this particular candle fuses many of my favorites, "like mandarin oranges, pineapple, and peaches blended with mimosa blossoms, soft lavender and vanilla." Ohhhh yes. Doesn't that sound delightful?!

4.Get Lost Hard Enamel Pin, Mountain Pin, Adventure Pin, Explore Pin, Hiking Pin, Cute Funny Pin, Nature Pin, Let's Get Lost, Stocking Filler

OMG! Is this pin not the cutest?! It's got one of those goofy silhouette birds we all learned to draw as kids, trees, mountains, and that wanderlust spirit we all know and love. 

5. Dark Blue Hair Dye

This hair dye has long been on varying wishlists of mine, and now that I know the shop and I share a city, I'm all the more inclined to buy it! The hardest part is trying to decide which of their gorgeous shades I want to try, but luckily they do offer multipacks, either in the form of their astronomy-themed lines like the Moon pack (shades of grey) or the Split Dye packs for people who want to try the edgy half and half look. 

6. Magenta Pink Angel Aura Healing Crystal Necklace -Turquoise Gold Dipped Rainbow Bullet Pastel Boho-Galaxy Natural Quartz Jewellery -Stone

Is this necklace magical or what?! I'm a total sucker for gemstones, and pendants, and necklaces, so this is a natural fit. I love how irridescent and refractive the stones are!

7. Watermelon Crossbody Bag

This watermelon crossbody bag is ridiculously cute. Not only does it fuse the fruity fresh and cute flavor of summer into any damn season you want it to, but it's practical! Carry your phone, your chapstick, and other goodies in this fresh and fun tote! 

8. Raw crystal necklace Healing crystal necklace Angel Aura Quartz Necklace Opal crystal necklace Rainbow quartz point Unicorn crystal gold

WOW! So, obviously I'm a fan of crystals, right? Isn't the blue-reflect on this stone GORGEOUS?! With that pretty gold chain it's all the more classy. These would make a wonderful gift for that crystal loving boho-spirit in your life!

9.  Crescent Moon Ring, Half Moon Ring, Zodiac Ring HSRMOON

Ok, so not only is this crescent moon ring ridiculously lovely, but you get to choose what metal you want it made with! So if you're more into silver, or rose gold, never fear, this shop has got you covered, in style, naturally. 

10.

Handcrafted Exfoliating Sugar Scrub - Japanese Kumquat/ Body Scrub / Natural Body Scrub / Vegan / Soothing/ Smoothing/ Inspirational/Citrus

And last but not least, this beauty rounds out the round-up. I'm obviously going hard on that winter citrus theme, with Japanese kumquat scented sugar scrub helping freshen up our senses during the long-grey season. 

What do you think? Did you find any new favorites among my round-up of this season's favorites? Hope you enjoyed this list! Cheers!

💖

XOXO,

NAU

Behind the Scenes: Late March Tie-dye Photoshoot

While we can (and often do) spend an exorbitant amount of our free time making tie-dye for fun, we ultimately end up selling the majority of our creations as 710Visuals. As much as we love making them, there's just no feasible way for us to make full use of all the shirts (dresses, shorts, skirts, or bags) that we make, especially since we make items in sizes that we probably wouldn't be able to wear on a consistent basis. It makes more sense, logistically and creatively, for us to sell them... sometimes it's hard, you know, like sending a puppy you love off to a different home with a new family. You can't be certain of what the future will hold for that beloved little thing, but you have to hope for the best and send them off with a kiss and maybe, just maybe, a tear in the corner of your eye. Luckily we've had pretty positive reactions from our customers so far, and the more shirts we send off to their future homes the more customers will put their faith into us. I know I tend to be more trusting in shops with more sales and higher ratings, don't you?

The practical side of this need to send our shirts off to new homes is that we ultimately need to make time and arrangements to photograph them and try to do so in a favorable way (to show their best sides, naturally) so that they have the best shot at finding the right home. This has been a long and varied process over the years with a lot of ups and downs involved. There were mannequins, many amicable friends kindly aiding us by serving as models for us between conversation and fun with payments of food, and some silly outtakes... sometimes the outtakes make it into the actual product listing on Etsy or our website because they're just too fabulous (or funny) to not include! Besides, it helps show a glimpse of our personalities, too, which I think is a good thing. I know I tend to appreciate when the companies I choose to purchase from coming off as personable, approachable as if there are actual human beings involved in the process. It's nice to know I'm sending my hard earned money off to someone real, and it's even better if you dig the person's vibe. So hopefully, some of the good vibes we (purportedly) give off in person can be captured by a photograph. But photography is an art, and we're definitely still learning and finding our groove. 

On top of having to model the shirts and try not to look like a couple of awkward goofballs, there's lighting, location, framing, and color-key to consider. I never want to edit the photos too much, but I want the colors to be bright, vivid and true-to-life...which can be quite challenging in some situations. We tried shooting in our studio, which is a pretty limited space and had mixed results. 

But at least we have fun in the process, right?!

More photos below~

Art: Early 2018 Outdoors Ice-dye

For the last month or so it's been pretty cold by Vegas standards. We don't get nearly as cold as some regions of the country do, as many Vegas natives like to remind their relatives via Facebook when news reports start sounding off about snow out East, but we do still have our cold months. Temperatures in the mid 30s (fahrenheit) at night are about the worst our winters typically deliver, which is evidently just cold enough to prevent our ice-dyes from fully melting. We've been doing a lot of our recent projects indoors, which has worked out pretty well for those especially frigid periods, but the weather is prone towards warming quickly here and we're already getting up into the 70s again! With weather like this it's really hard not to want to be outdoors more often, as our recent camping venture may have hinted at. On the day these items were made it was quite lovely out so I took advantage of the pleasant climate and threw together some ice-dyes. We live within walking distance to a 711 (though the hill is quite steep) so there's ice always available. We could try to make our own but we have severely limited freezer space so I doubt we could ever comfortably make enough ice for more than a shirt or two at a time. No problem, though! I have a pedometer on my phone and have been keeping track of my daily step averages for ages now so I can't gripe too loudly about an opportunity to up my step count and work on my butt. Those inclines are great for your glutes, guys, so don't be scared to tackle some hills! I'm always doing stretches and squats at work, too, because I'm a giantess who's on her feet most of the day and a lot of the product in the store I work at is kept in cabinets below my knees or high up where I need to sometimes get on my tippy-toes to reach. Use it or lose it and all that, right? I try to stay active, whether it's creating new shirts or walking around. 

We've been cranking out shirts like mad recently, and I'm beyond thrilled with this development. I find most aspects of the process soothing, and love sharing the results with everyone! I'll be sharing more of the finished shirts here soon, so check back for that. For now, enjoy this batch!

More photos below!

Art: Winter ice-dye round four

Of course I've got more tie-dye for you, folks! I've said before my goal is to vastly increase our inventory this year and there's only one way to do that: make a whole lot more tie-dye! Woo-hoo! This is no punishment for us, though the rinsing process can at times be arduous- or perhaps it's better to say tedious more than anything, as no matter how much you rinse it seems like there's always a little more left. The process of ice-dyeing is itself rather magical to me and I absolutely adore seeing the reveal in the fabric as the colors slowly work their way from powdery dusting to technicolor tapestry. This post will only focus on the first phase of making the shirts- the dyeing process. Next post up will be more rinsing shots as those are pretty enough to merit their own separate log. Hopefully you don't mind, as this cuts down on the overload of photos in a single post and spares all of our servers and networks an extensive data binge. 

For this round it was just me, myself, dyeing as Antho was at work when the urge to create combined with the knowledge there was a half-melted bag of ice sitting outside our front door. I jumped to it and made a couple of 2XL/3XL tee-shirt dresses similar to this one. I posted the results on our instagram and it sold within moments of the listing going live! That was super exciting! We'll definitely be making more of these dresses as they are, like I said on Instagram, fabulous for summertime and it really was super comfy! The 2XL/3XL is a bit loose on me but we have small/medium and large/XL dresses on their way, too.  

Summer is coming and we've got you covered! This 2XL v-neck dress is super comfy and perfect for a day at the beach or a casual hike. More photos coming soon! . This will be live in the shop soon! . Etsy.com/shop/710visuals . . #tiedye #icedye #plussizefashion #plussize #2XL #2018 #summerstyle #summervibes #summer2018 #rainbow #rainbows #roygbiv #colorful #rave #festival #boho #bohemian #hippie #trippy #psychedelic #fashion

A post shared by 710Visuals (@710visuals) on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:39pm PST

For the actual dye process I was extremely anal retentive detail oriented when choosing and preparing my colors. We've invested in a decent selection of dyes to play with now, so there's a lot to choose from! I pulled them all out and made stacks based on the colors to create a precise rainbow fade using more than 15 different dye colors. Excessive? Perhaps. Sometimes I just can't help myself when it comes to being extra. 😘

More photos below!

July 2017 Summer Tie-Dye Session

Lovecraftian nightmare of a sea creature/alien, or a shirt in the making?

Sometimes it can be hard to tell...

I mean, look at all those nubby limbs in strange and unusual shades melting together, like a band of multicolored worms of unusual size, or especially flambouyant space octopi having an arm-wrestling contest! 

Tie-dye is kind of like a Rorschach test if the inventor had gone to fry parties and listened to records of The Doors in the back of a converted school bus, I suppose. What do you see when you look at the shirts? Some crafters go for more intentional designs, using the fabric to draw things- a face, a bear, an alien, what-have-you. I respect this and know it's not an easy thing to do. When you draw on paper, you're using an almost entirely flat medium (depending on the paper and texture/weight) whereas with fabric you're putting your designs onto an item meant to drape across a human body (or a wall, a bed, so on). You have to be meticulous in your folds and plan ahead, often drafting out your intended results on the fabric beforehand. Then you get to the actual tying part of the process, using either sinew, rubber bands, or sheer force of will to constrain the fabric into those predetermined patterns you've plotted out... Prepare, measure, mix and pour the dye...

This is to say, it's quite a process. Measuring the dye and hydrating it is an art in and of itself- do you mix soda ash into the dye solution or no? How hot do you want the water to be to activate that specific dye to get the exact shade you're hoping for? 

It's a lot of work. And I respect that.

But me?

I like chaos.

A little uncertainty, following an intuition, an impulse. 

I'm not saying I'm a full on anarchist...oh, heavens no. Not this girl. Chaos, without any order, can descend into confusion... Chaos AND confusion?! Nope. I like some planning, and I do ever so love a good steady routine in some areas of my life, when it comes to making art I find I'm a bit sick of precision and planning ahead after years of drawing people for work, I just want to relax a little and make pretty things happen that can be shared with people who want to wear those pretty things. Tie-dye, if nothing else, is an exercise in a patience and delayed gratification, and while there is a time and a place for being meticulous I find I quite like being more abstract and seeing what the dyes and the fabric do without my trying to overthink their interaction. Considering that our Etsy shop is rated 5 stars suggests I might not be the only person who enjoys the end result.  We're certainly not in the top tier of sellers on Etsy by any stretch of the imagination, though, so I know there are things I could be doing differently. All things in time, though. For what started as a one off idea for a date night has turned into a passion that we've been able to share with other people all around the world, and for that I couldn't be more grateful!

With this batch, I wanted to experiment with using gravity to distribute the dyes. We have several containers that we use when we ice dye, and instead of simply tying up the shirt and putting it fully inside the vessel I draped some of it over the sides and under, so that it held itself in place. As the ice melts and the dye is hydrated, it would drip through the center and up/down the sides as they hydrate. This created a really neat effect and I'm super excited to experiment with it more in the future!

More photos after the cut!

Project: Spring Tie-dye 2016-03-18

Happy Spring, guys!

How is your month going?

We've recently moved and during the process a lot of our tie-dye stuff got buried...but we've managed to dig it out of the abyss of the garage and made a fun new batch of goodies to share with everyone!

If you haven't noticed before, Antho and I are pretty fond of tie-dying. It's an excellent creative project that we can work on together and it's so much fun to unwrap and unveil the finished products! There are so many fabric textures, colour combinations, folds and techniques that we're constantly evolving and trying new things as we go.

We've also been doing research into ordering products wholesale and sourcing fun new styles. 

I really enjoyed how this long sleeved ribbed cotton shirt turned out!  

It's almost long enough for me and I'm 5'10"! I prefer having my tummy covered with longer shirts but it could totally be rocked as a belly-baring shirt for the braver ladies out there. We've been using more or less the same dyes since the very beginning, but we're really excited about a recent order for some high-end dyes that should be arriving soon. Our shop has also been getting more business lately, but we're still far from the top performing tie-dye shop on Etsy and I want to change that. I've sunk some time into watching free lectures and reading blogs from top performers and gleaned some useful tips that have already quadrupled our sales! We've even sold a shirt to Luxembourg & one to Spain since I added international shipping to our shop!

Goals, people.

I got them!

Check out the rest of our colourful new creations after the jump!

Project: Tie-dye 2016/02/13

Antho and I have been doing a lot of tie-dye recently. These have all been posted in our Etsy shop so if you see any you like be sure to check it out! We're both quite pleased with how we've been progressing through experimentation and practice. ^_^ Hope you like!