Friday (Halloween) Fantasy Feature: Lady in the Tower

The first word that came to our minds when we viewed Lady in the Tower's shop was, "wow!" Vivian makes beautiful Venetian masks and ornaments. What we love about her work is its incredible detail and romancic personailty. She sells her masks, to be both worn and used as decoration, at a variety of prices.


We proudly present Lady in the Tower as this Halloween's Friday Fantasy Feature!


Name: Vivian Hutcheson


Etsy Shop: ladyinthetower (www.ladyinthetower.etsy.com)

What do you do? I make masks, mostly in the Venetian tradition

Where do you get your inspiration for your work? Anywhere and everywhere! I use mostly salvaged materials and they will often lead me into a design, as will the particular shape of a form. Ideas come from all over, and I don’t always consciously know how they reach a piece.

Do you have any pieces that are inspired by fantasy? Or are reminiscent of fantasy? Most of mine are. Masks are all about some sort of fantasy. Glamour, magic, disguises, they are all involved.

How did you become involved in your work? I made my first clay mask when I was six. I got back into it, for a while, about 20 years ago but didn’t have regular acess to clay or a kiln so I moved on to other things. I learned how to gild for my day job (custom picture framer) and got to handle some actual Venetian masks. I started making my own from there and have never looked back!

What made you start selling your creations? I started selling to friends and friends of friends in 2002 and did my first shows in 2003.

What is your favorite item that you make? I love them all! The gem encrusted ones are a design of mine that I just adore. I haven’t been able to bring myself to part with the first two I did of that line, I just love them so much!

Which fantasy creature is your favorite: fairy, dragon, or vampire? Dragons, although my first attempt at a dragon form didn’t work that well. I’ll get back to it eventually.

Check out Lady in the Tower on...

Etsy Shop: www.ladyinthetower.etsy.com


Website: http://www.artmasks.ca/


Blog: http://www.greencottagegallery.wordpress.com/


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Ladyinthetower/134581169676?ref=nf


Happy Halloween!

Angie and Sarah

La SuaVoce Designs

Friday Fantasy Feature: Hightower Botanicals

We stumbled across Hightower Botanicals on the Etsy forums, and it wasn't hard to be drawn in by the quality and details in the jewelry. Her pieces are truly unique...and stunning. We are die-hard fans of sterling silver. Silver is a splendid style for the autumn and winter months. Though her pieces are not directly related to fantasy, we felt that her pieces were reminicent of woodland faires, elves, and other mysterious creatures...

Hightower Botanicals makes rings, necklaces, bracelets and anklets, all made with amazing attention to detail.


What do you do? By day I work as an artist assistant in a large studio. I make allot of molds and help fabricate and cast sculptures. By night and on the weekends I make jewelry!
Where do you get your inspiration for your work? I love plants. Especially herbs. Herbal teas and medicinal uses. And I love stones.

Do you have any pieces that are inspired by fantasy? Or are reminiscent of fantasy? I like reading about the folklore behind plants. Allot of cultures used and use herbs for magic potions. In ancient Greece, their was a legend about a beast called the Basilisk. It was described it as dragon like creature with the head of a rooster, body of a serpent, and the wings of a bat. If one looked at a Basilisk in the eyes, they would instantly die. Basil leaves were considered the best cure for a Basilisk bite. As you can see, the name Basil was in the Basilisk. Many of today's names for herbs are derived from traditional uses in medicine. Quite often this mixed in with folklore and sometimes fantasy. A also like to read about the metaphysical properties of stones and the power that they are said to hold.

How did you become involved in your work? I have always made things with my hands. I went to art school for painting. During my senior year I took a foundry class and learned how to cast bronze. I fell in love with the process. After graduation I worked in several bronze foundries in Brooklyn and Queens. I learned how to make various types of molds and learned allot about metal work, casting and chasing wax and metal castings. (Chasing is cleaning up seams and imperfections in a casting.)I've never had any formal jewelry training but my skills as a mold maker and metal worker transferred over to jewelry nicely. A few years ago my friend Robin took me under her wing and taught me how to make jewelry. She taught me so much. And I am still learning new things all the time.

What made you start selling your creations? I guess I've just always been prone to selling handmade creations. In junior high I made lots of polymer clay/ Fimo beads! I made bracelets and necklaces out of them and sold them on the school bus after school. I didn't sell many but receiving money for my creations was an incredible feeling. Before I learned how to solder I made jewelry with stone beads and sold them at Bittersweets when Robin had a store in Brooklyn. After graduating to cast metal jewelry, I began to sell that at her store and it has evolved into Hightower Botanicals on Etsy.

What is your favorite item that you make? My new rosemary hoops are my favorite at the moment! I have so many favorites that they change allot.

Which fantasy creature is your favorite: fairy, dragon, or vampire? H. P. Lovecrafts's Cthulhu is one. I am drawn to the more evil, demon-like creatures!

Visit Hightower Botanicals at her Etsy shop: http://hightowerbotanicals.etsy.com/

Website: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6124496

Blog: http://hightowerbotanicals.blogspot.com/

Other: Check out this site for more fantasy-inspired silver jewerly! http://www.bittersweetsny.com/


Happy creating!
Sarah and Angie

Friday Fantasy Feature: Jared in Kansas Fine Art Photography

Although Jared's photos are not explicitly fantasy, several of his pieces evoke such a beautiful, ethereal feel that we decided to feature his work for our Friday Fantasy Feature series.

Name: Jared May

What do you do? I am a math teacher in my non-Etsy life, a husband, and father of three wonderful boys.

The piece reminds us of the Lord of the Rings.

Where do you get your inspiration for your work? I am inspired by the beauty of the natural world, and I attempt to capture that in my photographs.
Do you have any pieces that are inspired by fantasy? Or are reminiscent of fantasy? That's tough to answer. I try to leave room for interpretation in my photographs, so I hope that some of my pieces allow people to see that if that's where their imagination takes them, but it's hard to know what other people see. I'd be interested to know.


How did you become involved in your work? I started taking pictures when I was eight - my mom got me started young.

What made you start selling your creations? My wife pointed Etsy out to me, and I figured it was worth a shot. I listed five prints just to see what would happen, and it worked out.


What is your favorite item that you make? My favorites are actually my hand drawn colored pencil ACEOs, which aren't actually in the shop at the moment. I like to do different interpretations of some of my photographs in different colors and moods. They're fun to make.

We're waiting for the unicorn to appear...

Which fantasy creature is your favorite: fairy, dragon, or vampire? I'd have to go with fairies. To me, they represent magic and mystery and beauty, all things I also associate with the natural world.

Check out Jared KS on:

Etsy Shop: Jared in Kansas Fine Art Photography
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5030000

Website: jaredks.etsy.com

Blog: jaredks.blogspot.com

Twitter: JaredKS

Other: flickr.com/photos/jaredks


Angie & Sarah

La SuaVoce Designs

First Friday Fantasy Feature: On Gossamer Wings

Introducing our first Friday Fantasy Feature: On Gossamer Wings!

On Gossamer Wings caught our eye while we were browsing through fantasy-inspired work on Etsy.com. Her work is truly unique (we've never seen anything quite like it!), and we were drawn in by her fun personality (see questions below).

On Gossamer Wings is the first artist to be featured in our "Friday Fantasy Feature" series. Keep an eye out for a new feature each week.

What do you do? I create singularly sublime fairy wings of stylish originality! If you are pleasure-bent for the finest in fairy "art-wear" made specifically for you, my traffic-stopping, handcrafted fairy wings just can't wait to take the spotlight!

Where do you get your inspiration for your work? Over the years (12 of them to be exact), I’ve been inspired by everything around me from autumn leaves to stripey socks…ok, ESPECIALLY stripey socks (they make me happy)!! Anyhoo, some of my favorite artists are Amy Brown, Molly Harrison, Linda Ravenscroft, Renee Biertempfel, and Nene Thomas just to name a few. Their influence can sometimes be spotted in my work.

Do you have any pieces that are inspired by fantasy? Or are reminiscent of fantasy? I truly hope so, otherwise I’ll have to get a “normal” job, and for safety's sake, no one should really want that to happen!How did you become involved in your work? Waaaaaay back when I was in college, I was an Art Major, and I developed an affinity for the goth culture…only, I wasn’t filled with quite enough angst. I found that there was a movement of “Perky Goths,” and one of the pastimes they seemed to enjoy was making fairy wings. They looked so beautiful in the pictures that I saw, and I found my artistic side crying out to make my own pair. And make my own, I did! And then I made another pair, and another.

What made you start selling your creations? Making fairy wings became an obsession for me, and I was swimming in them. It was at that point that I decided that I needed to start selling them or risk losing my dog forever under the piles of wings.

What is your favorite item that you make? It varies based upon the day and my overall attitude, but lately it’s been my Moxie wings. I think it’s because they have such a strong Halloween feel to them. I have a design for a set of peacock fairy wings that I’ve been dying to make, but time is rather short right now.

Which fantasy creature is your favorite: fairy, dragon, or vampire? I think I’ll have to go with fairy…otherwise, I’ll have to face legions of upset fae. Ever seen a mad-as-gump fairy? Trust me, you don’t want to! My eyebrows are just now growing back.

Vist On Gossamer Wings at her Etsy shop: http://ongossamerwings.etsy.com/

Website: http://www.fairy-wings.com/

Blog: http://ongossamerwingsblog.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ongossamerwings

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ongossamerwings

And on http://glittrrgrrl.deviantart.com/

Angie & Sarah

La SuaVoce Designs