The IL GATTO SELVATICO Key Chain

This was my weekend/day off project, making all of these. I will be giving them away as gifts for people who spend $75 or more. Want it? Start shopping? Just kidding, you can also buy them for $12.

A Wall Hanging Has Finally Been Made

I have been meaning to make wall hanging versions of my map necklaces for a while now. I thought they would be good for men and people who don't like loud jewelry.

I have finally made the first one. It is a map of Switzerland. I have made it as a gift for my grandmother and also as part of the "who do you think you are" challenge of the Indie Free Spirits Team.

New Jewelry

 

This is some of the new jewelry in my shop or coming soon. Feathers and arrows and one more map necklace.

El Anatsui

I found the work of El Anatsui in the Met in the African art section and in the contemporary American art wing. I was captivated by it both times. The use of hard, unconventional materials to make woven like tapestries really intrigued me. El Anatsui is a Ghanaian artist who has worked mostly in Nigeria.

Feline Cutaneous Asthenia

This amazing embroidered wall hanging is by Jaclyn Rose of holidaytart. She free handed this on the sewing machine, amazing! This piece is called Feline Cutaneous Asthenia which means winged cat, it's a real thing. Here are some photos of cats with wings.




















I put two flying cats in one of my paintings before I knew it was possible for cats to have wings.

My Work Space

Here is my desk where I keep all my tools and materials for jewelry and clothing and accessory making. I work here, but also I do a fair amount of work on my bed or couch too. I guess I'm just a couch potato.

Recent Favorites

Twin Hand Movement by Lower Dens was the last really good album I listened to. It's Jana Hunters new project and it is really good, just like her other stuff! Here is one of the songs from the album, Rosie, preformed live.



Short Cuts by Raymond Carver was the last really good book I read. Robert Altman also made it into a film in 1993, also called Short Cuts, I can't wait to see it (it's in my Netflix Queue). There's an amazing cast including Tom Waits, Julianne Moore, Robert Downey Jr. and more.

Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi was the last really good film I saw. It's like a happy Isreali vision of Good Will Hunting, it's about a math wiz Isreali high school kid (Shlomi) who everyone (including his family) thinks is dumb until his teacher and principal discover him. Watch the trailer



Tell me what your recent favorites are, this way we can share suggestions!

Etsy Update: New Jewels

Custom made necklaces and more brass jewelry!

Map Mountains

You know me! I love me some good map art! These are Map Mountains by Louis Reith. Found at Miss Moss.

Unconventional Jewelry

All of these colorful geometric necklaces are made of unconventional i.e. non metal jewelry materials. The are made of paper, wood, polymer clay and fabric. From top left going around clockwise: 1. Stack of Cubes by spinthread (embroidered with embroidery floss and backed with lace) 2. Play Ground Twist by riasioux (made of polymer clay), 3. Geometric Triangle Necklace Bluegreen by spoonfulofmint (made of hand painted wood), 4. Color Coding Necklace by jewiseha (made of folded paper).

Happy Valentine's Day

I made this for my husband. It's quirky, I know. I used passport photos of us that we had to take over and over again last year to go through the green card process for him. (My husband is Italian and we currently live in America).

Etsy Preview/ Update: Circles, Squares, Feathers and Frames

Some of this jewelry is already in the IL GATTO SELVATICO etsy shop others are on there way so stay tuned in.

I need 36 hours in each day!

I've put this scarf by Franki Morello here to me is a reminder that I want to make cabled and fair isle knitted, woven looking black and white and colorful infinity scarfs for next winter. I have too many arts and crafts project ideas and not enough time to execute them. Sound familiar?

Lt Camus

I love this soviet army inspired jewelry from the Marquis and Camus Collection, this particular line is called Lt. Camus. It's very Doctor Zhivago. This first necklace is truly amazing, it's huge! It comes across the bust and sits on the hips like a Miss America pageant sash! It even has a monocle attached to it! via accessories

Free Shipping Thank you Coupon

I'm offering FREE SHIPPING to all you blog readers and followers as a way to say thank you! Use this code at checkout SCLNTWRKFREESHIPPING. You can you this for ANY item in my shop and it is good for the entire purchase. You may use this coupon as many times as you like.
offer will expire on March 9.

I need a new backpack

Korean Bag by Hang Loose





















I found this backpack from hang loose
today on a blog called accessories (all about accessories obviously). This company is from Korea and the website is in Korean and has a picture of Bob Dylan in the top right corner of the banner.
They also have some amazing woven scarfs.

































































pendleton for nike















Pendleton has also made woven nike sneakers which look pretty cool but unfortunately I don't support nike.
via accessories.

Miharayasuhiro FW11 Knit bag





















I love this! It inspires me to knit one too! via accessories.

Give Away

To celebrate Il Gatto Selvatico's 1 year anniversary which is coming up on February 9 I'm hosting a giveaway.
I'm giving away this lovely pair of leather earrings in tan and black deer skin leather.
To qualify follow this blog or follow me on twitter or become a fan on facebook, spread the word about this give away and leave a comment below stating where you are following me.
Giveaway will end February 15th at 12pm.
Good luck!

New Jewelry

I finally finished the new embroidered necklace I was working on and I felt inspired to create loads of new stuff after a couple of field trips to metalliferous were I found tons of cool brass findings. I also finally made use of some old supplies as well as making some more leather jewelry. Here are a few of the things I made. This is only a very small handful of the stuff I made, I have much more that I didn't get a chance to photograph and more ideas in my head to execute. Take a look at the jewelry that I've got so far.
























































































As a side note, I've finally started the 5th (and final) Greek Goddess painting, Athena. She's hanging on the wall in the first stages of completion (basic outline).

Goddesses

A Show at Central Cafe': The Greek Goddesses
108 Central Ave.
December 16, 2010 to January 14, 2011
Closing Reception: Thursday January 13 from 5pm to 7pm
The Goddesses of Greek Mythology have been revised and exhibited at Central Cafe' in Brooklyn, a new cafe near the Morgan stop off the L in Bushwick. Here is a peak of the show.

Lenni Lenape Language

I know I said I would be blogging more now that I'm settled in, and I know I said that I would take pictures at the craft fair and post them, but...The pictures turned out crappy cause my camera sucks (I need a new one) and life in New York turned out to be a lot busier than in Rome. Surprised? I have two exciting upcoming events that I will be blogging about...one this Saturday (a craft fair at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn) and a show at Central Cafe in Brooklyn in 2 weeks. So I've been busy preparing for these among trying to find a stable part time job. I will be posting about the upcoming events...
















These two women were speakers of the Lenape Language, Lucy Parks Blalock and Nora Thompson Dean the were photographed here at a Stomp Dance. I found their picture as I was translating certain words into Lenape to use them as the title for some of my jewelry designs. The website that I used and that was very helpful to me was the Lenape Talking Dictionary. You can see the designs that were named after Lenape words at this post or on etsy.