Our old friend Toivo Rovainen once told me: "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity." I know Toivo isn't the originator of this quote, or of its many variants, but since the actual origin is disputed, I always credit it to him. Words to live by, especially if you're like me, and tend to see purposeful slights in innocent mistakes. (I mostly only do this when I'm feeling tired or especially weak. Usually, I remember Toivo's wise advice.) So I beg that everyone will keep those words in mind when dealing with me, as well! My perpetual battle cry: "I'm working on it!"

Today I am working on clearing out the conversations in my sadly neglected etsy inbox. This is a small pile of work, and has the potential to be done today, assuming I don't run screaming into the night. Here are some results:

In Steampunk Jewelery news:
 
zkitten on etsy says: "if you let people know to buy stuff from me, and they mention you, I'll give *them* 10% off (orders over $20)" She also says that for every five people who buy and mention me, I'll get credit as well. So... you know... if you order from her, tell her where you heard about her! Heh.

I think I've linked to Heterodyne on etsy before, if not, have a look at the gorgeous things she has for sale. Eeee! I know that I haven't shown you her take on Gil's Lightning Wand or her lovely Heterodyne Pendant.

Aaand: Rivkasmom has been advertising with us a lot lately. Thank you! I do get a kick out of ads at the top of the page that match the theme of the site... vain of me, I know. And speaking of vain, which I am: look at this on her etsy page! It's a Sturmvoraus necklace! Yay!

Ahem. I should point out that none of these items are official licensed products. They're one-off "tribute" creations. Mass-production would be a copyright/trademark problem and all, but these aren't that.  I may enjoy them freely. So there.

There! That wasn't so bad. I have cleared out my etsy box. Now, on to lunch, and then my LJ box. (Why? Why must there be a million different places for email? Aaaah!) But one last thing, while I'm busy linking to etsy sites:

A while back ladyjestocost  and bedii  came over for dinner, and brought me a present: a copy of the Oct/Nov issue of Beadwork magazine. Why did I need this magazine? It features a story entitled "Forging a Steampunk Fantasy" by Melanie Brooks Lukacs of Earthenwood Studio. And look at that, just to make things more tempting: she's also got a store on etsy. Have a look at the gorgeous ceramic steampunk-themed beads.)  It's a lovely magazine, and the article is great. As was the dinner and company.

And that concludes this installment of: "Eeeee! Check out the steampunk jewelery!" Hm. I didn't really mean it to turn into that...

Gah! Barnstormers appear to be buzzing my house. I'm going downstairs to eat lunch. I'll probably be back later with more overdue linkage.

This article made me happier than anything else I've read about the current popularity of Steampunk. And not because we actually get a mention in it, although that certainly warmed the cockles of my withered old heart. It's so positive, and funny, and..well, here's a quote about why parents aren't scared by their kids going steampunk: "Whereas steampunks are — what? Weirdoes who take pocket-watches too seriously? What are they gonna do, vehemently tell you what time it is?"

I die of funny! Go read!

Soooo... Abney Park. I'm really late in mentioning them, because I've been hiding under a rock for quite a while now. So you probably already know all about them. I was actually pointed at this steampunk band last Fall. I went at looked at their home page (which you should do right now, because it's lovely) and thought "Oh, Lord. Look at these people. If I don't like their music, I'm going to cry." Fortunately, I did like their music, and was hugely tickled at what they were doing with their...er...I don't know what to call it. Band image? Artistic design? So I flung a bunch of money at them and got a pile of CDs and assorted merchandise in the mail. It took a while to get here, but I wasn't too worried. First of all, it didn't take an unreasonable amount of time, just a bit longer than web orders usually take. People are spoiled by the Web, I tell you. Why, back in the day... Erk. Sorry, I had to get in a little granny-practice. No, mostly, I wasn't worried because I had a feeling that they're like us, in that they're trying to do the creative part of the job, plus make their stuff and advertise and sell and ship it all themselves. I don't know why I thought that, the AP site is gorgeous and professional, maybe it's just my self-publisher radar. Anyway, I have since been told that yes, that's exactly how they do it. Except that they do it WAY better than we do. I love them for that. I love hearing about artists who do the whole thing themselves and do it well. It gives me hope that I may someday get my own act together enough to clean up my websites and market our work properly. Well, or at least get my e-mail partially answered.

Oh, and please, don't take this the wrong way. The business model is the only way I'm comparing us to them. I mean, they're a band. As I understand it, bands are cool by definition. We've never been cool in our lives. Buncha' dorks, we are. Heh.

Hm... what else? Something else you might like (now that I've bought the piece I wanted, mu-ha): the gear and trilobite jewelery from this etsy seller. Woohoo! Trilobites!

And a while ago I ran across The Automata / Automaton Blog: The Blog for Makers and Collectors of Mechanical Automata and Mechanical Toys. There's a lot of really good stuff there. I've loved this stuff ever since I first went to House on the Rock and saw the mechanical orchestras (oh, so long ago... )

Mercy, I'm such an old lady today. What's wrong with me? I need a cup of tea. (Goes creaking off.)