Feather Witch

If you are a loyal reader of this blog, you may remember Feather Witch from this post in which I drooled over a bunch of her earrings. Well, you can imagine how psyched I was when she agreed to be the first interview for this blog! I found her to be as cool as her jewelry, and I think you will too.

Heartache Tonight

Please introduce yourself - My name is Liz Douglass. I'm a Gemini. I have a cat and a husband (weird, huh?). I am a photo stylist by day (I make beds for catalogs). I'm totally inspired by music- both my husband and I are musicians. We just play at home or locally now- you can only be on the road for so many years. I love fashion and I made or altered most of my onstage clothing. I have a background in Art History.. I also make collages which will be going up this month on http://www.paperwitch.etsy.com/ and handmade and vintage children's clothing at http://www.sunshineprincess.etsy.com/ .

How long have you been creating jewelry? Have you always used feathers? - I started making jewelry by accident this summer. My friend wanted to make feather hair clips as a craft project for her birthday (a bunch of us were going out to the Russian River for a few days). Well I got a bunch of stuff to do it and we never got to it- we spent all our time in the hot tub or on hikes. So when we got back, I decided to make them myself. They came out so well- I sold some at the Painted Bird (a vintage store) and then well it went crazy from there...
I've always used feathers- at first because I bought so many but now I just love working with them.

Are your designs inspired by your materials? - Yes. My designs are inspired by my materials. I try to keep everything really earthy and natural, subtle but beautiful. Like feathers.

In your profile you say your designs are inspired by Stevie Nicks. Do you always listen to Fleetwood Mac while you work? If not, what are you listening to? - My husband can attest that I listen to a LOT of Fleetwood Mac. I have been listening to this classic hits radio station lately http://www.kfrc.com/. I'm kinda obsessed with it actually. I am taking a little break from contemporary music. Second Hand News

Do you feel like San Francisco is a factor in your designs? - San Francisco is very much a factor in my designs. It is such a wonderful progressive city with such a huge interest in enviromental issues. And it is the birthplace of the whole hippie movement. I started making my clips on the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love- the city was just awash with this crazy vibe.

While we're on the subject, how about sharing some of your favorite San Francisco haunts? - My favorite haunts- Painted Bird (those girls have the best taste). Thrift Town on Mission- they always have such cute stuff. Bernal Heights- my new neighborhood. Cute shops and cafes- lots of babies and dogs. St Francis Fountain- a breakfast joint in the mission. Legion of Honor- a museum specializing in French art overlooking the bay.

To what do you attribute your success on Etsy? - My success on Etsy? I think I've done well because I make things that I'm proud of. Each item is unique and made with love.

Over the Hills and Far Away

Is there anything else we should know about you or your shop? - I really want to make band merch. You can take the girl out of music but you can't take the music out of the girl.

What is your favorite item in your shop right now? - My favorite item? Either my Brandy necklace ( I debate daily whether I should take offline and wear it myself) and my custom feather headdress- I just made one for a lady in New York and they are beautiful.

Brandy You're A Fine Girl

Crown Of Feathers

Where can we find your work outside of etsy? - You can find me in SF at Painted Bird, Wasteland, RAG, Still Life and in the East Bay in Pretty Penny, Shark's and Down at Lulu's. I also do the SF Indie Mart once a month and will be at the Noise Pop Trunk Show ( I' m pretty sure).

mel

RIP Dan Pawson

Gosh darn it, I can't find a picture of my new favorite Jeopardy champ on the internet, so here is one of my other favorite winners:Yeah, that guy was awesome. And that picture is sooo totally creepy. I'm posting it because I am really sad about last night's game, in which the first contestant to win more than 5 consecutive games in 2 years (or something like that) lost last night. Dan Pawson (I think that was his name, isn't it cute? Makes me think of little puppy paws) was a really good champ, very gracious and only the teensiest bit asshole-y and, at times, painfully dorky. He will be missed. Maybe I'll find a picture to post soon, because he is pretty awesome looking. Like a bear. I hope it's not bad form to write RIP in the title there, since he's not actually dead. I just hope he'll be resting peacefully now that he has all that moolah. That's ok, right?

Well, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year and all that. I have to say that I'm kind of glad all the hooplah is over. I'm looking forward to things getting back to normal. I haven't worked on my books in a long time! I have a bunch of books that I made for the big bust of a craft fair that I still haven't listed because I haven't made any sales since before Christmas so I'm thinking I need to get some different kinds of stuff up there. The books I have are mainly those map books, which I haven't sold one of yet, so I don't really want to put anymore of those up. I might work on some tonight, my sister got me some really pretty paper for Christmas and Steve's sister bought me this awesome glitter glue pack. 40 tubes of glitter glue! All different colors! Who ever thought you could need so many colors of glitter glue! Not only that, it comes with a battery operated glue squeezer! I could really have fun with that. Maybe I'll do some glitter glue collage book covers. The possibilities are now practically endless.

You know what else? I'm going to brag about some of my recent etsy purchases, and muse on some others that may be made in the future. Here is a fun fun fun necklace I bought, by bettydeath:

It's an elk! I wish I had a plain white tshirt to wear this with, because i think that's how it would look best. I think I need to go buy one. But you know, everytime I get a necklace I wish two things: 1) that i ever wore necklaces, and 2) that my neck were slimmer.

I also bought this pendant for my BFF for Christmas, by hapslappy:

Hello. It's a polymer clay pepperoni pizza slice pendant with GLOW IN THE DARK CHEESE! I think I need to also buy one for myself because it pretty much blows my mind with it's amazingness every time I think about it. Actually, you know what? I just did. Buy it, that is. I mean, come on, how could I not?

Hmm what else...ooh, these earrings:

These are all by featherwitch. The shop has all kinds of feathery things, like things for your hair and other things but I like the earrings the best. Which is kind of strange, because I didn't expect that I would be drawn to these kind of hippie-ish accessories, but, there you go. The pictures they have of the feathers against hair look really pretty. Oh, and also the store is based in San Francisco, which is also cool.

I'm also really into another kind of hippie-ish thing right now, tooled leather, like this purse by BeasBargains:

It's tough and western-y but girly at the same time. I think I've always been a tooled leather fan. Luckily, it's too expensive for me, because I think it would probably make Steve throw up.

mel