If you have been following me for a while, you might now that I am really great at some things. One of it is – to my dismay – procrastination. I basically had a whole year to set up a beautiful online store now that there are no events, and well, I didn’t.

So, why is that, you might ask? It’s simple: Perfectionism. While perfectionism might be a fantastic trait for my design-work, it is pretty much an awful addition in every other aspect of my business. No, I can’t launch without having the perfect giveaway, without having at least 10 perfect pictures for every product, without having the perfectly written out launch sequence. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. But looking back, that didn’t work.

So this time, I am going to try something different. I’m going to do a little, sneaky fall collection. Without perfect pictures, without 2 months of preparation, and without all the perfect things I might or might not need. I’m just going to wing it.

Will it be messy? Probably. But it will be progress. And this is something I really need for now. This is something the Wonderlust Emporium needs right now. Because from here on, I have two choices: Continuing as before and not making any income until the events are going to happen again (and who knows when that will happen) or taking a huge step outside my comfort zone and trying something new.

So without further endue I want to introduce some of the pieces that will be available during my Samhain 2020 collection release.

Samhain Collection Autumn 2020 – a teaser

Last year, I started to learn wire-wrapping. The technique of wire-wrapping is basically a way of creating jewelry out of wires in different thicknesses. These can be woven, twisted and bend (or all the three together) to create unique pieces – with or without any additional elements like cabochons or beads. While I’m still somewhat a beginner, I am falling more and more in love with the medium. It has almost no limitations on what you can do with it and if you start out with copper wire, it’s also not super expensive in terms of material. However, it’s not really easy on your hands, especially in the beginning, so if you have any joint problems or pain in your hands / fingers, it might not be the right craft for you or you might need more patience because you have to work at a lower speed.

I have already created quite a few pieces, following along various tutorials and designs. And while some turned out well, others were… well. Learning takes it’s time. But I have faond one design I am partially fond of, and I decided to include two styles into the Samhain Collection 2020: The Moon Madness Necklaces.

The initial design is from Yvonne Williams, who is a very talented creator based in the US. Yvonne shares all of her knowledge and work freely and generously with everybody who is interested in learning on her Youtube channel. You can watch her tutorial for the “Lunacy Moon” pendants here. Yvonne, you are a rockstar, and thank you so much for teaching us!

Moon Madness Necklace

There are basically a myriad of options possible with this design, but I decided to create two to include in the collection: A softer color scheme featuring genuine rose quartz beads and copper, and a more mystical one featuring silver coated wire, genuine labradorite beads and opalite beads (just for your info: opalite is basically a special kind of manmade glass, although a lot people claim them to be natural and having metaphysical properties).

The pendants are large, so you have definitely two statement-pieces here. I might try my hands on smaller versions as well, though, as they would also look great layered with other designs.

Fairytale Jewelry Set

Another new technique I debuted in 2019 is the creation of fairy wings. I did a ton of research before I found the method I liked most for me and for the aesthetics of my products. After all, i didn’t only wanted them to look good, I also wanted them to be long lasting. And although the process of creating the wings is a little tedious sometimes and I do get some wings I can’t use, it is totally worth it in my opinion. And no, of course no fairies were harmed during the production process.

Although I do have the Fairytale Sets available in lots of different colors, I decided to include the iconic Autumn color combination for this collection: Fiery red, bright orange, and a warm butterscotch kind of yellow. It’s almost like I’m looking out of my window at the moment (minus the iridescence, of course).

Samhain Spell Jar

I fell in love with Polymer Clay back in 2015 or so. A lot of people don’t take this amazing medium serious, because in their opinion it’s something that is for kids. But I am really amazed about the almost endless possibilities Polymer Clay offers. Creative artist all around the world create so many beautiful things with it: From beads and jewelry components to sculptures and more. It’s widely available, relatively cheap and you don’t need expensive equipment to finish it – opposed to other materials as clay, where you need a specific oven with very high temperatures to bake it.

I started decorating all kind of things with it – from eggshells to glass bottles and I am totally enjoying making beautiful spell jars with it. The base is always a glass jar that I recycle. My most favorite condiment comes in a beautiful little jar that has the perfect shape and size for the purpose. It offers me a blank canvas I can decorate to my hearts content, and it fits perfectly in my small oven to be baked.

Although I do have a rough concept most of the time, I can never tell exactly how the finished jar will look like. But this makes the creation process even more fun!

But that’s not all I have prepared for you…

Stay tuned for next week, where more Autumn themed items are going to show up and populate the shop – it will be like mushrooms growing in the forest after a rain shower.

I hope you are as excited as I am about the Samhain Collection 2020 – let me know in the comments which item is your favorite!

Sending you lo9ts of love and sparkles