Hey everybody!

I'm offering a few slots for Valentine's themed badges. These will be the same idea as the "Naughty or Nice" badges, but with a more Valentine's Day flavour.

Naughty or nice example: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3064258/

It's a pin-up with strategically placed ribbon and bow(s). Guys have a bow at the crotch, girls have a bow at the crotch and one across their chest (unless posed so the hands/hair/whatever cover the nipples).

I have three slots which I'm going to open up with a $5 discount off the normal price. These slots will be $35, shipping included.

Slot 1:
Slot 2:
Slot 3:

This is something I only discovered myself a few months back, but it's been immensely helpful considering that I can not get a full-time job at the moment because the job market is just that bad. I know there are a lot of people struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table with what little they have right now.

If you are in the US, there's a pretty good chance that you have a local church or organization taking part in Angel Food Ministries.

http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

The idea of it is low-cost food boxes that have no strings attached. The $30 box is usually worth $45-70 if the same items were bought from the grocery store.

You don't have to meet low-income requirements. So long as you can pay for the boxes, you can order as much as you need. They can also be bought using SNAP benefits. You can order online, or go to a local host site (info on each host site can be found at the link above). They have pick-up dates one day a month - order, then pick up on the date your host site specifies for that month.

Speaking from personal experience, this program has definitely made a huge difference in my grocery bill each month. If you're worried about them being preachy because of the name of the organization, fear not. The people who run it at my host site are very nice and not preachy at all. The worst you get are a few bible quotes here and there on the Angel Food Ministries custom food labels.

Feel free to pass the link on. It's a program that more people should be made aware of!

I've got a handful of fake fur cat tails and ears up on FurBid at the moment. Some of those are at clearance prices. The purpose in my selling them is twofold. First, the cash will be helpful because my car is in need of looking-over and fixing (there's something screwy going on with the brakes and although the car is functional, I'd rather have it repaired ASAP). Second, I'd like to see these tails and ears go to new homes. I've had them for a very long time as they were made to sell at a comic con a number of years ago. Most of that stock has sold, these are the last of them.

So, if you might be interested, check it out!

http://www.furbid.ws/cgi-bin/auction/vsoa.pl?usernum=6890&seller=Silverfang

I know I picked up at least a few sales for the Heart of Brass design through here. I just wanted to say thanks to anybody who did buy one. I appreciate the support!

Also, another edition of Heart of Brass may end up coming out sooner than I thought. Another 24-hour t-shirt site is in the works and I've been approached by one of their curators about printing with them. If this goes ahead, I will be trying for a print on either chocolate brown or charcoal with the colours of the design tweaked to suit.

Lastly, just a quick note for my commissioners - I am sorry for the delay. The last couple weeks have been hectic with the holidays. Between my parents coming from Canada to visit for a week and then the unexpected (but much needed) hours at my day job this week, I haven't been able to get to my sketchbook as often as I'd like. My goal is to be all caught up on current commissions by the end of next week.

Today is the day that my Heart of Brass design is up on RIPT Apparel. It's only available for 24 hours, so get it while you can!

http://riptapparel.com/

After trying out at several sites and basically getting "it's good, but it's not really our style" as the response, I finally found a site that's going to print my Heart of Brass design!

It will be done as a two-colour print at RIPT Apparel: http://riptapparel.com/

The way RIPT works is like Tee Fury, if you're familiar with that t-shirt site. Each design is only available for 24 hours, then it disappears forever (or until the artist finds somewhere else to print it, as they retain full rights to the work).

I'll be posting more info, as well as the mockup of the two-colour version of the design, once I have the RIPT print date.

The Instructable I did based on my Sammael costume was entered into the Instructables Halloween Contest.

It won first prize in the Singer Costume category :D New sewing machine and Dremel tool for me, yay!

Yup, new badge offering! It's a cut-out style badge with ribbon accent.

Sample: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3064258

Basically, it's a pin-up with ribbon over the naughty bits. Males have as the sample, girls will either be positioned to cover the boobs with their hands or with a bow across the chest along with the bow at the crotch. I have various types of ribbon in limited supply, but am looking into getting a more plentiful supply of different ribbon. Ribbon choices will be on a first come, first served basis.

Price for these is $40 plus shipping as they're a little more work intensive than any other cut-out style badge I've done in the past. These badges measure about 6" tall, not including the clip.

Due to Paypal's rules, these will only be done with no visible naughty bits in the drawing. If you're interested in one of these, drop me a note!

Voting for the Instructables Halloween contest has begun. I'd appreciate the votes!

My demon costume tutorial: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cre.....Demon-Costume/

My giant spider prop tutorial: http://www.instructables.com/id/Gia.....alloween-Prop/

I've been contemplating this ever since  Donryu started it ages ago.

So...I am going to take on the 100 sketch challenge. I am not as satisfied with my art as I would like and I figure that this challenge would give me ample means to practice things I feel I need work on, with the perk of a little financial compensation to help me pay a small bill or two. I'm not that well known, so I do realize this may not fly...but I'm game to give it a go. Even a few people taking me up on this will mean more practice.

PAYMENT: Paypal only. Please use either "Payment owed" or send a normal payment. While I appreciate people using the gift option to try to save me fees, it leaves no protection for you as a customer and my receiving too many "gifts" can lead to my account being frozen.

RULES:
- $5 gets you a sketch of one character
- Additional characters in the same sketch are $5 each (please, keep the number of characters within reason!)
- Open to characters of any species - furries, humans, quadrupeds, monsters, you name it!
- You are welcome to buy more than one slot if you wish
- Digital delivery only - I will send a high resolution scan of your sketch to you via email
- No fetish requests, please
- I might do some life study-style (aka tasteful) nudes in order to practice muscular structure and proportions, so please let me know if you're ok with your character being drawn in such a manner
- No requests above PG-13 otherwise

HOW TO ORDER:
- Send me a note with "100 sketch" in the header.
- Include either a text description or links to visual reference for your character(s)
- If you have something in mind for your sketch, give me a rough guide but please no very specific direction (so I have more room to practice what I feel I need to practice)
- Send payment to lauraw (at) dragonfyredawn (dot) com and include your user name from here in the note section

TIMELINES:

Unless this goes a whole lot better than I think, I shouldn't be swamped and should have your sketch(es) done within a week. I will be working on sketches on days that I am not working my day job (I have two full days available per week, but can work before/after my day job shifts too). I will keep you up to date if for some reason I don't think I'll be able to get your sketch done in that time frame.

As a last note, if your sketch turns out in a way that you really like and would like to see it turned into a more finished piece of art, I will be open to discussing the price of finishing it.

Awhile back I was approached by an organic apparel company about licensing some of my older t-shirt designs. I went for it and they've now got 'em up. The designs are available on men's shirts, womens shirts and kids shirts.

http://recycleatee.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=laura+millington&x=0&y=0

I realized I had another older project that was worth making a tutorial for. Sadly, I didn't have all the in-progress photos like I did for my Sammael costume, but there was enough for me to work with. My giant spider Halloween prop!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gia.....alloween-Prop/

It, along with the Sammy tutorial, have been entered in the Halloween contest. Wish me luck!

I decided to have a sale on my stock of ready-made tails and ears on Etsy. There's still plenty of time for these to arrive in time for Halloween for customers in the US. It's still possible for international customers as well, if you are willing to spend a little more to get Priority shipping instead of the default basic shipping

This sale is on til the 31st!

http://dragonfyredawn.etsy.com

I just had the neatest experience with nature...and probably the coolest I've had in a long while.

A few minutes ago, I was holding a hummingbird in my hands :D

The poor little girl had gotten herself stuck under our back deck and was panicking. I was trying to gently nudge her out, but she ended up landing on the brick wall. I never thought that I'd get close enough, but I decided to try to see if I could take more direct approach to getting her away from the overhang. She actually let me pick her up! I brought her over to the feeder to see if she'd drink and regain her energy. She didn't want to drink, but did sit in my hand for a minute or so before taking off without so much as a hint of any problems.

Hummingbirds are just so cool! :D

I'm still trying to find a day job (the job market here is terrible) and the next month is going to be very tight financially for my husband and I. Because of that, I'm offering my swing and hangman's noose badges for $30US instead of the usual $40US. Shipping is $5 on top of that within North America. Elsewhere, I'd need to look up.

These badges are for one character only. They measure about 6" tall. Examples of both types are below. If you're interested, drop me a note and I'll get back to you.

Swing:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/624679/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/632579/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/828464/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1050527/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1154608/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1258881/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1194084/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1484099/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/702298/

Hangman's Noose:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/842836/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/842831/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/888903/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1702682/

The last couple days have been spent mostly on finishing up some of the round bottle canteens my husband and I make. What we have done is up on my Etsy, here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6101146

We've got various two-tone ones and a few brown ones up right now. We're working on some black, more brown and a few more multi-tone ones. There are also a whole bunch of belt pouches available.

Everything I've added in the last couple days are very well suited to various costuming purposes. The belt pouches go with just about anything (ren faire, pirate, steampunk), and so would the canteens depending on colour.

If nothing else, go take a look!

Dragon*Con was a blast. Friday kind of dragged by, but then all of a sudden it was Monday and I was wondering where the weekend had went.

All in all, it was a good con. My friends and I only had one truly negative incident (it involved a very belligerent drunk, but it was handled without any injury despite the asshole's attempts to start shit). The rest was awesome. The fan group I'm involved with got at least 30 new applications and the Steampunk outfit was very well received. I lost track of how many times I got stopped for photos :P

I got to chat with not just one, but two people I hadn't seen since 2005 at Motor City Comic Con. The first was understandably busy seeing as the comic he had started back then has seriously taken off since, so I didn't talk long. It was awesome to see him have line-ups to get his stuff. The second was in the dealer's rooms and we talked for probably about an hour. My husband wasn't sure I was ever going to leave!

Abney Park was a highlight, of course. I got to the main concert, but missed out on the acoustic set (in which they played Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I would have totally geeked out because that was one of my favourite movies growing up). I did get to talk to Nathaniel for a bit at their table though. It made my day to get complimented by him on my Heart of Brass tee design :D

I'm slowly starting to get caught up on my sleep and have managed to escape with merely a bit of a cold rather than full-fledged Con Crud. I'm taking it easy for a few days, but will be getting back to art and so on later in the week.

As the title says, I'm going to be heading off later today for D*C. See everybody next week!

My "Clash of the Tartans" t-shirt design is up for scoring and has one day left on it.

http://www.threadless.com/submissio.....of_the_Tartans

If you like it, please score it with a 5, leave a comment and if you'd buy it, check off the little box that says so when you score. Much appreciated!

I decided to make an Instructable for the Sammael costume I did back in 2004. If you're interested in how I did it, check it out! The tutorial would work as a basis for any demon type critter!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cre.....Demon-Costume/

It's a hell of a lot harder to get commissions these days. I don't remember it being this bad last year. I don't know if it's the economy or because there's an overwhelming number of artists who cater to this fandom who undercut everybody else and are willing to work for next to nothing. I see a lot of mid-range artists get ignored by would-be commissioners because they have their eyes on the "big names" (and willing to pay more for them), or are looking for a dirt-cheap bargain by whoever is willing to do something for them for the least amount of money. I personally set my art prices based on a wage of $10/hour, but it's also my thought that my art is worth more than the wage I'd be getting at a shitty minimum wage service or retail industry job.

Ok, disillusioned rant aside...I am not in a good place right now. Financially, I'm in a tight place and it's only going to get worse. I'm trying to find a normal job, but haven't succeeded in that yet. I had a thought on a way to offer a cheaper than normal sketch commissions with a goal of raising $1000 to help out with bills.

So, the idea. Donate money, get a sketch - essentially a cheap sketch commission. The sketch would become more complex the more you donate (start with a headshot or bust and go up from there). I'd set a minimum of $3 as a donation because of Paypal fees and decide on a tier for anybody who wanted a sketch with more than one character involved. All of the sketches for this would be done in a particular sketchbook, and anybody who donates...say, $5 or more...would be eligible to be randomly picked to receive the sketchbook in the end when it's full. Or I can come up with some other bigger prize in the end if people don't like the sketchbook giveaway idea.

Thoughts on this?

First, the rabbit mask I recently completed is up for auction on FurBuy. Hopefully somebody can help me out (I really need the money since I haven't found a job yet) and give him a good home.

http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1011493.html

If anybody is looking to commission a partial suit of a different character, I'd be open for that, too. Just drop me a note and we can discuss the particulars.

I also have my Etsy store up and running. It's got several different cat tails and critter ears, for anybody who might be looking for that kind of thing.

http://dragonfyredawn.etsy.com

There's only a day and a half left for scoring - if you haven't already, I'd appreciate the support on this design!

http://www.threadless.com/submissio.....Heart_of_Brass

For the next week, I'm offering my swing badges for $40 instead of the usual $45. If you contact me through FA to commission one, I'll throw in free standard shipping (please keep in mind that this is basic shipping, so no insurance or tracking).

What are swing badges? Have some samples! They started as just swings, but I've done some variations on the theme as well. These measure about 6" tall.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/632579/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/828464/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1050527/

Hangman's noose - great for Halloween!:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1484105/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/888903/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/842836/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/842831/

On a leash (complete with tiny leather collar!):
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1702682/

If you're interested in another type of commission, I will extend the $5 discount to those as well for folk who contact me through here. My price list is here (icons excluded from the $5 off offer): http://www.silverfang.dragoncity.ne.....mmissions.html

As a footnote, the reason why I'm doing this is that I really would like to get a little cash together before Dragon*Con next month. I've been without a real job in over a year now (first, several months of recovering from a workplace injury, then not being legally allowed to work due to to immigrating to the US). At the very least it'd be nice to be able to buy a halfway decent meal once or twice while at D*C, and I'd really like to be able to buy a few small things.

Dammit, it's been killing me this past week not being able to post that piece because I wanted to wait until it was up for scoring :P

My steampunk t-shirt design titled "Heart of Brass" is up for scoring on Threadless. I really, really want to see this one go to print. I'd very much appreciate any of you folk who play around at Threadless who like this design going and giving me a good score or leave a positive comment. If you'd want to buy it, clicking "I'd buy it as a shirt" will help get it printed too.

http://www.threadless.com/submissio.....Heart_of_Brass