etsy favourites

For those of you that don't use Etsy, you can "heart" items that you like which then get stored in your favourites.

I thought I would dig around in my Etsy favourites to show you the items on I think are totally awesome!

Whatever Crop | TOASTEMPIRE.etsy.com

Glitter Ring | jencheema.etsy.com

Ombre Tights | BZRshop.etsy.com

Toxic Monster Bag | joannaPYBUS.etsy.com

Playsuit | YeahBunny.etsy.com

Aspalt Bangle | thegoodmachinery.etsy.com

So what's in your Etsy favourites?

ROAR!

Karli


Photo Credit | All photos by the designer makers

big tunes | one

This is my first music post, EVER. 

I'm kinda split about this kinda post because I normally read others music posts and it's not really my thing, so lets see how this goes, let me know in the comments if I should comment on my music taste ever again!

KEEPING IT VISUAL...

MAJOR LAZER. One half Diplo, one half Switch. Two halves AWESOME. Added to MØ, what more could you want? This song has been the soundtrack to my life for about a week but the video only went live yesterday and it is AMAZING! Diplo pulling some Indian inspired dance moves, MØ dressed practically as Gwen Stefani and a brightly coloured bus. WIN.

Photo Credit | Pinterest

So Gwen stefani and her 90s vibe leads me to this big (but not new) tune by Cyril Hahn, no music video here, well there is a video so you can hear the tune. But no actual video... 

So yeah a big tune, if not an old tune. And finally as I'm apparently keeping it in a kinda of easy listening vibe (and making sure that we remember some older tunes)...

George Maple with Talk Talk, this is also not a new song, but it's a good one. Although electro / anything with a beat always seems to have semi naked girls rolling around so sorry about that.

So what do you think? Like them? At least you know what is playing in the studio now!

ROAR!

Karli

the making of: sterling silver dinosaurs

​I promised that I would do 5 process posts this year and as it's already March, (how?!) I thought I'd better get on it!

Some of you might already know about traditional jewellery making techniques but for our solid sterling silver pieces we have done things a little differently.

Our little Triceratops and Allosaurus were created via 3D printing. We created a 3D design to take our laser cut design of the tiny necklaces and turn them into moulds for silver.

Once we had completed the file and added a spru (the tree like bit that holds the two dinosaurs in place) we were ready to cast.

We cast 10 dinosaurs at a time, and they are solid silver.

Once we remove the casts from the mould the silver pieces need cleaning up. Luckily for us, Jacques' dad is a jeweller and taught us what needed to be done to create the finished product.

First the pieces need the sprus removed, these are filed off until they are flush with the dinosaurs back.

Then they need to be sanded using wet and dry paper, until they are smooth and of a good finish.

Next they need to go into the polishing machine. This is a machine which tumbles the jewellery with abrasive pellets to give a shiny, smooth finish.

We then attach silver jump rings and solder them closed before threading onto a sterling silver chain and packaging into one of our designosaur gift boxes ready to ship off to your dinosaur loving best mate, girlfriend or mum!

Enjoyed learning a bit about how we make things?

Karli

50 shades of George

The 28th February was #dayofgeorge. Not a day that we invented, but that you guys, the George fans, decided was going to happen!

If you don't know who George is, then I don't know where you have been. Read about our collaboration with hello DODO here!

A whole bunch of you wore your necklaces on the same day and showed off George to his full potential, showing that he really does go with everything! Thank you to everybody that took part, we really loved seeing your photos!

@loraleopard

@hannah_would

@jaynekitsch

@victoriapenrose

@dannifromdublin

#dayofgeorge

I had gif issues, I wanted to make a really snazzy gif like this. But then InDesign, .jpegs and Instagram didn't want to be friends so I made a simplified gif above of alllll the 'day of george' photos!

If you have a George and want to share him camouflaging against your own clothes use #georgethechameleon and tag @designosaurYEAH and @hellohelloDODO. We really do love seeing what George gets up to!

Realised how awesome George is, and don't have your own one yet? You can get one here!

ROAR!

Karli

Re: Blog title - 51 people posted photos of George on the #dayofgeorge hashtag... makes sense now right?

jurassic seas

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the Press launch of the Jurassic Seas at the Sea Life Centre in Brighton.

Hasn't envoled in millions of years, good going mate... what do you even do!

Not only did I learn that Brighton's aquarium is the oldest in the world at 143 years old but also that sea creatures that live deep in the ocean are red because red cannot be seen past a certain depth!

We visited the turtles too as they were being fed when we arrived and we climbed into every children's cubby hole too...

I missed the turtle kiss by a millisecond

Toby training the terrapins to follow his finger

Anyways that was all before we got into the exhibition!

Turtles are actually prehistoric and haven't changed much since the Jurassic period, well this is where things get awkward. It's called Jurassic Seas because it is about prehistoric animals including the plesiosaur but actually, plesiosaurs are Triassic and the megladon is Cenozoic but we'll let that lie -because it's a really cool exhibition!

Hearing dinosaur ROAR, followed by discovering crustaceans that have literally not evolved in any way since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Then leads you to a brand new interactive games section where you can feed a plesiosaur, remove a megladon's tooth and race an Olympic swimmer against Percival the plesiosaur!

You can feed the Plesiosaur! All the fun!

This is my favourite bit about the aquarium, how can you not love the rainbow lighting?

We were having so much fun we were asked to stop playing with it... Ooopps.

If you're already a fan of the Sea Life Centre or you have sprogs you need to entertain then you've going to love it!

Oh and that's why we designed our very own Penelope to come along for the ride!

Penelope is available in our Etsy shop!

Have you been to the exhibiton yet? Are you a fan of the sealife centre? Let us know in the comments below!

ROAR!

Karli

#btnetsy blog hop!

​Another blog hop! This time it's a Brighton Etsy Team blog hop, if you want to see all the blog hop posts I'll be adding them to this bloglovin' collection. We were nominated by Yellow Bear Wares, thanks Claire!

What inspired you to start your business or Etsy shop?

We didn't really plan to start a business, Jacques was working at a laser cutters and had been asked to create some children's mirrors. He brought them home to show me and amongst the designs was a Brachiosaurus. I held it up to my chest and suggested that it would make a good necklace and that was that. We started selling in Porta, Brighton and then some genius suggested Etsy. I don't know who it was, but I wish I did, as we had never been on Etsy before and we've got some thanking to do!

Throw back of Jacques when we first started designosaur... what a babe... hehehe.
 Photo | Bob Prosser

We're looking at goals in the Brighton Etsy Team this month, can you share one of your goals for your shop for the next six months?

Blogging! You will have seen before on this here blog that I am threatening to blog every week. I've also promised to do 5 OOTD posts and 5 "behind the scenes" posts.

So far so good, let's see if I can keep it up once the summer gets here though!

What are you working on at the moment?

Some awesome crazy amazing new designs! Last week we released the now named Penelope the Plesiosaur and over the next few weeks we have lots of fun designs coming, a collaboration and a couple of products that aren't jewellery! I hope you are all as excited as we are!

If you could give other sellers or someone looking to start their own craft business one piece of advice what would you say?

Work hard and remember that building a business takes time! Everybody that started a craft business was in the same position as you at the beginning, they were choosing their name and listing their first products and it's been hard work and determination that has turned them into the successful business they are today! Oh and join an Etsy team, I hear the Brighton Etsy Team is awesome!

Blog hop complete, I nominate YUK FUN, hello DODO and i Like CATS.

I'm off to the Etsy UK office in London this week, to chat to some of the admins and wondered if you had any questions about the site or the Etsy community, if you do just pop them in the comments and I'll get as many answered as I can!

ROAR!

Karli

I've got mega talented friends - 4. Heather

I started a series of mega talented friends blog posts a while ago and I thought I'd bring it back. You can read about Bob, Matt and Hannah too if you like!

This is going to be a strange one, because my mate HBW is a grown-up now, she has a big city job being an 'Offline Editor', welllll that's the official line, I would say she's a 'TV Documentary Editor' because that makes more sense to me.

I have been stalking Heather on the internet to find some of her old uni work to show you, because it is awesome, and I thought you'd a appreciate it!

You might recognise Heather as she is also a designosaur model...

Heather collects vintage rulers, theatre binoculars and beer mats. Obviously if you ever go to Heather's house, don't use the beer mats, yes I know they are laid out like you should use them, but trust me, don't do it.

This is an awesome video, you should click through and watch it because I really enjoyed it!*

So what did you think of Heather's work? I'm quite excited as I think Heather and designosaur now have a little project we are working on, watch this space!

On a slightly different note this week we have been trying to think of a name for our followers you know how Lady Gaga has her Little Monsters, and TS has her Swifties and designosaur have their... (let us know in the comments)

ROAR!

Karli

*Heather said this video was from when she was "young and naive" when I showed it to her, I think she's trying to say her work has improved, but I'm sure you guessed that already!