Blog: I was asked to make some Mortiis.M gear for Made in Chelsea!

Hey guys! Many of you know it's been a very quiet 3 months from me for personal reasons; however I am still making orders and a few new things in the background. All Christmas orders are being made, so no fear :)
 Thankyou to everyone for their lovely messages about this.I will also be attending a stall here (of course under my Mortiis.M stall) for the Saturday & Sunday, in Newcastle (provided my emotions permit me to; it would have been my sister's 31st birthday the day after on the 15th December). There are so many wonderful stalls full of beautiful creations and delicious food at this market, so bring your friends and family along for a lovely medieval Christmas warm-up!

It is by the Castle Keep in Newcastle City Centre. I hear there will be huskies there, too!

Anyway; back to the headline of this blog post-  I recieved an email from somebody who works for the Channel 4 programme Made in Chelsea. The lovely lady told me she loved the antler headdresses I made and they would be perfect for the grand finale of the big-hit TV programme. I have never been asked to have my pieces involved in something so big, so naturally at first I was dubious. My dad said to phone up E4 to double-check that the sender's email address was legitimate; anyway, ofcourse it turned out to be legitimate and I gave the lady a phonecall back to ask the whats/whens/wheres/hows. The lady, Sarah, let me know that the filming would take place on Sunday, and it was already Thursday evening! I would need to make and complete all orders in time for the post office on Friday to send out Next Day Delivery for them to arrive on Saturday. Against all odds I managed, but with mere minutes to spare. Unfortunately I didn't even have enough for a real quick photo of the antlers to share before they were packed up in the box and hastily drove to the Post Office. I sent 3 antler headdresses and a glittery fox skull headdress. In this box was a super-special pair though; an icy pair of antlers! cast with a specially-concocted mix of translucent blue and irridescent sheen. I let Sarah know she can keep a pair of them if she kindly snaps a photo of them and uploads them for me! (I really do wish I had taken the time to take a photo!).
Airing will take place on the week of Christmas, I will be watching like a hawk in hopes to spot them!

- That's Made in Chelsea Episode 11, the week of Christmas, Monday, E4, 21:00 guys! :p


Allow me to input a few key words for search purposes; should I be lucky enough that the camera crew have caught them amongst the woodland party ;)

PS- If you're interested in a pair of animal-friendly (I cast each one by hand myself; the antlers are not real bone) antlers for yourself, feel free to head on over to my UK shop at http://www.mortiism.com I also have Instagram @Mortiis.M and facebook /mortiism

:)

Abandonment

I've not posted onto here lately at all.
I'm going to just copy and paste something I posted a short while ago. after this, I don't think I'll be touching this blog again. I just don't have anything positive to share, really.

On the 1st September, many of you who are joined together on my Mortiis.M FaceBook page, you may have noticed a post I made about my sister. I have 2 sisters, and my eldest passed away in the early morning hours of the 31st August at the devastatingly  young age of only 30 short years old. 

At this moment, 6 and a half weeks later, it is still only speculated that her asthma induced a seizure, in turn inducing a fatal heart attack. As we remain in waiting for a final official report, we are left in the dark with many unaswered questions revolving around what really happened that night. They called it unexpected "Sudden Death Syndrome".

Sarah; despite her being such a loving, intelligent and extremely talented beautiful young woman, could never seem to appreciate herself wholly. You would think that someone, who had only just entered 'teens and yet already told across the country from inviting orchestras that she was 'better than Acker Bilk' for her ability to play clarinet and read music on-the-spot; or be published for her captivating writing; would at least have a little idea what the fuss about her from her family was about. 

At a very young age, for some reason, she got it into her head that she was unattractive.  Whether the pressure of media or a funhouse mirror skewered her views; the damage was apparently set in stone and seemingly irreversible, impossible to reason with. Like hitting a brick wall in a car crash, her beautiful work was ceased.

Sarah's own worst enemy was her lack of self-confidence. It would drive me crazy to both-hands-on-head moments. I can't grasp how someone so helpful and talented could overlook their abilities so much, to the point of believing they weren't good enough. Years, almost decades, of her life passed by thinking she was not good at much at all. We tried all we could to convince her to have a proper think about  who she is, and what she wants to achieve because whatever she wanted, she was the sort of person that just could. It was futile. Any fragments of confidence from her youth were deeply buried and hard to unearth. 

A lot of her life was spent unsure of herself and sad. Everything we has tried didn't work and we had no idea what to do. We rarely saw her, in good months we would see her perhaps once a week, in bad months it would be once every few months- if that. She never wanted to leave the house. Trying to take photos of her was impossible unless you pretended very well that you were just playing on your (camera) phone. Her work life suffered as her confidence fell greater. 

I am upset we never had the chance to take a sisterly photo together. The only photos we have where we are in the same shot with eachother are sneaky holiday ones or ones from below the age of 10. I wish she ould have seen that, despite appearance being irrelevant to happiness, she was absolutely beautiful. Just like a porcelain china doll, a tiny mouth and huge green eyes.

It was only nearer her death that she had seemingly begun to understand or accept. 30 years old. At 30, she was probably on her way to understanding her self-bullying was over nothing. At Sarah's death, we were handed her phone where we found only a few photos of herself on it. They were taken by herself so that nobody would see the photo she was taking before she could have a chance to think about deleting it if she didn't like it. Still, this was a huge step for her. I am heartbroken at everything that has happened and devastated how she percieved herself as a whole; but I am so happy she finally mustered a small fragment of confidence for her to have taken a photo of herself on her own phone. To me, that is marvellous.

But being so happy to tears that someone you love has taken a photo of yourself, from a brief outside view is absurd. When did things get so bad that it's such an event? I know that Sarah is not alone in these feelings, and that is heartbreaking to know.
Your image does not correlate with ability. How you look doesn't affect your ability to laugh or make use of your talents. 

Too much of our lives is thinking "there's always tomrrow" or "I can't try that because I may fail". There is too much "I wish I had that". I'm still guilty of feeling this way myself, as are too many others across the world. There's a lot of time worrying about how we appear, and not enough time exploring, appreciating or understanding. 

I made my Missy Mortiis FaceBook page a few years ago for this very reason. I wanted to help other people who feel this way. From about the age of 8 I began turning into my own worst enemy for my appearance. I convinced myself foolishly that fat was a negative thing, and that I was the epitome of 'fat'. At 8. You're too young to think the feelings toward yourself aren't normal at such an age, so you don't mention or question them. Instead, you agree with them and they worsen and they become the canvas of your future self.
I've put myself through dark times because I listened to the impossible portrayal of the human form, for some silly reason. Such a simple and seemingly avoidable position, but a very poignant state the media contributes many people to feel.
It is still engrained in my veins but I will try now, more than I ever did, to get rid of it.
Everytime you question an image, or leave the house non-comforming to the mass pressured image you will bleed it's effects out of you.

Big ugly businesses make money by helping to push people to think that if you buy their product, you will feel happier by feeling more attractive.
What will happen to the businesses that can't sell their product, because we're all already happy? 

Anyway, I'm going to leave this long post where it is. I hope I may have helped a few people who feel familiar to this, despite derailing off-topic constantly throughout it all. Sorry about that.

PS- here's a photo of my beautiful big sis Sarah, stolen from her photos on her phone:

Video: Antler movement

I initially made this video because a customer of mine wanted to know how the universal fit of the headbands I use for the antlers was.
She asked how the headband would move if I made it a bit wider for her for a specially-mde custom fit.
As it was easier to show the movement for both the usual-sized bands aswell as her custom-fit one, I created a mini (and terrible quality for both audio and image!) video, rather than trying to explain with my limited ability to articulate clearly. It's possibly helpful for others who'd like to have a better understanding of the fit, too :)

- I'm camera shy, so please keep comments on my awful voice and embarrassment to a minimum, please :p

A mini update

Lately I've really been neglecting the blogging side of things; I've been writing a new book, recovering from surgery and planning out how to make new pieces from my mind into physical form. 
In my last blog post Blog: Back in the groove I mentioned how I was really loving slowly getting back into woodwork, aswell as drivelling on about how much I appreciate everything everyone's helped me do in support of my work (soppy blog post: guilty!).
 

For the amazing talented Jess Burnett I made her a large wall trophy mount. I made it in golds and I cast a fox skull and sika deer antlers and combined them together; I know she loves her mythical creatures! I mounted the skull at a convenient angle on my handcut shield-shape wood and airbrushed/stained everything.

I love it so much I was sad to see it leave to the Post Office. I'm so happy she liked it!

I have also revamped the moss antler headdress, I have switched my usual cast to half the length, a more manageable 15cm length, so we can wear them without risk of slip. They're extra adorable this size, and a lot more detailed!

I'm currently undergoing a few custom orders including a beautiful trinket box and deer ears, once both are finished I will no doubt update this page with photos galore!
Have a great day!

Back in the groove

Lately I've been really getting into making wood pieces. Throughout the years from as early as being a baby, my dad has always been a great woodsman. I always loved the smell of freshly cut, sanded and waxed mahogany, oak and beech; and it always brings back child memories of the wonderful and intricate rocking horses my dad used to make.
Ofcourse, his endless abilities to transform chunks of wood into wonderful creations is completely unattainable to me; the years of perfectionist craftsmanship and seemingly endless knowledge on the subject blows my mind.
 

Lately, however, I've been venturing on a slow and steady voyage into crafting with wood. In my school years I managed to make a wooden deck chair for a school project , a very sturdy and cool coffin jewellery box and a few other, smaller pieces.
The nostalgic thrilling burst I felt when breaking into the wood last week has got me on a new rampage of making home decor, and I have always wanted to make custom small memorial boxes for peoples' beloved pets. Coming from a family who loves rats and have owned many, I've always wanted to make special burial boxes and memorials to each one (due to their unfortunately short lifespan, we have had 15 furry sweethearts we're blessed to have had).

Well, finally, it's going to happen. 

It's been a slow journey pushing my anxiety to the side and concentrating only on expressing myself through art, rather than letting my inner-demons keep hold of my self-confidence. It is through the small community of people who have consistently boosted my creative outlet with their constructive views, supported what I have done, helped me when I needed it and came to me for help in return that I am starting to stand up rather than hide in the back anymore. I can't thank you all enough; you who said "I would like this", you who said "Can you do this for me?", you who said "Have you tried this?" and you who said "I need your help". Feeling purposeful and knowing out there some of the things I have built made someone happy is so irreplaceable.

You can expect to look forward to seeing burial boxes, memorial boxes, picture frames, wall trophy art, candleabras, and many more wooden lovely things from me, always with the usual 'flair'. I'm so excited to talk ideas with you, create what you want and ofcourse one day put and end to my fears of failing, once and for all (almost would do, too!).

If you're reading this, Thankyou. xxx

Jess Burnett

This lace choker was the result of a teamwork effort between myself and mythical artwork by Jess Burnett.
It adorns her beautiful Unicorn art preserved behind glass, encapsulated in a black resin filigree frame, with complimentary colour surrounding lace. 
On the right, we have her beautiful art preserved behind glass, set in a metal frame and strung upon genuine leather chord.

So far we have the Luck Dragon, and the Fowlic. The Fowlic is a mythical creature of fox, bird and goat. 
There will be more pendants with Jess’ artwork available shortly.

Jess’ art can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/theartworkofjessburnett
And more  of my designs can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/mortiism 

I absolutely adore Jess' artwork, I can't wait to complete all the designs I have in mind with them <3

Day out

Short post:

We went for a walk around the Dene, where we were welcomed by a crapload of super friendly well-behaved dogs. Then the better half took some more photos with the Faux Feline Skull feathered collar I made for my Mortiis.M business :)

Bearing in mind this is only the second time ever he's ever held a DSLR or even attempted to take a 'nice' photograph, we came up with these:

He is so good behind the camera ^_^

Floral headpiece, faux cat feathered collar & pearldrop circlet by: Mortiis.M
Model: Missy Mortiis
Photography: Rob Hindmarsh

All pieces can be bought from the etsy shop at http://www.mortiism.etsy.com :)

Short post is short and hurried.