Lavender Luna's Cauldron is a husband and wife team of artists that creates pagan ritual tools and unique jewelry with a variety of mediums: woodwork, bone carving, and beadwork.
Over the years my husband has been doing woodwork and is self-taught. I didn't think about recording ourselves or progress of our projects over the last 5 years until I started looking into Pateron recently. I realized I already started on my own content on Instagram within the past year but I wasn't getting many views unless I shared it from Instagram onto our Facebook page. This prompted me to start a youtube channel since Instagram only allowed very short video posts until IGTV rolled out. I bearly had a YouTube presence about 8-10 years ago and didn't have much content at that time.
Just this week I just learned how to make animated gifs in Gimp 2 and learned I can upload them onto the Giphy website and convert it to a mp4 file type to use in our videos. I started using them in my Beadwork 2017-2018 video. I plan on making a few gifs for Drekiwolf's facebook page and record more videos of his woodwork and bone carving for IGTV on both of our Instagram accounts and our YouTube channel.
This is his first video of carving dragon scales on a wand handle. This particular wand is called Dragon Guardian, carved by my husband with his foot pedal dremel. When this wand is finished, it will be available in our Mercari shop. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to let you know new videos have been uploaded onto Youtube. He has more woodwork, and bone carving projects planned. One future video may be a mammoth tusk he found at a gem and fossil show a few years ago. Soon, he will be getting into chainsaw carvings. He will be getting a Stihl chainsaw with a carving bar for his 31st birthday at the end of September.
We will also be going to a Gem and fossil show at this time and I hope I can find some cabochons to use in my future beadwork projects. I'll try to remember to get some photos and video of that trip. I have a rose quartz heart, a red starfish and a few other bead embroidery projects planned.
We've been attending Pagan Pride Day for 5 years and this year we decided to be venders for the first time. The sign up was pretty easy and painless. I got to reserve the space I wanted and paid my fee. I took this 4 months of prep time to make a mock table of my vender booth, improve and make a vender sign.
Bracelet display.
Paracord bracelets and belt on display.
Smudging fan on display.
I had over 100 items in my inventory by this time and I started making my art around 2013. Some good items on the table and some not so good, were back up inventory in case I sold several items to keep my table full. I also did a mock table for my husband's table but I forgot to take photos since there was so little inventory. I even offered table space for my friend, in return to help us at the event and to give her a chance to sell her items. Unfortunately, she broke her leg the week prior, I was sad and a little angry. If you don't plan stuff going south, you best bet expect it to happen.
Side story, I tried to get my art in my local art gallery in 2015 and that experience was horrible. I had to withdraw 1 out 5 of my submissions and in the corresponding emails, a judge had to comment that my business brand was "satanic and offensive", a purple pentacle on a cauldron. 💔 Its sad that people are so ignorant about paganism. Its hypocritical that they have a sign on their wall that says "they don't tolerate hate". I shot off a email back in the nicest way possible, talking about where else the star is proudly displayed and the work of the Lady Liberty working so hard to dissipate the fear mongering of the symbol of our faith. They thanked me for trying to educate them and they said they would educate themselves a little more about paganism.
Artistry on Main submission.
When I came in to collect the rest of my submissions with my mother-in-law, ( yes, I made sure I had a witness) one judge made the excuse for the only male judge that he was having a "bad day." I don't believe that one bit, it was pure Christian judgment and I could feel that vibe from him. I still have the emails as a reminder and and I still resent that remark. The other half me wants to be petty and be more offense but I realize that's unprofessional.
Since then I've been searching for a place to sell my artwork online and landed on the Mercari app when a Facebook group member suggested it for another item I've been trying to sell. Old local yard sellers laughed at me for trying to sell them. Jokes on them, I sold several of them within these 2 years. I fell in love with the Mercari app and I've been there for 2 years since August. You can read the 2 blog posts about Mercari, Post 1 and Post 2.
Back to Pagan Pride day prep. After doing the mock table set up, I started thinking about a vender sign and canopy walls in case it rained. So, I was searching up suggestions on craft festivals and found a blog post through Pinterest. My mom and I love Pinterest and some people don't like it, especially if they work in retail, like my husband. Customers telling him about a post they saw on Pinterest in a sea of other post and they want help building something. Anyway, this blog post I found was about how a vender created their "rain canopy walls" and suggested they use shower curtains. A light bulb came on, my 12" x 12" canopy top was blue and I wanted something blue to go with it since I didn't care much for the clear shower curtain idea. So, I searched on the Walmart website and found something in my budget around $50. I choose the Mainstays Fabric Shower Curtain, Celestial , bought 6 of them and had them shipped free to my local Walmart.
We were going camping soon and I wanted to get these shower curtains sewn together, so I could test them out. It took me 3 days to sew 2 shower curtains a piece together with 4 metal bars as weights per curtain on the bottom.
Once we got them on the canopy and the wind was blowing, I quickly realized the weights were not enough. Luckily, I had brought sewing needles and paracord with me. I handsewed 3 equal size pieces of paracord per a wall on the bottom and tied a loop on the end for the tent stakes.
It rained a lot during our camping trip and it kept our tent, my husband's kayak and motor battery dry. A few other campers walking by, and loved the canopy wall idea. I was going for the magickal attracting vibe. ✨☀🌙★★
The whole vender sign took us 2 months to make. My husband routed out the words with his dremel. We spray painted the sign gray, and hand painted the letters and logo. I forgot to add the social media logos but we'll do that later.
Sign hanging on the post.
We plan on making a sign for him to hang below mine for his Drekiwolf's Art Facebook page.
The sign post, was originally going to be plain but he decided he was going to do vines, stain and paint it.
Stained 'Golden Oak' and painted vine.
The first day of Pagan Pride Day, and it was a two day event for the first time. So, the driving time was a little far for us. We arrived on the dot at 11 am and set up our vender booth. It was a good day, perfect weather. We talked to a lot of people, sold a few items and handed out our cards.
Lavender Luna's Cauldron vender booth.
Self-love Kit
Drekiwolf 's vender table.
Three people offered to buy "Boots" and we declined. He was a best friend's aunt's show goat and is display only. However, we are willing to do hand carved/painted European mount commissions. Just contact DrekiWolf's Art page for pricing.
Boots the show goat.
Dogwood Doe
Handfasting athame, Norse Runes:
"In the union of two be handfasted for so long as love shall last."
Several Pagan Pride attendees were looking for athames, wands and asked me what the Handfasting atheme said in Norse runes. I had forgotten to bring my notes with me on the first day and posted the translation on my Facebook page when we got home that night. I made this athame years ago with the intention for handfasting ceremonies. I wish I could post athames on the Mercari app, however they have a 3" blade policy since every state is different on blade size.
The 2nd day turned out good for us. Most people showed up around noon to 3 p.m. Before we left, I paid our vender fee for next year's Pagan Pride Day. The date has been set for July 27, 2019. We plan on camping next year, so it is easier for us for this 1 day event. Not sure if we will bring our heeler mix with us or not. My husband wanted to bring her with us, but it was just too hot this year. Several other people brought their dogs with them.
Here's to another year to create more art. We definitely want to make more wands and athames since people were looking at those the most. A few venders asked me about my canopy walls and this is what prompted me to write this whole post.
A 3 minute video showcasing all of my beadwork from the past year. A few of them are available in my Mercari shop, Lavender Luna. Ships within the USA only since the app is in Japan, USA and UK separately. We hope there will be a international version.
You can now buy directly on the website version with PayPal or message me including zip code and email for me to send you invoice. Since there is $2 invoice fee on PayPal, I feel it is best for security reasons, save money and time to buy on the Mercari app. That's why I love using Mercari, it's so easy to shop on there and to set up your own shop to declutter your household. I've been on the Mercari app since August 2016 (2 years). You can use your balance to pay except in the state of California. Most of my 30 'Great' ratings so far came from California, New York and Texas.
I only deactivate my listing when I go to a event as a vender and I always let my followers know a 2 week-a month advance. Next year we are set to be venders at the West Virginia Pagan Pride again on July 27, 2019. A blog post about this year's event coming soon with videos and pictures. Until then, happy shopping.
I started a NSFW Instagram account, @nsfw_lavender_lunas_cauldron, showcasing my past and new NSFW artwork. I also started a group on Facebook, just for artists to share their NSFW artwork. Over 70 members in a week before we set it to private. It is closed to new members for now, but in the future we may open it again for new members. This will give the current (🌱founding) members time to create and share their projects.
As some of you may know in the past year, I've been focusing on beadwork; bead embroidery, weaving, and looming. I wanted to make something fun with seed beads and my husband drew this Little Guy for me. Since it is approximately 3", it will be a brooch. I found these pink/purple color seed beads at my local Dollar Tree and I was thrilled that these colors would be perfect for this particular project. I know some people are not fans of Dollar Tree but for the price, who cares, especially when I have to be careful on our budget. In the future, we'd like to do a female counterpart.We have several NSFW projects planned and once our Patreon launches, members will get first dibs on seeing new projects.
Not Safe For Work
NSFW Project #1, Mr. Spanky aka Little Guy
I recorded video of the outline process while testing out my two cameras. In the future, I'd like to record more progress videos of our projects. From what I've learned making videos this past week: using my Fujifilm Finepix Z; import the video files onto the computer; import video files onto my tablet to edit and create 3 versions of one video on the VivaVideo app; import new video files onto the computer and upload them onto VivaVideo, Youtube, IGTV, and Vimeo. This is the best I can do until we can afford better equipment. Another reason why I was testing my cameras for the best quality we can possibly do for our Patreon introduction video.
Part 1: A 20 minute video speed up of my first not safe for work bead embroidery project. I was also testing one of my old cameras on the tripod, a Samsung SC-DC173U DVD Camcorder with 34x Optical Zoom. Video quality is not so great.
Part2: A 18 minute video speed up of my first not safe for work bead embroidery project. I was also testing one of my old cameras on the tripod , a Fujifilm 10-megapixel, 3x zoom FinePix Z20fd. Video quality is better.
Just this week I just learned how to make animated gifs in Gimp 2 and learned I can upload them onto the Giphy website and convert it to a mp4 file type to use in our videos. I started using them in my Beadwork 2017-2018 video. I plan on making a few gifs for Drekiwolf's facebook page and record more videos of his woodwork and bone carving for IGTV on both of our Instagram accounts and our YouTube channel.
We will also be going to a Gem and fossil show at this time and I hope I can find some cabochons to use in my future beadwork projects. I'll try to remember to get some photos and video of that trip. I have a rose quartz heart, a red starfish and a few other bead embroidery projects planned. 
