Playing With Mud, or Something

Don't ya just hate when you NEED something and it is NOWHERE to be found?

GAH!

I have a custom line I am doing for some wedding pieces that require 12 mm round 

resin pieces I have to cast. ...and nooooooo, no one sells a mold for that.

After much frustration, I realized that I could probably make my own mold!  AHA!

Voila!

While I was writing this post, my boss came up to my desk (yes, I am at work, playing with toys, win) and he said "Perfect! You can make me the plastic parts I need for my car!"

So next project, plastic car pieces...time to grind some Legos and green army men!

<3
nicole @erra

Erra Creations Loves the Night Market and wants to see you tonight!

Boy, what a summer so far...!

Just wanted to share a guest post I wrote with all of you for Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership's- Project Pop-Up, Night Market.

The really exciting part? I have been the only person at all of them! Not food, organizers, nada, just erra!

So stay tuned for Night Market VI on Sept 27!!!

<3 nicole @guest post, gallery crawl, boutique 208, erra

Erra Creations Loves the Night Market and wants to see you tonight!

by Nicole Bloch, Erra Creations

I love Downtown Pittsburgh! I used to work Downtown and now jump at every chance I can to go into town for music, food, theater, art and now shopping with the awesome start of Pop-Up shops like Boutique 208! Besides the art in the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's quarterly Gallery Crawl, has always been one of my favorite affairs to attend because of the vibrant people who light up our city at night.

It was only a year ago that Pittsburgh had not yet experienced a night market. And me? I'd never heard of such a thing. When I did learn of it, I'm pretty sure I squealed with excitement! An artisan and food market that takes over a parking lot in town after work hours- sign me up! 

I am the chick behind Erra Creations and I am a born and raised Pittsburgh artist. I love to tinker with just about anything and have become known for my wares from reclaimed bicycle parts! I do shows and events all over in the north east- and can honestly say the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership's Pop-Up: Night Market is one of my 3 favorite events of all time! In addition to the artists who come to show their work, there is amazing food-music-people! Whenever I am asked why I love it so, I reply- It's the best parking lot party ever!

I am so honored that Erra Creations has been the only artist at every Night Market- and hope to see you this Friday night for Night Market V!

Yay for June-eve!

Greetings and salutations!

     May was a CRAZY wonderful month. Had an amazing time at Dirt Fest and counting down the next 51 weeks until I get to go back (yay for Oskar Blues!)! Curious? Be nebby here : Dirt Fest

Powder coated bicycle chain? cool

made into necklaces with vintage marbles? awesome

Right now, they're only available at Boutique 208 and West Liberty Cycles and shows I'm hanging out at!

(online soon- I promise!!!)

Because it's June-eve, I have curated erra's tunes to groove to for June 2013!

Follow erracreations on Spotify!

Listen here

love and peace <3

n

Lunch Time Crafting

 I have come to figure out - sitting at a desk, working on accounting things all day, makes me over anxious for 5 o'clock!!! I used to spend my lunch hours frantically running around getting every errand possible- done! (I can hit 4-5 stores in my hour break!) *gulp*

So, in lieu of the craziness, I have found that Lunch Time Crafting is the bestest!!

Stay tuned for the creations that arise!

The Thrill of the Hunt: In Search of Stuff

What do you do when you wake up on Saturday morning? Make coffee, read the paper, clean up dishes from your dinner party? That all sounds fine and dandy, but for me, I need a super recharge at the end of my 8-5 week sitting at a desk........

Enter: the hunt.

The hunt can happen anytime, anywhere. Walking around the office building, driving sown the street, talking to people you meet at the pub, but the most fun is Saturday morning garage sale digging. It seems that everyone has all this "stuff" that they don't know what to do with anymore, and yes, my mission is to find this "stuff" it's funkiest practical new use.

Take bicycles.
They are the urban-green movement's new best friend. No fuel (except for that extra burrito) and no icky exhaust outputs.
Alas-they aren't perfect. You've got blown inner tubes, bent rims, worn out cassettes, rusty broken chains....
And yes, I have found some funky, yet stylish ways to reuse these bits for you and the home.

Get This Necklace!

Christmas Ornament!!

 Here is where you can find these earrings!

Christmas Ornament!!

It's a New Beginning

Sigh, relief! I'm Nicole and I'm the founder of Erra Creations. I started out this spring wanting to make jewelry for friends and family just by reusing bits and pieces of broken jewelry I had sitting in my dresser drawer. And then an agreement with a friend that we would start our own Etsy shops, and what ever money we made by October we would compile together and have girls night out on the town.

It all went a little differently than planned....
My friend never started an Etsy shop, and I created a business!!! Woot Woot!
A business, really. Like tax id numbers, vendors licenses- you name it. Scary- but OUTSTANDING!
So, I took the plunge last week and bought my domain: www.erracreations.com and the site is now in the works.

So why am I writing all this? Who knows! But I do know that my head is constantly spinning with everything I could and would be doing, if only there were enough hours in the day (sound familiar???)
And Erra is way more than reinvented jewelry at this point. I make everything from light switch plates to Christmas decorations to vases to bicycle jewelry, everyone's favorite! And it's all out of reclaimed materials. I absolutely hate wasting things and it's just wicked fun to come up with a new life for something.
I know why I'm writing this! It's because absolutely everything is connected and everything is influenced by everything. So...I think it will be fun to see what influences me most and what random goodies I will come up with next.

Check out Erra Creations on facebook and Twitter and www.etsy.com/shop/erracreations ...and all that good stuff

Love, peace, and taco grease-
Nicole