New Knotty Crochet Dreads

I have been experimenting with my crochet dreads recently and have started making some in a knotty crochet style. 

In the photo below you can see my new knotty next to my regular crochet style.

The new knotty dreads have a more lumpy bumpy natural style to them. I have used a different method of dread making compared to my usual crochet dreads. 

These new knotty dreads will be making an appearance on my shop soon!

What do you think?

Current Projects

This week I have mostly been helping my parents sort out their spare room so my Mum can have her sewing room back :) But in the evenings I have been back combing dreads galore!

Here is a sneak peek at just one of the new accent dread kits that will be added to my shop this week

My Psypuff!

Recently the lovely Psychara and I did a trade, an accent dread kit for one of her plushy Psypuff creations!

Here is Psychara in the dreads I made her. I used blends of several shades of blue with black and white splashes. Doesn't she look awesome!?

And here is my Psypuff! He is so cute and I have named him Clive (after Mr. Clive Barker )

You can check out the Psypuff page HERE.

#HappyHandmade My Picks

The weeks seem to be going by fast so far this year. And this week its week 56 over on the Daft Crafts #HappyHandmade link up (see it here).

So here are three of my favourites

On Wednesdays we wear black cameo necklace from Mizziexoxo Boutique

I'm a big America Horror Story fan so this necklace is an absolute winner for me!

The Third Power  Necklace from The Prettiest Star

Such a beautiful colour and unique necklace

Large Stuffed White Blood Cell from Survival Organs

He's a cute little guy!

4000 Likes on Facebook! - Now Closed!

To celebrate reaching 4000 likes on the Black Sunshine Facebook page here is a giveaway to say thank you to you all!

You can enter by filling out the rafflecopter form below, lots of ways to enter!

Open Worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Worldwide postage is included in the prizes.
• Your accent kit will be made in my textured crochet style
• The winners can choose up to 8 colours (from here ), any style ( e.g. blends, transitional, splashes) and length (up to 22 inches)
• As these are custom dreads they will take up to 4 weeks to be made (not including postage time)
• The prizes can not be exchanged
• The 1st and 2nd place winners will be selected at random by the rafflecopter app on 12th of April 2014
• The winners will be notified by e-mail, if I receive no correspondence within 5 days you will forfeit your prize.

My Dread Collection

Today I decided to go through my own synthetic dread collection and to be honest I did not realise I had so many sets!

Sets from Dollylox, Candy Floss Locks, Beautiful Mess dreads, Anouk dreadmaker, Izzybeau, Wicked Locks, Filthy's synthetic dreads, Psychotic Sweetheart designs and some made by friends.

I will spend the rest of the week sorting through them and will probably sell a few of the sets as I must remember I cannot wear all of the dreads at once :p

Do you have an epic dread collection? 

New Button Headbands

This week I added the first of my new button headband range to my Etsy shop.

First up is this pink and purple buttons headband. Each button is hand sewn onto a black faux braid. Perfect for adding some pretty to your hair this Spring.

I will be adding more colour combinations of this style in the upcoming weeks :)

#HappyHandmade My Picks

It's week 54 over on the #HappyHandmade link up from Daft Crafts (see it here). As usual there a loads of great crafty items to ogle at but here are my three favourites from this weeks selection.

'Do something creative everyday' handmade sign from Be You Not Them

Yes! This is something that everyone must do. would be a great inspiration piece for my dread room.

Bohemian Necklace set from Pelhuaz by Red

So quirky & cute, I love it!

Ice Cream Dreamer Sticker Pack from Scrawny Girl

Well, I love stickers, ice cream & unicorns! Just perfect

This weeks projects

Another week of dread making here at Black Sunshine and waiting on the postman to bring me new supplies

Here is a preview of a dread set I am currently working on. Blends of black, blues, purples with a hint of pink!

The postman did bring one present of new button supplies, so the new button headbands should be available to buy on my shop next week.

What crafty projects are you working on this week? 

Cat Appreciation

Its no secret that I am a crazy cat lady so here is a post dedicated to the appreciation of fluffy cat friends. Recently I have started letting my two, Yoshi and Jim out in the garden to play.They do love it but I have been a nervous kitty parent letting them out into the big wide world.

So with cats on my mind I found some of my favourite feline items on etsy.com

.

'Cats!' by blacksunshineiow

Because cats are amazing!

Clockwork Kitty Steampunk Ca... collageOrama $6.99	Cat Earrings HelloPushkin $4	Cat Jewelry, My Cats, Person... CharmAccents $28	Cat Art; Cat Rules for Cat l... Words2Art $3
Custom cat portrait pendant ... JasminBlancBou... $50	50% OFF - Cat art Tile Ceram... HeatherGallerA... $10	Black Cat Silhouette on Midn... DivineIguana $3.5	Cat Pendant Cat Necklace Personalizedsi... $9.99
Kawaii Cat Necklace, Happy C... XKawaiiCutieX $10	nirvana plus cat equals purr... jackalopecloth... $18.99	Cat Shoes - Embroidered Kitt... emandsprout $25	Cat Pocket Mirror - Happy Ki... miristudio $4

Sponsored by send bulk email from excel.

Do you have any favourite cat crafts? or plans to make some? Or are you a cat enthusiast like myself, I'd love to know about your kitties :)

Buttons Headband ( & new dress)

Last night I worked on a prototype button headband. I used lots of rainbow colours, which are my favourite.
I love it myself :) What do you think?

While I am here I shall show off my new dress. I rarely buy anything from high street shops as I can never find anything I like but I fell in love with this dress!

Dress: New Look. Tiara: Poundland. Necklace and Brooch: Black Sunshine. Shoes & cat tights: Ebay

#HappyHandmade My Picks

Its #HappyHandmade week 54 over at Daft Crafts!

Here are my three favourites from this weeks link up

Greeting card for all occasions cute from  Scrawny Girl

I love this print! So cute and colourful

Monster Plush from Wonky Critters

RAWR! This lil guy is awesome!

Chain maille rosette bracelet from Cherished

Pink and blue is one of my favourite colour combinations and looks beautiful on this bracelet

Have you joined in the link up this week? What are your favourites?

This Week..

I know its only Wednesday, so really this post should be 'the last few days', but that doesn't sound right to me :p

Behind the scenes of Black Sunshine I have been a busy bee. Working on a new latex mask for Mr. Strange, which is looking suitably creepy so far!

Speaking of Mr. Strange, we took a walk up to Headen Warren (near Alum Bay) to take a look at the land slips that happened after the storms. A few of the paths where closed off to to massive cracks in the ground and some of the paths have narrowed considerably but its all still pretty. I can't wait to go blackberry picking there in the summer.

I have been  working on new accent dread kits for my shop. Most have been snapped up, but there are still some sets up for grabs and more are on there way! If there are any dread colour combo sets you would like to see just let me know in the comments. 

New Twitter Account

I have had my Twitter account for many years. And have followed and have a lot of followers but I have decided to make a new one. Mainly because all I see are pages and pages of spam tweets.
I have been unable to find an effective way of unfollowing all of these spammers so this is my solution. I'm sorry if this causes any inconvenience.

Please click the button below to follow me :)


Follow @BlkSunshineShop

Extra Long Dreads

Back in 2012 I made some long double ended dreads for the lovely Anna ( aka Anouk Dread Maker)

Since then Anna has turned this set into extra long single ended dreads . So awesome! 

What length do you like your dreads? Short and cute? Or long and lovely?