New Year, New Update...

News can't really be news if there's none posted, and it's been a very long time since I've posted any.

My website will remain closed for the foreseeable future. Working outside the home, away from the sewing machines, is taking all of my time, and when there's any time left over, it's spent with my daughters.

Already ordered something from me ages ago? Please email me with details ASAP. Since any last orders were placed, I've lost all information about them due to the death of my old computer, and at this point, I don't know who I never filled orders for. Most likely, at this point in time, I would just refund you since I have no guarantees as to when I could fill an order.

Occasionally I will get emails from people asking if I will take on an order. At this point, the answer is almost always no, just because I cannot promise a quick turnaround. There may always be an exception to this, so please do feel free to ask if you are interested. Details, including the item you are looking for, and any time frame you need it for, are very helpful when contacting me.

I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous 2010, and hopefully one day I will be updating this with news of reopening.

Long-overdue update...

The wrist injury mentioned in the post from a year ago has healed, and I am working on orders. Still not caught up, and with another relocation on the horizon, it will be another month or two until I am caught up again.

I fully intend to have everything currently past-due finished by the end of September at the latest, and am planning to reopen for new orders sometime in October. Sooner if possible, but with the updates to the website, it may take longer than I want it to.

There will be new styles to come, and some of the current ones will be retired.

Quick progress update...

I was getting close to caught up with past-due orders about two months ago, but haven't been able to work on anything in the last month due to an injury which has resulted in limited use of my left hand and arm. As I am left handed, this is causing much irritation because I cannot do anything remotely resembling sewing or preparation - can't draft patterns, can't cut fabric, can't guide fabric into the sewing machines.

The injury is healing, but taking a very long time to do so, which has once again resulted in additional delays to those patiently awaiting corsets, skirts and other garments.

The website will remain closed until I am capable of working regularly again, which could be anywhere from a few more weeks to a few more months.

If you are awaiting a garment from me, please know that I am very, very sorry for the continued delay.

Temporary closure...

So I meant to post something the other day in relation to the current state of the website, but of course I forgot because I was busy sewing.

Last fall, after taking a few too many corset orders in a sale that was intended to have only 4 corsets available, I suffered several bouts of illness and severe migraines, which were mostly related to the mold growing in the house we had been renting for 5.5 years. I was unable to work while sick, and a big part of the remedy came with us relocating.

I haven't been getting daily migraines since we moved (I think I've had two migraines total since the end of January), I've been physically a lot healthier, and my productivity has increased greatly. I am actually getting work done. A lot of it. But I still have 9 corsets, 4 skirts and one dress in queue as well as another wedding dress.

In theory I should be caught up by summer, preferably sooner, since we plan to move again before the end of July.

But until then new orders are not being taken so I can concentrate on the past-due ones as well as to update the website. As it currently is, any orders sent through the website go to a defunct email address. And we can't have that, can we? And I want to do some rearranging of things, updating of other things, and getting rid of yet other things. So until further notice, no orders are being accepted.

Thank you for being patient with me. When the website goes live again I'll be at a point where my turnaround time will be only a few weeks instead of way too many months.

Another moving update...

The relocation has happened, but it might be a while until I am able to resume working on current orders. Hopefully this delay is close to an end, though at this time I have no definite time frame for the completion of past-due orders.

My computer is down due to a hardware failure, and access to old emails is limited to what is coming up via webmail. I will hopefully have access to everything on my computer once it is functioning again, though that may not be for another two weeks.

I do sincerely apologize for the delay this has caused, and assure you that all pending orders will be completed as soon as humanly possible.

Moving and ordering...

Earlier this week we got the official word that we are moving. At the end of the month. At that point, nothing had been packed and since then I've been doing nothing but packing. Sewing has to take the back burner for the time being, but will resume as soon as possible, in our new location, and in my own sewing room.

Having my own sewing room will result in more time devoted to sewing, and thus a quicker turn-around once all currently past due orders are caught up.

I apologize to everyone who has been waiting for a corset or skirt, I will do my best to get caught up as soon as we are fully relocated.

Thank you for understanding.

Due to the move and the backlog of existing orders, I will not be accepting new orders until early March. If you submit an order before I announce that ordering has resumed, I will give you the option of a refund or a lengthy wait time.

no more soap or bath bombs for a while...

I will be pulling the ordering buttons soon, but thought I should mention that I won't be able to make soap for a while. Most likely it will be well into the new year that I am able to start again.

I also am only going to be taking a few orders here and there due to my current workload. Corset orders that should be completed before the end of the year are finally getting started, and I doubt that I will have everything that's been promised by the end of the year completed by then. I am trying to work as much as possible on these, but the seasonal migraines are back and I am currently lucky to have one day per week where I don't feel the urge to curl up in a ball and hibernate.

New email addresses...

Effective immediately, due to the massive amounts of spam I get, I am retiring both blackrayne@blackrayne.com and orders@blackrayne.com.

New general questions about ordering should be sent to questions (AT) blackrayne (DOT) com and payments should be sent to payments (AT) blackrayne (DOT) com ... I will keep the old emails active for the remainder of the week, but then they will be disabled and all emails sent to them will bounce.

Thank you!

New blog for updates...

I decided to create a blog specifically to post website updates with, though the old news page still exists here.

Hopefully updates will come more frequently this way, since I seem to be more attentive to blog updating than I was to html news page updating.

Recent news - I updated the Halloween fabrics page and added a page for taffetas, satins, and overlay fabrics. I updated the photo on the sweetheart overbust corset, and have an updated version of the men's pvc buckle corset now as well.

I know there were other recent updates, but I already forget what they were, so this is all that shall be mentioned for the time being.