#startorialist
#TBT to us over the years!!
I think the top photo actually predates our very first blog post! The blog existed in our heads but only became a reality a couple weeks later in the final days of 2013…SO MANY YEARS AGO.
Look at our baby selves at AAS223, the World Science Festival, and the Intrepid Museum’s Hubble25 exhibit in 2014 - we were so young and carefree living on stardust.
Flash forward to 2016, hanging out at Columbia University’s Astrofest and in the StarTalk studio (with Star Baby #1 making its presence known).
And last but not least, two of our last conferences together in person - AGU 2018 and AAAS 2019 (with uber imminent Star Baby #2).
Nowhere we are and it’s hard to believe our dreams of an online shop have finally become a reality!
Thanks to all of you for being here every step (post) of the way. You never forget your first (blog) home. ;)
- Summer & Emily
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OTD four years ago, in 2016, NASA’s Juno Mission arrived at Jupiter and began doing ALL THE SCIENCE. Pop on over to our online shop to pick up some goodies to celebrate the gorgeousness of this gas giant!
Featured above:
Mismatched laser cut Jupiter and Juno spacecraft wooden earrings
3D printed gold steel Juno Mission logo necklace
Juno Mission spacecraft print socks
Swirls on Jupiter steampunk choker (as imaged by NASA’s Junocam)
Click for quick links to browse all of our Jupiter productsand Juno products.
-Summer & Emily
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We are go for launch - OUR ONLINE SHOP IS OPEN!!!
We are publicly announcing it here first, because Tumblr is the place we began, where we met some of our first and still favorite designers, where we learned about new aspects of the vast and diverse Universe of creators in astrofashion.
Our shop is infused with science, from the carefully curated products to their informative descriptions to our “Shop By Science” menu and extensive Learn More page. You’re not just buying a beautifully designed & crafted piece of jewelry or clothing your accessory, you’re learning and sharing real science!
The blog will live on at blog.startorialist.com, and we hope to start posting here again soon, and not just products from our own shop - we still have nearly 200 draft posts stored up!
Here is our oh-so-brief origin story, and the mission of our business:
STARtorialist began almost seven years ago as the Universe’s premier astro-fashion blog, founded by astronomers Emily Rice & Summer Ash. When we shared the blog with our colleagues at research conferences, the most frequently asked question we heard was, “Where can we buy stuff?”! With the help of Kelle Cruz and Debbie Kovalsky, we experimented with BOOTHtique pop-up shops at conferences, to great success! Then the new FAQ became, “Do you have an online shop?” so we set that as our next goal.
Finally, the launch day is here! We are thrilled to be able to offer some of our favorite scientifically-accurate and space-inspired designs in jewelry, clothing, accessories, toys, and more. We have nearly 200 products in stock, and we will continually be adding more. We would love to hear what you are looking for, so Contact Us via the shop, and be sure to sign up for our Newsletter!
Your purchases will allow us to continue supporting independent designers and women/minority/family-owned small businesses, many of which are struggling during these challenging times. We are also committed to sharing some of our profits with STEM education, outreach, and equity & inclusion organizations in order to strengthen our community and improve our world. We thank you astronomically for your support!
Universal Love,
Emily, Summer, Debbie, & Kelle
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Today is the day we usually celebrate Pi Day, but honestly it feels infinitely* silly with so much happening around our pale blue dot. So instead of celebrating an irrational number, we thought we’d share slices* of some small but rational* steps for uplifting one another in difficult times.
As many of you know, we are in the process of setting up our own small (women-owned!) business, and as we work through that process we appreciate even more how much time and energy the artists & vendors we share here have put into their own craft. For many of them, maintaining their livelihoods is especially challenging right now, but luckily, we can help!
Instead of hoarding toilet paper, why not start your winter-holiday gift shopping veryearly!Orstock up on birthday presents, or gifts for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations (with or without in-person ceremonies), Just Because Day! If you’re not sure what someone special (even yourself) might like, purchase a gift card from your favorite artist. Want a custom creation? Message an artist on social media for a commission so they don’t have to pay fees to sites like Etsy. :)
Here are just some** of our favorite small businesses (women, family, and/or minority owned) who could use your support:
Amy Rae Hill (whose commissions like this teapot are out of this world!)
Cepheid Studio (check out her new shinies, like this Hubble pin badge!)
Chrissy Sparks Art (we adore her hand-painted cosmic wooden ornaments)
Cosmic Funnies (whimsicalweb comics, illustrations, stickers and more featuring all your favorite celestial objects)
Lost in Space Jewelry (custom Planetary Position Plaques make lovely gifts!)
Science Socks (watch this space for more designs!)
Sofie Shen (illustrator extraordinaire who can make your space art dreams come true)
Two Photon Art (they have some great freebies to download, too!)
Yugen Tribe (our long-time favorites with stunning new designs, like these Solar System beauties)
We’ll continue to share work by these artists and more via this thread over on Twitter!
Socially-distant hugs from across the Universe,
–Emily & Summer
(image credits: FreakingNews.com, user: vicspa)
*We made be sad and stressed, but puns will always prevail.
**woefully incomplete
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Today is the last official dayofNASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope mission <sniff>. Launched over 16 years ago, Spitzer brought the infrared universe to the forefront as one of NASA’s Great Observatories. It studied everything from our own solar systemtothe Milky Way to some of the most distant galaxies. It mapped the first “weather map” of an exoplanet, refined the density estimates for the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, and found the largest molecules known to exist in space, aka Buckyballs. I could go on and on and on!
In celebration of this amazing mission, Science Socksmadethese awesome socks so you can trap your own infrared radiation and keep your feet warm in memory of Spitzer! BONUS, $2 from every sale is donated to STEM for Her - a non-profit in the D.C. area that promotes education to create awareness, excitement, and opportunities among girls and young women to pursue successful STEM-related careers.
If you’re not ready to say goodbye just yet, you can relive some of this phenomenal mission with this tribute video and learn more about 15 of Spitzer’s greatest discoveries here.
- Summer
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FBF to our amazing volunteers at the BOOTHtiqueatAAS 235 last week! Thanks to everyone who stopped by, supported us, and helped make it happen.
Thanks to all our stellar volunteers (top to bottom) Betsy Hernandez+Danielle Rowlandshowcasingour new logo,UH Hilo students Hannah Blue + Kamalani Poepoe + Andrea Waiters working hard and hanging loose,Kristen Dage+ Teresa Panurach + Victoria DiTomasso +Brandon Barker enjoying stellar gifts from Dr. Rachael Livermore&Maria Vallejo, and Tom Rice showing how to dress for success. Briley Lewis + Hannah Blue living it up in the exhibition hall. Not pictured but just as amazing: Stephanie Douglas,Karen Knierman.
- Emily & Summer
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EXCITING NEWS: we sponsored the American Astronomical Society team uniforms at AAS235*! The designs feature the phases of the moon and the Hubble Space Telescope…both with POCKETS.
We are so thrilled to see them in the wild!
- Summer & Emily
*We are dividing and conquering our annual American Astronomical Society winter meeting this year with Emily in situ in Honolulu and Summer holding down the social media fort in New Mexico.
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Exciting new designs from Boutique Academia on hand at our AAS235* BOOTHtique featuring everyone’s favorite black hole (M87) and a perennial favorite of ours, the solar spectrum as seen by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Plus their speed of light necklace that we love (available in both gold-plated and sterling silver).
For those of you not at AAS235, these designs are also all available on the Boutique Academia website. Be sure to follow them on Twitter,Instagram, and Facebook, and check out all our previous posts here.
- Summer & Emily
*We are dividing and conquering our annual American Astronomical Society winter meeting this year with Emily in situ in Honolulu and Summer holding down the social media fort in New Mexico.
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We are so embarrassed that we haven’t shared the wonderful work of Liz Kruesi on the blog yet even though we’ve been carrying her designs at the #BOOTHtique for almost two years now!! Liz is a freelance science writer and jewelry maker on the side. We fell in love with her pieces back in 2017 at the Women in Astronomy IV meeting where she was sporting her solar system necklace.
Since then, she has created quite possibly one of the loveliest planetary collections. Her pieces feature beads reminiscent of each planet (and its moons) and each item comes with a cheat sheet describing the stones that represent each object. We started with her Jupiter and Saturn designs and they were so popular at the Division of Planetary Sciences Conference in 2018, that people were soon swapping them with each other so they could sport one of each planet. The fad soon took over the Neptune and Uranus designs as well. Now we just assume this will be the case and order both matching and mis-matching pairs from her. ;)
New to the BOOTHtique at AAS235* are her Earth+Moon, Earth/Mars mismatched, and Pluto+Charon earrings!
For those of you not at AAS235, check out Liz’s Etsy store and be sure to follow her on Twitter,Instagram.
- Summer & Emily
*We are dividing and conquering our annual American Astronomical Society winter meeting this year with Emily in situ in Honolulu and Summer holding down the social media fort in New Mexico.
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We are so excited to have these pieces from Cephid Studio(formerlyBecky Queen of Frocks) at our AAS235* BOOTHtique this year! In our opinion you can never have enough space socks - hers feature constellationsandobservatories. And just for fun, we’re adding her washi tape to the mix because why use boring old tape when you can use some with planets,constellations, and mathematical formulae?! We’ve also got custom bracelets and necklaces!
For those of you not at AAS235, shop till you drop on Becky’s website. Be sure to follow her on Twitter,Instagram, and Facebook, and check out all our previous posts here.
- Summer & Emily
*We are dividing and conquering our annual American Astronomical Society winter meeting this year with Emily in situ in Honolulu and Summer holding down the social media fort in New Mexico.
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TGIF Startorialists! And by TGIF, we mean Thank God its Finally TIME TO SHARE THAT WE ARE OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL! As of January 1st, we are incorporated and more importantly, we have a new logo!*
We were pretty quiet in 2019 and this is why; turns out it takes a lot of work to become a business. ;)
Now that it’s a new year and a new us, we have lots of exciting things planned for you…so as usual WATCH THIS SPACE.
- Summer & Emily
*huge shout out to Ian McMullen for making our vision a reality!
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Today is the last day of our booth at AAS229, and I have just two more vendors to share! Penultimate is @pretty-little-earth, a new endeavor of @spaceoncanvas‘s partner Katy in late 2015. We have adored their work since their launch!
The Pretty Little Earth @etsy shop is replete with laser-cut wood designs. Some are simple geometricornature designs, but of course we love the sampling of space!
The designs include the entire Solar System, individual planets (I interpret the walnut Jupiter as a brown dwarf!),a delightful observatory, and spacecraft both retro (lunar lander,space shuttle) and modern (Rosetta,Juno). Many designs are available as brooches and cuff links in addition to necklaces and earrings so there are several ways to wear each design. I can personally attest that the wood is both delicate and detailed so these pieces are a delight to wear.
–Emily
Full disclosure: vendors paid to be represented at our booth in order for us to cover the costs, but we are only representing awesome vendors!
Thanks so much for representing us and the astronomical fashion community!
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What’s better than one adorable startorialist? How about three, wearing matching t-shirts featuring Lego mini-fig versions of two more?!
These photos were submitted by Jo, a former students of mine, featuring her son-in-law, grandson, and husband Bob - the generations of startorialists! The shirt is Space is Awesome by the equally awesome @pacalin! From Jo:
I got them the shirts for Christmas […] Brian (6 years old) knows who Bill and Neil are. Since retiring, I have had time to spend learning about our awesome universe and your class inspired me to continue. You filled in many pieces of the puzzle and I still rely on the info you taught to continue learning on my own. [I learned a lot from Jo & Bob, who are retired teachers! -E] I have definitely inspired Brian to study the stars and universe. He wants to be an Astrophysicist. His Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers were very impressed that he knew that word.
I bet Brian knows more than the word, especially with such wonderful grandparents as role models!
About the shirt - once again,@pacalin‘s attention to detail astounds me. Of course there is Neil’s vestandBill’s bow tie, and Neil is holding Newton’s Principia, but then in the background there is Cassini orbiting Saturn (at first I thought it could be Voyager, but the gold spacecraft and the long boom are giveaways), and then there’s Enceladus spewing material from its south pole!
Check out all of @pacalin‘sdesigns at Neato Shop!
–Emily
What an awesome write-up by Emily at STARtorialist! And look at these gentlemen spreading the science. Thank you for the lovely photos! <3
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Every wanted to dress like Neil Tyson and think “If only I had a vest as cool as his?” DREAMS. ANSWERED.
One of our favorite science t-shirt designers has come to the rescue with a fabulous t-shirt version of Neil’s famed vest. This “cosmic waistcoat” tee is by Pauline Acalin and is available via Tee Fury.
I wore mine while standing in for Neil last week at Cosmos on Tap and managed to fool the man himself into thinking I had a vest just like his…although it was over FaceTime in a dark bar when I showed it to him, BUT STILL. ;)
-Summer
I love this so much! Summer, one of the gals who runs the incredibly sensational blog STARtorialist, rocking the heck out of Cosmic Waistcoat.
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There were a lot of awesome science t-shirts at AAS 227 (and we’ll post more soon!), but my favorite is of courseStar Womenby@pacalin, and it was well-represented!
Top photo: Summer, Emily, Ashley, & Karen
Bottom photo: Lia (spatially at MIT but with us in spirit!)
Read about even more awesome historical lady astronomers thanks to @ashpags!
–Emily
Emily and Summer of Startorialist relentlessly supporting my Star Women tee. Look at all these lady science folk! So honored. By the way…their blog is delicious and I want everything on it….and I’m slowly getting there. :)
Spreading science one tee at a time!
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