STARtorialist

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

Hello, dearest followers! We’ve been quiet over here because it turns out running a new online shop is a LOT of work! But we’ve loved every second of it, and are especially exciting to be starting our first Black Friday-Small Business Saturday-Cyber Monday weekend (the biggest shopping weekend in the US!). Our shop is not only a women-owned small bsuiness, but it helps support dozens of other small businesses & independent designers!

Our deal is Buy One, Get One 50% Off (almost) anything in the shop! Only original paintings by Dust & Ash Co. are excluded. The discount will appear automagically during check out, no code required! Plus, we offer free shipping with the US for orders over $100.

We have lots of curated astro-fashion, toys, and gifts in the shop, and many items are custom, limited edition, or even one-of-a-kind! Shop early to find that special gift for the space-lovers among your friends, family, or even yourself.

Stay safe this holiday season, and share space metaphorically rather than physically, with gift curated by professional astronomers. 🤩

—Emily, Debbie, & Kelle

#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). 

Now here 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

Today’s (late-breaking) #WeeWednesday (our first since the online shop officially opened!) is actually a triple-bagger!

“Wee” was originally for kids, and the adorable plush planetary pals from Celestial Buddies are perfect for kids of all ages. We’re highlighting one in particular today, so wee is also appropriate for the tiniest of the buddy bunch, the Comet. And new for today is “Wheeeeeeeeee!” because Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) is currently flinging itself through the inner Solar System making for a spectacular viewing opportunity for northern hemisphere skywatchers! It is visible before dawn at the moment (look north-east, close to the horizon), and around mid-July it will become an evening comet (look north-west), perfect for physically-distanced stargazing!

Top image: Comet Celestial Buddy and Comet NEOWISE photographed by astronauts on the ISS.

Second row: cuddly Comet celebrating the Philae landing back in 2014 (Bonus: we still have Rosetta wood necklaces available in the shop!)

Bottom image: Comet NEOWISE as observed by the NASA/ESA SOHO mission in June.

Shop our Comet Collection

Check out all our #comet blog posts

--Emily

Happy Aphelion Sunday, STARtorialists! Yesterday at 7:34 am (NYC time) the Earth was 94,507,635 miles from the Sun, its furthest distance for this orbit. As we inch closer for the next six months, you can celebrate our closest star every day with some our favorite Sun-inspired designs!

From top to bottom:

Sun Illustration Cotton Bandana - a beautifully hand-printed bandana based on a scientific illustration of the surface of the Sun, available neon and neutral, doubles as a DIY no-sew face mask (video instructions).

Sun Illustration Cotton Handkerchief - smaller than the bandana so even more portable & eco-friendly, plus it will soften with each wash. Use it to replace tissues, paper napkins, and more!

Sun Image Ring & Earrings - these are a brilliant way to wear a little sunshine every day. Also available in a necklace, clip, & hair slides

Solar Eclipse Wood Bracelet - eclipses in general are less rare than you probably think, but a total solar eclipse is still an experience to cherish! This design by a Ph.D. astronomer (!!!) is available also as a necklace.

Sun plush toy - you don’t need any sunscreen to get close to this cuddly Sun.

Shop all of our Sun products!

--Emily

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:

Jupiter Plush Toy

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 products and Juno products. 

- Summer & Emily

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 very early! Or stock 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 (whimsical web comics, illustrations, stickers and more featuring all your favorite celestial objects)

Design by Liz K

Lost in Space Jewelry (custom Planetary Position Plaques make lovely gifts!) 

Megan Lee Studio

Pretty Little Earth

Science Socks (watch this space for more designs!) 

Sofie Shen (illustrator extraordinaire who can make your space art dreams come true)

Surlyramics 

Tactile Melodies

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

Today is the last official day of NASA’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 system to the 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 Socks made these 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

FBF to our amazing volunteers at the BOOTHtique at AAS 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 Rowland showcasing our 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

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.  

Good news for all you Chrissy Sparks Art fans: we have restocked her lovely “Love You to the Moon and Back” hand-painted signs at our AAS235* BOOTHtique! BONUS: gorgeous new earrings designs featuring Orion, Saturn, and galaxies. 

For those of you not at AAS235, check out Chrissy’s Etsy store for more of her work. 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.  

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.  

Bask in the glow (or shadow as the case may be) of M87′s supermassive black hole with these pieces made for us by Lost in Space Jewelry and Yugen Tribe, now in stock and soon to be on display at our AAS235* BOOTHtique! 

The Lost in Space Jewelry designs feature both the black hole image made by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) last spring as well as a frame of the computer simulation of what they hoped to detect. The spherical earrings shown in the top photo are double sided with the image and simulation back-to-back, as is the pendent necklace. The smaller earrings (second photo) are mismatched and flat on the back. 

The Yugen Tribe design features the same image and comes as a sliding pendant and now as black cufflinks! What could be better than black tie, black hole wear? 

For those of you not at AAS235, be sure to show some love to both Lost in Space Jewelry (Etsy Store, Twitter) and Yugen Tribe (Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook). 

- 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.  

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.  

We are so excited to have these pieces from Cephid Studio (formerly Becky Queen of Frocks) at our AAS235* BOOTHtique this year! In our opinion you can never have enough space socks - hers feature constellations and observatories. 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.  

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!