Miniscule progress... grrrrr!

As much as I love spending Thursdays with Jake, I do begrudge the time away when I have an idea hot on the burner. I managed to get a bit of work done on my Water Spirit, and I do have to wait on the arrival of my epoxy clay before I can begin sculpting the base embellishments... No matter -- tomorrow is Friday so I will have the entire morning and afternoon for uninterrupted work!


Oh my, I think I got more accomplished than I thought. This is quite wonderful! I put on the first layer of paint on the figure itself. I like the shading of the blues, but I think I want to see a little more variation in the hues themselves. Perhaps some green and purple...

Oh geez, not again. Listen to me. No, no, not again! I have GOT to get away from that color scheme. The next Spirit Elemental is going to have to be Fire for sure!



Here is the painted face ready to be attached to the form. I am pleased with the way the colors turned out -- the first attempt was too awful to show. Isn't it amazing what a little Pearl-Ex powder can do??!

I also managed to shape and tape the hand armatures. The one on the right has the first layer of clay added. Now for some real sculpting challenges! I haven't attempted realistic hands yet.


I learned a cool trick for making hands the same size from Maureen Carlson's Family and Friends in Polymer Clay. This jig is just so slick!! The pattern in the book was an exact fit for my figure, but it would be as easy as anything to size it up or down for a larger or smaller figure. The only problem I encountered was in the size of the wire -- the author recommended 18 gauge, but I found it to be much too heavy for a hand this size.

Here we go... something *totally* new for me. I've never worked abstractly before, but ignorance is bliss and I am just charging in regardless. I want to do a series of elementals, and I am beginning with my own element, "water".

The figure is just a suggested female form in a fluid pose. The face and hands will be sculpted. I also plan on doing some wave-like forms around the base, but I used up all my epoxy clay on the dragon, so I have to order some of that ASAP.

Thoughts of pearls, peridots, and aquamarines are swirling around the edges of my thoughts, but I don't quite know how I want to encorporate them yet...


Her mask came out a little more realistic than I wanted, but I love it so much that I am determined to use it anyway. I had an AWFUL time sculpting a profile -- there is a lot more space between the center of the nose and the edge of the cheekbone than shows in a photograph, that's for sure! I finally had to get Lydia to let me stare at her face for few minutes to get a feel of how a profile is put together.

I long for the day when I just *know* the stuff I need to know and I don't always have to be figuring out the little things from scratch.

I can see from this macro shot that she isn't nearly as smooth as I thought when she went into the oven either. I spent what seemed like ages smoothing that clay too, darn it! That's OK though, sandpaper is cheap, and paint covers a multitude of sins, LOL!

Painting a Dragon

The first coat of paint is a layer of Genesis Viridian Blue (a dark greenish bluish black -- gorgeous color!)

The idea was that I would drybrush over it so that this lovely rich shade would remain in the creases of the texture.

Didn't happen. Sigh...







I mixed up nice blues and greens and dabbed them on with a mop brush. The colors blended beautifully this way.

A dark purple fills in the shadows in the creases and the cuts of the muscles.

I don't like those white eyes though.




And...


TA DAAAaaaaa!!





HERE HE IS! I can't believe I made this guy. All he needs now is a coat of varnish and he is ready for display.

The spikes are accented with Pearl-Ex bright gold mixed with Genesis glazing medium. I thought it would be shinier, but now that I look at it, I prefer the more subtle effect.

And darn it! I see that I got some green paint smeared on the base. Grumble...

I think I want to add one more layer to the pedestal. It will be more stable and will also look a little more finished.

Well, well... how often does this happen -- my photos actually loaded in the order in which I wanted them to appear! Yes, I know, I AM way too easily amused!

My dragon has wings and is ready for painting. I don't know what I was so stressed about -- the wings were actually easier than I thought they would be. This does not usually happen, in case you are wondering why I am so excited. I usually underestimate (by a mile!) the time and effort a project will take.

I wish I had made the wings a little bigger, but I would have run out of clay if I had, so oh well! I had *just* exactly enough Magic Sculpt to finish covering the wire mesh that is the armature for the wing web and the candlestick, which I decided was pretty dorky looking as the base for a Majestic Dragon such as this is becoming.


Ready to paint! I got an old luncheon plate from Goodwill to use as a pallette. Decorative as well as functional -- I like it! The Genesis paints are so pleasant to work with. If I were independently wealthy, I'd have one of each color. Good thing I know how to mix what I need!

By the time you check this spot again, my dragon should be finished!

Homage to a Good Friend

This photo of me was taken in 1997 at a fire lookout station in South Dakota. I post it here today for 2 reasons, the first of which is in loving memory of my beautiful little dog Theo, who left me yesterday after a brief illness. He was 17 years old, which is VERY old for dog.

Not old enough for me, alas.

I also put it here to remind myself of what I CAN be when I take care of myself. I will NOT use my grief as an excuse to eat too much or to shirk my exercise. I WILL use it as an excuse to cry instead, because I must, and because his life was worth the tears his death costs me now. Wasn't he the cutest thing???

It took effort, but I made myself stay busy (and out of the kitchen!) yesterday afternoon by getting back to work on my dragon. I had been dreading this step for fear of ruining what I had already created. I wish I could get over that...

So I shaped the wing wires in a pose, then wired on some metal mesh to act as a support for the clay. Magic Sculpt epoxy clay makes up the bones and the "skin" of the wing web.


Here is a close up of the wing before I cover it completely. I am nearly out of the Magic Sculpt -- I hope I have enough to finish this step, or it will be days again before I can get back to it. I really REALLY want to get this dragon finished!

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I am so glad that I decided to paint around the pearls and crystals on his breastplate BEFORE adding the wings. Those wings are just *in the way* of everything and from every angle. They have also compromised his balance, though I posed them as carefully as I could to keep him stable. This guy is now very VERY top heavy. I am going to need to add something as a base to keep him from being so tippy.

Crayola Rain

I love Spring Break, if for no other reason that it IS a lovely break in a routine gone dull over the winter. This year we returned to the Sea Gypsy in Lincoln City, OR. I never ever get tired of looking out to sea and listening to the waves. It rained most of the times we were there. This is a shot of the rare spot of sunshine we saw. I took about 7 photos of this sunset and none of them were the same. I get so excited by all the colors!

OK, so it usually rains -- and this year was no different -- but that's why I always bring along something to do that doesn't need to be done outside. I usually bring along my knitting, and sometimes drawing supplies. This year I didn't feel like knitting, and for some reason known only to the spirit that inspired my hand to move, I threw in a box of crayons with my drawing supplies.I guess I was in the mood for crayons! I had so much fun just playing with the c0lors. The 2 ladies just sort of grew out of playing around with what I know about average facial proportions. The fish is the only "planned" drawing in the group. I hope to do a painting from this design once I get the idea down a little better.
I never did get out my Official Artist's Tools...


This is one of our "neighbors" for the week. I don't know what we were doing that he found so fascinating, but he sat there on the fence outside our door for quite a while watching us!

I love love LOVE going to the Coast, but I am happy to be home again now. It was wonderful to spend such a good amount of time together as a family. It was a little hard to have Jake go back to work today, and then Monday the girls will be back to school too. Sigh...

On the other hand, it will also be fun to get back to my projects in progress. That is, IF I catch up with the laundry, LOL!

Too much, yet STILL not enough

OK, so... reborning, as with everything else, is trickier than it sounds. Sigh...

Actually, this doll is turning out FANTASTIC. I had NO idea my first attempt (Ok, 3rd attempt -- but the first 2 never got this far) would turn out so well.

The difference lies in the paints. I am using Genesis heat set oils instead of acrylics on this doll, the I am so impressed with how easy they are to paint with. No -- how easy they are to CONTROL!

Paints that have their own "personalities" -- aka watercolors and acrylics -- are just too hard for a control freak like myself to work with. I still love my watercolors, but now I can't wait to try a real painting with these Genesis paints.

I sound like a commercial, don't I... sigh...

It's the hair that is making me nuts with this baby. He/she already has too much hair for a newborn, and yet I still have at least 25% of the skull left to cover.

Live and learn... I still have 5 Goodwill babies left in "rehab", LOL. Rooting hair properly is already getting easier. However...

I am SOOOooooo bored with the Absolute Realism of "newborning". What skin tones do you think Fantasy Reborns might have??? Tattoos?? Gold? Glitter? Costumes?

(I have enough of Realism in Real Life. I'd rather make Fairies!)

They are only Goodwill babies after all. I do believe I feel some experimenting coming on!

Challenges

No pictures today... I haven't had the motivation to create lately. Between daughter's dance team activities, workouts, menu planning, and (*%#!@^* TAXES... well, even the fun stuff has just seemed like too much WORK!

Sigh...

Plus, I spend too darned much time in front of this computer. Lately it's been tracking calories eaten and burned, and browsing online diet boards. What can I say -- it keeps me focused on just *why* I am hungry. I have already eaten my calories allowed into next year! So, I am working on letting my body catch up. I started the Sonoma Diet after the holidays when I couldn't zip my "fat jeans". Since January 9 I have lost 23 pounds. Only 2 pounds to go to meet my goal for Easter.

12 pounds to go until I can classify myself as merely "overweight" instead of obese.

65 pounds to go until I reach my goal weight.

I only wish it didn't take as much mental and emotional energy as it has lately. The workouts are actually becoming kind of fun (did I actually write that??!) but I WISH I didn't obsess about this so much. Hopefully writing it down will purge some of the garbage thinking and make some room to let in thoughts of something else for a while.

Arghhhhh...! Well, on the upside, I am *definitely* learning how to work with HTML code. Still, I really REALLY wish I could figure out how to get these photos to upload in the order in which I want them to appear... THE FIRST TIME. grumblegrumblegrumble...

This is the color scheme I have chosen for painting the dragon. I am using Genesis heat set paints for the first time. This stuff is very interesting. I look forward to learning more about using it.


(Gads, this is a horrible photo...)

This what I have gotten done so far. The work has been spread out over the last 4 days, and the paint is still as creamy and spreadable as when I squeezed it out of its little tube. Fabulous stuff, and very easy to control once I mixed it with some thinning medium. I am really loving the way the colors of the crystals and pearls "pop" against the pale blue. I will highlight the scales later with some white, perhaps a little Pearl-Ex too...


And, last but NOT least, I have to share my beautiful birthday gift from my internet friend Kai. This little gal practically vibrates with energy. I love holding her in my hand and just looking at her.

Living so far out in the country makes it tough to have friends. I am thankful every day of my life for the connections if have through the internet, especially the fact that they are all as into "stuff" as I am!

There are more of "Us" out there than I ever thought. Hooray for fiber artists!

Progress...

Left Profile

I had the worst time photographing this guy today. Finally I just went and grabbed the tripod and set him up with some black paper as a background. Not too bad... some day I may finally get the hang of this photography stuff.

I managed to cut off the tip of his nose in this shot though. Hmpffff...

One of his spikes broke when I tried to use it as a handle and put just a little too much leverage on it. My daughter thinks I should leave it this way and call it his battle scar. I am not convinced, especially since I got so enthusiastic with all the crystals and pearls in his breastplate. He even has pearls around his eyes.

Right Profile

This is a little better photo, though it gives the viewer a prime shot of the crater that was left where one of his spikes fell out when I baked him. A little glue should put that to rights once he is totally cooled, but Arghhh!

On the other hand, I have proof at last that the expression in both eyes is more or less the same. What a relief. It took forever to even them out and I still wasn't sure.


Full Face and Breast Plate

I didn't notice this photo being out of focus when I edited it, but it seems a little fuzzy here. This one gives you a good look at his forehead jewel though, and an idea of what the whole breastplate looks like. I am not sure what I am going to do to protect all those jewels when I paint him. I'll think of something.

The idea for his embellishments was born when my other daughter asked where his jewels were as I was sculpting the scales of his breastplate. "Jewels??" I asked. She then referred me to the description of Smaug, the dragon in The Hobbit. I would never have thought of them myself, so I added a few Swarovski crystals as jewels. Not bad! But those few seemed a little too few, so I just kept adding more.

And more.

And then one of my dollmakers' lists got involved in a discussion of drag queens and their costumes, and it IS Mardi Gras this week... I decided to add some pearls too. Just for good measure.

You don't think I went too far overboard, do you?

Progress is being made

I got some good sculpting time in this morning. I don't know how much more I will be able to do to him today, but that's OK. I'm not sure where I want to go with him from here anyway.

So, today he acquired some teeth, a few more horns, and I began work on texturizing his hide. I know I want to do something different than the original for his breast area, but I need to let that percolate for a while.






In the meantime, I can see that he has different expressions on his face, depending on which side you look at him from. Hmmmm... I think the eye ridge on the left side of his head is thicker than the right, and also the eye is not set as deeply into the skull.

I wonder why these differences only become apparent in a photo? It would be a lot easier if I could notice them in real life first!

SOoooo Psyched!!

It's tough to tell, but these are teeth, horns, and an interesting warm grey polymer blend all set to flesh out my dragon bust.

As a rule, Fridays are a challenge for me -- I am pretty much home alone ALL day with no one to talk to and it always seems as if there isn't a whole lot to do. This is pure nonsense, of course. I ALWAYS have things to do, but getting up the gumption to actually DO them is another story.

So anyway...

Today I resolved to: NOT read about sculpting, NOT read computer messages, NOT play Sudoku, and NOT take a nap or watch a video or clean up my work room or any of the zillion other ways I have of avoiding a challenging project. (I really am my own worst enemy some days.)

I turned on the radio, warmed up my clay and got to work.

Oh my!!!




I can almost *see* the fire about to burst from these nostrils!

He still needs to be smoothed and textured. He needs teeth. And of course... WINGS! But I am so confident that he will turn out well in the end. I really feel as if I am finding a "touch" with the clay. I CAN make it do what I want it to do.







Now THAT'S a feeling of power.

I LIKE it, oh yeah!

While the teeth and horns were baking and cooling, I had time to play around with Christi Friesen's dragon techniques. This little guy, (who has way more personality than he should be entitled to,) if he continues to develop well, will become a gift for my oldest daughter's 17th birthday in March. His colors are much more pastel than they appear in this photo, but he delights me! I think he will look well strung with some pearls and aquamarines...

MORE clay to play with!

This time it's Magic Sculpt. I need to try the Aves Apoxie Sculpt too one of these days, but this is what I have on hand.

There is the *coolest* tutorial for sculpting a dragon bust on the 'net. (It's here: http://mysticalis.com/blog/viewtopic.php?t=11 if anyone is interested in checking it out.) A dragon! Of course, I HAD to take on that project.

Today I finished the armature. The Magic Sculpt is a little different than the other clays I have been playing with. For one thing it has a more grainy texture. For another, once it is mixed up, that is it -- you have to use it up because it hardens beyond further working in about 4 hours.

Once it's hard, it's hard as a rock though. How cool is that?!

Anyway, here's what I have so far...



This guy will be sculpted in parts. I will cover the body armature in clay next and then sculpt in the details. The wings will be done later.

I am afraid that I left the candlestick base too tall -- he's a bit top heavy. It will take some careful balancing to get the wings in position so that he doesn't tip over if you look at him too hard.

Tomorrow is Friday, which means I will be pretty much on my own for the whole day. For a change, I do NOT find this at all depressing. I have a whole day in which to play UNDISTURBED and UNINTERRUPTED!!

Her hair is set and her embellishments are complete. I wish the forehead jewel in her headpiece showed up better in the photograph -- I can't seem to capture it without the annoying luminosity from the flash.

I NEED to start working on my photography skills as far as these dolls go. They deserve better from me if I am going to share them with the world.

Working on this girl was a delight to my soul. I am in LOVE with polymer clay. The learning curve with this is much more fun than frustrating and I learned so much about anatomy from the 3D process. My drawings and cloth dolls can't help but improve after this.

And here is my finished Mardi Gras candlestick sculpt. Please notice that his eyes are in STRAIGHT! I got a wonderful tip from another sculptor on one of my mailing lists that helped me to really see if they were, in fact, set in as straight as I thought they were. Another big leap up the slope of the learning curve there!

As I look at the photo, I realize that I am not happy with the finish on the base. It definitely needs to be varnished, and maybe a little more metallic gold would enhance it too.

Perhaps some Pearl-Ex...

I am SUCH a sucker for anything that glitters, gleams, or sparkles!

This morning I am beginning a class on how to make dragon wings from Jean Bernard. I am so excited!! I know I said I wouldn't start anything new until the floor under the work table was cleared up; well, I lied. This was too big an opportunity to pass up. I have seen Jean's techniques in magazines for a long time and have always wanted to try them out for myself. Now's my chance and I am not going to waste it.

Another (almost) Finished Object

Ain't he cuuuuuuute? Now I remember why I made him in the first place! I see by the photo that I have to go back and pull the fur out of the seams of his left arm, and he still needs his little hat, but my first mohair bear is, for all intents and purposes, finished. I don't know if I will ever make another bear, but I am totally delighted with this little guy.

He is supposed to be a Woodland Elf Bear. He arms, legs, and body were dyed green, once upon a time, but the dye wasn't fast, so now he's just darker there. Pooh! That will teach me to let an unfinished project sit for 5 or so years on the floor under my cutting table!


And this little girl just keeps getting prettier and prettier. I know now why her eyes are crooked. Live and learn -- I will probably not have that problem again, so it is worth that to have made the error.

Knowledge is always valuable, right?

She still needs her earrings, hairpiece, and to have her hair styled, but right now her hair is in curlers, and we will spare her dignity and not photograph that.

Oops, I need to paint her base too yet I notice.




This little person is my latest sculpt. He is destined to be a mardi gras jester. I am having so much fun with this clay -- I had no idea how satisfying it would be to see these little figures come in to being!

I need to practice hands and feet yet. Fortunately, our February Sculpt-Along is a hand/arm. I am still looking for a reference drawing to work from. I know exactly what I want, but I can't find the book I think it's in. And no, I DON'T want to draw it myself. Maybe in another life when I have unlimited time, LOL.

My next major attempt is going to be a full figure sculpt. These little heads are so much funthough; I don't know if the rest of a body will be able to compete.

Busyness

It feels good to feel motivated to do things again! It is still raining, windy and cold -- will these Pacific storms *never* end??! -- but I can tell the days are getting longer. Just a little bit. I wonder if I could just go to bed at the end of November and wake up in February. It would save a lot of time and moping around!

On Saturday, Lydia and I went to see the Silverton dance team compete in Tualatin. One of the older girls was sick, so Alice got her chance as an alternate to do her thing and dance with the rest of the team. I know I'm only her mom, but I think she was terrific! The team took first place in their division. A good omen for State, you think?

Now this is what I've been playing with lately. I *would* say "working on", but I get less frustrated with my big clumsy fingers and their inability to do exactly what I want them if I think of it as play...

This is my January project for my Yahoo! group Playing With Clay Sculpt Along. I am so glad they let me in to play!

Look how deep those eye sockets are on this rough sculpt! Don't you think that they OUGHT to be deep enough to set in some eyes? But no, I had to add quite a bit of clay to the brow to get the eyes to set far enough back into the skull. Lesson learned #1: make those eye sockets REALLY REALLY DEEP!


Now she's looking pretty good, seeing as how I am such a beginner. (I will NOT expect perfection... I will NOT expect perfection... Yet!)

She is slightly cross-eyed because the inner corner of her left eye is set in deeper than the right. They actually ARE in straight. The discrepancy is much more noticeable in the photograph than it is in real life.

I am absolutely delighted with her ears!



Here she is with her hair is in place. I used wefted mohair in an auburn brown -- I wish MY hair was that color! Lesson learned #2: paint the scalp the color of the hair so if it shows through it won't be so noticeable. I had to use too much hair to cover her head enough. Alas for those cute cute ears!

See the beadwork around the base of her stand? That will be her collar. I am trying to decide if I should underline it with some fine silk. We will just have to see when the collar is done. I think the beads just might be enough. Heaven knows, it ought to be enough -- I don't make jewelry this elaborate to wear for myself!

Help... (she whimpered...)

This is why I am blogging today:



I will NOT despair, but... I can't FIND anything. This chaos is messing with my head, as if the fog outside is filtering through my eyeballs into my brain. Sigh.

There is only one thing to do, and that is to put on some music -- Seal, perhaps? -- and start putting things AWAY.

I really REALLY wish I could work "tidy" instead of flinging out piles of stuff, but it just isn't any FUN that way!

I have just enough time tonight to post the photo of the finished "Girly-Girl" socks. Lydia says she loves them, which is all the payment I need for a labor of love like these.

Let's see... they took me through "The 10 Commandments", "The Great Escape", "You Can't Take It With You", and a bunch of the extra stuff on "The Lord of the Rings". (Are you getting a feel for my taste in movies?)

A pretty good project, AND finished!

No whining... but, oh! I am tired. I spent all (yes, really, ALL) day working on year end payroll. It is a good thing in the end that my ability to pay attention to detail makes me such a good bookkeeper. It is a job that absolutely must be done, and I can do it. I do it well too... but truly... my soul is not happy.

My brand new washing machine is not working. This is not a good thing on a dairy farm.

I did get a little time this evening to finish a bracelet I've been working on for a friend's daughter's Sweet 16 party tomorrow night. I absolutely love designing jewelry, though my style usually runs to something a little more outrageous than this.

I like it, though I probably wouldn't wear it myself. Alice likes it, and actually seems a little miffed that I'm giving it away. She's a tough customer to please, and at 14 1/2, she is close enough in age to give me a good barometer as to whether or not the Sweet 16 will like it. I probably should just have broken down and given her cash or a gift certificate like everyone else, but I just can't. I *need* to give more thought to the gifts I give than that.

I have received enough bath baskets and cheese logs in my life to remind me why, too!

Happy New Year!

For my first post of the new year, I want to thank everyone who drops by to see what I am up to and wish you wonderful things for 2006. My family loves me as much or more than I deserve and are always supportive of my endeavors, but I always have a sneaking suspicion that it's only because they find me amusing... Anyway, all you kindred spirits out there, thanks for letting me know that I am not too totally weird!

Isn't this little ice fairy just the cutest thing!?! She was made just for me by Peggy Elliot aka "Raven" on the Fantasy Fins & Fairys list for a Christmas ornament swap. She is from a pattern by Leta Benedict and is only about 6" tall. Her face is exquisite, and yes, her hair really is that shiney. The ball in her hand is actually clear glass -- I have to find me some of those -- and her "flesh" is white satin that has been embellished with paint for texture.

I joined that list to learn more about sculpting with polymer clays and sent a Sculpey unicorn decorated with Christmas greenery made in the style of Christi Friesen.

I have never had the discipline to make a true white-on-white doll, though I have begun more than once. I always end up introducing color. I am going to have to give it another go one of these days.

And then we continue with the sock knitting. This is the "Girly Girl" sock from Interweave Press' "Socks" book. The original was done with handspun, but I am doing this one with Lorna's Laces sock yarn (colorway "Somerset"). My gauge is the tiniest bit smaller than called for, so this will be a slim sock. I didn't want to use a larger needle, as the knit fabric in the sole is a little more open than I like for socks to begin with.

I have another batch of the Lorna's Laces to work up yet -- I will make sure to find a pattern with more stitches in the round and use a smaller needle. It's too bad, because I absolutely love this lace design. Very simple and satisfying to knit.

Tomorrow is the girls' last day of Christmas break, and then I can have my own routine back and start on my 3D projects again. I have a naked doll sitting on the shelf who has finally decided on a persona and wardrobe for herself. (Judi Ward's "Whatever Whatever" pattern done in the zaftig variation.) This lady is one of my best and I am looking forward to getting her dressed.