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.

Finished PAIR of socks!

A pair? Really??? Yes, by golly, a really-o truely-o finished PAIR of socks made by ME, the Queen of the Single Sock Knitters.

You can be sure that the dozen or so single socks lying around my yarn room waiting for their mate to be knitted are jealous...

... but it is really amazing how much knitting one can accomplish when all one is doing is sitting around visiting and watching movies with holiday guests! I would do this more often if I could coerce someone else into doing the laundry and cooking.

No, on second thought, not the cooking. I like to cook too much.

This is my first pair from "official" sock yarn on size 1 needles. It was a little bit like knitting on toothpicks. The yarn is "Socketta", a machine washable cotton/wool/nylon blen which I hope will wear better than the handspun I used last time I made socks.

I've already begun another pair, this time in a lace pattern using a multicolored yarn by Lorna's Laces. They aren't knitting up quite as quickly, but they are certainly more interesting! Now, if only I can work up enough personal discipline to make BOTH socks.

Why, WHY is it so hard to do the exact same thing twice??

An Old Friend Newly Met

I haven't thought of a name for this lady yet... She's a bit of an enigma you see, though she perches so demurely on the edge of my computer shelf...

Her parts have been on the floor tucked under my cutting for... er... I've forgotten how many years. They were acquired in a swap on the Friends of Cloth Dolls list, but were never assembled because the body piece that came in the assortment I received was too small in proportion to the rest of the parts. I finally got around to making a new one for her and getting her put together.

I especially wanted to have this doll, because her head was made by Gabe Cyr, a doll artist whose work I particularly admire. I wish now that I had made her hair a little less realistic to better match the style of her face. But... but... I only just learned how to weft mohair and this batch turned out so well, and the colors were just right -- I couldn't resist.

I'm afraid the glue is permanent. Sigh...

I like her. I also like the newly clean little corner of floor under my cutting table. I'm afraid there are a few more unassembled personalities under there still.

Right now though, I am having too much fun knitting -- it is a much more sociable activity than doll making, and I can enjoy it while also enjoying the company of my holiday guests. I'll post photos soon of the socks and gloves I made so far this month.

Then I really will get around to sorting through those doll parts under the table!

After the Feast...

It's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and I am beginning to feel human again after a week with a cold. "A cold?" you say. "Pshaw, what's a little cold..." "A COLD!" I say, "and if you think it's nothing, I will be glad to share it with you..."

Seriously now, I think the only waves of guilt I am feeling about my inactivity come from myself. Everyone was very kind and understanding as they kept their distance while I hacked and wheezed.

I did manage to get some spinning done. I washed up 4 skeins today -- I'll post a photo when they're dry. The fiber closet is still full, (looking in their gives me new sympathy for the Miller's Daughter from the old fairy tale!) but I can at least put a toe in now. It has been satisfying to spin up multiple skeins of yarn for future weavings, rather than sampling. I will have enough soon for another blanket. It's almost as satisfying as fondling and buying new fiber. :-)

I also picked up my knitting again, seeing as how we had company and I couldn't disappear into the studio. A while back I bought a box lot of yarn on eBay that included some lovely Colinette Mohair (the pale blue ball in the upper left.) I am working it up, accented with handspun leftovers in coordinating colors, in "Old Shale" on size 11 needles into a throw. It's a lovely mindless job I can do anytime, anywhere, even when nursing a cold. I should probably provide a better photograph, but I couldn't bear to interrupt Mocha's nap. She's a good kitty.

I hope this cough goes away in a few days. In the meantime, I will knit, watch a few movies, and babysit the printer while I get the farm's year-end tax information ready for a visit to the accountant on Thursday.

I'd really REALLY rather be sculpting!

This was my little corner of the world for this past weekend. It's only a little church craft bazaar, but it's a venue!

Friday was pretty discouraging -- the weather was perfect, but still very few people came, and of those who DID come, not many were buying.

Sigh...

Saturday went much better. I made enough to cover some serious Christmas gift buying at any rate. On the whole, it was a pretty good year. My table was flanked by the tables of 2 friends, so there was always someone to talk to.

This a close up of some of my items. 3 of the dolls sold (yippee!) as did a lot of the jewelry pictured. None of these scarves went this weekend, but a friend wants to buy one of them after she gets paid. The large shawl on the manaquin sold. Finally! This is the 3rd year I've had that one on display!

What Is So Rare...

...as a sunny day in November in Oregon? Seriously, I do NOT mind the rain... much... but when Creation offers me a day like this, I have to enjoy and celebrate it!

To top it all off, there was a glorious full moonrise. This is the view from my front yard yesterday afternoon beginning around 4:30 pm...




...until about 5:00. I can only sigh in satisfaction having observed something so simply and completely perfect.

Too Busy to Post

I have been scrambling this week to finish up as many salable items as possible. This weekend is our church's annual Holiday Bazaar. This year I have once again thrown caution AND sanity to the wind and bought a table. I don't know why I put myself through this...

I guess if I were honest I would admit that it IS fun. My daughters each take a day to man the table with me and they say it's one of the most memorable things we do together over the holidays.

Still...

I am always nervous when I put my work "out there." I want people to like my stuff! OK, I want people to BUY my stuff. It is so HARD to smile as you hear (once again!) someone say "I could make it myself for less than that." Sigh...

This year, in addition to my usual jewelry, I am adding a few other items. These barbies were all rescued from the Goodwill. I stripped off their factory paint, repainted the faces, then gave them new costumes and accessories. It is a lot of fun to do, and each one done gives me ideas for half a dozen more.

So it goes!

This doll on the right is the first girl I did. I don't know if I can sell her as she took hours and hours to do. There is an embarassing amount of work in her outfit alone. I learned a lot from doing her though, and I am much better and faster at the process now.







These two on the left are a pair of former My Scene Barbies repainted to represent birthstone fairies. The blue one is March/Aquamarine, and the purlpe one is February/Amythest. I am especially happy with their wings. Since I started reading up on this process, I have learned about a zillion new (to me!) ways to make wings!

My pride and joy is this former My Scene Chelsea. Her tail was formed by first amputating her legs at the knee, and then covering them with Magic Sculpt 2-part epoxy clay. The scales were sculpted with a drinking straw, and there are pearls embedded in the clay.

Her bodice is made of free motion machine needle lace, and her jewelry is made of fresh water pearls and Swarovski crystals. She is VERY striking in real life -- one of these days I am going to have to learn to take photos without the flash. The glare just spoils everything.

OK, back to the trenches. Thursday is set up day. I'll take a picture of my table and post it then.