onto more pleasing things…
On a lighter note, I got all of the supplies I ordered to try out a new way to form armatures for sculptures. The first order came yesterday, the other was on my porch when we got home today.
I know I promised a clean office before I began digging my fingers into the sculpting, but I’m about 90% done, maybe 95%. I’ve got a couple of boxes to put away, and then I’ll have like 100% more floor space than I had when I started. I tried to keep similar stuff together (like all the old bills in two or three boxes, all of my cross-stitch stuff in a box, other crafty stuff in another, etc.), and now I’m to the point where what is left really doesn’t have much in common with the rest.. I hate to just throw everything into a box without some semblance of organization, but I’m about to do that, being quite fed up with cleaning. I just want it done so I can get back to tearing apart the dragon I was about 50% done with and starting over on it with my new toys.
Yeah. Screw it. Tossing of random things into a box to commence in 5…4…3…2…1
snooze-a-roo…
I dislike having to listen to a rather boring conference call when I’m already fighting to stay awake.
Bleh.
With the exception of finishing up some weaving in-of-the-ends on the two sweaters I made for my SIL’s baby (due at the beginning of February) and attaching the buttons, my knitting frenzy has died down somewhat. I’ve started a sock, but I want to try to restrict my knitting to the commute home (since there is no daylight at 5am yet, I can only knit on the way home), and move on to other things at home.
I’m in the process of cleaning up my office (finally!). We went to IKEA on Monday and got a storage shelving unit so I could move some boxes that were in my closet (and on the floor of my office) out to the garage and be able to keep most of the stuff off the floor. We also picked up a couple of nightstands. I wanted the solid pine design, but apparently so did everyone else, because they were out of stock. So we got a reddish-toned set instead. Very easy to put together. And the store? Daayam! That place is HUGE!
Anyway, I can see most of my floor now. I still have other things to get put away & organized… and then I want to start dedicating more time to sculpting again. I’ve been visiting a couple of message boards where some pretty kick-ass sculptors post, and well, it’s started to inspire me. Especially upon learning some tips that will help make my sculpts stronger & sturdier, particularly the wings on my dragons.
I plan on starting with the dragon I was making for Josh, which means I get to pick off all the clay and re-do the armature. But that’s ok, I wasn’t too happy with its head, and the armature was weak anyway. I’m actually anxious to get started, but I have to wait for some stronger armature wire that I ordered, as well as wire mesh*, and I still need to order some epoxy mix (actually it’s Apoxy Sculpt, by Aves) to strengthen the joints on the armatures…
* the wire mesh is, what I have discovered, the secret to strong wing membranes.
But the clean room comes first, I am holding myself to that.
some finished dragons…
I finished these a while back, but just hadn’t gotten around to posting them.
They’re pop-ups. I still haven’t figured out why EE won’t resize photos for me, so I used MT to create the pop-up code & files.
Anyway.. Here is the gold one, with its base. I posted a photo of this one before, but without the base because that part hadn’t been completed yet.
This is the blue baby dragon that the person who bought the gold one asked me to make for his sister. He didn’t specify a color, just that it be a baby dragon, coming out of its shell.
This is another shot of it, showing it outside of the shell. I decided to make it removable for safer shipping (he was to take it on a flight to Michigan), and just in case whoever the recipient was, may want to display it outside of its shell occassionally.
So there you go. I haven’t worked on much recently as I’ve been mostly knitting, and with picking up my second job I’ve had less time to do much of anything anyway…
It’s been kind of quiet around here (the blog), not a comment to be seen in a while… makes me wonder if my comments are broken and no one is telling me (or is able to tell me? I’m pretty sure I have my e-mail address linked on my blog here…). But anyway… I think I’ll go watch our Tivo’d “Amazing Race” since I have a couple of hours to kill before I have to go to work this afternoon.
Later.
all done, I think!
Ok, got the skin put in place. I checked the links and they seem to work ok (so far nothing still pointing to the default pink template I had before)... Seems to look good in both Netscape 7 & IE 6. Don’t know about any other browsers, though. Let me know if anything is broken.
Now, for the details on the skin…
Graphics by me. It’s the sketch I previewed here and pleaded for help in getting the layout set up…
Well, my MIL, Traecy, came to my rescue… It’s not all CSS as I had originally was interested in using (if it was possible), but it uses a lot of it, and a couple of tables. Thank you so much!
Hmm… seems like, by the content in the post I referred to above, I owe her a dragon sculpture! Heh. In due time, I’ve got a base to finish for the gold one here, that a co-worker is interested in buying, as well as another one he ordered for his sister.
Speaking of which… I think I’ll continue to work on the base after I finish posting this. I’m interested in seeing how it turns out. I’ll definitely post photos when it’s done for you all to see!
For your viewing pleasure..
The width of some of them is pretty big, and I think the largest file size is 90k. So if you're on dialup, sorry about that, but I wanted to show good shots at a higher resolution.
Let’s make a deal..
Buy a book from my wishlist, and get a discount or an even trade for a sculpture.
Keep in mind I do dragons, mainly. I've sculpted a wizard-like person but haven't finished it yet, so people sculpts are possible.. but may take longer.
If you have something other than dragons in mind, e-mail me and we can discuss it..
I went ahead and bought the faux techniques book that I had wanted on hand for when I start making the Birthstone Dragons.. so it is no longer on my wishlist. I'll probably get it next week, I think. After I ordered it I found another faux technique book and added it to the wishlist. On the cover is a photo of an egg with faux abalone inlay... I tried to do faux abalone before, and it's not easy.
Anyway, I'm nearly done with the first Treasure Guardian dragon (or Dragon Mother, can't decide which it is going to be yet..).. when it's complete I'll put a few photos up for you all to view. It might be done by either Wednesday or next Saturday, depending on how much work I finish on it on my days off.
Toodles.
ideas, ideas…
Birthstone dragons!
Although I'm trying to determine whether I should make the dragons the color of the month's birthstone, or make them in various colors holding a "gemstone" that I simulate (whether by natural mineral or faux with polymer clay).
It may be easier to just make them in colors of the month's birthstone, although I'm wondering how I'd go about doing that with April's birthstone, which is the diamond. I'm thinking either plain white, or mixing mostly translucent with a little bit of white.
For June, I'd give buyers a choice of either Moonstone or Pearl. I'll have to skip the other birthstone for June (there are three), which is Alexandrite. It supposedly changes color depending on the type of light that hits it, green for sunlight, and red for artificial light or twilight. I could probably try to simulate that with powders, but I'm not sure if I have any that shift between red & green. There are those that do a red/blue, green/yellow, and blue/green shift, but no red/green. I'll have to experiment with that when the time comes. 'Cause just red & green mixed together makes brown.
For October, which has two birthstones, Opal and Tourmaline, I'll probably go with Tourmaline. Opal is a tricky stone to emulate, so I'll have to work on that before offering it up as a choice of color. Tourmaline can be a range of colors, but I think it is typically pink for the birthstone for October. (correct me if I'm wrong, please.)
For December, which also has two birthstones, Blue Topaz or Turquoise, either one will probably be offered, as Turquoise can be emulated fairly easy from what I can tell.
I won't be able to emulate the luster of these gems, but I should be able to get the color fairly well.
Just a note if anyone reading this decides they want to inquire about a birthstone dragon... please give me at least three months advance notice (although that can be negotiable, depending what is already on my plate), especially if it is in a month where simulating the color may be a bit tricky so I'll have time to experiment and work out the colors. I haven't worked with very many faux stone techniques yet, so plenty of advance notice would be greatly appreciated.
Speaking of faux stone techniques... anyone interested any buying me a specific book from my wishlist? It's #8, and would come in quite handy for this new series I have in mind, even if it doesn't have instructions for all the stones I may need to emulate for this project.. And I may be willing to work out a "trade" or discount for a finished piece. ;o)
not enough time in the day
Anyway, I picture these marbles as being dragon eggs, or dragon treasure, so I picture making a series of dragons curled around these marbles protectively.
I already had six white pearled marbles and was starting on a dragon to go with one of those, but it's been time consuming as I'm taking all strides in making the thing's fingers & toes as intricate as possible. Why? Because I end up being too much of a perfectionist and think they should look more realistic, so I'm spending a lot of time on them. I need more time, dammit!
Damn job. Damn bills requiring me to have that damn job.
Bah. Why can't I just win that nice fat Powerball?
who says house cleaning isn’t excercise?
That, and I kind of started looking through a couple of galleries over at Elfwood, looking mostly for watercolor artists. Found some good ones, one of which I already knew of, and she has her own website, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. She is very talented. Go check out her work!
One of the problems with Elfwood nowadays is that it has SO many galleries now, it would take forever and a day to go through them all, so one is left to finding things of interest through searches. And even those links are numerous. But, thumbnails are shown, and if you see one you like, when you click on it to take a closer look, you can also go to the artist's gallery and check out the rest of their work, too.
If you like art and have plenty of time to kill, go check out Elfwood.
Thursday I hope to have the living room & family room done, and once I'm done with those I'll clean the back bathroom. Then maybe start on my office again if there's time after that.
My calves hurt.
Photos of my art…
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