Anna and Her Spider

Anna and her Spider

After scalping this little gal two times, and being tempted to leave her bald, I finally got her hair done last night.   This was the first time I have ever had

trouble with tibetan mohair.   This stuff was horrible - the locks on 90% of the pelt are both curly and frizzy. On the pelt they didn't look bad, but once added to the head, looked horrid.

Anyway, finally got her done, and took the pics today and just got her listed in my Etsy shop 

Anna is dressed in antique netting and lace and her little spider Weedo is polymer clay.

I have two more Kindred WIPs to wig and costume and then I think I will do a little autumn fae.

♥

A Witch, Pumpkin and Incomplete Ghostie

I just listed Julia, my lil pumpkin carving Kindred from yesterday and also, Dorthea, a lil witch, in my Etsy shop.

Dorthea, like Julia, also loves Hallowe'en and was so happy to be a witch.  Unfortunately, her hat did not

fit and she had to stand stock still so it would not fall off.  Trick or Treating was not looking good.

I hope to list Anna, a little ghost Kindred, tomorrow.

Anna still needs her hair, her outfit, and her little pet

spider.  I thought I would be able to finish her today, however I had a lot of errands to run and didn't get into my studio.  

No news yet on when Nicole has her surgery.  Will do any updates as I have them.  

♥

Pumpkin

Julia and her Pie Pumpkin

Julia loves Hallowe'en, but isn't too sure about the Jack-o-lantern she helped carve.  The pie was great, but the pumpkin is so small!

***

Julia is one of several Kindreds that I will be listing in my Etsy shop within the next couple of days.

***

I wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your thoughtful and supportive responses to my last post.....♥♥♥

So It's Thursday

Tress Flood Dreams

 ...and this has been one of those weeks.

Each day has felt like a bit of a balancing act and at times

like I've been straddling a chasm.

Lots of small annoyances and several larger things that have made the last four days a bit of an adventure.   The two main serious things that happened was that my Dad finally moved to an extended care facility in BC.  He seems to be failing rapidly and this is the best place for him, but it is much more tramatic than I thought it would be.

Closer to home, our daughter Nicole had a suspicious mole removed last week and found out yesterday that it is melanoma.  What stage? We won't know until she has surgery which will be in the next couple of weeks.   If you can, please say a prayer, or send a thought, that this was caught early enough and that it is in the very early stages.   Also, please check your skin (whole body) for any changes to moles or suspicious looking bumps and don't hesitate to get them checked out if you find something.  If caught early, this is very curable, however if not......well, it's not.

On a positive note,  I have five Kindreds ready to paint, wig and costume

I hope to do a couple of these with a hallowe'en theme.

I periodically check out the Blogs of Note section of my dashboard and want to send congrats to my friend Pattee of Odd-Dolls

who recently made this list.  Yaaaay Pattee!

I would also like to make mention of another blog that I recently discovered from Blogs of Note.

Hyperbole and a half.   

I am now following this hilarious, compelling and enchanting blog.  It has been my guilty pleasure the last few nights when I could not sleep to read various entries that the very clever Allie has posted.  Her drawings that illustrate each post are super simplistic but somehow capture just about any emotion that is out there and combined with the text, I often find myself laughing out loud.   And laughter is the best medicine!

Off to work on my Kindreds and hope to catch up on everyone's blogs this evening.

♥


UPDATE:  One of the funniest things I have read yet - if you are a dog lover, you will love this (from Hyperbole and a half)

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html

Because I Love Fairy Tales.........

I'm thinking this just may be a cute movie.


♥

Wordless Wednesday

♥

Lost and Found.....

....or, more accurately, found and lost.

Did some thrifting on Saturday and found some amazing antique and vintage lace, including a vintage tiered lace skirt from the 70s. The old cigar box was crammed with old lace and the very cool lace doilies were found at the same sale.

(click pic if you want to see larger)

My finds shown above....vintage skirt, crochet dresser/vanity set, antique buttons (these were in the cigar box with the lace pieces), wall parrot, lace doilies, antique tart/pastry tins. I've got an idea to use a couple of the pastry tins in a project and hope to try it out this week.

That was Saturday. On Sunday I decided to start work on a couple of Kindreds for my Etsy shop. Next to making the body armatures for these pieces, covering the body with clay is almost as boring and tedious

To speed up the process and also give a smoother finish, the ole pasta maker comes in handy. I set the thickness, plunked the clay in and got ready to 'roll' - literally.

In order to 'roll', I needed the arm (which has an annoying habit of
falling out of the side hole in my machine). Checked the floor where I often find it resting - no arm. (notice the proximity of the m/c to the edge of my table). I then spent almost two hours moving small plastic cabinets, bins, materials and assorted other debris searching for my machine's handle. Made a huge mess, but no sign of the arm.

I've come to the conclusion that when my hubby emptied the waste basket in my room while I was away in Vancouver, the missing arm had probably fallen into the basket and is now residing at the town dump. I usually gather the garbage from this room and automatically watch as the basket contents enter the large green plastic bag. Forgot to mention this to hubby. :(

(apologize for poor lighting, but was too frustrated by this point to retake the pic)

Hopefully I will find another pasta maker at a yard sale or thrift shop but in the meantime I will be rolling out the clay the old way (brute strength).

I don't know about the rest of you, but when something throws a glitch in my creative working plans, I quickly lose interest in tackling that project for awhile (usually a day). I did want to accomplish something though and sculpted this face. I'm thinking I will make a jointed doll with it.

Yesterday I returned to my Kindred bodies and worked on them until my wrist started to hurt (another plus of the pasta maker, not only is it faster, it saves my wrist). I hope to continue with them today but first I have to go downtown and run some errands.

Wishing everyone a creative and wonderful day!

♥

A New Week

Monday, the beginning of a new week. What is it about Mondays that can sometimes make us feel lethargic and uninspired? When I was younger I knew it was from too much weekend partying, however now I'm not quite sure why I seem to drag my butt on Mondays. Often music will help and this little song from one of the best smile-inducing movies of all time is perfect for getting the beginning of the week back on track.

Have a happy Monday and a great week!

♥

Not Really A Troll

We were giving Keara a couple of Troll charms (similar to the Pandora charms) for her birthday and I decided to create a little "troll" as the gift giver. I didn't want to make a typical troll (i.e. kind of ugly) and decided to go with something a little lighter.

As often happens with my pieces, this little guy had his own mind, and in the Troll world, (as we know it) he is a complete misfit.

Sculpted head

"Makeup" added (I use matte, unmetallic blushes and shadows)

Starting to flesh out the armature. Not sure about the standing pose

Finished. I liked him better sitting and decided against the basket. I made a small soft leather bag for the charms and included the sunflower as this is Keara's favorite flower. She loves him and agrees with me that he really doesn't look too troll-like.

Just finished some Kindred armatures and also some bust armatures. Not sure what I'm going to do next. I actually feel like making a very simple jointed doll, so I may just play around with that this weekend.


Wishing everyone a great weekend!


♥

♥Oh POPPYCOCK!!♥

Waiting for my camera batteries to charge and wanted to share my new 'crush' with everyone. I rarely watch tv, however have recently started exercising in the evening - and of course, when I am on the eliptical, I like to be watching something on tv. This is the first year that I have watched America's Got Talent and one contestant has totally captured my heart......

Prince Poppycock

Last week's performance. This incredibly talented young man
(John Quale in 'real life') sings, dances and totally entertains. His audition piece, he sang opera, last week he channeled Freddie Mercury and last night he paid tribute to America.

Several years ago, he recorded some original songs that are not Prince Poppycock, but under his real name and I have listened to them on his site (check out the Music section)

and I am equally impressed by them.
He is one of those performers that I would love to meet some day

Poppycock is FUN and FABULOUS and I'm pretty sure that tonight he will be picked as one of the top 4 finalists

UPDATE:

On Wednesday evening, the fabulous Prince P joined Michael Grimm (soul singer), Jackie Evancho (10 yr old opera singer) and Fighting Gravity (group of frat brothers that do illusions with black light and lasers), as one of the 4 finalists. Next Tuesday they will all give their last performance and on Wednesday (after America votes), the winner will be announced.

♥

Labour/Labor Day

Along with children trooping off to school, a sure sign of summer coming to an end is the arrival of Labour Day weekend.

1900 Labour Day Parade in Toronto


However you are spending the next three days, have a safe and happy holiday!!


♥

GLAD TO BE BACK

I had a lovely visit with my Dad and it was so great to see him again! Unfortunately since the last time I had seen him, his health has really taken a downward turn. Very, very sad to see and it was hard to say goodbye, knowing the distance that separates us.

My Dad still lives on his own, however has homecare coming in three times a day to prepare his meals and give him his meds. He gets lonely as he is on the Sunshine coast in BC, a 40 minute ferry ride away from friends and other family. Thank goodness for Karmi, his little pooch!

Unfortunately, I did not see many of Vancouver's wonderful sites while I was visiting (spent 98% of my time with Dad in his home). I did spend time in his beautiful backyard however and watched the large assortment of birds that visited the many feeders he has.

I also enjoyed the beauty of his many flowers. His backyard was like a sanctuary, I could go to and just chill when the need arose

Dad can't drive anymore, and a couple of times we packed his walker, walking stick, some water, and a few other essentials in the car for a short drive. Karmi, who always went anywere with Dad when he was driving, was the first one in the car!

On Thursday of last week, I was out with Karmi for his morning walk and ventured down a very narrow path lined with blackberry bramble bushes.
Unbeknownst to me, the bushes on the left hand side of the path were growing out of a six foot deep storm drain - and the edge of the path dropped off dramatically. The bushes were so dense and thick, it was impossible to know that there was no solid ground on the left hand side.

I soon discovered why alot of the blackberries on the right hand side of the path were picked, but there were still a fair number of berries on the left hand side.

Spotting a very luscious looking berry on the left, I went to pick it, got too close to the edge (where ground became JUST brambles and air) and fell into the brambles. Considering my weight and the depth of the storm drain from which they were growing, I was trapped....head down, face up, on my back at an almost 90 degree angle.

So, with Karmi whining on the ledge (path) above me, gravity working against me, bramble thorns on everything I touched (and lay on), I was thinking this morning walk had turned into a bit of a disaster. I could NOT right myself and felt and looked like this.....

Fortunately, within about five minutes (it felt like 60!) a couple came along the path and fortunately, Karmi had a super long leash on. The man had the foresight to use the leash to haul/hoist me up. I returned to my Dad's
(after my legs stopped shaking), with my arms and hands covered in scratches and blood, and the back of one of my favorite tee shirts covered in squished blackberries and blood. My poor Dad! He was ready to give me 'what-for' for being longer than I said I would be (he didn't like me being out of the house for long) and then he took a look at me.

Suffice it to say, I have developed a strong adversion to blackberries

♥