Natural Theatrical

So this week I took the week off work to make some progress in that clock case

(Memory refreshing photo)

I wasn't going to do much blogging about it along the way - I find this is occasionally disasterous. Anyway, it's not much of an idea, I ended up doing a design for a woman riding a giant fish - pffft - again. I just need to work through the fish thing :)

Anyway, bizarrely the most decorative part of the case - the doors - have gone! Yes, I took them off to fix the hinges and decided it looks better without them ... Ta dah!

Still needs some kind of front decoration to cover up the nooks and crannies of whatever gets
installed so I cut some bits of ply. I really wish I had better tools and a bigger workshop for this kind of thing - but ye have to make do. So I just cut it on my overcluttered desk and cursed like a navvy.


Some waves, I love doing waves and clouds


Start the fish and construct some wobbly apparatus to try him out in there


There's a ways to go and my back started playing up today - I need to stop now and hope that it's fine tomorrow.

On being late

I'm always late, permanently. Late getting up, late getting home, late arriving and leaving. I'm also late picking out the person who won the head decoration wotsit - but it's picked, mr random number generator picked number 9, which is Erin! I do not have an email for you so please let me know your address by sending me a mail to lindseycarr@btinternet.com!

Erin sugested this book which i've been eyeing up for a while actually, it's on my next pay cheque!

Just a wee mention of some of the other books sugested. I am a massive fan of Nabakov which Pen and Paper suggested - I'm keen to read about nabakov so "Speak, memory" sounds good, but the obvious jewel is Lolita



The other writer I wanted to rag about is Angela Carter as mentioned by Lady Lavona! I found her recently and am a total convert. She writes brilliant short stories, and the most interesting articles about women i've ever read.

Thanks guys for the book suggestions, you're going to keep me going!

I bought a beautiful but cracked wooden frame recently and filled them with these two poor wee possums.




I made some new brooches. One inside a silver setting, the other just on it's own with a brooch backing.
I tried out this same technique on a wooden plaque with one of my prints

It doesn't come across well in the photos, but you can see the woodgrain coming through, it's a nice effect.

Also, the King For a Day jumping jack is back with me:



The case painting is finished, not much has changed but it's varnish has finally dried and the butterflies are set in the bottom



I think that's it! There'll be updates to the shop over the coming week with all of these.

Another Brooch

The brooch which I baked with ceramica glaze turned out well! Here it is, and it is also going into the shop shortly.




And here's Patti now (bad grainy photos rule!)

Brooch adventures!

I can't wait to draw the winner of the headband, already i've seen so many books and writers I love. Nabakov's Lolita is probably my favourite novel, the writing is so beautiful. As well as Angela Carters books - i've just ordered another one by her. And the ones I don't recognise, I can't wait to get stuck in to!

So meanwhile, I have begun some adventures with Lazertran decal transfer papers. I've tried these before and had varying successes putting prints on wood plaques. I'll probably try that again in the future, but since the paper is quite expensive I prefer a more reliable medium to transfer onto. Which is why I started trying it on blank glazed porcelain cabochons.

It's turning out quite well but there's still the inevitable experimentation particularly as regards varnishing them. Oil based varnishes seem to crinkle and destroy the paper. I am having success with water based gloss laquer from Fimo and am just currently waiting for one of them being baked. I coated it in Ceramica clear gloss - it may be a disaster but who knows.

Here's the process I used:

• Clean the porcelain with something like white spirits to remove grease.
• Print your image onto the Lazertran (Use a settling like plain paper but with high quality and up the brightness otherwise you get bleeding)
• Wait about 30mins - 1 hour for the ink to dry
• Cut out your print
• Soak it in water for about 30 seconds or until the backing starts to peel
• Place the decal onto the blank and pull away the backing
  

• Dab off excess water with tissue

• Centre it generally where you want it
  

• But look, can you see the annoying crinkles that occur when you put it over a curved edge??

• Here's the really magic bit - use a hair dryer on a low setting and gently blow over it and gradually press down the crinkles until....

• Once you've marveled at this loveliness, varnish it!

This one was varnished with the Fimo gloss laquer, it is touch dry in about 30 mins and permanent in 24 hours. I did about 4 layers.

• Now set it into a nice setting, I have a few of these lovely stirling silver brooch settings

Clearly the best time to do this is when you ought to be doing something else instead, in my case I am meant to be doing a piece for a group exhibition, using an album cover as a base....


So now i'm going to have to set-to-it and do some late-night painting!

The brooches will go up for sale fairly soon, if they're successful i'll hopefully do some more designs.

Autumn Giveaway!

Ahoy! Since summer has been so mean here, I though i'd be bountiful in time for autumn. I am giving away a wee package including the hat/headband which I made a few weeks back, e.g:



It will fit a head of relatively average female proportions (It appears I have a fairly large head all things considered, so it shouldn't be terribly tight for anyone else)

Along with some autmnulish prints!

So, just leave a comment.....i'd love it if you'd tell me your favourite book or author - my biggest thrill is finiding a new book or author - and i'll pick a name at random on Friday 19th and get in touch with the winner!

One woman's junk is another's gold

A wee bit of progress to show on the painting in the clock.


Put some liquin varnish over her, lovely smell, and the best thing if you ever want to layer oils (in my opinion anyway :)).


I am just in the process of layering some 3d butterflies in the front bottom of the case. They're not handpainted, just prints on etching paper of previous butterflies i've painted.


Last week I made a bargain bid on eBay for clock parts - it was so ridiculously cheap and there was such a ton of the stuff.



The problem with all of this is that my work space is now about the size of my chair...I can't move without encountering some kind of clock....I need some super storage system.

The gem in all this junk is so far:

Looking a bit tatty, but with a tiny bit of dark paint to cover scuffs, and mainly dark wax and a polisher, we have:

I could hardly believe how beautifully it turned out, I had visions of having to sand everything right back and start again. It didn't take that long. Aside from what I want to use it for I couldn't help thinking, when I put it on the mantlepiece next to my plants, how beautiful it would look if you took off the back panel of wood, replaced it with glass and made a terrarium or something plant pott-ish with it...The dark wood really complements the greens/reds of winter plants.

To give an idea of the size of it, here it is next to the original clock case.