365 Day 273

ha -- I KNEW I had a new bag of fiber fill somewhere!

Yay -- I finally found the new(er) bag of fiber fill...it took me all day to locate it, but yay!


This Tooklet has a very long stripey gray tail and short(er) "hair".


















This Tooklet has wings and no tail...but very big ears.

365 Day 272

I've misplaced my point-&-shoot camera

Today I went with Juana Moore to Romeo, MI to deliver her painting for the Day of the Dead Show curated by Heather Hansma at the Starkweather Arts Center.

The exhibit opens October 7th with a reception from 7-10pm and will remain on display until October 29th.

Dia de los Muertos | Day of the Dead
Starkweather Arts Center
219 N. Main St. Romeo MI
Opens Friday, October 7th | 7-10pm

I took some photos to document the occasion, but I seem to have misplaced my camera. After Starkweather we went to LIFT in Royal Oak so I could shoot some video of my Art-o-mat machine (same camera). I am pretty sure I put the camera into my purse. It was raining a lot of the time once we got back to our area and I kept tossing my purse into the back seat of Juana's car and I think maybe at some point the camera probably fell onto the floor or seat or something. There is a chance I could have left it on the front counter at LIFT...I will call them tomorrow. It'll turn up.

In the meantime, it's a good thing I have the 35mm digital camera. This is a Tooklet I made last night before I went to bed. That's all I have to show for today, though.


Wow. The "real" camera's flash certainly makes a difference vs the point-&-shoot.









UPDATE: The point-&-shoot camera was at LIFT.

Tooklet for my niece

time out to make a Tooklet for my niece

We are celebrating my niece Devon's birthday on Friday. My sister Sue and I are taking Devon out to lunch and then to Curl Up & Dye Salon for manicure/pedicure, make-up, color & cut. We also got her a few things from her wish list at the motorcycle shop she goes to and I made her this Tooklet. I hope Devon likes him!


Devon's favorite color combo is red and black. I only have a couple of red and black sections left.














This is the first tail I have tried to attach TO a monster...instead of inserting a tail into a hole and then using the tail to close up the hole.

365 Day 271

yay -- new monsters!

I took the black monster on the right (pic below) and the one from yesterday (Carla made that one "fly") to the Art House to show to Carla and they were a hit! My sister loved them this morning, too. I think it is the perfect solution for me for an item to have at the Northville Art House Holiday Market because I can still make the Tookies for Art-o-mat and they can still be in the machine at the Art House but folks can still buy something a little larger as stocking stuffers.


Sorry for the dark photos -- rainy day with the skylight in the guest bathroom/photo studio.


These are obviously friendly monsters -- they are holding hands.







Back view of the two monsters.














Side view of monster with the stripey tail.













Side view of the stripey monster with the big pink ears.















I think I will call these creatures/monsters/dolls "Tooklets" -- just to keep them separated from Tookies. And for inventory purposes for the Art House I will probably assign names to them. Not sure yet.

Ahhh (imagine the sound of someone taking a satisfying sip of ice cold lemonade on a hot day) ... I'm happy with these guys!

365 Day 270

new monsters maybe?

After thinking about making a slightly fancier version of Tookies finger puppets for the Northville Art House Holiday Market -- and not really wanting to try another one tonight -- I came up with this guy.



Each one would be different and individual, but would be similar in that they'd be the same basic shape and face but different colors and arms, maybe not all will have a tail, etc.


First off, I am thinking skinnier arms...like I will roll up the fingers more tightly the way I did the tail (photo below).












The tail was added because there was a small hole in the glove.

Oh...and I won't call them Tookies...I will think of something else. And they are too large (even folded up) for an Art-o-mat box. I will still make Tookies for Art-o-mat.

I like this guy -- but what do YOU think? Is this a decent Stocking Stuffer?

365 Day 269

okay...I am starting to remember now

Wow. See -- I really do forget how to do things when I haven't done them in a while. You'd think I've made enough Tookies to remember...but, no. I worked on this little stinker for two and a half hours...then it started to come back to me.

I have been stitching, removing thread, stitching, removing yarn, cutting, shaping, cussing, stuffing fingers, unstuffing, making a teensy hat, discarding it, doing the hat again, deciding to ditch the hat idea...argh! (I like the little hat(s)...I made one Tooky once with a little hat...I just am not willing to do this twenty or twenty-five times.)


Okay. The face isn't bad.















I haven't made a Tooky with two seams in a long, long time.

I forgot how to get a reasonably straight body/side seam. This is not the way.

I usually fold the edges under and sew a holding sort of seam, but I didn't remember doing that on the two-seamers because there just isn't that much room. Hmmm.

This must be one of the reasons I went with the one-seamers for Art-o-mat...LOL. This is very frustrating for a normally non-sewing person.









This is not the correct yarn for the side seams...duh!

After I spent forEVER on this, I remembered this is the wonderful, soft yarn for the bottom edge where your finger goes in because it feels soooo nice.












Note to self:

Yeah. This is how NOT to make a Tooky, Took!

Look back at this next time you can't remember how to get started -- and let this be a lesson to you!










I might play around with making another finger puppet tonight, maybe not...but I think I've got it now. I was feeling like I needed to make a much fancier version for the Northville Art House Holiday Market -- with a hat or some kind of added item, but I am seeing that two seams ARE fancier than the regular Art-o-mat Tookies. Too many more details or add-ons will make the puppet too top heavy and might invite younger kids to try and take the hat off...not a good idea.

365 Day 268

I've got my work cut out for me!

When I made the last batch of Tookies finger puppets for Art-o-mat I started to discover some times saving steps for myself. I am not much of a seamstress and this is about the extent of my sewing skills...LOL. Because there is usually a good deal of time between Tookies batches I often forget how I did something the time before or one of the prep steps. Today I decided to get ALL of the initial Tookies cut, sorted, counted, matched with buttons and labeled into envelopes because this is my most dreaded/difficult part of the process. Now that it is done I can just snatch up a handful of envelopes and work on the finger puppets in front of tv on and off throughout each day/night until they are done.



I always think I can do ten in one 24-hour period and have them completed in ten days if I make 100 instead of 50. Yeah, that hasn't worked yet...but maybe I can get closer with this batch.

I am also making a small batch for the Northville Art House Holiday Market...along with a few other items. I will donate a pair of Tookies to the raffle basket, too.


This season's new colors! The goofiest things get me happy and excited.

I did all of the cutting last night -- separating the hand into onesy and twosy seam guys and lopping off the wrists and pinky fingers.







This is the batch for Art-o-mat. I am actually kind of "cheating" because I pulled out ten completed Tookies that I considered putting into my Etsy store but I have been dragging my heels about. LOL -- now I don't have to write copy for them and list them. So I really have only 90 to make for this set of 100.






I put the sorted-into-colors fingers into envelopes.












Then I take out a batch and choose buttons for the eyes. I found last time that since this is my most dreaded step in the process -- choosing the colors -- if I can see them together I have less risk of making two the same...not that it matters to anyone but me.









And here is the initial batch for Northville Art House.


I chose October 12 for my delivery to the Art House date. This gives me a definite deadline.

The Tookies I make for the Art House will be slightly fancier than the Art-o-mat ones, and they will come without boxes. I need to get these made before I start on the Arto-batch.


Whew -- THREE HOURS LATER -- no kidding -- I really have my work cut out for me! But the hard part is done!

365 Day 267

button sorting day

It's coming on "making-more-Tookies-finger-puppets" time again. I am making some slightly fancier ones for Northville Art House's Holiday Market and the regular ones for Art-o-mat.

I am very excited to have gotten all of these buttons late in the spring this year at insanely low prices on sale at Michael's. Nutsy prices...I couldn't not buy them, but they have waited for sorting until today.

There are two different companies and many different color palettes and shapes.



After I started sorting these primary color ones I discovered that there were actually two shapes to each color...double the sorting.








One button has a dip and one is roundy.












Sorted! Now to bag them.











This is the other company's buttons. They are slightly thinner and have slightly larger holes. They are all the same as far as the surfaces go.


Within the four color combos there was only blue from the pink/green/blue/brown set and the really turquoisey blue from the fruity-colored set that overlapped. ALL of the other colors were different.





Blues...with crossovers.












The rest of them.










Now back to the other company with powdery colors and some checkerboard buttons.













Dayum...that company again...dippys and roundys.










NOW...onto the shapes.












I just sorted these into shapes, not colors.











Whew -- all done with the buttons.

Tomorrow -- the new gloves!!!

365 Day 266

the cat/dog asserts itself and a new creature emerges

Remember this stripey canvas from Day 236? And then Day 242? Well it wanted attention again today.


The little creature that the cat guy in the coat is carrying is definitely a cat/dog...a kind of patchwork toy creature.











And this new shaggy horned guy started to surface.










I am not sure what that extra circle is in the eye area -- a monocle, perhaps?
















I wondered what they were all looking at, now I know...I think. Maybe.

365 Day 265

not much to look at today

I have had a nasty sinus headache and I've been under the influence of Benadryl for most of the day...which means mostly either conked out or really foggy.

I did, however, manage to get quite a number of paper tubes covered in masking tape for use with plaster cloth for my Studio Snake.































The rest of the evening has turned into a clean-out-all-of-my-photos-from-Facebook project and it really did take ALL evening up until just now. So I think tomorrow will probably be more productive than today, but at least I got some prep work completed.

365 Day 264

more monster tweaking

Okay. Remember this canvas that I am repurposing and working on in stages? It started out as three ghosts then turned into a monster and two ghosts.














And you no doubt know of the incredible illustrator/author Edward Gorey.































Well. I am in no way trying to suggest that I will ever get close to his incredible work, but -- heavily influenced by Edward Gorey -- I want to try and make a million little lines to give my monster some fur and then detail in the fur.


















I am so blown away by Edward Gorey's subtle changes in the density of the lines and how there is so much IN there.















That sky/background. That fur. Man oh manny man.









So, I am tweaking the monster's fur more today.














Right now I am just trying to get some feel of thicker fur.














And maybe a bit of definition in the middle with not so many lines.














I am already happier with the monster than when I first started playing with this canvas. And that is the main point of this whole exercise for me. I will keep at it and keep at it.

365 Day 263

another Experimental Art Night with Shaqe Kalaj

Whoa -- that was a F*U*N Experimental Art Night at Art & Ideas Gallery in Plymouth with Shaqe Kalaj.

If you know me, you know how much I dislike ANYthing to do with acrylic paint and painting.
This was pretty cool, though, and I am sure a lot of it will carry over to other projects.

We had to choose one of the shapes on the table that Shaqe made for us, then mix six little pots of paint for ourselves only using red, white and blue.




These are the shapes we had to choose from.

There were four of us tonight and I wanted the others to pick first. You know I wanted that black arrow one.






Yay -- it was one of the two that were left!

Shaqe said she had me in mind when she was making it.

At first glance it looked to me like a weather vane, then an ornate hand of a clock...then what it turned out to be.





It was cool -- the paint was in big pump bottles like ketchup and mustard at a serve yourself place.
















These are the colors I mixed up...I couldn't figure out how to make the paint get darker...I really wanted a dark, dark, blackish purple color.


We were also allowed to use plain white that was on the table and we were allowed to use the paint we mixed and mix new colors on the little palette/tray.









With the shapes, we were to draw whatever we felt like, using as much or as little of the shape as we wanted. We could freehand draw, use a part of the shape, expand the shape, trace the shape -- do whatever we were inspired to do.


I traced my shape's outline first.




Then I added parts to it, repeated parts, etc. I freehanded the bird's head and the ball.












Then we had to paint the picture.

I needed more colors, so I mixed tiny amounts with the brush and kept trying to get it darker, but it wouldn't. It just changed the purple-ness.














One of the last purples I mixed up on the tray.














Taa-daa...my finished piece.

It is a long-legged bird with a colorful tail balancing on a ball. He's got a circus act and he is just coming offstage by rolling the ball forward. That is a set of sheer curtains he is rolling through. I think this guy is probably really, really tall.












detail of the face










detail of the tail --

I was trying to make each section a slightly different color, hoping it would look a little like the feathers were in front of each other.

I would've outlined each one with the dark dark purple if I'd had it. I could probably still do that or use black at home.





detail of the body











Shaqe showing one of the other pictures and the shape...the shape is dark green underneath the picture.











Here is another one...the shape is dark blue.













Here is another one and her shape.










And there is mine with the black shape.










You KNOW I would never ever try and mix colors at home on my own, let alone sit down and play with paint...but I will do it at Experimental Art Night with Shaqe Kalaj! And now I feel just a little bit more confident about trying it on my own. I am sure this will come in handy somewhere down the road...