365/2013 - Day 191

man -- this weather!

I worked on the horns/ears of the last ten Tookies this morning at Joan's house.  Leann and Joan worked on their sewing projects.  It was really good getting together...I love our Wednesday Mornings.

finger puppets 91-100 (out of 100)

But man -- this was ALL that I got done today.  When I returned home this morning I felt like I had taken about 10 Benadryl tablets -- and I did not take any today at all.  This weather is really kicking me around.  I feel like I have pneumonia -- the air is so heavy that it just plain hurts to breathe.  

I ended up dozing in my chair in front of the tv for the better part of the day.  I set a kitchen alarm so that I could wake up in time to get ready for the dinner/meeting I attended tonight.  Believe me, if it had been for anything besides the meeting/dinner tonight I would have canceled going...and I nearly DID cancel going.  I am glad I went, but wow -- I can barely move around tonight.  Woe is Took -- poor old Took.  Wahhhhh.  ("Suck it up, Cupcake...everybody's got problems!")  Geez -- sometimes I feel like such a wimp.

365/2013 - Day 189

cleaning up and more Tookies

Today I started cleaning up the dry studio.  I hope to finish it tomorrow and then start clean up in the wet plaster cloth studio.  Yep, yep, yep...it's a start.

before

after (so far)

And I got this far on Tookies production -- completed finger puppets 81-90 (of 100) as far as the side seam stage.  

now the bottom edges need to be basted into place and then have the soft colorful yarn added to the bottom edge

365/2013 - Day 173

wow -- that is cutting it close

Man -- that was way too close!  One minute I was putting a button eye on a finger puppet, the next minute I was sewing the same button eye onto the same finger puppet for the third time...I kept nodding off to sleep and messing up.  Geez --- Bendaryl...can't live with you, can't live without you.  But I made it before my midnight deadline.

I am very grateful to not have to be anywhere in particular most of the time!

I FINALLY finished up the horns/ears on this batch of 10 Tookies -- these are 41-50 (out of 100),

And NOW they all have eyes!

365/2013 - Day 170

Wednesday Morning with Joan and Leann

It seems like it has been a very long time since the three of us met for a Wednesday Morning.   It was so good to be with my friends again!

Joan (left) and Leann (right)

I started work on the next batch of ten Tookies finger puppets -- I didn't get very far.

I wanted to show Joan and Leann the felted flower I made in our Second Thursday group -- both Joan and Leann had other things going on and couldn't join us that evening.  Look -- my flower is holding its shape enough to stand on its edge.

This evening I attended a rousing meeting of the Northville Art House's Exhibit Committee.  We talked about a lot of things, focusing on the remainder of this year's upcoming events and talking more about next year's calendar.  It was a very lively meeting and I am so looking forward to working on several really swell shows!  

I also took one more step towards the semi-secret thing I am really excited about but that I am not going to talk about until it comes true...but the final step will happen on July 1st at 6:30 p.m.  It's only a semi-secret because I don't want to jinx it by telling any details before it happens...but I am really thrilled about it!

And now I am pretty well done for the evening...I am going to sleep soundly tonight! 

365/2013 - Day 169

my day (and evening) in reverse order

Tonight I cleared a path to the table in the wet studio -- enough space to work on the rabbitish guy.  I don't know how committed I am to this guy yet but here are the important parts of this activity (for me):

• I cleared up some of the clutter, sorted things into a box, and took it to the basement
• I got my hands back into plaster cloth
• I tried working in a method I haven't tried until tonight
• I feel like I did something

It may turn out that this guy changes into something far different than what he is tonight -- it may turn out that I scrap these painted glass gem eyes altogether -- it may turn out that I keep working on him and actually start to "get" him and really like him eventually -- who knows -- tonight I am just feeling pretty good that I got this far.

I cleared enough space to work!

This is the second pair of glass gems I painted with that show in mind and then I decided not to submit anything to it after all.  These eyes are not necessarily something I would usually paint...I prefer to use taxidermy eyes now.  I needed eyes in a color palette that would have fit that show.  I sort of like these eyes,  but I'm not sure about them.

The glass gem eyes are flat on the bottom...the old plaster cloth eyes are round.  The glass gems are not the same exact size, they don't match very well.  The centers are not centered very well -- I was thinking I could shape the look of them once the plaster cloth was on.  In the meantime, I had a lot of space to fill in with plaster cloth and I still have a lot of head reshaping to do.

The first side went pretty quickly.  I tried something that I haven't done with the plaster cloth before.  I got the triangles really wet, folded/bunched/wadded them up and did not take any of the water out of the wads.  I crammed the very wet wadded plaster cloth into the gaps, like you might do with clay, and then smoothed it.

Here is an example of what I am talking about -- before I smoothed it.

I was just trying to fill in and shape as I went along -- instead of finding a shape to drape plaster cloth over.

Not too bad for a first try with odd eyes.

But I don't really like it after looking at it for a little while.  They have a little bit of personality (I guess), but I am not fond of the color and various things it could suggest.  I'm not sure what he is yet, but I know he isn't an insomniac, a substance abuser, a serial killer/bad monster guy, rabid, etc...that's what they suggest to me.

Luckily my utility knife was handy and I popped the second eye out pretty easily.  The other side was set a little harder already and I had to dig a bit more and use a screwdriver to get underneath the glass gem.

This is the first set I tried to paint to fit the palette.  I actually like how they look better than the red ones.  However, they also do not match -- you can see how much different these are.  The red ones are closer to the same shape -- these aren't even close.

I set them into the vacant spaces and kept turning them until they looked fairly even and like they were looking in the same direction -- as much as was possible...LOL.

This is a little better but I needed to stop for tonight.  I didn't want the head to get any bigger right now.  These eyes are about as straight as they are going to get.  Eyelids will help a lot.

Or who knows -- I have a whole bunch of wonderful taxidermy eyes now.  If I start to get attached to this guy I might give him better eyes.  For now, the home made painted glass gems are okay -- it is still a learning/practicing project at this point.

Before I worked on the studio and the plaster cloth rabbitish guy I worked a little bit on the stitching of the felted flower.  I am trying to concentrate on making even, decorative stitches.

And this morning (and during the earlier part of the afternoon) I finished up the work on the next ten Tookies.

Today's Tookies progress:  Finger puppets 31-40 (of 100) got eyes, eyelashes, mouths, side seams, bottom basting for the edges, and soft edges.  

I work on the Tookies finger puppets in batches of ten -- these are 31-40 (of 100).  It takes a day to do the ears/horns and then the next day I can usually do the eyes, eyelashes, and mouths...then take a break for a bit.

And then go back to them and add the side seam and baste the bottom hem/edge and then add the soft edge at the bottom.

365/2013 - Day 168

yep...more Tookies (and TWO cluttered studios)

Production of Tookies finger puppets for Art-o-mat continues!  Today ten more got ears/horns and eyes.  This is batch 31-40 of 100.

banded together like this, numbers 31-40 look like some sort of tentacled creature

now 31-40 have eyes

And this is why I can't work on any plaster cloth guys just yet...

dry work studio

wet work studio

I swear I am going to make some progress in BOTH studios tomorrow!