Day 225 - 365/2104

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Five

Gah -- posting updates to the blog about roadwork and laundry is not exactly what I had in mind, but that's all I've got right now.  My section of N. Center Street is totally blocked off and the only access to my house is through the school parking lot onto Eight Mile.  Dodging machinery and missing concrete in the dark (when I am returning home from Sue's) is a little challenging but I can live with this...it won't be forever.

Slow progress is still progress.

The concrete eating machinery sounds like gigantic battling robot dinosaurs.

The holes from the chunks of missing concrete are actually pretty deep.

Looking across the prep holes you can't really tell.

At least they mark the deepest ones...hard to see which ones are serious in the dark.

Last load for today -- towels!

2012/365 - Day 169

slow progress is still progress

I am most of the way through yesterday's projects.  I still need to get wood mounts for the carved rubber stamps.  At the time of this writing I am at 43 out of 100 MDF blocks.

 Those edges take time to do!  But if I go downstairs to the basement and turn on some music and do 10 - 15 pieces in each session I should be done tonight.

I have to keep wiping my fingers from the paint getting on my holding/turning the block hand.  I am so trying not to smudge or smear these blocks!  Painting -- gah!

And back at work on the carving of the images for the Art Hunt.

I am pretty happy with the way they are turning out.

Except, that is, for the image I wanted to use for my hidden art with the Art-o-mat machine in the store at the Northville Art House.

I am really not very strong with carving lettering -- no matter what size it is...and these letters are teensy.  I was just not happy with this carving, even though it is only going to be used during the game -- the lettering really bugged me.

After trying it three different times I had had enough and I decided to go instead with the three diamonds that Clark uses sometimes...middle row on the left edge.

These are the completed carved rubber stamps!

And this is how they might look if they were stamped on an art hunter's playing card.

(And if they were in alphabetical order...LOL)

I got ink in three colors, plus black for my stamp.  The cards will look much different on the day of the hunt.

Okay...now for a little rest and a bit of lunch.  After that I have a ton of housework to keep plodding away at.  And laundry.  And I need to finish the MDF block edges.

365 Day 235

work on the wowl continues

Woah -- explanation time (not an excuse): I had to get an injection at my physician's office late yesterday to try and calm down these allergic reactions and total itching...it has felt like there was poison ivy on every single inch of my body...I just wanted to pull my skin off. So I went for the injection and last night I guess it started to kick in a little. I was a bit nauseous but still itchy. Today I am less itchy but extremely wiped out and a still mildly nauseous. My legs are a little wonky and I feel slightly off balance. I finally had no choice but to stop fighting to stay awake...I ended up sleeping (on and off) for a large part of the afternoon and evening. I just woke up and came in to work on the wowl a bit...but I am still not feeling right and now I am pretty overheated. (Wah, waaaah, wah...poor Took.)
Okay. So this was the wowl on Day 232. I had pulled the masking tape off to reveal the eyes and was disappointed to see so much paint and plaster cloth come off with the tape that was only loosely attached.









This is the cleaned up version from yesterday. I think it turned out pretty well. I still have a LOT of details to work on, but I am happy with the wowl at this stage.











Its eyes do follow you, too...a little eerie.











I got these Japanase-looking papers at an artist's garage sale a few weeks ago...I was thinking I might be able to use a bit on the wowl.














I carefully tore the white paper with the gold beetles and applied Golden matte medium to the chest of the wowl, the back of the paper and then over the top of the paper, smoothing out as much of the air as I could. I will have to see how it looks when it is dry.











So far the wowl seems kinda pleased with the progress.