365 Day 80

allergies central

Wow -- allergies were kicking me all day long. I finally ended up giving in and taking a couple of Benadryls and then a nap.

I am not a good napper, I can't just drop off to sleep for an hour and snap back -- so today was pretty much a blur...a bit disappointing to "waste" the day, but it is what it is.

This morning I did get the 4 main Tookies made that I needed to do. I am very pleased with them...they are a rollicking bunch.



These finger puppets were all embellished with my new batch of yarns. They look really great in person!

365 Day 79

photos, auctions and soft edges

Today I took about a billion photographs of items I was listing at Listia. I played around with my light kit and the photos turned out pretty well. But that took most of the day.

Other than that, off and on (since this morning until now) I have been adding the soft edges to the 29 finger puppets that I am currently working on.

MAN -- THUNDER just happened...it is STILL rumbling!

Okay...I am logging off and shutting the computer off...it is STILL rumbling! Same boom! Shook the house.

365 Day 78

some days it seems like I am getting nowhere -- FAST!

I don't know where the day has gone today. It feels like I haven't done much -- probably because in this step of making the finger puppets I usually whip stitch the soft bottom edge at the same time as I do the side seam.

Instead today I did all of the side seams on the 29 Tookies that I am currently working on, and I still have to do the bottom edges. I will keep working on them until it feels like it is time to go to bed.

I love all the colors in these photos. And that is really how the colors look.














OH -- duh! I remember now what took so long today -- I was ordering business cards and monkeying with the images I was using. I am not at all handy with digital photographs and it takes me a long time. Ha -- so I didn't waste the day after all!

365 Day 77

back to finger puppet production


Today I have been working on some of the clay pieces I brought home from Brenda's yesterday.

And I am also working on the stage of the finger puppet production where I am sewing the side seam, the bottom edge, turning the puppet right side out and tacking the tops closed. I have 9 more to do tonight but I needed a break so I thought I'd come in here and post today's entry.

Back to work!

365 Day 76

ceramics day -- at last!

Today Juana and I were finally able to get back over to Brenda's house to play with clay. Between wintry weather, various seasonal illnesses, and deadlines dictating we finish our other projects first it has been about a month since our initial clay play/work session with Brenda. In our absence she graciously took on the role of Keeper of the Clay and tended to our early pieces to make sure they didn't dry out or get wrecked. THANK YOU, Brenda!






Brenda stirring some glaze.










Juana working on her stuff.











Brenda has two very sweet and very energetic dogs. The larger one is Ginger and the smaller one is Rocky. They are not related, although they really look to me like they could be.



Ginger likes to walk between the chairs by going under the table.













Ginger coming out from under the table on the other side.














Rocky is quite a character. I never realized this fact until I was taking photos and Brenda mentioned it: Rocky's head is rarely not in motion.

This really cracked me up. His body can be nice and still, but his head IS constantly in motion.










I tricked Rocky to be still in this photo -- I was holding a ball on top of the camera...he gets really fixated on his ball...LOL













There he goes again...body is still, head is in motion.












LOL -- one more pic of the dogs...guess which one is Rocky.














One of my clay projects will be an Art-o-mat series. I want to make something relatively simple in form and shape but that has several steps in the process of making it. I think these little shapes are going to be creatures. I love underglazes and I really love sgraffito. I want to try and make little creatures using both techniques. I don't know yet whether they will be separate series or some of each in the same series...that is a ways down the road yet.














Quite different from my intense dislike of painting, I really enjoy all of the process involved in underglazing. Layering on of colors and firing in between...using the underglazes like watercolors and building up the colors and shades...and never knowing for sure how it will turn out until it comes out of the kiln. Yeah, you do know a bit more in advance how it will turn out with underglazes versus regular glazes (that often don't even look like the color they start out as) but there is still an element of the depth and intensity of the underglaze colors as the layers build up after firing and after the clear coat.








The very beginning stages of my clay Art-o-mat idea. I will need to submit a ready-to-vend prototype first.

365 Day 75

Tookies for other venues




I was SO excited to get a shipment of 30 skeins of "Tookie hair" -- a discontinued yarn called Moda Dea Ticker Tape. My friend Franciney is really knowledgeable about yarns and she figured out what it was I was trying to locate. Yay!





I am working on 30 Tookies that are not for Art-o-mat. 4 are secret for now, 26 are for the first-ever Tiny Market at Bonnie Pfingst's Tiny Studio during the April Art Hop in Kalamazoo.













I really like the new camouflage-type pattern on this guy. I wasn't so sure about it when my sister and I first found it, but I really really like it now. And I was able to find a few more pairs of the gloves that were on sale but I think most of the stores in my immediate area are pretty wiped out right now...end of season. I am very glad to have the ones I found.

















I got the buttons put on these guys late last night and I did the mouths and eyelashes tonight. They are coming along nicely.

365 Day 74 -- part two

a Meth & Hot Dogs 2 teaser














I am only going to be showing teaser photos for my 3 pieces for Kill Taupe's Meth & Hot Dogs 2 show at LIFT Designer Toys & Gallery in Royal Oak, MI.

I love how the ears are turning out for my main character!

The title of this piece is 'Nipped -- he is a cat with an insatiable catnip addiction.