Swamped

I'm working on the alligator and can't really show him off yet because he's for a friend who I intend to surprise.  She asked me to make it for her, but said she'd like to wait for his arrival before meeting him for the first time. 

I wasn't pleased with his eyes, so I added some clay here and there and now I like them better.  Today I'll do some finishing work to his body, and after that dries I'll sand him and then apply the paint.  After that, I'll send him off  to the swamps where he'll live out his life....if mold doesn't cause his early demise.

I've also been working on a witch that I sort of remember blogging about in the early stages.

Here's the stuffed cloth body with gesso applied to the head.  The gesso gives the fabric a nice base coat so the clay will adhere well.

Here she is after some of her facial features have been applied.

And here she is today with her face painted and her hat.   She's still a work-in-progress.  She and the alligator have been keeping each other company here in the Treehouse.  They've grown quite fond of each other.  I just don't have the heart to tell her he'll be leaving soon. 

A.W.O.L.

Sorry I've been away.  Sometimes a gal just needs a little break.

So while I was playing blog-hooky, Mr. Gadget and I took a 7-day cruise to Bermuda.  We drove to Port Liberty in New Jersey and parked our car there for the duration. 

It was a little scary getting out of the harbor because of that pesky Verrazano Bridge.

I wasn't sure we were going to make it, but we just squeaked through.

The main reason I wanted to visit Bermuda....aside from having a vacation from my stressful life of retirement....was to see if there really were houses in every color of the rainbow.

There were!  In fact, there were houses in all of the colors in a 64-pack of crayons.  It was a great opportunity to practice my sketching. 

In Bermuda, it's perfectly ok to paint your house any color you like.  Not at all like in the U.S. where your neighbor is likely to flatten your tires if you paint your house purple. 

Being a big fan of whimsy, I loved seeing this house that was surrounded by a rock wall with bottles of colored water evenly spaced all around. Apparently the residents have been doing this for years.

 

 

We took a bus tour around the island with a very informative and amusing driver who drives a regular city bus when she's not doing tours.  At one point, just for fun she said, she did several 360's in a roundabout just to "mess with the traffic."

In the very picturesque town of St. George's I spotted this tree sweater next to a yarn shop. (See the big ball of yarn at the top of the picture?)

Here's our ship, the Celebrity Summit, docked at King's Wharf just behind the Norwegian Breakaway--the one that hit a whale in the Hudson River on embarkation day.

It was a relaxing week, and a very colorful one as I've already mentioned.

Now it's back to business as usual...and all of the unfinished projects in the Treehouse.  I'll be trying to work up my courage to revisit the alligator. Good thing he still has no teeth.

See ya later, alligator

A former neighbor of mine recently moved to Florida.  Her new house is on a lake wherein alligators reside.  I don't know if these are friendly alligators, but if they are I'm sure they've gravitated to her place because she's well known for her hospitality.  She may have even purchased some chaise lounges for their sunbathing pleasure, as well as a variety of snacks they would find appealing.

She asked me a while back if I would make her a paper mache alligator.  It wasn't that she was lacking for alligators.  I think she just thought it would be nice to have one that could live in the house. It would, of course, also remind her of me and all the fun times we used to have exchanging our mail and getting to know each other.....all because we shared the same address.  It's a long story and one I think I've already written about on the blog.  Now that we've both moved on to different zip codes, I'll just leave it in the archives.
 
I decided to take up the challenge.  She only wanted a little one she said.  About 8 or 10 inches.

Here's what I have so far.  It's pushing 12 inches....because sometimes the paper and wire and tape have minds of their own.  They don't like to follow orders.

As soon as I decide in which direction the feet should face I'll start applying the paper mache.  It should go together fairly quickly.  I'll find an old shoebox and send him off to Florida....where he is sure to find some kindred spirits.  And when the postal clerk asks me if there's anything liquid, fragile, perishable or hazardous inside, I'll just have to tell a little fib.

Poking right along

I decided it might be a good idea to finish something, rather than always starting something new.  So I'm in the process of completing a couple of needle-felted witches for the fall craft fair.  Maybe the collector who bought my needle-felted Santa last Christmas will be inclined to start a collection of witches.

So, Mr. Gadget and I were recently discussing the fact that there are teachers of various things aboard cruise ships and maybe I could approach a cruise company about teaching one of my various crafts and we could save on our, I mean his, bar bill. I had needle-felting in mind, since I had many inquiries from shipmates about what I was doing.  

One of those inquiries came from a woman who lives not far from the Calcondo. She wanted me to teach her during our recent summer stay, and I offered to do it for free because I wanted to see if I had enough know-how to actually teach it to someone, and then I conveniently lost her phone number after she asked to buy one of my santa ornaments, and when I met up with her later to deliver the goods she tried to bargain with me like I was a street vendor.

I think I would enjoy teaching something crafty on a cruise ship especially if there were benefits involved. But it did occur to me that there could likely be a lawsuit if a newbie needle felter happened to stab themselves with the needle. It's gonna happen. I've bled a few times on my work.  I just call those added features design elements, but I'm sure not all beginning felters would see it that way. Some might expect to be evacuated by helicopter to the nearest hospital with a trauma center.  It could happen.

So I think I'll just stick to my deck chair and forget the whole thing.  I guess I could teach knitting, but then I'd have to worry about those sharp pointy knitting needles....and the threat of impalement...

Breaking the rules

After several attempts, I think I've hit on the right painting formula for my little clay birds.  Watercolors.  I'm sure watercolor artists would cringe at the thought of using these paints on clay, but I'm OK with that. Here he is before painting.

I wasn't happy with the bold color of the acrylic craft paints.  I had something more subtle in mind.  And I wanted to be able to have one color gently blend into another. This bird is mostly blue, but he has a blue-green head....which is not obvious in this picture.  I have a whole tray of cheap watercolor paints with many color options, so I'm visualizing a big flock of multi-colored birds.  But, of course, I have to finish up in the Witchworks first.  Or not.

Now it occurs to me that I may have too many witches for the October craft fair.  I'm pretty sure it's possible to over-witch.  Maybe I should slow down.  I could start in on the birds and work until I get just to the point of over-birding, and then I could switch to Santas.  You can probably guess where this is going.  But it's all much better than over-eating.....a skill that I've pretty well perfected.

A sketchy sketcher

On Saturday I took the train down to NYC to attend an art-journaling workshop.  It was a beautiful day and I was able to be a tourist on my walk down 5th Avenue.

The workshop was entitled "Everyday Matters" and was led by Danny Gregory, who journals every day about his life using sketches.  It sounded interesting.  It sounded like something new and adventurous for a woman who usually roosts in a well-furnished rut.  I decided to sign up, but only if I could get there on foot from Grand Central.  I am not a subway person.  I'm not much of a taxi person either.

I was in luck.  It was a straight shot, just 12 blocks down 5th Avenue. I signed up.

The materials list was short and I didn't need to shop. I had a sketchbook that was at least 5" x 7" and some rollerball pens with black ink.

Danny assured us right up front that we didn't need to be good artists to draw about our lives.  Many famous artists threw away most of their work and only occasionally produced a masterpiece.  Some didn't even sell a painting during their lifetime (Van Gogh).  The secret was to practice, and most of all to just enjoy the process.

By the afternoon we were doing a few personal sketches.  

Who knows?  It may not be too long before I'm publishing The Macaroni Monologues....the illustrated edition.  But there'll have to be lots of practicing before then, and right now I'm gnarled-knuckled-deep in the Witchworks.

Fashionista

You're probably wondering if I took the mugs with me to buy the shirts, or if I took the shirts to buy the mugs.  I'll never tell, but of all my shirts my favorite is the white one.  I've taken extra-special care of it for several years now so as not to spill anything on it (I'm notorious for not wearing aprons when I cook).  I never wear it when I eat spaghetti.  I'm pretty sure marshmallows would be harmless.  In fact, I've been known to grab a few out of the bag when I'm wearing it.

There's not much going on here at the moment.  I've been making some slow progress on witches, although I did take 30 minutes off to do a speed-cleaning of my work area.  It's amazing how much clutter a person can clear if she sets a time limit and moves at warp speed.

I also made a list of items I'd like to have completed for the old hotel craft show in October.  This should help me stay on some sort of reasonable track instead of going off on one of my usual tangents.

Here's another witch in progress.

Months ago I covered a bottle with paper mache and attached some arms.  My original plan was to make a Santa.  But I've been having so much fun sculpting witch faces I changed my mind.  Do you see that snake skin behind her?  That's vinyl and it's my sewing machine cover.  When I was much, much younger I made most of my own clothes.  I got an idea one day to make a snake-skin raincoat.  I was quite the fashionista even then...

My mom (who taught me how to sew and, more importantly, how to rip out stuff that wasn't right even though I always thought whatever I was making was good enough) and I shopped long hours looking for the right snake skin print.  It had to be just the right shades of black and white.  I wanted something subtle. I finally found it in a fabric store in the L.A. garment district.  I loved that raincoat and wore it all the time.  I wish I still had it; I don't know what became of it.  But from the remnant that was left over I made a sewing machine cover, and it's served me well for all these years.

I loved making my clothes and I'd still be making them today if I could be sure that on Friday I'd be the same size as on Monday... 

Nary a tweet

Usually by now the neighborhood birds are back in full force, but so far not a one.  Winter, on the other hand, will not leave.  I will be patient.  I'm making a bird to see me through.

I haven't decided what color to paint him, but I'm leaning toward blue.  I'm sort of sorry now that I didn't leave an earthquake bird at the Calcondo, since there was a 4.4 quake soon after we left. 

I've finished painting the face on my latest witch. At least, I think I've finished. Maybe she needs a wart. 

Soon I will visit the park and forage for sticks.  I hope by then there will be lots of birds tweeting.

So yesterday was Mr. Gadget's birthday and I think this was his favorite gift.

Some facetime with Big City Girl.  Isn't techno-magic wonderful!

Pilgrimage

My friend, other Marcia, and I made a fiber trek to Massachusetts yesterday.  It was sort of spur of the moment.  Neither of us had anything else on our calendars, and there was no snow in the forecast--ideal conditions for a fun road trip. 

We made our regular stop at WEBS (aka Knitters' Heaven) in Northampton, and then followed the trusty GPS to Easthampton to a place I was most interested in checking out.

The store occupies part of an old 1920's vaudeville theater on the town's main street.

 

Inside the front door is a small shop with all sorts of hand-felted treasures.

A hallway in the back leads to a huge open space (maybe where the theater sets used to be stashed) that's filled with all sorts of fiber goodness.

I soon found the needle-felting fiber I was on a quest for and grabbed up many handfuls to replenish my supply. 

I'm usually not much of a shopper, but this place just sucked my credit card right out of my wallet.  I don't know if it was the abundance of fibery delicacies, or the history of the old building, but I felt an overwhelming desire to sing and dance.

Construction zone

I've begun the face-building process on the witch doll.

I usually start with the nose and build the other facial features out from it.  The first step is to make sure the nose-sized lump of paperclay adheres to the face.  This takes some work with my clay tools, and it's not the time to worry about what the final nose will look like.  Fine tuning comes later.

After the nose I work on the eyebrows.  Once they're done, it's easier to get a good eye placement.  There are a couple of ways I make the eyes.  On this doll I formed an oval shape out of clay and anchored it to the face with my tools.  Fingers work well too, but on something small it's easier with tools.  I then work some of the clay upwards for an eyelid and a little bit downward for the bottom edge of the eye.  I'll put the eyeballs in later.

Next comes the mouth.  It's not the greatest mouth, but it's a witch mouth.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  I've also added a little more clay to her left cheek to fill it out some.  I might do more work on that later.

The beauty of working with paperclay is that more clay can be added after your work has dried.  Just brush on some water and add more wet clay.  Your project will be happy to wait for you while you make lentil soup and a cheese and mushroom quiche for dinner. Bon appetit!

Witchworks open for business

The Witchworks is now officially open, and well ahead of witch season I might add.  I'm doing something very unusual for me.  I'm planning ahead.  Plus, it's lots of fun making witches so I consider it more play than work.

Last fall, you may remember, I made a witch with arms and legs made out of sticks.  I dragged Mr. Gadget with me to the local park to find just the right sticks and then asked him if he wouldn't mind drilling some holes in them so I could attach them to the fabric doll body.  I found the finished doll pleasing, and was happy that someone else did too...enough to buy it. 

It was an experiment really.

So now I've decided to make another one, but one with a clay face.

Here is the sewn and stuffed doll body.  I put some plastic pellets in the bottom to weight it down a bit.  I painted a coat of gesso onto the head to make the fabric more agreeable to the clay application.  Once the snow is gone and the ground has dried out, I'll make another trip to the park.  I'll go alone this time.  Mr. Gadget enjoys an occasional walk in the park, but he's not fond of helping me forage for body parts.

Got butane?

Mr. Gadget and I are now in Connecticut after an uneventful trip back.  Those are always the best kind.  There is still plenty of snow on the ground, but the weather has warmed up....although not in any consistent way. One day it's 50 degrees, the next it's 15.   Mother Nature is up to her usual tricks.

I finished the chef except for a few minor details.  The buttons are just pin heads.  I will replace them with black beads.  She could use a little more rose in her cheeks, and maybe some fingernail polish.  She was fun to make, and I've already got ideas for similar projects.  As usual, I have many more ideas than time so I must pick and choose.

I've signed up for a one-day workshop in NYC on April 5.  I've read Danny's blog for a few years and thought it would be fun to spend a day with him to learn about his process.  I do occasionally draw, although not very well, and I have been know to keep a journal from time to time. The map shows a fairly direct walking route from Grand Central to the Open Center where the class will take place.  Walking is good.  Subways not so much.  I still need Big City Girl to give me a tutorial.

So now we'll be staying put for a while, and I'll have some time to spend in the Treehouse working on some things for future craft fairs.  I have quite a few felted flower pins underway. They sold well last year.  And speaking of felting, my friend other Marcia and I are planning another trip up to Massachusetts soon for some fiber shopping.  We'll, of course, go to Knitters' Heaven, but we'll also be making a stop at Felters' Paradise.  I've never been there, but it might just end up being a regular stop on our route.

Other Marcia has become a very proficient weaver in recent years, and sometimes we stop at a weaving supply store several miles north of Heaven. I'm thinking it won't be long before our expedition requires a two-person tent and a camp stove... 

Time for a toast

The Calcondo re-do is finished.  I'll spare you the "before" picture.  It was pretty ugly.  But here is one of the "after" pictures.

 

This is looking into the bathroom from the master bedroom.  The old sink overflowed onto the carpeted bathroom floor and out into the bedroom and hallway, also carpeted.  All of the walls had to be replaced and also the vanity.  We had the bathroom and hallway tiled, and had new carpet installed in the rest of the place.  It looks wonderful now, just in time for us to leave it.  But, hopefully, it will be clean and dry when we return, and we have appointed scouts to check things out while we are away.  What an ordeal.

I've made more progress on the chef-in-a-mug.

She still needs clothes, but at least she has her make-up on and some hair.  I'm happy with her so far.  Each project is a learning experience.  Next time you see her she'll be wearing her chef's garb.

So now I need to tidy up a little.  We've invited the neighbor ladies over for late-afternoon wine and "the great unveiling."  For 2 months they've been putting up with construction noise.  We'll be sure to keep their glasses filled.  Maybe we should have called a caterer.

A little misunderstanding

Apparently he got the wrong memo.  I told him to dip the COOKIES in chocolate.

Some Springy thingies

 

I know many of you are anxious for Spring to arrive.  Big City Girl was so tired of old man Winter, she ran off to Cancun for a few days.  Isn't it great that flights can be tracked online?  She just landed a few minutes ago, and it won't be long till she's decked out in her bikini soaking up some sun.

These are some felted flowers I worked on while watching the Olympics. The orange one is a snowboarding flower and the yellow one is an ice dancing one.  I didn't make a curling flower.  I've just never been fond of curling. But I do wonder how the idea came about.  There must have been a heck of a drunken brainstorming party.

I finally added the left hand to the chef-in-a-mug, but as it was drying the thumb came loose.  So the second thumb is now drying, and if time permits I will do a little sanding and painting.  He will be outfitted after I get back to the Treehouse.

Meanwhile, I've been brainstorming (soberly) about another clay project....also to include a chef.  I have an old flour sifter about the same size as the mug.  I'm thinking of putting a chef inside and attaching him to the bottom so he will move back and forth slightly when the handle is moved in the sifting motion.

So, our carpeting job was postponed because of the rain.  It will be done next week, and this was really a lucky break because we needed a few days to get stuff organized.  This morning Mr. Gadget and I started that process.  We are happy with the re-do, even though it wasn't on our time schedule.  I guess when life gives you lemons, you might as well make lemon meringue pie.

Cooking up something new

It's another cloth and clay project.  I thought it would be fun to create something as part of an object I found around the house, and this mug was it.

I made a very simple wire armature and wrapped it first with plastic grocery bags.  The ones I get at the store here (you know, where the firemen shop) are very thin and barely hold the potatoes, but they worked well for my dollmaking purposes and didn't go to waste.  Then  I wrapped some fabric strips (old sheets) around it, but not too carefully.  I was impatient to get to the sculpting.

It's a work-in-progress, and probably won't be finished until I get back to Connecticut.  But in the meantime, it's saving my sanity.  The circus that has been going on in the Calcondo for the almost-seven weeks we've been here has turned my brain into cotton candy.  I'm sure the elephants will be marching through soon.

Tomorrow, however, I'll have a little break from the big top.  I'm going to have breakfast with Arizona Barbara and her boyfriend.  They are visiting from...yep....Arizona.  Long ago I mentioned Barbara, my long-time friend and fellow lover-of-fabric, and told you that she had left California for Arizona and a man.  This is that man.  So I'm looking forward to meeting him so I can see for myself what is so terribly exciting about him....and if she had a good enough reason to go off and leave me to do my fabric shopping all by myself.

Quilt show

Yesterday I visited the South Bay Quilt Guild's annual quilt show.  Even though I'm not a quilter (and I have no quilt guilt) I do like to admire the handiwork of other fans of textiles.  Here are some of my favorites:

Turtle

Ground Zero

The big city

Neckties