Happy Fall!

This past weekend was a welcome break from all of the hustle and bustle!  We had lovely weather and I was able to start decorating my front porch for Halloween!

In honor of the approaching fall, I started playing with some clay and these little guys rolled across my table!

I love pumpkins...almost to an obsession, which has been commented on more than once by friends, families, therapists...  Pumpkins just make me happy and I have a hard time passing a large pumpkin pile without adopting at least one, much to the chagrin of those shopping with me as I run squealing towards a pile.  (Mind you, I'm not a squealer, so it does come as a shock to my friends when I burst out of quiet conversation into a hyper child!)

These little pumpkins are just beginning their journey and will soon be part of something larger, so stay tuned to my blog or my Facebook page to updated project pictures!

Also making it's way across my work table is Cat-hulhu!  He likes souls, he likes yarn, he will purr all types of madness into your ear!

This little guy has been vying for attention for quite some time.  I finally managed to get him into a form that I really liked.  He was inspired by one of my friend's cats and makes me giggle every time I say his name, "Cathulhu!"

PPD Wrap-up and New Beginnings

What a wonderfully busy weekend!  I met some great people this year at the Central North Carolina Pagan Pride Day and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Several of my Itty Bitty Cthulhu sculptures found new homes and I was able to get some great advice from veteran vendors.  A beautiful and busy weekend, but now that it is over, I must turn my attention elsewhere!

Up next, I will be starting work on my annual State Fair entries, which I will be posting work in progress pics as I start sculpting.

But, in the meantime, I have reopened my Etsy shop!  Please feel free to go check it out!  There are several Itty Bitty Cthulhu that need good and loving homes. :)

I also love making custom Itty Bitty Cthulhu, so feel free to contact me through Etsy or using the form on the left side of this blog.  I will happily work with you to make your very own Itty Bitty Cthulhu to live with you (or your friend!)

I will be adding more Cthulhu and other items as the next few weeks progress.




















I have also branched into working with precious metal clay. The two charm necklace and leaf earrings will be added to my shop as well and I will be providing more details about this amazing medium as I begin my learning process.

My First Show!

My first craft show was a couple of weeks ago at Central NC Pagan Pride Days  and it was a success!  It was also a huge learning experience! Thankfully, Yarn Twisters and I had completed a dry run of booth set-up, table arrangement, decorations, etc. about a month before..so we were able to get everything up in about two hours on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning, we were up early (or myself, very late, running on less than three hours of sleep).  We had two hours to raise the tent, arrange everything we had left overnight, unpack our cars and get all of our items set up and arranged.  We took every bit of that time!  But, it came together very nicely!

And in perfect time, because we were very busy all day on Saturday!  We had so many visitors come through our booth and it was so wonderful to meet such sweet and wonderful people!

When we had a small break, I ran outside of the booth and sketched some tentacles on both of our display boards, highlighting our unique items!  I had Cthulhu sculptures, pendants and earrings to offer our customers, while Yarn Twisters had Cthulhu hats, dice bags and tarot/cell phone bags!  As you can tell, we created a "Cthulhu Alley" of tentacle goodness.

I had the right side of the booth to display my sculptures, magnets and jewelry on.  We also shared the rack in the back corner and mingled a bunch of items, including some of my larger sculptures and a friend's awesome bookmarks!

I missed out on grabbing an early picture before I sold two of my Cthulhus.  I also had a slideshow going on my tablet, showing previous work.

Notice the tentacle boxes, also created by me. ;)

We had inclement weather moving in, so Yarn Twisters and I had to scramble on Saturday afternoon when a brief shower moved through, protecting everything we had on display.  It cooled off nicely, though, and people lingered around after the rain passed through.  We did have to batten down the hatches on Saturday, since more storms were moving in that evening after the show.  Everything was packed into our vehicles, with the exception of the tent & tables.  I think we were all a bit apprehensive to what we would find upon our return on Sunday morning.

Thankfully, everything of ours still stood when we arrived on Sunday.  It didn't take us nearly as long to setup, since we knew where we wanted everything.  Having straw tossed down to help with any mud, it was amazing at how quickly it dried out and we had a gorgeous day!  It was cool, breezy and the sun was shining.  Surprisingly, there weren't as many visitors on Sunday, so I had time to work on some sculptures and pendants, finishing four of them before leaving that afternoon.

We had some great visitors on Sunday as the American Wildlife Refuge brought some feathery friends around to visit and educate the public.

Finally, I was informed that you haven't truly experienced Pagan Pride Day until you have consumed a Cthulhu Cake or Cake Pop.  Well, I couldn't resist bringing both home to share with my boyfriend, who was an amazing supporter through this entire journey. *heart*  

My parents were my biggest fans and I sent them pictures constantly from the craft fair!  Dad had given me the tropical fish clips that are holding down my tablecloth (there are also dolphins and orcas scattered around our tent, holding down essential items).  They worked better than any professional clips!  Mom was constantly listening to my ideas, concerns and offering constructive suggestions from her years of experience in craft fairs. Without my amazing support group, I would have never had the courage to attempt something like this. :)

Yarn Twisters and I have already reserved our booth space for next year.  Hope to see you there!

Double, double toil and trouble..

I have been working diligently on several projects, because I am getting ready for my first ever festival!  I would be more nervous, but I'm running around in circles so much, that I really have not had the time to worry about anything but my next project.

Speaking of, here are some of my finished pieces.

Double, double toil and trouble;

    Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

These little witchy Cthulhus don't seem to be getting into any mischief, do they?  Nah, I didn't think so either...though, maybe I shouldn't leave them together to plot in the darkness of night.

The top fellow there, with the bubbling caldron and purple hat...will be donated as a raffle item at the Central North Carolina Pagan Pride Days Festival.  If you are in the area, come check out some of the amazing vendors and folks that will be participating at this weekend event!

Mini Peacocks

Have I bored you enough with peacocks yet?  Well, that's too bad, because I have another peacock project to share with you.

Here are some mini peacocks that I made the other day. They were just baked tonight and will be painted tomorrow.  They can sit on the end of your finger!

The final touches...

And here, the peacocks begin getting their final touches...layering of paint to bring details to life.  The tails and back of the body were first...using a beautiful green-gold metallic paint to bring forward all of the detail work.

The front and heads were painted with a glorious sapphire blue, which I stole off of my boyfriend's miniatures work table.

I finished the details off with pearl white and a metallic black, enhancing the face along the way and adding definition.

The wings were painted white, then washed over with a thin metallic black to make the details really pop, while allowing the natural blue to shine through as well.

The final touch for the tails included placing Swarovski crystals in the eyespots of the final row of tail feathers.  This really added an extra dimension and I'll give credit where credit is due...it was entirely my boyfriend's idea and suggestion.  He was right, it really gave the sculpture that extra pop of color.

Their large base was covered with clay, baked and then painted in a mixtures of browns, greens and taupe. This cannot be seen, but I know it is there and it added depth to the ballast, which was added next. Following the addition of the ballast was green moss and grass, carefully glued into place to create a natural scene for the peacocks to roost.

Here they are at the wedding shower. :)  They do not look as brilliant of a blue under the natural light, but I will share my friend's photo once more, which really captured the colors nicely.

Finally Looking Like Peacocks...

After getting the texturing in the tail feathers down and the basic shape of the wings and back feathers, the next day, I started the task of filling in all of the details.  Each tail took me a little over an hour to complete all of the feathering detail.  Thankfully, the bodies and wings did not take as long...I think I averaged about forty minutes per sculpture.

I really had fun creating these textures...it was tedious, but very rewarding as I saw an abstract design become more and more refined with each detail that was added.

Standing side-by-side, these peacocks are finally looking like they should.  If you've noticed, they were promoted to a bigger base.  The one I started with was about half this size and could not accommodate both birds and their gorgeous fan tails, so I had to find one that would work properly.  

A close-up of the wings and body detail.

The final step for these guys was to make their head feathers and bake them all together.  Here's a closeup of the head after baking.

Come back soon to see the painting that went into these fellows, along with the details in the base.

The Peacocks Continue to Flourish...

When we last left off, the peacocks were just starting to plump up.  They had grown wings, a tail and were definitely starting to look more like birds and less like scarecrows.

I took nearly two weeks away from the peacocks, debating on what I would do next with them.  When I started to work on them some more, their tails developed nicely...well, except for the one on the left.

Oh, how I disliked that first tail.  I looked at the pictures again and again after I went to bed, nearly going back downstairs at 4am to work on it some more.  I forced myself to take a break from it, though...and tackle it again the next day.

This definitely worked to my advantage.  Had I gone with my first inclination, I might have redone the entire tail, but I figured out how to trim off the bottom layer and re-shape it to my liking.  Then, the real fun began!

Here, you can see the tail on the right has been textured with feather detail.  The one on the left, having been reshaped, is untextured, besides having the 'eyes' of the feathers put into place.

Both tails are now fully textured, as are the bodies of the peacocks, if you look closely.  If you do not look so closely, you will see my poor Cthulhus, lying painted and abandoned, ready to be given toys to play with. Soon, my little ones, soon.

In this image, (ignoring the glare of the Cthulhu), you can see the wing and body details that have started to develop on both birds.  Check back as these peacocks gain all of their feathers and their head feathers too!

My Latest Project

For those of you following my Facebook page, you'll have seen the finished design of my latest project.

I created these peacocks for a friend's upcoming wedding.  Their colors are blue and green, with touches of peacock feathers used for decoration. I could not resist trying my hand at these colorful and elegant birds. My friend, Mike, also took a much better picture of the final product than I was able to, so I am borrowing his photo with his permission.  You should also check out his baking blog, bakingbetter.com.  He has wonderful recipes!

But, these peacocks all started nearly a month ago now...when my muse, the perverted thing, came to me in the shower.  I was tossing ideas around, trying to figure out what to work on next and what would a nice sculpture be as a wedding gift.  Then these came to mind...so the first thing I did (after drying off, of course) was to rush downstairs and start working on the shapes.

Doesn't look like much, does it?  Armatures never really do...they just provide the skeleton to hold the clay together and provide it with strength and integrity.  I do have to admit, I was giggling maniacally while I was shaping the postures and heads.  (Forgive all of the photos that you will see over the next few days...they are WIP photos, thus not pretty and touched up). :)

The next day, the peacocks got their base coat of clay.  They look a bit better now, right?  Not so crane looking and more peacock-y.  

A couple of days later, they started to get even more definition.  Their tails grew, as did their wings and feet.

In the next post, I'll show you how frustrated I was at one of the peacock tails, as well as the detail work that began to include all of the feathers.  So, check back soon!

Work In Progress...

Despite a two day migraine, I managed to get a few things done late this afternoon and evening as the vertigo and pain subsided to a dull ache.  I wanted to share this pendant prototype of Cthulhu.

He is the second prototype that I have made so far.  After some final touches, he will be given a test run. He's very solid, but anytime I make jewelry, I like to test it out and make sure that the design is successful.

Life and Art

First, I apologize for my lack of posting over the last couple of months.  Between my day job and personal life, I have barely had enough time to breathe, let alone keep up with my blog posts and creating.  The past few weeks have been especially rough, so I finally made time today to relax and work with clay.

I picked a very familiar topic... One that I didn't have to think too hard about, one that I enjoy and would come easily to me, my mini Cthulhus.  And, what do you know...it took me forever to get his blasted eyebrow ridges to work, until I finally had to walk away!  Some days, nothing goes right.

But, that is life and definitely art.  Neither can be forced into the shape that you want.... Sometimes, you have to plead, cajole and pretty much bribe every deity and muse to make it work.  In the end, things turn out... It may not be as we wanted or wished, but it is what it is.

Hamlet Cthulhu

To be....or not to be....there is no question when it comes to Hamlet Cthulhu.  All that is, will not be and all that will be, is not.

Ok, so that's enough Shakespearean butchery from me for one day.  You might be asking, how in the world did you come up with a Hamlet Cthuhlu idea?

I will tell you; gather around the fire and sit a spell.  I was sculpting mini skulls awhile back, which you might remember.  The first one I made, well, it was too big for the miniatures and was cast aside for even smaller, more delicate skulls.  So, here I have this lone, rogue skull, rolling back and forth on my work tray.  He's all painted up, ready to go, but has no ~body~ to go with *insert drum solo for bad pun.*

Then, I look over and I have this little Cthulhu.  He's lonely.  All of his tentacle buddies have left for their new homes and he's just sitting there...giving me the sad, evil glare.  I look between the skull and Cthulhu...Cthulhu and the skull.

*insert cheesy romantic music*

Thus, Cthulhu got a new friend and Mr. Skully got a nice, supportive tentacle arm to hold him securely while he checks out the world.  Seems like the perfect match to me!  What do you think?

Work Table Wednesday

Here is the commissioned piece that I was working on for most of the weekend.

It's the Triforce from Zelda.  My friend wanted to give it to her daughter as a gift.  I'm so excited for her daughter, who will be starting pottery class this spring.  :)

Work Table Weekend

Here are a couple of projects that I have been working on this weekend...

A little brown mouse that hopped onto my table...

  

He is a bit droopy, but he makes me smile.  He was made using a base brown clay, then layered meticulously with various metallic paints to give his coat more detail.

The other piece I finally finished from a couple of weeks ago is a mini Dalek.

I think this little guy is perfectly harmless...wait...what is that noise?....