What else have I been doing?

I got this yesterday. Feel free to pin it on Pintrest hehe!





The newest and final hatchling. A little phoenix. He needs some styling and a tidy up but here's a preview.



Pegasus and Dragon Hatchlings

Here they are, just newly hatched (you can still see gold paint on my hands hehe!) I'll get some better pictures when all three are done. But here's the Instagram preview for now!

WIP- Fantasy Egg Series- Pegasus

I have a little creature on my sculpting table!

Remember I had those little cages and eggs sitting around for SO long? Well, I finally got my act together with a new eye technique which I'm actually happy with. This has allowed me to make 6 excellent little eyes, ready for 3 fantasy creature hatchlings, for the eggs.

Here's the first, Pegasus. He will have little feathered wings and is so small that he can fit into a modified chicken egg!

WIP

Studio Re-Arrangement and 20 Points of Reference

I know I've done this kind of post before but I just love seeing other artist's studios and I've just re-arranged mine, so here we go again!

This time I've photoshopped a clumsy panarama up and can show you the full layout... with 20 little important bits pointed out.

1. This is the photography part. I invested in a good camera, a couple of great lenses and a light cube/lamp set (eBay for around AU$100). Best thing ever for taking nice, detailed pics of your sculpts.
2. A draw set my sister gave me. This has laminating pouches, stickers, printer papers, envelopes etc in it. Lenses and camera charger on top. Probably not the safest place for your $1000 lens!
3. Mum's old 'Singer Blue Magic' sewing machine. I make up sculpts clothing on this machine... as well as doing the household mending and other crafty projects.
4. Various bases and stuff I've picked up for sculpts. Also some stands for WIP heads.
5. Biscuit tin full of clay.
6. Glass sheet for a worspace, glass cake stand (turns), anatomy reference pics (under the glass) and a WIP or two. Glass is FANTASTIC. When it gets dirty with paint and clay and glue all over it, I just use a blade and a wipe and get rid of the muck. You can also put reference pics under it which don't require laminating because they are already under glass and always handy.
7. Various tools and brushes (most of which are found or hand made). Also Liquids I frequently use such as glues, glazes, oils and liquid clays.
8. Super wattage lighting. Since I don't have much natural light in my studio, I have lots of additional lighting.
9. Modem, printer, laptop spot. Sometimes laminator, UV lamp, glue gun. Basically where the power is!
10. Ever-full rubbish bin. Halfway there so better add another pic after this one.
11. 

 11 and 12 have gone missing so I'll talk about my two greyhounds and big cat, all rescues and behind me when taking the photos. They are lounging on a couch and armchairs in front of the TV. This studio is in a loft of my house (hence the slopy roof) and it is nice and snuggly up there. They are permanant fixtures in the studio.
13. Map of the world with little clear pins showing all of the places around the globe where my sculptures have been sold to. 
14. Washing line for drying clothes when it is raining outside... or holding various rags and fabric I want to look at for a while, before I decide to use them on sculpts.
15. Painting by a talented indigenous ex-student.
16. Shelf with finished sculptures. I really should get on eBay and sell some of these!
17. Dedicated clay convection oven with timer and thermostat! Best thing ever, I never burn a sculpt now. Note all the fibre-fill in it! Must have baked something fragile recently.
18. Pasta machine.
19. Unfinished cupboards. All of the space under the desk looks like this, behind those doors! Labelled boxes and containers containing the multitude of sculpting goodies and sparkly things I've collected over the years. The labels are essential or it would look like a rubbish bomb went off in there. Also holds some equipment which I am not using constantly (eg UV lamp, camera tripod, soldering iron etc).  
20. Temporary carpet. I'm still saving up for my 'real' carpet upstairs and I've decided to to leave the crummy 2nd hand carpet up there for as long as possible since I'm always spilling glue, leaving offcuts of fur, squishing clay into it.

So there it is in a nutshell. My little studio. One day, when I get the good carpet, have freshly painted and am really happy with the whole look of it, I'll post another update. Until then, this is how it will be for a while.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to post links to pictures of your own studios. I love seeing them all! 

Moss Pixie

Remember the pixie I started a while ago? Well, here she is all done. She's the little one in charge of poking pieces of moss into all the nooks around the forest.

Will he bring chocolate on his next visit?

Just had to get this one out of my system before I could do some more cleaning!

HAPPY AND SAFE HOLIDAYS!

New idea- Pixie Children

I've been mulling over the idea of a less realistic human type critter for a while and I feel like I need to do something a bit different to get all of my sillyness out. So I've decided to make some pixie children.

The eyes are all done and I've made the armatures, they aren't as silly as I had thought they might be but it will be interesting to see what happens. I haven't painstakingly sketched up poses and faces like I'd ordinarily do and am going to make them semi-posable anyway, so I can change them later if I feel the urge.

I've begun sculpting a head but it needs some more work... updates soon (with WIP pictures hopeflly!)

Judith and Holofernes all Finished!

Here she is! I was going to dress her more but decided that she is on the run and didn't have time to put much on before rushing off.



Judith and Holofernes WIP

I've been working on Judith again today. In fact, I HAD finished sculpting her quite early but then when she was baked, her arm was singed so I had to resculpt it.

I originally thought it was a spike in the temperature of the oven but I'd never had a problem before. Upon second baking I encountered some darkening of some areas and realised it could have been because I added some Mold Maker to my mix to help with conditioning and flexibility of the clay as it has been sitting for a few months and had dried out a little. Luckily I will be applying some dark skin tone washes. Some parts darkened in the oven on the second bake but luckily look quite natural.



Nice Surprise

I just went to the Aussie Poly Clayers forum to find that I had won the Aug/Sept Challenge. How nice!

They deserve a special shout out and a plug :)

Click here to go visit or join the forum!

It has been far too long!

Yes, it has been far too long since I have had the time or want to do any sculpting. Pretty sad. This is mostly due to my clay becoming hard and dry (through not using it quickly enough) and I didn't want to have to condition it with Mold Maker to soften it up.

Well, over the past week I've been feeling a little like doing some sculpting so today (a warm 38deg C) I thought would be perfect for softening clay. Boy, oh boy, are my hands killing me?! But I managed to get some work done on Judith.



CDHM Competition Results!

Results have come through for the second competition I entered. I came second! http://cdhmcontests.com/

The theme was 'Fairy Tales' and since work had an opera performance of Hansel and Grethel visiting, I took inspiration for that (plus, it is a bit deliciously sinister for a teacher by trade to create a sculpture involving kids in cages!)

This piece is in 1:12 scale. I sculpted the figures in polymer clay (of course), painted and dressed them. The cage is made from wood and wire and the base is Aves Apoxie over wood and painted. I have used the lush, local Australian hand-dyed mohair to wig the characters. Hansel's bone is carved from a bamboo skewer. 

Now for some pictures!

(That's a metric cm/mm ruler)

Close up of Grethel.

My niece refused to go home yesterday, until I let Hansel out.

Have a great day!

Finally I can reveal my work!

No luck on the first comp. The competition was very good, I'm amazed with what people came up with! Oh well, I had fun.
Here is the link to the work from the competition: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65722426@N08/5991769057/in/photostream/

The best part is... now I can post pictures of my entry on here!

The suspense is killing me!

I've been working hard over the last couple of weeks and have, just today, finished the newest sculpt. Unfortunately I cannot show any pictures as it is for a another competition.

I'm really enjoying entering comps and it keeps me motivated to keep working away at things but the suspense is killing me! It isn't so much that I'm keen to win... although, that would be very nice. No, I mostly want to look at how others have interpreted the theme!

I find out how I have gone on the first one, tomorrow so I'll post links of the entries as they go online (as I'm sure you're all dying to look at everyone's work too). The next competition closes on the 20th and we are able to see results on or around the 27th (I think).

Now I'm on the lookout for another competition to keep me going. Anyone know of any online ones? Being in a rural community in Australia means that online comps are one of the only ways I can be involved in the wider sculpting world and I am having a ball but the suspense is still killing me!

Gallery of unfinished sculpts.

Look at what I noticed!

I'm not really finishing a lot.

In light of this new realisation...

I've decided to start something new! Hehe!

However, it is for a competition so I won't be able to show pics of it for a few weeks. I hope this gallery of unfinished sculpts will do for now.

I will be able to post pics of the competition piece I completed last month as judging will be completed in eight days. So keep an eye out for that one!

Next project- 2 more days of holidays. Better make them count!

Well... after some long nights and a few 'sculpting only' days (sorry for neglecting you vacuume and washing machine) I have finished my competition entry. I didn't really end up taking WIP pictures as promised, just one of the armature and then some of the finished sculpt, so I'm thinking I'll have to get into something else today since I only have 2 more days left of holidays. 

I am really into furring animals at the moment and have some dusty pink faux fur laying in a tub in the studio. There's also brown, black and white too but I'd really like to use the pink. 

Then there's Judith who I have attacked with an Exacto-knife and cleaned most of her face off.

What to do, what to do...

... sketches up later today!

Edited at 1:29pm to add: I'm feeling some inspiration!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/feythcrafts?ref=pr_shop_more 

http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/store/OOAK-Fantasy-Unicorn-Kirin-Sculpture-Doll_320706537260.html

 (http://www.funny-potato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/baby-unicorn.jpg)

 (http://www.deviantart.com/download/118252493/Taxidermy_Unicorn_Foal_4_by_Indigo_Ocean.jpg)

Shhh... a secret project!

I have a project on the go, in fact, I'm almost a quarter finished! BUT it is for a competition which means I can't blog about it or add pictures anywhere on the internet. 

This is for  the annual Aussie Poly Clayers forum's competition http://aussiepolyclay.21.forumer.com/index.php. They have some pretty special prizes which is rather exciting. The theme is 'Dare to Dream' which is a little broad but makes it more open to both sculptors and beaders I guess. I had some trouble figuring out how I might go about portraying the theme. Instantly things like angels, nightmares and hundreds of little fantasy creatures bounced about in my brain. Would they be too cliche'?

You'll all have to wait until after the 30th of this month after the competition begins, to see what I have come up with! (don't worry, I'm taking some progress pics as I go!)

Frustration strikes.

Yep, I've made about twenty heads and none are striking me as the right head for my Judith.
I'm so frustrated. I think it would be a good idea to set it aside and have a go at something else for a while.

Judith's Head

Here's my first head.

Apologies for the picture quality, I tried to take some with my good camera but it seems it has been a while since I last had it out and the battery was flat! As a result, this photo has colours which are a bit off and some weird distortion of the forehead and stuff but you get the idea.

(image: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text)

The brows are a bit full-on but they look better when she has some dark hair draped over her head! I may strip some of the paint off and start again but I was also using the older pic of the Afghan Girl as a reference and she is quite dark, her nose wasn't quite right though so I made it a little less hooked. Her mouth isn't quite so tight and mad either. Maybe I had too many different reference pics?

(I am so ashamed of the picture but you'll have to wait for another day for a better one)