Gettin' Ready

Sorry about the extended absence from the computer. I've been getting ready for the ShevaCon Art Show, which is this weekend! Yay! I've been swapping in and out pieces to take, trying to decide if I should make anything especially for the show, etc. Art shows always make me very...queasy.
Aside from getting ready for the art show, I've been working on a few new dolls, all of which are crawling toward completion, but none of which are ready. I've been trying a new style with them (the same build technique as the bunny). It's working and saving me some clay, making them a bit cheaper to produce and therefore to sell than some of my solid clay pieces. Interestingly, they feel just as, or maybe more durable than the ones that are pure clay.
Anyway, I hve things to frame. If you are at ShevaCon, I'll see you there!

Dragging my feet.

It sucks, but I feel like I'm not getting nearly the stuff done that I should be, lately. I did finish a couple of things yesterday, so that's cool, at least.
I don't know what the deal is. Part of it was being sick, I'm sure, but the other part is lack of motivation. This time of year is a sales slump, obviously...I wonder if that leads to a lack of motivation?
This morning I even looked up a 'Get Yourself Motivated' article...and I'm not going to put up the link, because it's the same feel good, insipid crap that they always are. Oh well, that was a waste!
So, we'll get energy and motivation the traditional way, I guess. More Coffee.

Oh, for the record, I made a burlap teddy bear and finished inking a picture of Chang and Eng, the original Siamese Twins.

Sickness, Brains and Shrunken Heads

Hi, sorry for the quietness of the last couple of days. I've been dying of the Swine Flu or something. Fever, aches, sleeping a ton, tossing and turning, chest congestion...you know the drill. It sucked.

Yesterday I felt some better and managed to finish a candle mold that has been 'in progress' for forever, though. It's a smallish brain that will fit into a jar....a larger jar than my eyeballs, but a jar, none the less. It'll get it's first pour this weekend, I think.

Also, I finished two more shrunken heads, and I believe they are of quality enough to sell, so they shall be on Etsy shortly!

Lithopedion!!!

Let us continue the flavor of last post, and throw out something distressing and cool. I was searching for neat sideshow stuff to possibly make, when I came across this, and I think it is too weird to keep to myself.
Lithopedion (stone child) is a strange and rare condition that happens when a fetus dies during an abdominal pregnancy, and is not passed out. If it's big enough the body can't absorb it back into the system, so it calcifies the baby to keep it from infecting the mother. Women have carried these stone babies for decades in some instances, like this one LINK (warning, the link contains photos of a 46 year old stone fetus). Creepy stuff.
I had no idea that babies could do this, but it's awesome. See the stuff you can find out if you look around for it!
In a slightly related note, I may be making my own version of the fiji mermaid soon.

A shrunken head

Alright, with a name that has "Jar Babies" in it, I'm expected to show some f'ed up stuff, occassionally. Well, here's a shrunken head!
This nasty devil is a prototype for more shrunken heads, as I figure out a better process of mass producing them. They will ALL be unique, and don't involve molds or the like, but this one took too long to be a salable thing. Also, his paint needs some touching up. I did learn from the process, and I've already found some ways to make it look better, and be made faster. My only fear is of running out of hair.
The idea to make a shrunken head came from an oddities book, "North Carolina Curiosities," which is a pretty interesting book about the cool and weird things to do and see around the state. I realized upon seeing that some place had actual shrunken heads, that they were perfect for my shop and the image I'm trying to maintain.
So, to make a long story short, expect some shrunken heads in my shop soon, and buy them! Also, they do go well with your jungle themed bedroom that your girlfriend yells at you about.

Bunny Complete

Seeing as how the last two posts were about bunnies, I figured I'd make it a trilogy and call it good.
The little Easter Bunny girl is finished!
Sewing her dress was a royal pain in the butt, but the doll itself went together like a dream. During the dress, the sewing machine jammed, and jammed, and broke thread, and jammed, and ruined material. Thank God that once I got the machine running properly, it didn't give me too much more trouble. Painting her was very enjoyable, which is odd. Usually the paint job or the assembling fights me hard.
Her little flowers were culled from a few different tiny bouquets from the wedding section of Hobby Lobby, but the rest of here was completely built by me. Her "antiquing" wash went smoothly, so after the fight with the dress, all that was left was to sign her.
I signed and dated her butt, just for the record.
Also, those aren't my Care Bears DVDs, I put them in the photos for scale, and thought that the cute bunny would clash with the movies I watch.

Art Updates

My first bunny is coming along, as you can see in the picture. She's paper mache, polymer clay, and wire with a coat of gesso. She'll be finished up with an actual paint job, some clothes, and a bunch of flowers in her paws. Cute stuff.
Don't worry, the cute stuff ends with her. If this style of art-doll works out, she'll get some company, and fast. I'm thinking another scary clown (I love those) maybe a few more bunnies, and who knows what else!
Also, the dragon puppets are coming along. The 'egg' in the previous post is now painted, and a much larger 'egg' is currently drying out.
Also in the art world, I'm playing with paper mache pulp, as it can be put into molds. This process can open some new and kind of scary doors, so don't worry, I'm not in a rut, yet.

Easter is coming!

Yep, when you sell stuff, you have to remind yourself of the holidays that aren't even close, yet. I've got some ideas and one small project started for Easter, but I'm constantly struck by how far ahead I have to plan. Seems like I'll be working on Halloween in June and Christmas in August.
It's nuts! Oh well. At least Easter is fun from my perspective on this side of it. I get to make cute bunnies, and maybe a borderline sacrilegious piece or two.

Jar Shortage!

Those of you who have seen my etsy shop know that I make candles. Horrible candles in jars with babies in them (see the title of this blog!), or severed digits or eyeballs.
Lately I've not posted any more for sale because I've ran into a supply shortage on the particular jars I use. It's very irritating, but not the end of the world. Looks like I'll be buying jars online, soon.
I'm working on making some candles that don't require a jar, but that somehow feels wrong to me. I was thinking of maybe a candle gargoyle or the like, but again, that doesn't feel right. It also involves changing up the recipe for my wax.
I don't know how many of you have ever made candles, but changing their container, or lack there-of, involves changing the additives you put into the candles.
I'm by no means a master candle...smith (what's the title of a candle maker?), but I do take pride in what I've done. I'd hate for my glowing candle reputation to be ruined because of failed bland standing candles not in jars. Eh well.
Maybe soon I'll get some more jars and I will be able to make a ton o' babies, some brown eyes and green eyes, and perhaps even work on a few new candle molds. We shall see!

My Studio is a Wreck!

Oof, as I lay awake last night with my wonderful insomnia, all I could think about was cleaning my studio. It's gotten so bad that I'm working more and more in front of the TV, instead of where I should be working.
Working in front of the TV isn't terrible, but it's not ideal, either. The TV is distracting, for one, so I end up working longer on things than I should. Also, it's caused the small but real problem of slowly making my living room as disorganized as my studio. Today, I shall fix all of that...or rather, I shall TRY to fix all of that. My motivation is low now, because I'm sleepy (see 'insomnia' above).
With luck the studio shall come back into what it should be, or at least closer, and I'll be able to take more pictures in there without having to shuffle piles of newspapers, boxes of old paintings, or tons of tools before grabbing the camera.