Full Moons and Scare-Me-Crows!

Good Sunday To You All!
Hope your week was great! And the new one promises to be fantastic!

As you may know (or may not) Forrest was completed and listed on Etsy 8 days ago. In my exuberance to get him posted and inform everyone I inadvertently blew up some of my friends FaceBook pages. Opps. When I sent out the message that Forrest was done it grouped everyone together. Which means that every time someone responds to the post - and there were many responses, I thank you all for the positive comments - it posts to every one's page that was one the list. I do apologize to those of you who were inundated with comments. Next time I'll know better. :)
Speaking of Forrest, and Harley, in the ten days that my Etsy shop has been open for business I have had 125 views. I am very happy with the number of people who have stopped by and given me feedback on Forrest and Harley. It's GREAT!! I'm kind of curious about the 'numbers game' now. Of those of you who have Etsy shops, has any one noticed the amount of views before a sale is made? There is a direct correlation between views and sales. I was just curious if anyone has been tracking this number? Ok, be honest, how many of you just went and looked to see? I know you did! :)

Did anyone get to see the 'super moon' last night? I did, it was gorgeous. My camera takes excellent photos, of everything, except the moon. I can't seem to get one 'clear' shot of the surface. It makes me crazy(er). I've tried different settings, different angles, telephoto crops.....no friggin' luck! Oh well, at least I got to see the moon at it's closest pass to Earth....
I was taking pictures off my front porch. I'm sure my neighbor thought I was taking pictures of his house.....his porch & garage lights came on suddenly. :)

Super Moon 5-05-2012

I did mange to get some work done on my doublet. YAY! I had to take in over an inch on the side seams and another inch and a half on the back. I know it wasn't that big when I started this. Yesterday was the first time back to the gym in two weeks....I was amazed that I only gained 3 pounds. Anyway, the doublet is coming along well. I have until May 18th to be ready. That's the weekend we are going. I can't wait! I still have to get some trim for the doublet. I will have to go and look to see what I want. I tried on my Ren (poet) shirt that I got a couple years ago. It's huge. The sleeve seam is half way down my arm. Don't yet know what I'm going to do about that one.

back view - the front one was so blurry you

couldn't make out anything. i'll have to take

another one. and no, i will not be wearing

the shorts to the RenFest   :)

I got a bug-up-my-butt this past week too....I decided that my Scare-me-crows needed new hands. The one on my skeleton crow are made from canned expanding foam. They have turned an orange-y  color. They are bulky and I wasn't happy with them. So......I'm making new ones. So far they are freaking fantastic. I saw an article on making hands from rolled up newspaper and tape. Then they were paper mache'-ed. Then I added my own touch....Neoprene! They look great but I wish you could feel them. They feel like rubber gloves. And they are huge! They are approximately 22 inches from the bottom of the palm to the top of the bent fingers. They would probably be closer to 28 inches if the fingers were extended. I still have to 'white wash' them so they will match the skull. I have to give them a few more days before I do the white wash so the neoprene has a chance to fully dry and set. Then I have to do surgery and remove the old hands and then add the new ones. Can't wait! They're gonna look awesome!

cardboard, newspaper and masking tape

first pass of paper mache' - just newspaper

if you look in the background you will see the hands

that are being replaced. it's the orange blob in the

center towards the top of the photo

next pass paper mache' - brown 'wrapping' paper

this is the third pass of neoprene applied with a brush.

the first one was a thin coat and the following two were

heavier to thoroughly coat the paper mache'.

and yes, they are shinny and wet looking.

I do believe that is all for this installment. I will continue working on my doublet, hopefully it will be completed by next weekend. Hey - I can dream, can't I? :)  I will probably white was the scare-me-crow's hands this week sometime as well. My Wee Stuffies are sitting on the shelf whining and whimpering every time I walk past. I have assured them that they are next on my list. I had a great idea for my give away...unfortunately my corel draw/paint decided to crash and not save anything that I had been working on....time to start over. I'll keep you posted on that one.

til next time...

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN