Mead drinking Vampires wearing Doublets!

Well Now...
Here it is two weeks....again. I promised myself I would do a post every week. Don't know what happened, time just got away from me. I feel like that little kid (from many, many years ago) sledding down the big hill at the end of our neighborhood.........SWOOSH!!!!  And it was over. Oh well, no use in crying about it now. It's done and I have no excuse. I can only hope that I won't do it again (yeah, right).

Anyway.....

Let's see now....
I've been quite busy actually. My boss is out of the country (Italy). So I've spent the last week running the department by myself and I have another week to look forward to.

Last Saturday night I had a date.....with my daughter. :)
We went to the movies (when did they get so expensive?). Guess what we saw?? Want a hint? Ok...hhhmmmm, Pasty faced big name actor. No? Uummmmm, Television remake. Still No? Ok....the director likes to play with clay. Yep! We saw Dark Shadows. We went to the 10 O'clock show. There was a fairly large line when we got there. But when we got to our seats there was only about a dozen people there. Not sure where everyone was. But, The Raven was showing too. We both want to go see that one. It looks pretty good! Dark Shadows was pretty good. Not quite what I was expecting but decent. The ending was god-awful terrible. They really need to go back to making movies to make movies....not to leave it open for a sequel. OMG! I had to laugh during the previews.....I seriously thought this was a joke for like the last 6 months (since I first heard the rumors). Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter! It actually looks like it might be good. Only time will tell! I want to see The Raven in the theatre. Big, creepy story lines with vicious killers need to be seen on the big screen! :)

Today was the deadline for my doublet. Well, actually yesterday was. I got it almost finished last night. But by quarter after twelve my eyes were crossing and I was making too many stupid mistakes. So I said enough and put it up. I finished it this afternoon. YAY! However, we were going to go tomorrow, but it seems that I'm not supposed to be there this weekend. There have been many obstacles preventing me from making an appearance. We still have a few weekends left....hopefully! Keep your fingers crossed for me. :)
Wanna see how it turned out?? Ok, I guess it's only fair since I've been making everyone wait.

not too shabby! :) it fits me better than the manikin

do you like my hat? had to have something for my head

it even has a dingle dangle  LOL

had to show off the back too

i am happy with the final product

close up of the hat - can be worn up, back or forward

close up of the sleeve cap

I have also worked on the hands for my Scare-me-crow! They are coming along quite well. I still have to do some minor touches. I think I may add 'bones' on the back of the hands. So they show up more in the night. I've gotten some really great comments on the hands. Thanks for all the positive vibes from everyone!

And on top of that......I started working on 2 of the 8 panels that I (my daughter and me) will be doing to go 'around' the table we usually set up. They're fairly large. They measure 38 inches x 8 foot. I think the next ones will have the frame work painted black before I stretch the yard fabric. I'm not happy with the 'see thru' of the fabric but I'm hoping I can cover it up during the painting process. Here's a couple of photos (so you can be impressed - HA!)

this is after about 4 layers of dry brushing. i lost count of the colors

2 of 8 (Star Trek thing - HA!) if you look you

can see the designs on each one. they will all

be painted white to really glow under black light

I've been working on my Wee Stuffies during this time period too. I have one face sculpted, molded, poured and sitting on the table right now while the neoprene solidifies. I think at this point I may do three faces - possibly four. Not sure yet. The face came out well....at least the sculpting. Still out on the pour. It has another couple hours of dry time until I find out. Damn I'm impatient! Then it has another 24-48 hours before I can do anything with it. Oh well, I'm sure it will be worth the wait. I hope! :)

the sculpt - in progress

the mold process - in progress

the mold - waiting to be cleaned.

the top edge broke - could you hear me cussing? LOL!

no pic of the pour....maybe next time

My honey came in this past week too! I'm so excited!! Why?? I am going to start a batch of Mead. Yes, Mead! I look forward to having a glass each year at the RenFest. So I thought I'd make my own. It will be a lesson in patience. It won't be ready until this time next year. Yes.....NEXT YEAR. Anyway, mead is basically honey wine. I ordered my honey from The Bee Folks. I ordered Blackberry honey, Blueberry honey and Meadowfarm honey. So I have the honey, the gallon jug, the filter, the yeast, hoses, stoppers, etc. Now I have to set aside the time to get it going! I've been reading up on mead making and all things Mead! If you want more information on mead making go to Storm the Castle. A lot of useful information. You can get a lot of good info and ideas at Got Mead? too. This stuff is gonna be good! No, wait, Great!!

I also ordered a book this past week. Some of you may already have it. It's a second print of 'Dollmaking. One artist's approach' by Robert Mckinley. I ordered mine from Bill Nelson. I've read a lot of good reviews on this book and I can't wait for it to come! Hopefully it will be here this coming week. Fingers crossed!!

I am also in the process of redoing my website. I've been using Front Page to do all the work with. And now they (the web host) doesn't support Front Page anymore. So now I have to learn their software. It's not complicated....it's just something I really don't want to do at this time. However, it has to be done. yay.

Well, I think that's all for now. I'm pretty sure that's all that I wanted to tell you.....I'm sure I've forgotten something. I'll remember it, as soon as I hit publish. That's how it usually works. :)

I see one more new member. Yay! Welcome Charles!

Charles has some great work. You should go look!

TTFN

p.s. - that puts us at 31 members and 111 posts. I hear Wee Stuffies whispering in my ears. Hhhhmmmmmm. :)