Black Panties And The Emergency Room - 2014

Happy 2014 To You!!
I hope you all had a splendid new year's celebration!
We spent the evening with our neighbors. Had a bonfire, that Barry kept stoked very well. Would have never known it was in the 30's...until you walked away from the fire. :)
We had a great evening, Barry grilled and we had a few (wink, wink) drinks.
Got home and in bed around 1am. And...at 4am my phone rang.
My youngest grandson, Preston, had a fever of 104.7. So off to the emergency room I went. We spent four hours at the ER and it turned out to be a virus. After x-rays and drawing blood, which he was not happy about (and screamed like it was the end of the world), they gave him some medication and sent us home after his fever came down.
It would appear that 2014 will be filled with the 'never a dull moment' as the previous years have.
But, my kids and grand kids come first. That will never change.
I thought they said that as you got older things slowed down. Yeah, ok. Mine seems to be picking up speed. HA!

Now that the holidays have passed, I guess it's safe to show you what we were working on. Lots of handmade stuff for friends and family. There were glass ornaments, quilted ornaments and an array of other things. So, onward with the photos...

some of the quilted ornaments...

these take over an hour each to make

i just realized that i have not one photo of these 

completed...aaarrrggghhh!

glass initial ornaments, set one

and set 2

glass glitter balls

the glitter is on the inside 

no mess, at least that was the

lie that was being told

made with floor polish

a few of the first glitter balls that 

we made...

snowmen

socks and rice

with handmade hats and scarfs

hard lotion for soft skin

bath teas

relaxation in a bag

and i made scarfs to keep everyone warm...

good thing, the high today is supposed to be 37  :)

Remember the 'tease' from a few posts back? (link) It was a gift for our daughter-in-law. My wife and Amanda had been out to the 'junk shops' and came across a set of manikin legs. For what ever reason, my daughter-in-law just had to have them. Sally came home and told me about them and then we decided to make a table out of them. After going back and picking them up things got really fun (not). Let me say that walking into Victoria's Secret and asking a room full of women for black panties and lace tights will get you some really odd looks. I'm still not convinced that they don't think they were for me. HAHA. Sally and our neighbor Amy painted the legs and got them ready for me. Aren't I lucky? Of course, nothing went as planned. Am I surprised? Not in the slightest. After many attempts and a lot of adhesives, I finally got some epoxy that grabbed the material that the legs were made out of. I did a round bottom (chair blanks) and did a double top. The manikin has multicolored leopard tights and black panties with pink bows. The skirt is made from black lace. Amanda seemed to be really pleased with it, so all the work was worth the effort. Oh, did I tell you that I got it finished the night before? Yep, last minute, that appears to be when my best work comes out. 

trying on the tights and panties

on our way...

waiting for the epoxy to dry

the finished piece

and this is what the tree looked like 

this year. lots and lots and lots

of stuff

think they're spoiled? NAH, not at all

In a previous post (link) I showed you the brooch I was working on. I did the sculpt and made the mold with Dragon Skin. I did a test pour with Ice Resin and was really happy with the outcome. Well, after getting all the Christmas projects completed I went back to work on the brooch. I used Smooth Cast 300 (white) and Smooth Cast Onyx to pour the molds. All of the pieces came out great - very little clean up. The first pour I attempted to paint the mold with a silver acrylic. It looked horrible. I absolutely hated it. Fortunately I was able to fix it with several layers of paint. Hopefully my friends will be happy with the finished piece (which is not the silver one). I poured two white ones and a black one. The black one is the piece that I created for my friends wedding. I was trying for a 'pewter' look. I think I achieved what I was after. Only time will tell. 

the painted mold and Smooth Cast 300

the Smooth Cast setting up...

this is so cool to watch this solidify

pulled from the mold

HATE this!

Smooth Cast Onyx

the mold setting up...

the SC300 set up in 30 minutes...

the Onyx had to be left overnight,

took forever for this to not be 

'rubbery'

the finished pull...24 hours later

the three pulls...

the squares above them are the 'waste'

I quickly learned how much the mold

would hold...this stuff ain't cheap!

the pieces painted and adorned

the top one is the wedding gift

it's sitting on popsicle sticks due to

the clasp on the back.

I use iridescent copper and silver 

on the other two which do not have

any beads as of yet.

I finished the custom portrait on the 23rd. And of course the client was out of town until late on the 24th. So we made arrangements to meet on the 26th. He seemed pleased with the outcome. I have not heard a response from him yet. I am hoping that his wife was thrilled with the portrait. I will wait until I hear from him before I post a finished picture, just in case she hasn't seen it yet. 

I have decided that since everyone is doing a 'top of the best' list that I would do one as well. The following are the top five viewed posts of my blog...

Number 5, with 228 views

     http://artisticanger.blogspot.com/2012/12/krampus-christmas-goat.html

Number 4, with 443 views

     http://artisticanger.blogspot.com/2012/01/nc-17-magic.html

Number 3, with 455 views

     http://artisticanger.blogspot.com/2013/09/parade-of-masked-babies.html

Number 2, with 503 views

     http://artisticanger.blogspot.com/2012/01/sad-little-friday.html

and the Number 1 post...with 582 views...

     http://artisticanger.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day-to-you-all-its.html

there you have it...the top five posts. And they continue to grow. Thanks to all the folks that show up and read my little rants about life and art! Your support is greatly appreciated! I can only hope that you will continue to stop by and visit with me in the coming year. I look forward to seeing and hearing from you all! I'll be sure and keep the tea hot for when you stop by. 

Here's to the best year yet! May all your dreams and wishes come true. May life grab you by the chin hairs and show you how many amazing things await you. 

  

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

can't wait to see what 2014 holds!

Happy Holidays!

Merry 

Christmas

to one and all!

Here's hoping that

Father Chirstmas

is good to you...

and that you haven't 

been naughty. 

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

Warmest Season Greetings!

Have a 

Merry

YULE!

wishing you the best the season has to offer!

May your new year be fruitful and bountiful!

Here's hoping your fire burns bright!

PEACE and JOY

to You and Yours!

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

Slushy Silicone Projects

Good Morning All!
I hope you all have been well since our last visit.
I, alas, have been sick. Still fighting off this BLECK! It's been a week and a half now. Co-workers are sick, grand children are sick - just surrounded by coughing, hacking and just general blahs!
I was going to post last Sunday, but did not feel up to the task. Then on Monday I saw all the people that had visited my blog and felt really bad about not posting. Which was followed by a few days of 'OMG, why didn't I post something. Yes, I feel bad when I realize that people are actually reading my posts and I have nothing there...Sorry to all of you who stopped by and found nothing new. :(

Let's get started, shall we?

About a week ago, Georgia got a snap of the cold and wet that most of the country has gotten. Yes, I can hear you groaning and rolling your eyes. Georgia cold? yeah right. Well, it happens, occasionally.
But when it's cold, it's really cold because we are so used to it being warm. Especially when a few days prior to this it was almost 70 degrees - in December. I do have to say that I really don't miss the snow and ice. Granted, it wasn't a foot of snow or anything like that. In fact, by most standards it was simply a cold, wet day. But when I opened the door and found slush and ice it was quite a surprise. I even had to force my dogs to go out. They both looked at me like 'what the hell is this?'

Georgia's awful day of cold   LOL!

A couple of weekends ago we had our get together - the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad everyone got to come. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos. I know, 'What?' 'Why?'....well, I really don't have any excuse. All I can say is that I had a house full of people and my brain was elsewhere. My daughter and her family were here. My son and his family were here. The neighbors, Amy and Barry were here. And Eddy and Yvonne made the trip as well. Amy made a 'pizza ring' for an appetizer. Yummy! I made a vegetarian dish for Stephen. Stuffed squash. Peppers and mushrooms, onions, etc. It turned out very well. It was supposed to have black beans as well, but I forgot to add them. Stephen and my daughter seemed to enjoy it, so I'm counting it as a 'good' dish. And then, Eddy and Yvonne started cooking...let me just say it was really, really difficult to stay out of the kitchen and out of the way. I am normally the one who cooks. Having someone else in my kitchen, without my fingers in things, was strange and totally abnormal. I hoovered like an old lady. We joked about it and things got done. They made pico de gallo, black bean dip and several other things that aren't coming to mind at the moment. Every thing was great. Then my son and daughter-in-law made chicken balls. Which was really good and was gone very quickly. My grandson, Lawton, had 5 of them. We also celebrated my grandson's, Preston, first birthday. He was so cute. He devoured the black bean dip. He opened his gifts and had a blast. He didn't get his cake until the following day though. Which he promptly spread all over everything...blue icing from head to toe. We then spent time outside around the fire. It was cool but not cold, which worked out well. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I am thankful that everyone got to come. The dogs were even well behaved. I didn't have to lock them down the hall. They must have known to be on their best behavior. I got to hang onto Rylee for most of the night, which was wonderful. He was having a really good day. 

Preston opening his BD gifts

mmmmmm....black beans and rice

We put out the Christmas lights and tree for the get together. Got my nutcrackers out and Sally put out some of her Christmas town. We set these up on the mantle/fireplace. I got replacement bulbs for my mother's C9 lights. The day after it rained and blew my lights out. It has been raining (and I've been sick) since. So none of my outside lights are working. Apparently, on top of this, my neighbors were waiting for my lights. They all seemed disappointed that I didn't put out everything. And of course, my wife wasn't happy that I didn't put out everything as well. Can't win for losing.

mantle all lit up

The Christmas gifts are all but done. Just a couple more and they will be completed. YAY! They've all come out well and I'm happy (as I can be) with them. Unfortunately, it will still be a few weeks before I can share any of them with you. :(  Patience is a virtue...not sure what that says about me, since I have none. HA! 

I have been working on the doll from the Ankie Daanan class. I am still so far behind. Being sick really sucks! I have been making progress though. So it's not a total disaster. Got the hips, thighs and calves built up. I've had to repair a crack over the knee three times now though. Hopefully this last fix will take care of it. I've been happy with the progress so far. Trying really hard to get caught up...

working at getting caught up...

progress as of this post...

I started a separate project about a week ago. I got some Monster Clay to work with. So far it's been great. I really like this clay. It has a wax base and has been great working with. I have sculpted a brooch. It's a special project that I will have to give details on later. I got the Monster Clay for my Ichabod project. I thought the brooch would be a good test for the clay. I was right. :)  I also got some Dragon Skin for the Ichabod project and I used it for the brooch as well. I managed to get the brooch sculpted, molded and a test pour done. I had some ice resin that I used for the pour. I added 5 drops of ice blue and some metallic white glitter to the ice resin. The pour came out great. The Dragon Skin picked up all of the details in the sculpt. I can't wait to get the rest of the materials to finish this project. Hopefully the recipient will be pleased with the outcome. I will post pictures of the final outcome when it's done. In the meantime, here are some of the progress pics....

basic shape started

face building up...

the dark on the right eye is from heating 

the clay with a lighter. didn't expect it to

brown

Swirls and textures being added

building up the WED clay wall

mixing the Dragon Skin silicone rubber

demolding the sculpt

mold detail...hard to see due to the

transparency of the Dragon Skin

ICE resin and white glitter

discovered that my table is not completely

level. had to trim the flash 

mold and test pour (prior to trimming flash)

hard to see how transparent this is from this photo

MORE TO COME....

This past week I got a video from my wife while she was babysitting Kennedy. It's so cute. If you listen you will hear her say 'OMG'. All I could do was grin. My daughter has no idea what's coming her way. :)

Kennedy is going to be ready to go! She already doesn't like sitting still. And she will talk your ear off if given the chance. I've never loaded a video to my blog...so hopefully this works like it's supposed to...

Well...apparently not. Can't get the video to load. DAMN! I will have to figure out why and then post it later. Bummer!

I guess that's all for this post. Looking forward to seeing you all next time! Have a great week and a Happy Season! 

Be Good, Be Happy, Be Safe!

TTFN

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

To You All!!!

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

Sneaky Holiday Gathering

Hello All!
Hope your days away have been productive and happy!
Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving? Man, that went fast! Busy, Busy, Busy!

This post, along with the next few, will be a tad short and secretive. Due to working on Christmas gifts. Can't give too much away! LOL  My wife and I have been working diligently on this years gifts - next year I think we need to start in June. I'll show you a sneak peek...

how's this for a sneak? HA!

I've been working on the doll from Ankie's class as well. Not as much as I would like but there's just so much being crammed into this time of year. She's coming along very well and I'm really happy with her so far. There's a lot of talented people taking the class with me. Wonderful versions of this doll being made! When they are done I will ask if I can post some of their pieces for you to see.

body sanded smooth - I am so far behind!

My wife and I both got new vehicles recently. She got a Camry and I got a Tacoma. They are both Metallic Grey. I needed something with a backseat - with all my grand kids I needed more room. Imagine that! They're all getting so big, so fast! Just thinking about how fast they're growing makes me feel old! :)

my new truck - still with the window sticker

I was online the other day and came across an advertisement for Jolie's new movie - How The Hell Did I Miss This? It looks really good and she fits the character. It's called Maleficent, in case you haven't seen the ads for it. I love the makeup and the story line looks pretty good too. I must be slacking because I heard absolutely nothing about this - even though it's been in the works for over a year. Can't wait to see it!

My daughter got the opportunity to go and see Steve Harvey at the university this past week as well. She had a great time and said he was 'very motivational'. From the photos it looked like she had some pretty good seats too.

The new portrait is coming along fantastic. I have been very pleased with the progress so far. It appears that the client has been as well - That's Always A Good Thing! LOL! I haven't gotten permission to post progress pics yet, so I can't show the whole thing...maybe a peek. ;)

This coming week is going to be frantic! So much to do and so little time. Thanksgiving is going to be fairly quiet, but then we have a get together on Saturday. Lots of people, lots of children...just LOTS! So there will be plenty of prepping, cleaning and general cussing I'm sure. :) I will have to move all the gifts that we are working on into a room I can lock to keep out all the 'looky-lou's'. Have to work on the yard this week too. Gotta get the fire pit ready for a bonfire...marshmallows and all. Apparently there will be enough food for 200 people. I have three people cooking, I will have to cook nothing! It will be nice but extremely odd - since I usually do a lot of cooking and baking at this time of the year. I might even break out some of the mead I made. Only time will time.

I think that's all for now...I'm sure I've forgotten something. I have no doubt that I will remember it as soon as I post this.

Anyway, Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!!

And if I don't see you before then........HAVE A FANTASTIC THANKSGIVING!!

TTFN

slowing going back to the earth

Running Baby Portraits!

Good Morning Everyone!
Hope you've all had a productive week!
It's been a hectic (I know, that's not abnormal!) one in my little corner of the world.

We have started working on holiday gifts. The place looks like a bomb went off. There are various projects taking place in my studio, the living room and of course the dinning room table is completely inaccessible at the moment. Unfortunately, I can't show any photos at this moment. Don't want to give away any secrets! LOL! My wife and daughters began their Christmas shopping this past week. They spent the day together. I'm glad they all got the time to spend together. :)

just a tease - pieces cut for one of the holiday projects

I realized after I posted last week that I forgot to show you the goodies I got after Halloween. I always go shopping afterwards. It's the 50-75% off that gets me. :)

post Halloween goodies!

tea towels, skelly garland, ornaments, pumpkin bells,

black tea-light owl and new doormat

The online class that I'm taking from Ankie Daanen is going well. The doll looks good so far. And believe it or not I'm only a week behind. I seemed to have run out of hours this past week. Nothing new, never seems to be enough of it! 

does this photo make my butt look big?

LOL!

front side - lesson one

lesson two - paper clay being applied

We are also gearing up for a holiday gathering. I think it's going to be the weekend after Thanksgiving. I guess that means I'm going to have to move all the projects to the spare bedroom and padlock the door!

This past Tuesday began my babysitting adventures! I get to watch over Kennedy while my daughter goes to school. She started back (post baby) on Tuesday. I had a blast with little miss Kennedy. We sat and talked (ok, she listened, mostly). She's gonna be hell on wheels when she gets her balance. You would swear she's running a marathon the way she kicks and wiggles. Remember all the exercise videos of 'the bicycle'? Where you lay on your back and 'ride' a bike....well, imagine a little, tiny person doing it. That's Kennedy! She just goes to town riding her bike! LOL!

Got to spend some time with my grand daughter Shaylor this past week as well. She was in my studio with me. That girl can talk! I don't think she took a breath the whole time she was with me! She likes to 'paint' when she's "working in my studio" with me. She put all her drawings on my door. She went and got the magnets from the fridge so she could stick them on my downstairs door. She's so sweet! And I got Lawton's school picture too! Lord they wear me out! Love em all!!

miss Kennedy after her exercise routine

my oldest grand son, Lawton

And just when I thought I couldn't possibly squeeze any more into 24 hours - Looks like I may have a New Portrait Client! I'm so excited. We've begun choosing the image to be used and all the initial information for the portrait! I have to remember to get permission to post progress pictures on my blog. It's a Christmas gift, so I may not be able to post anything until after he's given his wife the painting. I will keep you all posted on the progress!

Well, I do believe that's all the news that fits.

Have a great week! See you all soon!

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!!

TTFN