Cats on a Scarf

I made this scarf design of many of my cat named Mr. Norrell and one of my friend Genevieve's cat named Pigeon.  The concept came from Andy Warhol's 25 cats name Sam.  The book actually had 16 Sam cats and one named Hester.  So this scarf is 16 Norrell cats and one named Pigeon. 

I am getting this scarf made in silk and I am really excited to see how it will turn out.

Shrinky Dinks

I am thinking about having a shrinky dinks party this fall.  I ordered some sheets of shrinky dink paper to test out how they work.  I made the Little Prince and Ben made the fox to go with him. We used color pencils and then popped them into the toaster oven to shrink up.  They shrink to a third of the size in the oven and get very thick.  Ben got scared because they curl up as they shrink before flattening out and he thought they were ruined. But all was okay and I am pretty happy with how they came out.  I glued a pin backing onto the Little Prince.  Lastly, we sprayed some fixative spray over the shrinky dinks because they are easily smudged. I am going to think up more ideas of things to make and test out making some with markers as well.

Update:  It has come to my attention that some people don't know what a shrinky dink is!  Please watch the following video and be amazed.

Today's Rings

The honeycomb ring is in the shop now and the teardrop is coming soon.

I am looking forward to making a ton of teardrop rings and stacking them up on one finger.  

Cotton Anniversary

I made a couple T-shirts for Ben for our cotton (second) anniversary.

  Once I realized two years was cotton I immediately had a ton of ideas.  In the end I settled on two shirts.  They both have a book/library theme which worked well since we had book and library elements in our wedding and because Ben is now a working librarian.  

I made one shirt with a library card pocket with the book being checkout out on our wedding and anniversary dates.

The other shirt is the children's bookshelf using the image I made from the side of our seating chart.  It was a hard choice but since Ben is a children's librarian it seemed like the logical choice.  I may end up having to make more shirts of the other shelves.

I used Cafe Press to print the shirts and I was very happy with how they turned out.

Calligraphy

I have been doodling a lot at my desk so I decided to try some calligraphy as long as I am sitting.

I got some pens and some books at the library.  It will definitely take a lot of practice. 

The Twelve Zodiac Animals vs. the Badgers

The MET has an exhibit called Storytelling in Japan.

The Battle of the Twelve Animals scroll was my favorite.  It tells the story of a battle between the twelve zodiac animals against the tanuki which is an animal like a badger or raccoon (translated to badger in the exhibit).  There is a poetry contest between the twelve zodiac animals and the deer is the judge.  When the tanuki sees all the attention the deer is recieving he decides he would like to judge the next poetry context.  The other animals laugh at this suggestion.  The tanuki becomes angry and fights against the twelve but they defeat him.  He attacks them again at night while they are asleep and the tanuki win.  This is the scroll that is in the MET exhibit.  

In the end the twelve zodiac animals defeat the tanuki who is enlightened and becomes a monk.  

I loved the depiction of the animals in the scroll and the clothing they wear, the colors are so bright.  

photos from the NYPL digital archive

Cat Head

I made this drawing of Mr. Norrell.

I am thinking of translating it into wax and making a cat face ring.

Weekend Intensive Wax Carving

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend I took a workshop in alternative wax carving.

I learn some new techniques and worked with some different materials and soft wax.
The soft wax has a really great organic feel to it yielding much different results than the harder wax.

I made a bunch of rings that were brought to the casters today.

I need to get a wax welder, it is so fun to use.

Big Sister

The first completed spread from my children's book.

It's about me becoming a big sister. 

Shoe Making

 

 

 

 

This weekend I took a shoe making class at the Textile Arts Center.

We made traditional North American moccasins using a pattern in this book. 

We made a pattern based on our foot by tracing our foot and then adding in measurements for the width and height.  Then we made practice shoes from our pattern out of felt.  In order to get the correct fit we had to stitch the felt together and then adjust where needed in order to get the proper fit.  Once the felt was the proper fit the pattern was adjusted accordingly.  The next day we cut out our leather and stitched up our shoes by punching holes in the leather and stitching with 2 needles and waxed linen cord. 

Currently Working On

working on a small collection of holiday pieces

Currently Working On

 

For Children's Book Illustration Class

Children's Book Illustration Assignment

Our assignment for Children's Book Illustration class was to have a finished drawing of a child reading.

This was mine. 

The Society of Illustrators

The Original Art: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration

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The Society of Illustrators

Each artist chose a page from their book to hang and they had all the books.

Really great show and interesting to see the original art works and what page the artists choose. 

Flock of Birds

We made a flock of birds in Children's Book Illustration Class

This is mine.

Wing Necklace Now in the Shop!

 

 

Inspired by an ancient stone statue of a mythical winged beast, this stylized rendition of a wing conveys both the solidity of stone and metal and the delicate, ephemeral nature of feathers in flight. Hand carved from wax and cast in sterling silver, the piece has been partially oxidized to bring out and highlight the remarkable depth of detail.

Take a look in the shop!

Wing Necklace

I was really inspired by this winged horse statue.

I loved the layers of stone that make up the wing.

Here is the wax carving I did after seeing it.

And the finished Wing Necklace.

It is coming soon to the shop.

Tortoise and Hare

 

I made these paintings for Ben many birthday's ago.  

They are inspiring some new jewelry.

Currently Working On

New York Cityscape in wax ready to get cast.

Petal Necklace Preview