But Wait There's More...

So the other big project I'm working on right now, aside from the crowns, is a diorama. And if all goes well, hopefully, a series of dioramas.

I stumbled across this really talented artist, Nerea Pozo Izquierdo, she is a painter, but she also makes these adorable dioramas and decorated rooms. Well after staring at every picture on her blog for hours, I was totally inspired to give it a go. Thank you Nerea.

So here's part of the plan for my kitchen diorama

I'm just taking baby steps forward until I have it done. One thing I've learned in my years as a crafter is that if you just do one thing at a time, and just keep going, you will eventually finish the project, no matter how big it seems in the beginning.

So I started cutting...And building....

And testing....

And eventually I get to see?

I'm only about a third of the way through this project and it's going to be a bear, but I'll just keep doing one thing at a time, and then one more, and then one more, and eventually it will be done. That's the way of crafting.

What's in the works?

Well...let me tell you....crowns, two crowns, to be exact. These crowns are more than likely going to be my entries for this year's PMC Annual, so they have to be finished by the end of the month. I'm feeling confident that I can get them done in that time frame, but I've got a lot of work between now and then.

The first already has a home. I'm trading this crown with a women in Sweden and I'll share the wonderful thing I'm trading for, when it gets here. For now you'll have to be happy with the crown.

Here's the original sketch

As you can see I'm calling this crown Wind Swept and it's more asymmetrical than my usual work. I was really happy with how this drawing came out. The thing I liked best was the variation in line thickness and I really worried about keeping that look in the execution of the crown.

Here's the first phase of building the crown

And this is the current state of the crown

So far I'm really happy. The look is very close to the original and the feeling is right on. I need to add the texture to the surface of the crown. When it's fired and formed I'll start to add the stones or gems. I'm still debating with myself about 3mm cabs or 3mm gems. I want to wait and see the crown in it's true form, then I can see if it wants adornment or sparkle.

I'm using the new PMC pro for this so I'm a tiny bit worried about all the bending, hammering and soldering yet to come. But I've heard good things about the formula, so I'm hoping for the best.

The second crown, Queen of Hearts, is all for me and my new little lady. It's also going to be made from PMC pro and I ended up deviating from the original sketch quite a bit.

Here's the original sketch

I really wanted to keep the crown as delicate at the sketch so the "snakes" of metal clay that I'm using are between 2 and 3 cards thick, or maybe I should say thin. And I feel like I'm getting the right feel.

Here's my first stab at the crown.

I was pretty happy until I realized that I had gotten one side far shorter and more "cramped" than the other side. So I had to take the exacto knife to the crown. And hence I needed to take a second stab at the crown.

This is how it looked for three days while I got over being super mad at myself for not stopping the second I realized I was getting a little off.

But the PMC pro really was flexible and forgiving and I was able to correct my error and not have to start completely over. I'm very happy about that. I'm not sure I could've made the same major fixes with PMC+, which is what I usually use. The PMC pro really showed it's strength in this phase of the process. And...

Here's the final design.

The Queen of Hearts also awaits it's final texture. When it's fired and formed I plan to hang crystals, and maybe pearls, all over the crown. Really filling the open spaces with elegant sparkle.

And these crowns aren't the only things I've been working on...to be continued...

First Photo Shoot

Well we had our first photo shoot and these two are my favorites.

There are a few more shots on my flickr site, if you want to see more of the shoot.

I definitely have to get better with the camera now so that I can show you how truly wonderful she really is, these pictures just don't do her justice. But I think I'm going to get a lot of practice sense my head is full of fun ideas of things to make for her. Woo Hoo.

The hat and knit top are handmade by Biscuitbear over at the Enchanted Doll Forum. They are meant to be worn by an Enchanted Doll but I really love how Bohemian she looks in them.

The wait is over

I'm not going to go into crazy detail because I have about a million pictures to share and I don't want this to be the longest post ever, so I will just say, I ordered a doll from Kelly aka tencats, an amazing artist, and my doll arrive today, Woo Hoo. She actually arrived yesterday but I was working and so they had to come back today. But no matter, she's here now and without further ado

The Box Opening!




I have a muse, and I just love her.

I'm just blown away by her beauty. It was late in the day when she finally got here so the pictures I took in my excitement were not very good. Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow. She is so wonderful I had a very hard time putting her away.

I've been working like a house elf for her arrival and have some fun things to share. So I think this blog is going to get a work out over the next few days and weeks.

Happy Nooking

I got a Nook for Christmas, and within days I wondered how I had lived this long without it, I love it. As a little tech gadget I didn't think there would be much reason to mention it on my crafting blog. Oh was I wrong. My beloved Nook needed a little carry case and so...let the crafting begin.

I felted "ruined" two sweaters from Goodwill and my Nook has a cute case.

Now if I could get off the public library website, checking out every book I can get my digital hands on for my Nook, maybe I would blog more often. Happy reading and blogging all.