Discoveries

Hello, Crafters and other friends!


    As I've stated many times, I'm a "Jill of All Trades."  I love variety and trying new things.   One of my many crafting forays was an attempt at soap-making.  Mind you, I did not have a 'scratch' recipe... I purchased soy-based soap 'melts' into which could be put fragrances and colors.  I made several one year for my grandsons' Christmas gifts.  They were quite amused to get little bars of pink soap, scented like bubble gum and with a tiny plastic pig encased in the middle.  AHA!  You have to actually wash your hands to get the toy! 


  That bit of gift-making experimentation over with, I packed up the supplies and put them away.  In the meantime, we moved.  To say that chaos ensued would be a world-class understatement!  Eventually, I got my new art studio up and running, but it very quickly got taken over by our full-scale bisque ceramics operation.   All my other crafts languished in various closets and cupboards.


    (Creating ceramics is an extremely dusty enterprise, and dust is incompatible with all my other crafting ventures, e.g., jewelry, scrapbooking, soap, needlepoint, etc.  The dust is very, very fine, and sifts into literally everything.  A closed cupboard offers no protection.  If you have ever sanded wood with a power sander, it is finer dust than that; if you have ever done sheetrock sanding, it is finer dust even than that!)


    As this year's budget is on the tight side, I again thought about the soap, and since I now have granddaughters about the age the grandsons were during my first attempt, I thought to unpack the soap stuff, and do a reprise.  Well don't you know, I tore apart my craft cupboard in the studio, and no soap making supplies were anywhere to be found.


    I did find some candle-making supplies, and instantly learned that candles should not be stored in a room that reaches over 100 degrees F. on a regular basis (when the kiln is running).  Ooops!  Well, of course, I did know that candles should not be stored in hot places, and we carefully keep all our holiday and emergency candles out of the attic.  However, at the time my art studio was finished and things put inside was before I acquired the kiln and began the ceramics business.   By the time we installed the kiln, I had completely forgotten the candle-making stuff was in there.  Grumble, grumble...I know now!


   Among the other things I found, however, were some stenciled coasters I had begun making years ago, and which got packed up with all my other crafts for the move.  I had completely forgotten about them as well.  However, now that I've re-discovered them, I'll be putting the final finishing touches  and listing them in my Etsy shop.   As to whether there will ever be any more of these made depends on my being able to find similar material. 


   Many of my crafts are 'upcycled' from things originally with a very different purpose.  Not quite "scrap crafts," though; I don't make reindeer from egg cartons, for example. The wood from which the coasters were made  began as packing material to prevent bailing wire from cutting through paper-wrapped bales of wood-chips.  (My elder daughter used to have a couple of Guinea Pigs, and we used the wood shavings for their cage litter.)  However, since I no longer purchase bales of wood chips, I no longer get these pieces of thin wood.  It is not sold in that thickness at retail.  The only such thickness is found in balsa wood, strips of thin plywood, or bass wood, intended for hobby model-makers, and the cost is prohibitive.  The search goes on.

   I have also found my stash of sewn-on sequins in assorted shapes, which I use to decorate some very special Christmas stockings.  These stockings are very labor-intensive, and I usually just make one pair every now and then for special friends.  That said, however, I am now stuck on the problem...once again...of not being able to find the appropriate raw materials.  They use old-fashioned nylon stockings (not pantyhose) with a seam up the back of the leg, and also mens' old-fashioned thin silk dress socks.  Trying to find either item nowadays is, well, let's just say the proverbial needle in a haystack has a better chance.

   I have a lot of work cut out for me still as I continue to search through my cupboards, looking for my soap-making supplies.  Who knows what other forgotten crafts or supplies I will find as I search?  It's a regular first-class detective mystery!

   
     


 

Not Quite Crafts...

      By now you know this blog is mostly about my crafts.  Today's post is not.  I do have some vintage items I'll be putting in my online shops from time to time, so I thought I'd share a few of the pictures here.


      This first one is an abstract poodle pin, given to me by a school chum when I was in high school.

     I don't really know anything about the maker, whose mark is seen in the lower left photo, above.

    The next item is an antique GOP elephant pin.  I've no idea whether it was just a "party pride" pin, or related to a specific campaign.  I've not been able to find out.  All I know is that it was with my great-great aunt's stuff when she passed back in 1963 at the age of 86, so it's definitely very old.

    For your enjoyment next on the menu are a couple of vaseline glass bowls/candy/nut dishes.  No clue as to vintage, maker or pattern name (no marks on the undersides!)  They came to my mother from a great-aunt of mine.  They are both intriguing shapes, but I've never really been fond of this yellow-green color glass.  I'm more partial to deep, rich tones, like cobalt blue glass and ruby or cranberry glass.  At right above, shown in normal lighting, and below left, under a blacklight.

      The next one is taller, and is shown below right, in normal light, and below center, under blacklight.

   

And that's all for today, folks!  Thanks for stopping by to look at my curios!

New shop slowly taking shape--and other miscellaneous stuff happening ;-)

Check out my shop on ArtFire.  It is slowly but surely being populated with items.  I have so many different things I do that I don't spend a great deal of time on any one of them at a stretch.  I bounce back and forth..."multi-tasking."

Truth is, I thrive on variety, and would end up bored to tears and in a looney bin somewhere if I had to do the same thing over and over and over all day long, day in and day out.

This week, I got to get back into video editing, which I enjoy, although, I'm not real thrilled with the Windows "Movie Maker" program.  It has limitations I do not like, so I'm researching other options.  I have Pinnacle Studio 7, but the hardware card seems to be among the missing.  Until that can be located, I cannot install it in my computer.  Further, my current computer has 2 built-in firewire ports to which my video cam can be connected, so there may not be space inside for the Pinnacle Studio card.  (All of that, however, is hubby's department--he used to make a living as a hardware/software configuration specialist.  However, working with such large clients as Wells Fargo and Kaiser Permanente...and having their  hard drives in your possession, complete with all the data on their clients....was an extremely high-stress job, and probably responsible for his several heart attacks!  So, I put no pressure on him...if/when it gets done, it does, if not, I'll muddle through.) 

Today, I'll be getting some more painting done, as I have to clear the painting out before tomorrow, to make way for cleaning green ware.  Cleaning green ware is a very, very dusty process, and completely incompatible with painting or glazing. The extremely fine dust will settle into wet paint or glaze and ruin the job.  Too bad I can't afford to create separate rooms for dusty/non-dusty operations!  That way, everything that is 'in process" could be just left out for the next work session.  Ah, well, such is life.  ;-)

That is all for now, folks.  Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, Wednesday....

    Finished the race video...tried to work on the one for MIL wedding  (now 2 years old--shame on me!) and found I HAD finished it, but at the time, had no means to burn it to a CD or DVD.  Now I do, but it won't work!  Grr... tells me all sorts of error messages, such as "invalid file type"  or "no disc in drive"  (now that's an outright lie!)  

   Well, since the video I was having trouble with is from a saved file 2 years old..that may be the problem.  I might have to re-upload the original raw footage from the camera, and start all over again in the editing process.  Grrrrrr.....   

    Not quite sure how to proceed at this point, so I'm going back to paint more mice while I think about it!


    Just posted up 2 new ornaments today on my Etsy site.  Will do more tomorrow, or later this evening on my Artfire site. 

    Keeping it brief today, and lately.  Just quick updates, no articles in mind just now.

Work in Progress...

Well, I found the program in Windows to edit video, found the missing fire wire cable for the video camera  (it was plugged into the back of the computer the whole time! I guess that's. sort of like loosing your glasses while wearing them!  DUH!)

Now, all I have to do is finish editing the video I shot of the Radio Control car races, (promised to hubby), then the wedding video (2 yrs old!!) for my mother-in-law...  and THEN I can shoot my demo video of my studio and the entire process of ceramic-making!

Woo-Hoo!  Onwards and upwards!

Happy crafting, everyone!

Fall Is Here...

And with Fall, Winter is not far behind.  :::sigh:::  I sit here and wonder who spilled grease on the calendar.  How is it that days can drag, while years zoom?  And the older we get, the faster they go...with still so much left to do.

Speaking of which, I've decided to offer some of my "Mousechief Crew" tree ornaments as DIY projects in sets of 4.  I thought it might be fun, and folks might like to paint some up to their own specifications and color schemes.  the first two sets are now posted in my Etsy shop.  Here they are:

This is set #1 above.  It has the candle climber, North Pole, Bell, and Hickory Dickory mice.

Below, is set #2, which features the wreath napper, bedtime prayers, sleepy Willie, and "Grandma Mouses."

Set #3 is not yet posted, so I'll keep it secret a bit longer.  These darling little mousie critters average about 3" tall, and are quite detailed.  Regular readers will recall that week or so ago,  I wrote an in-depth article about the full process for creating these little fellows, as well as my carousel animal line.

                                    

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I also make a Western-themed line, which are much larger statuettes, and excellent gifts for the horse lover in your circle of family or friends.  The overall process for making the Western items is exactly the same...with the exception of the size, and the fact that several are multiple-piece molds. 

A mulitple-piece mold has some or several of the various parts of the finished statuette poured separately, for if it were to be poured all of a piece, there would be too many angles for the piece to release from the mold without breaking.  So, these smaller parts are poured separate, and must be attached with a clay slurry mixture while the clay is still very wet.  This is done just as soon as the figure comes out of the mold. 

It can be very tricky, for often these parts are small, and they are fragile, and easily squished at the soft clay stage, or cracked and broken off at the green ware stage while it is being cleaned.  Here is one example of such a piece:

In this item, the Buffalo Soldier, the extended front leg of the horse is an "attachment," and as you can see, it is sticking out "in harm's way."  It is a very difficult item to clean in preparation for firing, withouth breaking this extended leg.  Imagine a few strands of raw spaghetti laid across your palm.  Now, if you were to close your palm, and begin to squeeze, it would not take much before those strands would snap.  That is a pretty fair example of how fragile raw green ware is.  You can literally crush it in your hand with little to no effort.

This bronco rider is even worse to deal with.  Not only is one of the horse's legs an attachement (the opposite side from that shown here), but the entire torso and head of the rider is an attachment, as is his left hand and arm.  His right hand is actually molded in with the mane of the horse, so it must be carefully aligned when the torso is attached.  This figure is a real "PITA" to assemble, and likewise very fragile and easily broken at any stage along the way.

These are much larger items,  each standing approximately a foot tall...so their added weight adds to the risk of damage.  There are even some items which must be carefully laid in a box of newspaper shred to dry, or they will either fall over or 'squish down' from the weight of the wet clay.

Like the much smaller mice, these are very intricately detailed pieces, and painting them realistically takes a long time.  For the most part, we just offer these in either the faux-bronze look seen here, or in a plain gloss glaze (we will do realistic painting, but must ask for a 3-week lead time, and they are about double the price of the plain finishes).  The plain gloss glaze finish is seen on the rearing stallion, below.  (Note that his left leg is one of those pesky "attachments.")

   So, happy Fall, and ... (I dread to rush the season) .. happy holidays.  Be well and be safe, each and every one.

Friday Update..

Greetings, everyone!

    Today is Friday, yay for that.  But, my plans have hit a snag...my idea for creating a video presentation of my work has been delayed by computer issues.

    It seems that in order to install the software to run my video editing suite, it is first necessary to have a hardware card installed in my machine.  That card is still in my old computer, and changing it over is my husband's department--unfortunately, he will be unavailable to fix that until next week.

   Meanwhile, I have video to shoot at the Radio Control car races being held in town this weekend, so, I need to refresh my memory on use of the camera.   After that, if hubby wants the race video ready to upload, it will behoove him to act quickly to make the changover in the computers.  Nothing like a little extra bribery for incentive, eh?  Heh, heh, heh!

    I continue to work on my holiday ornament painting, and will be listing more items each day.  Keep checking back in my Etsy shop at:  www.DzyMsLizzy.Etsy.com

    Thanks for following my blog, and for shopping with me!  You are all appreciated.

Cheers!

Photos, Editing, busy, busy

Greetings!
 
   Well, there is a lot to do today.  I have a slew of mice to paint; photos to re-take and tweak; which in turn must be uploaded to computer, edited, and swapped out for other pictures in my Etsy listings.

  Then, I must re-install my video editing software, as it was in my old computer.  I am supposed to be editing a wedding video for my mother-in-law, ...  (ahem--the wedding was 2 years ago!  Ooops!)... but, that video was also in my old computer, and it somehow did not transfer across to the external hard drive when we sent the puter in to have the data rescued.  UGH!!  I was about halfway done--now I must start from square one.  This time, I'm in a time crunch, as I promised to bring it when we visit for Thanksgiving.

   Next, I have to get out the manual, and re-learn this video cam (it is fairly new to me...I've hardly used it at all), and shoot the video I want of my studio processes.  Probably some of the cat's antics, as well... I've more or less hinted at a promise of cat videos to friends on my other blog (part of the Cat Blogosphere).

  That's about it for today--none of it will get done if I don't get off this computer!  :-)

Cheers, Lizzy

The Holidays are Coming; The Holidays are Coming!

A 1 an' a 2, an' a 1...2...3.... and heeeeeere we go!  It's October, and that means just one thing:  the official beginning of the time of year known as The Holiday Season. 

Most B&M stores have their holiday offerings out ridiculously early, 'rushing the season,' as it were.  I don't care for this practice, but I do understand that with mail-order sales, which is what we online crafters are doing, it is necessary to be a bit ahead of the game to allow for shipping time.

That said, I still do not like to be working on holiday items in June, so every September and October finds me 'busting tail' to get my Etsy and Artfire shops stocked with holiday goodies. 

I am in the middle of painting a slew of cute little mice for my "Mousechief Crew" ornament collection.  There will be several duplicates, so more than one person can have them; there will also be some one-of-a-kind.  Aha... collectibles value?   LOL  Probably not. 

But, you can look for my new offerings for Halloween already in my shop; and a few last-minute items will be there by the end of this week.

Christmas will not be far behind.  Somehow or another, Thanksgiving gets cheated out of very many decorations..who's with me to rectify this situation?  Sign on below in the comments! 

That's it for today...back to work for me!

Cheers!

A New Technique

Ceramic Plaques

Some of you may have read my earlier post about how I create my small holiday ornaments...as well as the larger ceramic items.

I have added a new line; wall plaques engraved with various "cute" sayings.  For these, I use an entirely different approach.

The plaques are molded, in a sense, but instead of liquid clay slip being poured into molds, I begin with moist clay in a block, much as a potter might use to throw on a wheel.  I have several molds, this type more properly known as "jigs," into which I fit pounded slabs of clay.

Pounded?  That's right.   Once the clay is cut from the large block, it is unlikely to be 100% the correct size and shape, or thickness.  Chances are, a few pieces will have to be squished together to form the whole.  The pounding makes sure all the layers have become one, and there are no air pockets in the middle.  Air pockets spell death to ceramics.  The least little bit of air in the middle will have whatever tiny amount of atmospheric moisture in it, that was trapped when the clay was molded.  In the kiln, this becomes steam, and expands.  It has nowhere to go, so "kaboom" goes your piece!

The pounded clay is then laid into the jig, and pounded further to fill in to the corners.  Then, it is rolled with a roller to smooth the top.  (The jig is fastened to a smooth surface, so the bottom is more or less smooth already.)  Once the jig is completely filled, any excess is cut from around the edges, and the clay allowed to sit and start to dry.  There is a lot of moisture; it can be left to sit even overnight in cool weather. 

After it has hardened up enough to handle without warping too much (clay has 'memory' and a warped piece will come out warped, even if it was re-flattened before finishing the drying process).  At this stage, using a sharp pencil, I scribe in the sayings, and blow out the clay shreds that result.  I then add whatever edging treatment I desire, and set them to fully dry.  Depending on the weather (read: time of year), this can be overnight to almost a week.  These plaques are solid clay, ¼" thick. 

Once it is fully dry, it then proceeds into the cleaning queue, to be pepared for firing, from that point, the same as any other green ware piece.

After firing, I use a different type of finish treatment to get my 'rustic wood' look.  These paints are oil-based, and each coat takes almost a full week to dry fully, even in warm weather.  Then, the sealer coat is applied, and they are ready for sale.