New Work - First Friday - October 5th

Hey all!

Another month. . . I am hoping to get back to regular weekly posts but this month I cannot promise any more than this new work post AND two more of my ghost story series! It's my birthday month and we are headed into the holiday rush already! I cannot believe it!!

I'll also reposting several baking posts in the next few months to show off some of the traditional baking we do for the season. :) Some of it is family inspired and some is old world traditional treats for. the many celebrated days of the season. So keep an eye out for those too! :)

I hope you are enjoying the first few weeks of Autumn. It's my season so I am loving it!

Here are some new creations from the past month. Thank you for dropping by!

 XO
nicolas

Let's start with the season! In honor f All Hallow's Eve I have been making a few graveyard themed scenes!
This one features a ghostly turn of the century lad there in the back. 

And larger tombstones for those who like a little graveyard decor! 

A new Adobe Fairy House

This is the second face of Hathor that I have made and I love them!

Thoth as a baboon. He is also known as Djehuty and represented as an Ibis. 

Bes is a multi-faceted protector and I thought a bell, shaped as the face of Bes, might be a great dispelling tool for an altar/ 

A Wenut / Hare statue

A "Wee Skosh" Fairy House

And a Fairy Tower on a Stump!

Inspirations and Oddities - Second Friday Post - August 10th

Hey everyone!

Welcome to August's Second Friday, Inspirations and Oddities post!

I've got a just one very exciting inspiration to share with you this month, so lets get right to it!

I am a huge fan of Kickstarter, as I've written about here before. Supporting projects that I fall in love with and seeing them come to fruition is so rewarding.

I had someone tell me recently that the part they didn't like about Kickstarter was the lag time between supporting a project and getting your rewards. Because the funding is often needed to produce a product, this can take months from the time the original project funds. There can be delays if printing, shipping or just life go awry.

I get that. . . but what I LOVE about that delay from funding to delivery is when something shows up in the mail that I had, not forgot about, but simply lost track of when it was going to be arriving.

So, when we went to the Post Office yesterday and found these had been delivered, all the way from Queensland Australia, it was the best of surprises!

Hathor and Thoth Enamel Pins from Mamath's "Tiny Pantheon" Kickstarter

Oh, oh, OHHHHH these are amazing! The illustration work, the quality of the Pins and the complete package of the presentation! All flawless!

The card each pin came on, front and back, simply BEAUTIFUL!
And the heart shaped rubber pin backs! (there are two on each pin, I removed one to show you the text of the card back.) 

One of my favorite things about Kickstarter is the possible rewards that are "unlocked" or added on as a bonus when a project passes the basic funding point. Some folks offer material upgrades on the finished products, post cards, bookmarks or stickers of art prints, extra playing pieces if the Kickstarter is for a tabletop game or deluxe covers / embossing for books.

In this case, over 2,200 backers supported the Kickstarter!!! Here again, Mamath went above and beyond. These are the adorable stickers that were added to EVERY supporter's package as the total funding climbed above the initial requested amount.

And a lovely thank you card in the middle of them as well! 

Of course I was drawn to these, given their Egyptian influences, but I could easily spend wayyyyy too much money on Kickstarter that I don't have. lol So I am selective, to say the least.

I'll be sharing more of the Kickstarter rewards I have received over the coming months.I am currently awaiting a few that should be due this fall! These include a wonderful hardbound Unicorn book of illustrations/paintings and a few "Spell Scrolls" from a very imaginative creator. While the scrolls are meant for D&D players, we have the first of them on our wall, framed as pure magical art, and eagerly await the second. :)

Kickstarter is a fantastic way to get your art out there. I LOVE being part of making it come true for others! :)

Mamath is on Etsy

And instagram where you can see images of more these amazing Pins ( I need more I think!)

instagram.com/mamathzilla

And that's all, next month I'll be sharing three new books I've read that have completely captured my imagination!

Have a great weekend everyone! Thank you for dropping by!

nicolas XO

New Work - First Friday Post - June 6th

Hey everyone!

July has arrived and while much of the country is under the heatwave we've been inundated here with weeks of summer days in the 60's, foggy mornings and breezy afternoons.

I let things slip again the last few weeks as far as blogland goes. It wasn't my intention but there have been so many things going on, mostly good, and I had to cut back somewhere.

But i have aa LOT to share this month and look forward to the usual weekly Friday posts to get caught up!

For now,  just a showing of some of the new work around the studio this past month.

Hoping you've all been well and I look forward to catching up on your blogs this weekend!

Thank you for coming by, as always,

XO Nicolas

The newest of my Adobe Fairy Houses - HO scale

An original design based on ancient Hathor iconology

A new selection of tiny towers with holiday shoppers in mind. . . .I love the patina copper roof on this one.

And I love the texture and aging of the surface brick of this one.

Continuing to expand my Ancient Egyptian bust icons, this is Sutekh or Seth/Set

Looking back at 9 YEARS of selling on Easy. . . this was inspired by one of the first villages I made and sold there. 

An original Auset amulet design with an 8mm Carnelian cabochon

And this Auset throne piece with added ankh and a 12mm carnelian cabochon.

New Work - February 1st

Hi everyone!

It's been an incredibly hectic January!

 Jizos by the dozens, the busiest January by far over the last 7 years! YAY! Writing for the Ledgerkeepers book, the podcast and Bewilder and Pine "atlas" all going SO well. Sadly,  my old faithful Mac mini died but luckily the hard drive was able to be saved and I did not have to go to a Genius Bar (ugh) at a Mac store to have it done as there was a place her in our little town with a few geniuses of their own! (Thanks Evan!) Got the new Mac mini a few days later via overnight delivery and am back at it again.

To all my lovely blog friends, I miss coming by your blogs and I promise I will be by this week to catch up. I

I am also less than three weeks out from my cross country Amtrak train excursion to visit mom and looking forward to three days of intensive writing and editing each way bookending the 8 days in the middle spent at the family home with all the old fat spirits, childhood ghosts and voices of the past. Always seems to be an inspiring trip for me. . . and always aware that it may be the last.

More on all of that in the weeks to follow but for now, just my selection of new work from January. It's heavy on the Shadow of the Sphinx side as I was inundated with custom requests there all month long. :)

Thank you for dropping by and I am hoping that magic is inundating YOUR world each day!

It had been awhile since I made Wadjet/Cobras and I really enjoyed this one!

Never tire of making towers. . . or imagining who dwells within. :)

I always forget about Groundhog Day till people start ordering these little guys! We refreshed the photos this year and. . . 

. . . added an image of the little, landscaped box "burrow" we make for each one to ship in! :) 

Wenut, the Hare or "The Swift One" is always fun to make!

Hadn't made a mini Moai Statue (4" tall)  in a long time too! January was really filled with all sorts of requests.

Mossy Lane Fairy House in Lilac.

This was my favorite request of the month. Hathor in cow form and another cobra to match! 

New Work - November 2nd

Well now, this post is a day late. How is it every year I forget how quickly the holidays ramp up in both sales and requests from our few retail sellers?? as I go merrily along just making things and dreaming up new ideas. . . time just slips away. :)

I feel overwhelmed already. . . not by the business but by the desire to make sooooo many things that I know would be sought after this season. But I have a larger picture in my head for the year to come, as you all know. So I keep at it. Staying the course. Writing 1000 words a day, editing, mapmaking, researching. . . just this past week I had to study up on seagoing transportation of livestock in ancient times,  the feasibility of two crescent moons in the sky at the same time,  bog butter,  ancient currency, cisterns and honeyguide birds. It's all a lot of fun really, but  just leaves time for little else right now. . .

But without any more delay, here are some new items created in the last month! Enjoy!!

xo

nicolas

Dinn - a smaller member of my Gargoyle world. I've decided that a grouping of gargoyles is called a "quarry". :) 

I am really loving this particular red these days. . . 

My first wizard in the "Little People" collection. . . though certainly not the last!

Hadn't made a Tiny Robot in months. . .  I just love how they turn out all "rusted" and such. :)

I am enjoying giving each town in my Bewildering Pine world a distinct architecture.  

I haven't made many cow goddesses like this Hathor. But I love when I do get a request! She makes me feel peaceful. 

A large, 9" (22.5cm) Nephthys, sister of Isis, Goddess of Ancient Egypt

In reworking the features of the Bewildering Pine world for the stories/book, I decided while houses and cottages vary by town, the shoppes all have a similar architecture no matter where they are located. Reason? That's yet to be revealed. . . 

Little Gingerbread houses on wintry stars . . .The house is just over 2.75" (7 cm) tall!

Well, that's what's new here. . . hoping Halloween was a delight in your corners of the world! I did manage to carve a jack-o-lantern and roast pumpkin seeds this year, the j-o-l was appropriately named "Punky". . .  and I am looking forward to making a turnip lantern for St Martin's day on the 11th! And holiday baking!! Recipes to share soon. :)

New Work - May 2nd

Happy May everyone!

I didn't get my usual first of the month new work post up yesterday because it was unbearably hot here. . . low 80's. . . lol. Seriously though, for us, that IS hot! We still had the ocean breeze but when it is no hotter than 70 degrees about 358 days a year,  and often between 50 and 60, well, 84 seems like a heat wave. But back at it today!

So in the last month I got to do a few new and fun projects! This leading into the month of May where I successfully kept my entire custom work schedule blank so I could get back to making more of just what I want and focusing on the writing more ( I completed the 30 day world building exercise but more on that in a few days!)

So here is a little peek at some of hat ket me busy in April! Hope you enjoy!!

 It was a busy month in Shadow of the Sphinx and I got to make a few pieces that were really FUN!

 This is Ammut - commonly known as "the devourer" but who has such complex meaning in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. Head of a Crocodile, body of a lioness and back end of a Hippo.  . . so that was a challenge! lol I'd never made an Ammut this size or style before but I loved how She turned out!

And a golden Sekhmet with a red marble solar disc. . .

And I just finished this guy, Thoth, or Djehuty if you prefer. . . the Ancient Egyptian Lord of Writing, Creativity and Time. Anthropomorphic pieces have always been such a challenge for me but I think finally, after 6 years, I feel comfortable with the complex and mixed dimensions, the Egyptian style of striding legs, the forms are classic and much harder to reproduce than I ever imagined they would be.

And a few newbies from Bewilder and Pine too. . . a gargoyle sentinel, Tonoran, who sports Mossy Green Swarovski pearl eyes! I am working on an idea for a series of Kegeling gargoyles. The thought of stone sentinels whiling away the "off hours" bowling on building ledges really tickles me! so each gargoyle would come with it's own 20mm kegeling/bowling ball in hand and a set of three "stone" pins (option to buy a full set of nine pins, of course but I'll start with three)  :)

This little guy. . . no name for these Pine fantasy creatures yet. . . but basically they are little "luck spirits" who find lost coins and return them to their owners. . . but who then become attached to the owners for life. So an Elf or Dryad or Hob who is not mindful and loses a lot of coins might suddenly find themselves with an entire brood of these little guys to care for!

And a new fairy House upon a Star as well. . .

And finally, back to Shadow of the Sphinx for a few amulets starting with Hathor, a goddess who personified the principles of joy, love and motherhood.

Tanit, actually one of the first amulets/statues I've made for the shop that comes from outside the Egyptian Pantheon but it was the remarkable resemblance to the Ankh that made me want to make it! Tanit was a Punic/Phoenician deity with lunar aspects.

And last, a small, wearable full-form Bastet. Another challenge for me early on in my sculpting was making small pieces that maintained a good bit of shape and classic form. She is under 2" tall.

Well, I am beyond excited to share more with you this month. New ideas, my writing short story book progress and a bit more about the path that led, and continues to lead me to be a maker-of-things!

Have a lovely start to your May wherever you are and make MAGIK every day!!

xo
nicolas