New Work - February 2016

February already? My, my. . .

Well, January went pretty much to plan. More time spent on new items and ideas and less worrying about "best sellers" and custom work. That feels reallllllly good!

So, here are a few new pieces for you to see today. Some are already listed and some await their stories before listing. GOTTA have stories!!!

First, the Little Caravan I showed in it's initial stages a few weeks ago. All done and ready for listing: "Theia Straedoors Tart Cart"!

How does Theia make all those delicious tarts in such a small space? Fairy magic of course!

Loving the poofy moss and the tiny tart table piled with Joonberry tarts!!

Next is another new idea and new way or working with creating small figures.

I have been trying to develop a style of animal figurines that will allow me to use colored polymer as opposed to painting with acrylics.

Now, in my world, this presents itself as an issue for several reasons.

One, I am not in any way shape of form, neat enough to keep colored polymer clay pristine as I work with it. There are always mossy bits and flowery bits about the table no matter how hard I try to keep it clean. This leads to having to rework soft faces, hands etc and, in the end, ruining them before I can complete them.  With the fox figure below, I took a completely different approach. Making the face from flesh toned super sculpey and then, after baking, layering the thinnest layers of colored clay over top of that already baked, flash-toned face.  It went better than I could anticipate.

For a first try, I think it worked amazingly well! I was able to blend, texture and work around the face without worrying abut smashing the face's form as I often seem to do trying to get the perfect details. I used the same technique with the body/clothing too. Making a flesh toned body-form and then layering the clothing on top of it. Only the feet and hands were made in colored clay without a base clay beneathe them.

For a first go with this new technique, I think Brother Severon is a wonderful lil' fellow!

His white birch staff and lantern are also polymer clay, but they are painted.

And then, a few random pieces. . .

A Lunar Hare. . . just because. :)

A little gold crescent on her back. . . she still requires a short story before listing!

 A little Tudor Style, timbered inn. Usually I make the timbers from thin strips of polymer applied at the time i make the building and paint them but, for this new "Enchanted Woods Inn", I wanted to make the timbers from scale lumber so they would be perfect and consistent. Very tedious but worth the results!

"The Enchanted Woods" Tudor style Inn.

And a completed group of 5 Fairy Shoppes/Inn/Crooked Tower upon Stars for one of our dear, regular customers!

Anyhoo, that's a look at some of what has been coming out of the studio these days. February promises a whole other bevy of new items and ideas so I hope you'll check back over the month and visit with me in my little world. . .

Have a lovely February wherever you may be. . .

nicolas

Work In Progress: January 20th

In progress. . . the story of my daily creative world. : )

I'd be the very first to say I usually have far too many things under construction at any one time.  I will, on any given day, have 10-20 pieces in some stage of completion or design. I'll usually. . .  well, sometimes. . .  prioritize custom pieces but, after that, what I work on on any given day is really just what I feel like working on.

This is not always the best course of action, admittedly. There are days where my actual "work space" is down to about 6 inches square and I am surrounded by pleading eyes and waiting limbs and moss-less houses and half sculpted creatures!

I'm really trying to be a bit more con top of that and I think showing some of my in-progress work each week will help me push things thru instead of setting them aside for long periods while I get blissfully lost in the newest projects and never-ending inspirations!

So. . . some new things on the work table this week! Just wanted to share these as they are in progress and I'll update them when they are all complete. . .

Fairy Belles - These are the new iteration of something I tried two years ago but never really liked the results.
They actually have a jingly little bell in the hollowed bottom of the figurine that can be rung to summon fairy magic!

Two figurines in process. I've decided to focus on a feature story for my Bewildering Pine World that includes creatures known as Hobs ( like the little fella on the left) and Grimalkins ( the familiars of Hobs, as seen on the right) 

The Hob above (no name as of yet) will have a very dapper Victorian waist coat and tie and likely a bowler hat that he will be doffing! The Grimalkin (also as of yet unnamed) will look like the larger, completed one in the next image. 

Grimalkin is an old English archaic word for a cat! I love the Pewter finish and the claws that will match the eye color.

This is how I make the Fairy things on Stars! This one will become "Theia Straedoor's Tart Cart" on a Star with
mossy roof, stairs and fences, cooling table for the special, tiny Joonberry Tarts and the usual trees and landscaping!

And one recently finished addition to my Foxgoyle/Land of Kitsurada story/world. 

A mythic Kitsune, 9-Tailed Foxgoyle! 

Her name is Okudara and I think she's quite the creature!

So that's what's cooking here! Hope you are making magic today in your world too!

nicolas