Magick! New Work - First Friday Post - March 2nd

Hey everyone!

A week to go before I leave for my cross country train trek! Just going to stick to new things for this post, new work and few notes to share.

First, I am finally going to be getting my Instagram up and running. I have made the switch to an iPhone and the app loaded. I wanted to try and make it happen through my iPad but it was just not working out and then, as if by fate, my old flip phone dies. Luckily we had a spare, older version of an iPhone laying around here from the last time Sophie upgraded hers sooooo Yay!

I'll keep you posted and/or come find you when I get the first post up there!

For now, here's a sample of some of the newest work from the last month. Enjoy!!


I've been a lover of magick and ATW (that's All Things Witchy) since childhood. It comes and goes but it's really strong right now for some reason. . .

I got to thinking that Magick might be a fine theme for March, especially for my inspirations and oddities post later this month. So I want to present a selection of new work that really speaks to that part of me and the child within!



Let's start with Anubis or Anpu, one of the most magical of all the ancient Egyptian deities to me. I think of Him as more a guardian through transitions and change rather than an underworld figure.

I've been working on a series of bust icons recently and this is the Anubis / Anpu version. 

Tiny scenes never disappoint when it comes to inspiring magick! I am looking forward to making more detailed scenes like the large cliff tower that I showed last month and this smaller N scale one I wanted to feature this month. 

N Scale Tower on a Cliff

Gargoyles. . . oh they took my breath away as a child! I want to expand my gargoyle universe in 2018.  I was recently reading about "get lost" boxes which are a form of old traditional magick.  In days gone by, you might put a representation of the thing you wish to be rid of in a special box and bury it at a crossroads. I decided it would be soooo much better to have a gargoyle keep it for you and watch over it.  This guy comes with his own little box and tiny slips of paper for you to write what you'd like to rid yourself of down and let him do the rest.  Names are VERY important in both Gargoyle society AND Magick. . . His name is Baztertu, a Basque word for banish.

I am SO excited about expanding my gargoyle world!

 After not having made mini Moai statues for some time I got back into them this month. I sold a half dozen I think and am really enjoying working with them again. They have a certain Magick to them as well, these sentinels of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and yes, as a child I made these out of bunches of aluminum foil too! : )

I love old world architecture. Especially European and Medieval architecture. I don't usually make very many buildings that are true to those aesthetics but when I do, I always find them to have a bit of that elusive Home Magick in them. . .  or Inn Magick as it may be!

A dear customer requested a red and gold Sekhmet Lioness statue. Why not? I LOVE how She turned out and this Lady of Light is even more fiery in these colors! I stumbled upon that Golden-finish freshwater pearl in my bits and bobs and it was the perfect topper for her headpiece.

This Sekhmet feels VERY fiery to me! 

Little shoppes are potential magnets for odd fee, gnomes and the strangest of Magical items! 

Description from this listing is below:

Owned and operated by Myrrea Plumgeisse, an ageless and well-travelled gnomess and lover of all manner of things arcane and strange, the Quill and Ink shoppe provides the folk of the Pine wth a variety of implements and supplies for all their letter writing, scroll making and wax seal needs.

These include many curiosities and ephemera associated with magical use of paper and ink to peruse.

Folks in the Pine speak with joviality and awe of the uniqueness of Myrrea's vast collection of supplies, from the vials of natural ground pigments for inks that are mined from the Little Rock Hills to the large, handcrafted cabinet of curiosities which contains 48 drawers each with a plethora of various quills, nibs, grinding stones and blotters.

Folk love to browse the handmade paper section which includes sheets made from local plants like Geminanna or Wallroot for spell casting or the ever popular meadow lace leaf paper which is used as a healing device. If one places a tiny slip of it upon the tongue, it removes the symptoms or ailments that were written upon it as it dissolves.

Don't miss the special inks made from grinding up the Mood Sphere's of Tolos. Little smooth, round black stones which, when ground, create an ink that changes color when the paper it is written upon is held in the hands.

Of course, there are the less fantastic of supplies such as quills fashioned from the feathers of the Pine’s birds, an array of sootstone and many carry satchels for the most important of writings.

You’ll find a few other bits and bobs around the shops counters that have little to do with the written word but are just as enticing!  All throughout the Pine there are many folk who drop by the diminutive Quill and Ink shop just to say hello and take a gander at what Myrrea has brought back from her latest travels and adventures.

One of her best known sayings, when folk ask why she does not refer to the shoppe as a “Stationary Shoppe” is, “My dears, there is simply nothing stationary about the written word and what it can do!”


And one last one for March, a very special little Faery Windmill upon a Star!

Fashioned after a windmill found in Estonia I believe but I m not sure. . .

Thank you for dropping by and have a MaGiCkAl DAY!!! ;)

nicolas

Inspirations and Oddities - Second Friday - December 8th

Hey all!

Second Fridays are for sharing a few links to things that caught my eye the last month and that have all inspired my imagination in some way:

With the newest Star Wars installment hitting the theaters  I am reminded of seeing the very first as a young child and how it effected my imagination. Well, 40 years later there is no loss of the film's impact and how it still inspires to this day. This Kickstarter campaign fully funded and is over but it's worth a peek.

Lightsaber Oil Paintings

Scroll down a bit on that page to see the three amazing portraits of the lightsabers from the first film. Highly realistic and detailed. Odd and, yes, beautiful.  :)

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I adore masks. So when I stumbled upon this site and the folk who design these amazing paper masks that you download the templates for and make yourself, I was absolutely giddy!

Wintercroft Masks

Use their category list on the left to choose your section. Masks from animals to mythical to sci-fi! I love them all.

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I am always looking for strange inspirations for musical instruments or games for my worlds. Here is a lovely collection of odd "instruments",

Music as it's Made

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And another new twist to an oldie but goodie. Dungeons and Dragons has been around for ages now but I just read that 2016 was the most profitable year for the old RPG game and 2017 is on track to better it. I am always amazed that there are artists that find new ways to bring the old game more to life. This kickstarter which I myself supported was for artistic renditions of D&D first level magic scrolls.

D&D First Level Scroll Art

I LOVE scrolls and manuscripts of any kind and was immediately taken by the artwork, the "old tongue/language" and the thoughtfulness that went into creating these. Can't wait to get mine to frame and hang for inspiration . . . but I still have to decide which one I want!

Hope you've all had a wonderful week!
XO
nicolas

Inspirations and Oddities - Second Friday - November 10th

“The circus arrives without warning. 

No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.” 

― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus


I intend to utilize these Second Friday post to share short inspirations and links to discoveries in our world that have inspired me and my work, if not become part of the world I create.

This week though, I wanted to share with you just one and that's a book that has instantly claimed a spot into my all time favorites. 

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

I won't make this a review because it's been out for a number of years and many of you may already have read it or decided it was or wasn't your thing. 

I am glad that I did not read it until now. It would neve have had the same effect on me, on my heart, even five years ago when it first came out, though I may have loved it then too.

This is meant to be more of a "thank you" to the author, for every once in awhile a book or other form of media comes along that takes us somewhere unexpected. And in this case it occurs to me how, when we read those first words of a book (like those I began the post with above) we have no idea what is in store. 

Nothing could have prepared me for what lay ahead and how much I would fall under it's spell. And the fair question to ask would be "how do you know it is one of your all time favorites when you just read it?" 

To which the only reply is "Because I simply did not want it to end." 

That happens so rarely. I love books and I love reading but 99% of the time I am quite ready for a book to end. Not in a bad way but in an excited to see how it gets wrapped up way. To complete the narrative and allow me to move on to the next in the never-ending stack on the floor. 

I often wonder why no-one writes and approaches more stories in a serialized version but with no intention of ending it. Of course, when authors do this they are often derided for it. Robert Jordan comes to mind and the words "first of a trilogy" seems to induce eye rolls as often as not these days. When I think of my favorite books, they all struck me this way. I wish they had gone on, not in a grand sweeping story arc. . . but just the world, the characters, the magic. 

The one thing these favorites all have in common is the world they take you to is usually quite enchanting and magical. The Night Circus is no exception.

If I had to choose one other thing I adore about it, that would be the descriptive prose. I have read so many writing advice blogs where people seem to be so against overextending the use of details and description and if that is you, then this book will likely not please you. Every chapter is awash in the details and they are always, in my eyes, nothing short of enchanting. 

It's like the author took every mundane thing in a scene and said "but what if?" and then went two steps furthers. Clocks, tents, clothing, food. . . nothing is mundane and ordinary and yet, it all perfectly works without seeming to be "too much". 

If you are a fan of audio books then this is a must too as the reader, Jim Dale ( he read the audio book versions of the Harry Potter series) is beyond amazing in his delivery, characterizations and accents.  

The book was written originally as part of the NaNoWriMo, over three successive years, and writing it and the following success of it seems to have had a profound effect on the author as well who writes, "I wrote book about a nocturnal circus. . . and then my life became one." 

And it is a book that is really about storytelling itself under it's complex and magical surface. Just when you think the story is resolved as the end draws near, there are more chapters that unveil this aspect very clearly. Passages like:

“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.” 

All great storytelling, be it in book form or the stories we attach to our own experiences and lives, shares that truth I think. It's why I am so set on telling a story with/for everything I create. 

Beauty, execution and form may attract but we stay for the stories.  .  . especially the ones we have yet to tell. 

And magic. . . you should of known it was about magic. .  and despite the wonderful magic that is laced through almost every chapter of the book in one form or another, the revelation of the magic is in it's accessibility and presence in the most mundane of things. And I was stopped in my reading tracks at the character explanation as to why it is not more prominent in the world. In our world. 

"All of this, this is not magic. This is the way the world IS, only very few people take the time to stop and note it."

And yes, there is a thread of a love story woven into it too but that's the magic of "The Night Circus" as well, that aspect of the story might be the fourth or fifth most prominent thread and it's written and handled in such an endearing way.  

Alright, that's enough. Next week I will get back to inspirations and oddities the way I intended them to be presented. Thank you, as always, for reading along. :)

And THANK YOU Erin Morgenstern.  I cannot say enough about the magic I found within this book or how it has inspired me. I just wish it had not had to end.  

nicolas


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Beginning in October of 2017 I started to follow the following format for my blog, posting every Friday and under the following headings:

1st Friday of Each Month - New work ( New to the shops and a look at the making of one item each month)

2nd Fridays - Inspirations and Oddities (Links and thoughts about what inspires me) 

3rd Fridays - The Making of a Maker (advice and shared experiences of how I got "here" to where being a "maker-of-things" is my full time job.)

4th Fridays - The World of Bewilder and Pine ( peeks into the world of the Bewildering Pine, the stories and books to follow and all around fantasy world making)

Magic, What's Inspiring Me

Thought I might share a few of the latest inspirations to cross my path with all of you.

First, I'm usually late to the party on any sort of series or show. We do not have TV or cable so most of what we watch comes thru Netflix and Amazon on line. One that we stumbled upon that has been an absolute delight is the BBC's "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell"  a series of 7 one hour episodes based on the book of the same name.

This show is about magic but also purely magical in it's execution and detail. The actors, as with so many BBC shows, are spot on. Each one, I can imagine, was made specifically to play their role in this production. Bertie Carvel as Jonathan Strange is as near to a Gene Wilder reincarnation as one might ever find. He's brilliant. As is Eddie Marsan as Mr. Norrell. The idea of an alternate history where magic is widely accepted but rarely used. . . until. . .  :)

I cannot recommend it enough. Every scene, every actor, every twist and turn. Perfect.

I want to read the book that it was inspired by though, at 800 pages, it s going to have to wait til I get thru a few others on my hold list!


As for that book list, I am right in the middle of a book that will likely fall among my all time favorites when complete. "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden, a wonderful mix of Russian Fairy Tale and Mid Winter dream. It's a debut novel (part of the inspiration for me, being in the midst of writing one myself!) and likely will lead to at least one sequel from the author.

The "Bear and the Nightingale" is a magical mix of storytelling and lore that perfectly captures the heart and essence of winter and of the phrase "a long time ago" in words. The cover alone was enough to draw my interest and knowing it was rooted in some of my favorite Russian folklore, I was easy to hook! The language is beautiful and it completely submerses me in the world of the characters.

And one more.  For the last two years I have been a subscriber to Faerie Magazine. It's the only print magazine I receive and it is absolutely stunning. Regular contributions from Alice Hoffman, Wendy and Brian Froud and other notables in the fantasy realms. Crafts, recipes, amazing photography, lore, imagery and location shoots. . . and great fiction. It will definitely inspire. I believe if you get their app you can download one issue for free to browse but I have to say, the physical magazine blows the digital version away. :)

Of course, I am a fan of Winter so those issues speak the most to me. . . 

I hope you'll enjoy any or all of these suggestions if you haven't already! There is always magic in the air but it never hurts to have a little assistance and inspiration in conjuring it up. :)

Have a lovely weekend all!

nicolas