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

New Work - March 1st

Ohhhh February was quite a month of exploration and decision making for my creative self.

I think that I am realizing more with each passing day that I have to just accept that choices need to be made if I want to be happy with where my work is going. The number of projects tugging at my heart (those yet to be realized most of all) makes it hard to focus on the "shoulds". . . so I am trying to give myself the freedom to work on several new ideas a month. Then there are redesigns, revisiting old favorites again etc etc. . . oh the to-do list. . .

February was a month where I took it upon myself to really attack that list and, while it caused a bit of apprehension in my "responsible, money making self", in the end the month was quite good all the way around.

In addition to what you see below, I will post, in a day or two, my first art doll that I think really captures the essence of what I want to make happen with them going forward. I worked on it a bit almost every day the last few weeks, giving myself the time to get each detail just so.

 Also a new series of mid-sized statues for Shadow of the Sphinx and some enchanted amulet ideas that I have been developing too!

For now though,  I would like to share some of the new/revamped work!

First, this is a redesign of my old stand alone Mushroom House. It needed an update BADLY!  It's really reassuring to see how your skills have grown over time when you remake an old item all over again!

So, while I was at it, I though "Why not plop one into a little star landscape too"?  

Windmill Updates include wooden planking on the gable's front side. and I returned to painting tiny people again for my scenes. . . I just think it adds so much to the image.

A new Stump Town Fairy house with Mailbox, rooftop mushrooms and trees and, of course, a goose about to take flight!
I love seeing how much I can cram onto one tiny little landscape! This one even has a tin pair of pearly shoes sticking out a knot-hole in the tree in the back!

And making scenes again, like this one, for some of my little houses. Again, the figures add so much and the climbing vines are a new favorite that I just want to put on EVERYTHING! lol

And lastly, a strange little creature. . . the first iteration for an idea for my Bewildering Pine storybook, an Order of monks who are, in essence, descended from Mimes. With strange mind-bending powers like being able to put someone in an invisible box, or behind an invisible wall that you cannot walk thru. Or to make invisible wind. Or levitate by holding invisible balloons. This little guy was based on the Jawas of Star Wars fame but I am working on a larger one with verrrrry long features and flowing, Erte-like robes and a mask. Too much fun!

Well, that's the whole of it for today! More very soon though I promise.

Including another post about pleasing my inner 9 year old. I think I really had a lovely little breakthrough with that idea this week and want to share it!

Thank you, as always, for looking!
xoxo
nicolas

The Fairy Windmill

Finally getting these little gems out for the holiday too! I have made larger HO scale windmills for the past few years but really wanted to perfect these little ones for terrariums and indoor fairy gardens. I think this is the one! I already have a claim laid on this first one but am making three more this week. :) Of course, one can imagine the little spirits that would inhabit such a place, yes? And there is alegend in the listing about "turning mills" and how the helped a rather desperate bunch of fairies plot their freedom from a very still and un-magical imprisonment. :)

This little one is 4.25" tall and 2.5 inches wide.

Enjoy!!

nicolas

Showing it off in my own windowsill fairy garden!

I love offering this "fairy view" of the pieces we make.

Who wouldn't want to live in this cozy little house?