Life is getting back to normal.

I did not get to work in the studio during the last two weeks but we had a wonderful time with our daughter Melissa, husband Jon, and our grandson Ethan so who cares! 

I went off to Sally Ann and St. Vincent de Paul yesterday and found these goodies. The brass goblets from , from St. V de P, were on a brass tray. The tray was ugly so I gave it to back to them at the counter so that they could resell it and make more money off of it.

That brass handle, from St. V de P, is the handle to a candle snuffer, I liked the look of it. I figured that I could turn it into a lorgnette for a figure that will be in one of the fancy Italian frames that I have.

The bullion fringe, this time from Sally Ann, was on an ugly handmade pillow. I took the fringe off of the pillow and put the fabric in a bag to go back to Sally Ann.

This tureen was from Salvation Army for $3.00! I figured that I could use it to create display vignettes for some of the large frame portraits, we shall see. I love the shallow oval shape of it.

Whenever I come across the old made in Japan paper-mache cocktail coasters I buy them. They are sturdy but light weight and easy to attach stuff to. These separate items will be assembled into a cake stand, the beads will be the feet. I decided to use the most paint damaged coasters because I will be repainting the cake stand when it is finished.

This wooden clock case will be used in conjunction with the cake stand. That is all that I am going to say because I will not be using the case the way you might expect.

Remember this metal base that I showed you in this blog post, well I am in the process of turning it into a bed of sorts for the levitation illusion sculpture.

Heavy cardboard has been cut to size. Those metal tabs will be great for attaching everything securely in place.

Last but not least I have been working on a mobile for our Swiss grandson, Aaron Leon Bentham. I have to paint the stars, add the arms, and then put the accessories in their hands. The Man-in-the-Moon will be holding two separate mobiles to create the entire mobile. Each star will hold one or two props that will refer to a nursery rhyme or children's song.

I have had that yellow plastic umbrella shape for a very long time and finally used it to create the paper-mache umbrella, it took forever!

  Note to self: do not use tissue paper for this ever again!  

The handle will be cut once I attach it to the stars hand. I'll show you the mobile once it is completed.

Well, to the studio to get some work done.