Blackberry Pie for Hallowe'en? EHAG Emporium.

  HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!  

Jake loves blackberries, plain and simple. Close to his home is a large field of wild blackberries. Once they start to ripen in the hot lazy days in August he is out first thing in the morning picking blackberries. The blackberries are frozen whole for pies, turned into jam, as well as used in his very popular blackberry liqueur.

Every Hallowe'en Jake brings a blackberry pie to the party, it has a splash of his blackberry liqueur in the filling.

"Who says Hallowe'en is just for pumpkin pie!", laughs Jake, "Have a slice of my blackberry pie. It's really very excellent, if I may say so myself."

"I've eaten more than one slice of his blackberry pie and to quote Jake, "It really is very excellent."

Full length front view of the rattle

 Jake, along with Rolly his parade lantern, come bearing the annual "Hallowe'en Pie", blackberry of course.

Full length back view of the rattle

 The back of the rattle is covered in black felt to protect the rattle, as well as any surface that you lay it on.

Close-up view of  Jake, Rolly, and the pie.

 This close-up view shows the lovely blackberry pie. The pie is made of composition in a small antique tart shell mould.

Left side view of the rattle

The blackberries are "Made in Japan" berry pips painted to look like ripe blackberries.

This mixed media sculpture is not a toy, be gentle with it when you want to hear the jingle of the bells.

"Portrait Rattle - Blackberry Pie for Hallowe'en?", is 13" long from the handle tip to the top of the rattle, 7 1/2 " wide, 5" deep.

It is signed, dated with the title, on the back.

The sculpture is $195.00 not including shipping, let me know where you live so that I can calculate the shipping charges. It arrives duty free into the US.

I'll carefully pack it to ensure that it arrives safely to your home to become a treasured part of your collection.

Please contact me at lenbenny@shaw.ca to purchase this sculpture. I accept Paypal as well as credit cards through Paypal.

Thanks for looking, check out the other artist's work as well, go to the EHAG emporium with this link.

The Ehag Emporium is open!

Hello!

The doors have been flung wide open and welcome to the EHAG Emporium!

This month I have a rattle up for grabs. Go to my Etsy shop to purchase this portrait rattle.

Click this link to go to the Emporium blog and have a look at the artist's work that is available, there are some wonderful items to add to your collection.

Welcome to the EHAG Emporium Sale!

Hello!

Welcome to the Ehag Emporium Sale!

Click here to go to the Emporium.

This Portrait Rattle is available in my Etsy Shop. Click here to go to my shop to purchase, "Portrait Rattle - Tony, one of the founders of "The MelonBall" masquerade ball. Stay a while and browse to your hearts content.

Studio Update - WIPs

  HAPPY AUTUMN EVERYONE!  

You may have noticed that I did not say, "Happy Fall". Autumn does not seem to be used as much any more and I love the word; it is poetic and has such a lovely sound when spoken. I am a one man crusader to keep the word alive!

... Black Cat is sitting over by the window looking out at the rain. I was telling him what I was thinking of writing about in my blog post. His response was that I was trying to make it more interesting and plump it up, sort of like a marshmallow, full of air.

After a moment he said, "You never write about me and Jack any more."

I was a little surprised at his comment and then promised that I would write about them more often.

He apologized to me for the "full of air" comment that he made about my blog post.

"But you do tend to go on you know" was his next comment; good old Black Cat.

I had promised in my last blog post that I would show you some of the rattles that I have been working on.

Some of these rattles will be used as accessories for veggie guys in the larger rattles. This is what I am planning on doing but I never design an item but create it as I go so my ideas are always in a state of flux until the item is finished, let's see what happens.

The watermelon fellow will be perched, I think, on top of the large rattle. I'm not certain what I'll be doing with the yellow handled rattle but there are a few things percolating in the grey matter.

I found another turned handle, it was on my desk under some stuff. I have three other veggie guys that may be used with the rattles or on another project, I'm not sure.

Well, there we are, proof that I have not been goofing off. I mentioned this because of a conversation between Jack and Black Cat the other day. Well, enough of that I must get on with things. See you later.

From my reference library - Two Canadian apple cookbooks

Summer is almost over, Autumn is almost upon us and that means apple season is here. I have picked buckets of apples from our trees. My wife and I have made some apple sauce, more will be on the way. I will also be making chutney. As a nod to apple season I thought that I would show you these two apple recipe booklets that I came across years ago while doing my rounds at the Salvation Army and Goodwill. I have scanned both recipe booklets front to back instead of just showing design highlights, so if you find a recipe there that you'd like to try, go ahead, let me know how it turned out.

 Just to set things straight, I do not collect recipe books but I do collect interesting design and colour combinations not just for future reference but because they are an enjoyable glimpse into the past.

I have been in the studio creating  some small rattles for Hallowe'en. I will give you a glimpse in my next post. They will be available in the upcoming EHAG sale at the end of the month.

The cover of this recipe booklet features British Columbia, the western province of Canada. The large island is Vancouver Island. Down at the very bottom is Victoria where I live.

I love the clean stylized graphics and the way that the outside soft cover is larger than the pages of this 1931 Depression era cookbook, it creates the impression that this is a "book" not just a little booklet.

Here is another Canadian apple recipe booklet from the 1940s. The book is die-cut in the shape of an apple; probably not the most sensible shape for the book shelf but definitely memorable.

The back and front covers as well as the reverse interior side are printed in full colour. The rest of the book is in black and white with a red border framing each page.

Here is Lovey of Lovey's Tea Room holding two pies that have been inspired by my small collection of recipe books. Go to my Etsy shop to purchase this giant "Portrait Rattle".

Resting on a shelf in this large sculpture is a homemade berry pie and a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. Go to my Etsy shop to purchase "The Man-in-the-Moon Will be Having a Party".

Have fun baking up an apple storm or use them for inspiration like I do when making my sculptures.

Studio Update July 2, 2011.

I know that I was going to keep everyone up to date with what is happening in the studio. Two weeks have gone by and nothing from this end.

I did start to work on a few of the heads, sanding and painting. I realized that working that way was going to take much longer than sanding the group that I am presently working on and then on to the painting. Sanding is not one of those steps that you can take pictures of that causes people to shout things like -

"AMAZING!"

"SPECTACULAR!"

"SHOW US MORE!"

I decided to skip showing you that step. This is what I have been working on since the amazingly spectacular sanding sequence.

I have given the set of heads that I am presently working on a base coat. Wonderful colours like lemon yellow, tan, two different oranges, two different blue greens, and PINK! The base coats, as strange as some of them may seem, are used to influence to glazes that are applied later. The more opaque colours when dry brushed off or dry brushed on, patted off or on, take on or show some of the base coat. The resulting painted surface evolves with each step. I have no idea what it will finally look like but I do know that the resulting painted surface will have very subtle colouring to the finished surface. The character of each head comes to life as well, showing me what they should wear and what they are doing.

Off to work. I hope that it won't be another two weeks before I show you something!

The "I'll get around to it if only I knew syndrome"

My sales blog "Happy Holidays - Neat Stuff For Sale" has been up for almost a year now. All of this time I did not have a followers button for people to let them know when new work is listed for sale. Well that is now corrected. I have one new follower!!!! If it wasn't for lenny - I like that name - I wouldn't have known that I did not have a followers button on that blog. Check out his blog - Lenny's Blog - and click his followers button and become a follower of his blog. Make sure you leave a message on his latest blog post and tell him that Lenny from "Happy Holidays" sent you.

Have you noticed how many times that I have mentioned THE FOLLOWERS BUTTON, well, please become a follower on my sales blog also. There is lots of Neat Stuff For Sale. Here is a sample of the wonderful goodies that are up for grabs. Click on each link under the picture to take you directly to the item or go to "Happy Holidays - Neat Stuff For Sale" and scroll down. Either way you will have lots of fun.

Go to my Etsy shop to purchase "King of the Patch".

I love the Man-in-the Moon and here is his rattle "Large Double Sided Portrait Rattle". The first side is called "The Amazing Levitating Lantern" and the other side is called "The Man-in-the-Moon Loves Magic Tricks". This item is currently in my personal collection.

Go to my Etsy shop to purchase "Portrait Rattle - Black Cat's Party Preparations"

When Vegetables Go Bad - Jake and Dewey sneak into the Professor's Laboratory

"Jasper" - Large Double Sided Portrait Rattle SOLD

"Pansy" is SOLD.

"Alphonse" is a marotte. When you gently shake him his head spins and plays the music box inside. This item is currently in my personal collection.

Have fun browsing the goodies and don't forget to become a follower!

Kay's Corner and Thrift Store Inspiration

I enjoy window shopping, I suppose that has a lot to do with my display background, it is interesting to see what the the current trends are. I also love browsing and shopping at thrift stores, second hand shops, and flea markets, they are my source for textiles and accessories for the ornaments and sculptures that I design and make. This last week I have been downsizing the items that have been accumulating in my studio and garage. That doesn't mean that I haven't found some great items to incorporate into future sculptures, I am just being more selective.

"Kay's Corner" at the corner of  Cook St. and McKenzie St. in the Cook Street Village in Victoria always has an interesting selection of vintage items on the sidewalk in front of the store.

Each time I visit the shop there is always something in the window display that catches my eye.

The prices are very reasonable and the owner is very friendly, I always enjoy browsing around there.

I like browsing the thrift shops this is where the ideas originate. Sometimes I see an item and the piece has given me a finished design, while at other times there is something about the shape and colour that says it will work in a sculpture.

The wooden drawer front chocolate box that is used in "Vegetables Gone Bad - Jake and Dewey Sneak Into the Professor's Laboratory"

was originally going to be a package that was getting ripped open by veggie guys, but a parcel was not that interesting so it became a shipping crate. The 1950's Wonderscope pulled it all together.

Everything that I look for was used for something else. The candlestick that Black Cat is holding in this "Portrait Rattle - Black Cat's Midnight Stroll" is a game piece from an old Clue game, the fringe at the base of the rattle came from a vintage cushion, and the bells although new came from chocolate figures. The candlestick was the inspiration for this rattle.

I am always on the look out for millinery flowers. I have a lot of the larger flowers that were used on the 1950's and 60's women's hats but the smaller flowers are the ones that I am trying to find more of. This shoe candy container ornament, "Red and Yellow Victoria Shoe", makes use of some of the small flowers to create a bouquet with the stems wrapped in vintage rayon ribbon. There is a small tulip in the mix of flowers. I would love to get more of those miniature tulips, it is made of celluloid. That was the only tulip that I have ever come across.

I must get back to work. I am in the process of making a large supply of blanks, creating new graphics for the shop keepers that will be making an appearance on the sales blog, and tidying up! Oh the tidying up!

(“Lovey's Tea Room” and “The Full Moon Companions” are finished, but that is all that I am saying.)