And now for my studio update...

Last year my intentions were to finish sculptures that had been started but put aside for some reason or other. I want to complete those unfinished sculptures as well as work on some new pieces.

The last six months, waiting for surgery and then recuperating, is all in the past, HOORAY! Working in my studio is so much fun!

Last Spring I mentioned my GRAND INTENTIONS in this blog post. This sculpture was put aside until early September, to be completed by late October or early November. That was the plan, but we all know what happened in early September. I want to finish this sculpture!

These great metal frames...

have been turned into shadow boxes.

One frame, mentioned in this post, will have the fireworks, pictured below, attached to the outside. A bust portrait of the founder of the "Oh My Stars Fireworks Manufacturing Company" will be in the interior.

This blog post showed the making of the massive amount of fireworks for the shadow box. I'm looking forward to finishing this piece.

This metal lamp base was going to be turned into...

 a tufted bench somewhat like this settee, it didn't come to pass as you can read here. I want to revisit that bench and create the prop that is still sitting in my mind.

These amazingly detailed small carpets are waiting to be used; one will be turned into a flying carpet. Have a look at the original blog post here to get a better look at the size of the carpets.

In this blog post I mention the carpets and also that I was collecting items for the flying carpet. I have been collecting "treasures" to go on the flying carpet over the last few years and finally I have enough to choose from. I am very particular about size and detail in the items that I purchase which means the treasures take a while to come together.

I have kept these small cakes to use in a sculpture and that is all that I want to say about them as it is still percolating in the brain. They were originally used in a Christmas display along with some very over the top Christmas presents that have since been dismantled, I can't keep all of the props or I would need a warehouse! Check out the post about those presents and cakes here.

So, there we have it, good intentions that will finally be finished.

Autumn Rituals

 Happy Thanksgiving! 

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. We had our Thanksgiving turkey dinner yesterday. Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays, it sums up my love for Autumn.

I don't know about you but I have seasonal rituals. When late summer arrives I start collecting dried seed heads and flowers. Once Autumn arrives I begin picking up leaves and bringing them home. The mantel obligingly accepts my little tokens of our walks so this is an ongoing assemblage of "stuff".

You can see that a few weeks later there are more leaves and seed heads; a black turned wood candle stick found at Salvation Army has aslo been added to the ever growing accumulation. My wife's birthday cards were added to the mantle as well.

Another of my rituals is the front door urn. I bought this giant metal urn with birthday money several years ago. It was on sale, the price tag was no where to be found, the sales girl looked it up on the computer, it was the last one left and had been marked down even more. I love a deal!

I never know exactly what I will do with the urn but I start collecting bits and pieces to use during the late summer gardening. This year I pruned the crab apple tree. There was a very large branch that I wondered if it would fit in behind the urn, it did, and it looks great.

I had also pruned the myrtle tree so I used some of it in behind the urn to frame it.

Here is a closer look at the urn. The top of the urn is covered with chicken wire and then with dried grasses and leaves to hide the wire.

There was so much myrtle that I made this huge wreath, it is at least 4 feet across.

Several weeks I have added dried elephant garlic seed heads and three very twisty oriental poppy seed heads to the wreath. The wreath has dried out somewhat and changed colour considerably. I like that it has blended in with the wall a little more. It has sagged a bit on the left hand side, I may wire it in place a bit or I may just leave it, we shall see.

We attended a wedding last week, one of the daughters of a long time friend was getting married. I love wrapping gifts for weddings so that they are totally over the top elegant. Actually I love wrapping gifts, check out  the post to see more gift wrapping that I did for a Christmas display a few years ago.

The front door decorations sat for a few weeks until we went to the country last Wednesday to purchase some squash and pumpkins. All of our squash are kept outside in the display so that they don't rot from being in the warm house. They are eaten on a regular basis so the display constantly changes; pumpkins will be added closer to Hallowe'en.

This last August I noticed that moss was growing on our old wooden sawhorse, I immediately knew I wanted to use it for the front door display.

 Here is a close-up of the squash and the saw horse. The bamboo broom is not there for the decor, although it does look like a great witch's broom, it is the best thing for sweeping up leaves and fir needles. I hate the noise of leaf blowers and this gives you a workout as well, you can't beat that can you.

Goodies From Switzerland

I was on the lookout for interesting items that I could use in my work once we came back home. I also collect interesting bits and pieces just because they are... interesting. That isn't a great sentence but that sort of sums it up.

The brass knob and the iron pull were going to be tossed out into the recycling at our son's house. They updated the brass knobs to a much nicer contemporary handle. I figured that I could alter it and use it as a curtain tie-back or something similar. The iron drawer pull has great possibilities but they haven't come to the surface yet!

I tore this logo from the side of a cardboard box, I liked the design; it also reminded me of Josephine Baker, an American singer, dancer, and actress who lived in Paris and later became a French citizen.

This is a beer coaster promoting an open air concert in St. Gallen, another Swiss town about 20 minutes away. The graphic is interesting but the back side of the coaster advertising Shutzengarten beer, the concert's sponsor, is fun. Have a look at the photo of beer cap on the grass.

I picked up this hammered copper pot at a Salvation Army store in Rorschach, at least that is where I think it was. If my son reads this he'll correct me! It stands 2 3/4" high and measures 2 3/4" across the top, a nice small size to be used in a sculpture.

I will be doing a post about the annual Rorschach flea market but in the mean time here is what I came away with. Unfortunately weight, space, fragility, and price curtailed many purchases. This trim was only 5 Swiss francs; that works out to around $5.65 in Canadian dollars. It is 1" wide and about 5 feet long, a very good buy indeed.

I love vintage graphics and when I saw this matchbox my heart leapt, it really did! It was close to the end of the market day and everyone was packing up. I asked the woman how much it was and she just said to take it. I was ecstatic!

I follow a blog called Agence ereuka from France. Occasionally she posts vintage match boxes and this particular box was in a group that she had posted during our stay in Switzerland.

I know, a wooden splint basket... I liked it. This had small white potatoes in it. Other vegetables and fruit would also come in cardboard baskets but did not have the same personality. Sabine, (pronounced Sahbeenaye) Rob's wife, bought these but when I go grocery shopping I will buy for packaging sometimes or get fruit and veggies that are the most interesting to look at. Trish loves to draw them as well.

I bought these playing cards at a Coop store. Coop is pronounced kope NOT co-op.

The cards are from Belgium and are used in some sort of card game.

There are only 9 of each suit, 36 cards in total. I have two sets of these cards.

I have 2 very ornate gold lamps from Spain and have been considering using the cards in place of fabric on the lamp shade.

Well, there are the treasures that I brought back with me, nothing earth shattering but each special in its own unique way.

Don't forget to check out my Etsy shop, I have just added some new items.

Mobile for our new grandson

Here is an update on the mobile that I have been making for our little Swiss grandson, but first I should introduce you to...

 Aaron.

I showed this picture a while back at the end of this post. The stars and the arms were made as well as a bunch of the props were chosen.

The stars were gessoed and then painted with silver acrylic paint.

On one of my trips to Salvation Army I picked up some bronzing powders. Once the acrylic was dry but still tacky I dipped my finger tip in the powder and rubbed it on various areas of the star points. I have a silver, a gold, a spring green, and a dark green so I varied each star.

The faces were painted minus the pupils, they will be added once the star has the little nursery rhyme character in it's arms, and silver tinsel was added around the face.

Here are four of the stars almost finished.

The top star on the left is "Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat Where Have You Been?"

The star with the Teddy Bear is not a nursery rhyme but a poem about a Teddy Bear, "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around".

On the bottom there is "Hey Diddle Diddle" and "Jack Be Nimble".

This post about the Sidney thrift shops revealed this wondrous brassiere. My daughter-in-law said that I should have gone to a craft store for the diamonds. I never or should say very seldom go to craft stores for supplies so this never even occurred to me! The hunt for the elusive diamonds was fun as well as being very funny once I did come across them!

The plastic diamonds have been removed and the bra is in the garbage.

Meet "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Originally he was going to hold a star but the idea of a constellation was so much fun and hopefully will lead to star gazing when he is a little older.

My post about the lounge that went wrong, "It's time to call it quits" was originally meant to give you a somewhat humorous inside look at the disasters that occur in the studio. I think that I may have failed at the light hearted approach and given the wrong impression, sorry about that!

 I have been mulling that dastardly divan over in my mind and I may have come up with a way of getting the look that I am after.

That is all that I have to share at the moment so off to the studio.

Saturday street sale, Sidney thrift shops, plus one.

I have been working in the studio. I'll show you some progress on a few of the items in my next post.

A week ago last Saturday morning our son phoned to tell me that they were going to a street sale and to meet them there if I liked.

I liked!

I went!

There was not a lot of interesting stuff to consider buying. I did buy this 4 foot length of 8 inch bullion fringe and this long length of cording; all for $3. The only other item that I bought was a silver teaspoon and that is pictured in the next photograph.

The last garage sale had 2 vendors with some great stuff but unless I can use it or it is something that is an absolute must have I have trained myself to say, "Someone else can have it." Mind you if I can talk the person down I will buy the item/s. The prices were firm and they were reasonable so I saved myself some money.

Here is the silver spoon that I bought at the street sale for a whopping 20 cents!

I had planned on going out to Sidney that day, there is usually some great stuff at reasonable prices out there in the thrift shops. I wasn't disappointed. This set of 3 brass pots will come in handy, possibly for the flying carpet. The rosewood pot stand I am thinking of turning into a cushioned platform for a variation on the levitating lady illusion.

These 2 brass candle sticks were $1.00 each and unlike most brass candle sicks are very light so a figure can hold it without the arm drooping from the weight. I do like the shapes of them as well.

The brass and wood candle snuffer comes apart so the size will work for a figure putting out a candle.

The brass frame looks like a large watch. The embroidery was in the frame it may be used to upholster something or it may be donated back to Salvation Army, we'll see.

If I come across the candle wreaths that were popular about 10 years ago I sometimes buy them, rip them apart and use them for accents in bouquets, as "cake" decorations or anything else that I think of.

This embossed metal plaque is about 11" across. I liked the bold design and figured that It would make an interesting 3D portrait frame

The ceramic tile came out fairly easy. I have been thinking of having a table top jutting out with something on it... we shall see.

I have been looking for some "diamonds" to use in a mobile for our new Swiss grandson. The few that I found were not that nice or were very heavy. I was in the St. Vincent de Paul in Sidney and happened to see this bejewelled black bra and started to laugh, I wasn't expecting to find a diamond encrusted brassiere! It cost me a whopping 50 cents.

Another second hand shop had a few vintage magic tricks. This particular one was complete and in good shape so I bought it. I can now change a stack of nickels into a stack of dimes!

Some more goodies that I have purchased in the last little while. The playing cards are some of the smallest that I have seen at around 1 1/2" high. Those "Chinese coins" are small enough to use with an oriental figure. More jewelry to take apart and use as belts, sashes, or necklaces. The ceramic bowl is from the base of a vintage glass plant from China. I will be using the glass leaves and glass flower petals at some point when I get enough to create a lampshade for our home.

There we go, more goodies to work with. I have been working in the studio not just buying stuff. I'll give you a behind the scenes look in my next post.

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.