sculpey

The Underbiters were my first official collection, and because of that they have a special place in my heart. The original group (and a couple of commissions never posted to the site) have all been adopted and moved on to their new homes.

The other day, I was looking at Curious Pete (I adopted Pete), and thinking about the Underbiters who hadn't been born. There were five little critters I never made that were still skittering about in my mind. I decided I would sit and sculpt.

When I finished the five, and tried to make a sixth (pictured right), I hit a wall. Sure, I was molding and sculpting. And yes, I even baked the sixth one. But when I went to paint him, I hit that wall again. Stop. Do not pass go.

In that moment, I realized it was time to retire the series. All I needed was to make those last five I had in mind, and it was finished.

It's a funny thing to realize when something has run its course. I can't even explain the mixed emotions I have about it. But I am certain retiring the series is the right thing to do.

Happy Canada Day! Can't think of a better way to celebrate than to make some pumpkin sculptures. It's my first time sculpting large ones, and I'm really enjoying it. These guys are about the size of an orange (approximately 3" tall). I'm still working on them, but already their personalities are shining through.

These three will be coming with me to Scarefest on Saturday. I hope to see some of you locals there!

Ever since I made the Plague Doctor door snake, my brain has been churning ideas of white-masked sculptures.

I don't want them to look like everyone else's, but I do want it to be identifiable (at least in the sense they are 'inspired by' plague doctors).

I decided that I would do a mixed media for the forms - clay masks and maybe cloth bodies. Even with these decisions made, I could not move forward.

The roadblock for me was that I kept thinking what if. What if the plaque doctor wasn't a person at all, but an actual creature? In fact, what if it was some sort of spirit. Something not of this world.

Setting my original plans aside for the moment, I indulged myself. I extended his neck. I gave his body a slight S shape. I didn't worry about arms. I had some fun with his mask.

The idea of plague doctor as divinity speaks to me so much I may have to alter my plans for the next ones I make.

This one is made of polymer clay and stands approximately 6" high. The next ones will be taller.

Sadly, my little spirit does not have the gift of flight and, due to my clumsiness, took a tumble off the table. He's suffered a hairline crack on one side of his hood towards the back (you can see it in the right picture below).

Yetch gave me some eye pins for Christmas, and I've been side-glancing them ever since, wondering when I'd use them.

I decided to jump into the deep end of pendant-making last week. Here's the results: a number of undead heads. Some turned out pretty cool, some a little weaker than others, but I'm finding my feet. No two are exactly the same.

As spring approaches, the mind turns to upcoming shows (August will be here any second) and ideas for new items to sell. I think these little zombies will fit in nicely with the rest of the display.

Now I just have to learn how to tie those slip-knots on adjustable necklaces...

Given the fact that I love owls, I'm always surprised I've never made any. I've photographed them, and I've even done paintings of them, but I've never sculpted one. I decided that needed to change.

I have all of these owl images stored up in my mind: creepy owls, hippie owls (1960's/1970's), vintage owls, and simple silly ones.

It would appear the simple silly ones have won the day.

I spent Sunday molding, baking, painting and varnishing my own small flock of owls.

Two new Underbiters to join the clan.

Have you ever dropped something on the floor and watched it roll under the couch? And by the time you knelt on the floor and peaked underneath the furniture, the item seemed to vanish? Blame Fluffy.

Fluffy will consume most things lost under the couch or dropped behind shelving units - cookies, popcorn, pen lids, you name it. And he has patience - he'll wait silently for hours while you watch your favourite movie. He knows something will eventually come his way.

On the rare occasion where he finds himself without a prize, he'll shuffle along the edges of the room, gathering the dirt into dust bunnies. He'll save these as an emergency reserve unless he's starving, in which case he'll eat them like cotton candy.

Unlike Gary (who also likes being under the couch), Fluffy stays indoors most of the time and prefers to snuggle into the stuffing of armchairs or even snooze among bedsprings.

Favourite snacks include dandelion fluff and pennies.

Just wanted to share the second crop of mini pumpkins I've been working on.

Their backdrop - the mossy field nestled into a weathered crate - is part of the table display I'm working on for the Festival of Fear Horror expo in August.

It's been a lot of fun experimenting with the different facial expressions and shapes of the pumpkins. Now that this second batch is finished, I have a better sense of what eyes and noses work the best (to my taste, at least) and I'm getting the multi-layered painting technique for this item more perfected (again, to my taste).

It's interesting. Even though I use the same basic approach to painting with each prop, they always end up with their own rhythm and tweaks. It's like experimenting with a recipe: you've figured out what works, but you change up the basic ingredients and cooking methods to get something different.

With the dark shroud of flu lifting from my frame (and apparently shifting to cloak Yetch once more *sigh*), I emerged from my couch cocoon to finish the final details on these little pumpkins carved from Super Sculpey.

Yesterday afternoon I did some experimenting with Super Sculpey. I've only used Sculpey once before, so most of my time yesterday was spent getting to know the medium. As I experimented, a new face appeared in front of me, and I couldn't bare to squish him back into oblivion.

This pattern repeated itself until I had a small army of unfinished mini-monsters. I call them The Underbiters.

I haven't given them hands yet (I kind of like them without hands, but I think they need some) and the bodies need some touch ups, but I'm pretty happy with how my first real session went.

I'll be adding a tutorial as I learn more about this product.

p.s. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes!