With all the praise the 2 previous chess pieces got from friends and family how could I help but make more. Frankly, I'm enjoying the unusual pace of these pieces as well. As with the previous sculpts I'm averaging about 16 hours on each one but that average is coming down, especially if I keep experimenting to a minimum. Spending way too much time on a single piece of art is not new to me. What IS new is my concentration on a number of pieces that are in the same vein like this. Usually, after working on one sculpture for a few months, I begin to long for something different: a different medium, a different subject, a different size, anything different. True, it is also source of pride when I can amaze a person with my "jack-of-all-designs" display of sculptures; big bugs, little bugs, lighters, buckles, complex textures, robots,...
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Among other things, I've been working on the weevil sculpture. I'm happy with how it's coming along and most excited to see my improvement in skill with the polymer clay medium. Not long ago I had sculpted a relatively big ant. I found it hella' frustrating detailing the ants legs. Now, working on the weevil, sculpting the legs wasn't nearly as hard, with better results (but still hella' time consuming). On the whole, I spent almost 4 hours sculpting the 6 legs to my liking. Not to mention that those 4 hours were hella' spread out over a few days (the child just... keeps... growing). The truth is, repetition can be a good teacher in and of itself. Although, if I had to choose just a few new techniques that caused the improvements, it'd go a little something like this: First off, with the ant, I built, posed, and secured...
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I hope you are enjoying this holiday season with all the candles you want in any orientation you see fit. I've left you all in the lurch as far as a tutorial for a seasonally appropriate craft and for that, I'm sorry. You're smart though...you're reading this AND getting my jokes... ...right? I bet you could probably comment below and post a link to share something you've made this year! Yes! You get right on that, and I'll update this post with the homemade things after THE HOLIDAYS! I have made some things! But I can't share those things right now since my Secret Santa will be reading this. It's just... I didn't want to leave you with NOTHING this year. It's certainly been a tough one. What I really want for you is some peace. Moreso, than Jesus-Peace or Hippy-Peace, I want for you the Peace-O-Mind. After all, 'tis the season for public...
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I've finished sculpting the teddy bear! "For real?" you ask? "Fo reals!" I says. If you've been following along, you may recall I did a previous post about knowing when your finished. It was really less of a "how to" and more of a brainstorm with help from... you. Two things really sunk in for me after that post: the concept of focusing-in on what specifically I'm not yet happy with in my sculpture, and the relief that I am not alone in my struggle to finish. Before, it seemed like I would step back, look at the piece as a whole and wonder "how do I make this finished?" It was daunting, but merely because of my perspective. The previous post was about starting this irresponsible teddy bear. I had been curious for some time about incorporating lights in my sculptures, but with the wats, amps, volts, ohms, soldering, shocks and...
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Boy oh boy, I'm looking forward to my wife and son coming home from Oklahoma tonight! They've been gone almost a week which has given me time for some projects around the house that don't involve them: the lawn of course, painting the outside of the house, cleaning and spray painting the outdoor lamps, I cleaned inside the house as well, started a couple new projects, and have made some progress catching up on the TV show Dexter ("Take it!"). The only problem has been that it's rained for the past 2 days straight down here in the Sunshine State, leaving the house half painted. The beige color looks better than the dirty white that it had been, which reminds me; if you're strapped for cash like I am check your local city hall. I got 10 gallons of outdoor house paint free. Thanks Oakland Park! So those two projects I started... I bet you'd like to...
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