Category:

Wee mini pottery!!!

10/27/2019

So this months obsession has become mini pottery. I was watching a Twitch stream by creator The High Palladin. She makes a lot of small mini things that are useful. One of the things she has gotten is a mini pottery wheel. It is sooooo cool! I love it! She got me so obsessed, I got one of my own so I could give it a go.

I went to Blicks, a local art supply store, and got some air dry clay to play around with. I suck.....big time....but it is so fun and so zen. I may eventually get to a point where I have something useable. I have never actually done pottery before. I have watched many people do it. I have read books. Once I ordered this wheel I watch a bajillion YouTube videos of people doing it. Amazingly enough that is not the same as doing it. :P That is fine. I will continue to try. Eventually I will get it.

About a week after this one showed up, a second wheel showed up. When I was ordering my wheel, the first one I ordered ended up coming from China, and listed the shipping as 2 months out. So I cancelled that one and got the other one. Then while I was playing with the other one, the first one I ordered showed up. Even though I canceled that order. THey already gave me my money back. So I guess I have 2 mini wheels now.

Ok...so now pic dump of wheels and attempts.

0 Comments

Teeeeeny tiiiiny cord.....

10/6/2019

0 Comments

It has been a while....again. I have been sick and busy and tired. I have been coming home and sleeping after my night shift. I think I am starting to get over the flu, so sleeping is not as prevelant. But still. I got Aoifa ready for the con, and Talleg mostly ready. I wore Aoifa on Friday. Her corset burst within the first 20 minutes though. I did get some pictures with that one, thank goodness. Saturday of Rose City I wore the Tardis dress, which is waaay too big for me now. That was meet The Doctor day. I was feeling a bit run down. My face was itchy and my nose was runny. Thought I was just experiencing allergies and overexcitement. I met some friends as we did the signing with #9 and the photo op. We said for the Christopher Eccelston/ Billy Piper panel. At that point I was so exhausted I knew I couldn’t stay for the costume contest. Which I am very sad I missed. By the time I got home, my body was achey and I had a fever of 103. Flu. I had the flu. I missed the rest of the con. I did not get a chance to wear my Talleg cosplay. I did not get to test out my makeup fixer spray in a real life situation. I spent a lot of money to have to miss about half the con. That makes me sad.

And since then, I have been recovering. Sleeping a ton. I still have to work, so I have been working nights then sleeping all day. I have pics of the one day I went. I will do photo dump at the end of this post.

Saturday of this week there was an SCA event called Honor Feast. I have been wanting to go back to the SCA for a couple of years, but without an income and without a car it was hard. Now I have both. No social connections anymore, but I now have an income and transportation. So I pushed past my social anxiety and went. It was fun. I am glad I went. I needed a project to take with me, so instead of sitting there awkwardly alone in my chair I could be buy with something. I decided to try to make reeallly teeeeeny cording. Usually I do cording via kumohimo. But when you are talking tiny threads, that method tends to break your threads. So I decided to do a lucet. I have maybe played with a lucet once. I didn’t have one. Didn’t really have the ability to get one at 2am before the vent. So I attempted to make myself one. I have basswood all over the place because of the stop mo sets I build with it. I must have gotten a bad batch or maybe they are too old or dry, cause they kept cracking to pieces. That is an issue. So I thought about it a bit, and remembered I have 5 crappy dollar tree forks that I never use for eating because the tines bend too easily. If I bent down a couple of the tines, would it work for a lucet? Unsure of which tines would be best, I tried 3 ways: 1 with the first 2 tines curled down, 1 with the middle 2 curled down, and 1 with every other tine curled down. The one with the two middle curled down, it is fine for larger cord and thicker yarn. It is a bit difficult with thinner threads, though. The one with the first 2 curled down worked great for the single thread cord, but was hard to manipulate with anything like doily crochet thread weight. So really all 3 have their place. I have done some ok cords now. Next I need to learn how to make flat cording and how to make multicolor cords.

Ok...pic dump!

Before makeup.....

Da Kitteh is hepping....

After makeup....

Post makeup, pre cloak....

End of day 1 makeup. Held up ok...

Cosplay fail point....D’oh!

Photo op pic. I will get this digitized eventually....

Getting ready for the SCA feast.

First iteration of the fork lucet. Biggest issue loops kept slipping off.

To make it easier, I heated the tips with a candle for about 10 minutes then used needle nose pliers to tweak the tips outward. Worked well!

I got it pretty teeny.

This is with a single strand of DMC floss

I learned if you use a pin to help pull the loop over, be careful not to split your thread with the sharp end.

0 Comments

Vampire Steampunk Silurian is the name of my cover band

7/22/2013

0 Comments

So the creative bug had been biting me pretty hard lately. I really want to do some cool stuff, though I know a lot of it I just will need to learn how to do and it will be crap. I made a list of everything I want to do, and looking at it (it is pretty long) I think I am going to need to make a plan if I am ever going to get any of it done.

Warning: LONG post! Lots of bullshit! A bunch of pics! Feel free to read or skip as appropriate.

First thing, I have been working on a new stop mo. My camera has pretty much crapped out on me, so I am going to have to figure out how to do it without the camera. I have my iPad. I have figured out how to get pics from my iPad to my computer. I have found a few camera control apps for the iPad, though nothing that lets me control the focus the way I want. Also I need to anchor that sucker down somehow so it doesn't look like my characters are in an earthquake all the time.

Here is a quick pic of the set I built. Still needs some work but not too bad.

I plan to make a frame out of this PVC pipe that will hold my iPad and screw onto my tripod.

So I have designed a frame thing that is made of PVC piping and foam insulation tape. I had planned on cutting the PVC with my hacksaw and mitre box. The box is missing. I packed them together, because I usually do not use either one by themselves. One of these days I will either go get another one or find a friend who has power tools to help me cut them at a 45 degree angle and cut a slot in the top for the foam insulation and a place to rest the iPad. Then I will drill a 1/4inch hole in the bottom for mounting to the tripod platform. Project number one. :)

So last weekend I helped a friend move. As per usual she wanted to get rid of stuff, and as per usual I accommodated her and took it off her hands. The first thing was this awesome globe thing that lights up.

Yup, it lights up. It pretty much reminds me of the Ood from Doctor Who...

A face only a mother could love. :P

Now I have to figure out how to costume this bad boy. I can't sew, and I have other sewing projects I want to do. So I will need to find a place to find South Korean looking jackets and grey slacks. And of course the mask. I HAVE to take a shot at making a mask of that face. I have no mask making experience. I do have liquid latex. I have been looking online and if I do it in 3 pieces I may actually be able to pull it off. One piece for the face, another piece for the tentacles, and a final piece for the head. I am currently researching the cost of latex foam. I also need to get myself a few styrofoam heads to use as bases. I think I would make a thin latex mask for the face, a molded latex foam for the head, then attach the tentacles to a large mesh frame that attaches to the mask. that will make it easier to breath. It would also be awesome if I can find a cheap voice modulator.

On the latex mask front, I decided if I am going to do an Ood, I also need to make a Vastra mask.

This is Madame Vastra (picture property of BBC and Doctor Who). She is strong and beautiful and a warrior and everything I wish I could be. She is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. She is married to Jenny, the lady behind her in this picture. If you don't watch any other Doctor Who, it is worth watching the episodes she is in just to bask is this dazzling character. I have been waiting out the last few years of less than stellar storylines and Moffet's version of Psych! and a Doctor who doesn't really feel like the Doctor, but her alone has made this wait worth it. As masks go, this one looks like the most comfortable one to wear for long periods at a time. I would do her Victorian outfits, though. She has some gorgeous black dresses I really want. Though, my next project could conceivably be used for her character.

I also got a green leather coat. It is HUGE. It is very 80's. The shoulder pads are gone, but thiey have left thier mark in the shoulders of this coat. there is enough leather fabric in that coat to make a steampunky vest or two. A vest that would go with the brown leather coat I found last winter. It would also go with the Vastra mask. I also want to sew some aviator pants to use with steampunk.

I want this look, pants boots and all. Except I want to make them black. These pants could go with steampunk and Vastra.

I also was given several sets of vampire fangs. So....I can do regular vampire, steampunk vampire, or vampire Silurian (Vastra is a Silurian). OR Vampire Steampunk Silurian! Oh this is going to be awesome. :)

I can't sew worth a damn, so I will have to find someone to supervise.

So the list....

Not in priority order...

1. Latex Ood mask
2. Latex Madame Vastra mask
3. Build a more interactable stop mo set
4.Leather steampunk vest or two, depending
5.iPad frame with foam insulation
6.Button over aviator pants
7.Steampunk goggles
8.Crochet sweater and vests out of mounds of yarn I have laying around
9.Spin the fleece I have sitting around
10.Play with armatures and different materials to decide on puppets for stop mo.
11. Finish all writing projects (web series, 10 minute short, play, novel)
12.Finish filming current stop mo

I once told someone I am never bored. If I had a bajillion dollars, I would have plenty to do. They didn't believe me. :)

So now I have to decide what needs to be done with each of these projects, when I want to have them done by, and what I need in order to finish them. Then I will make a general plan to get them done.

0 Comments

Argh. I need an apothacary cabinet

3/4/2012

2 Comments

Today is the first day in a long time I have felt up to cleaning. My work area is in my bedroom, which is small-ish. Mainly because right now it is fricken cold and we don't have heat in the whole house. We have used space heaters all winter. It is more efficient and cheaper to just heat one area (i.e. my room) and hang out there than try to get the rest of the house in livable temperature just for a few hours.

So as I was tidying I came to the conclusion that I need an apothecary cabinet. As it stands now, this is how I am storing all my bits and baubles for my crafts and stop mo:

Not very efficient. That is after I tidied. As you can imagine, I can't find a damn thing in that mess. I have tried to organize it a bit. The green tub in the picture on the right has all my adhesives in it. And if you look under the table and ignore the stuff stuffed on top, you can see the baskets and boxes with which I have attempted to claim some sort of order.

I just have so many small things. That is necessary, of course, when working with teeny, tiny sets and furniture and props. But it makes it very very difficult to find anything. And after I have organized, every time I organize, I have to stop and think "Where did I put that again?". Of course, I never really remember, so I end up tearing apart all the boxes until I have found what I am looking for. Then it feels like too much work to put everything back, only to have to do it all over again when I am looking for something else. That is usually when the floor gets swallowed up in boxes and craft doo-dads.

If I had the money, the apothecary cabinet would be the ideal storage place. In case you have no flipping clue what I am talking about, this is an apothecary cabinet:

There are many different types, but I really like this one. Of course, after a bit I would probably need more than one. Craft doo-dads tend to multiply when one is sleeping. And you can't throw anything out. You might need it for something someday.

No, I am not a craft hoarder. Why do you ask? :)

2 Comments

Wee mini pottery!!!

Teeeeeny tiiiiny cord.....

Before makeup.....

Da Kitteh is hepping....

After makeup....

Post makeup, pre cloak....

End of day 1 makeup. Held up ok...

Cosplay fail point....D’oh!

Photo op pic. I will get this digitized eventually....

Getting ready for the SCA feast.

First iteration of the fork lucet. Biggest issue loops kept slipping off.

To make it easier, I heated the tips with a candle for about 10 minutes then used needle nose pliers to tweak the tips outward. Worked well!

I got it pretty teeny.

This is with a single strand of DMC floss

I learned if you use a pin to help pull the loop over, be careful not to split your thread with the sharp end.

Vampire Steampunk Silurian is the name of my cover band

Argh. I need an apothacary cabinet

Author

Archives

Categories