Showing posts with label paper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paper. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Quick Update
Hi all, I am just dashing in and out again as I make progress on the sailor automaton. It is going well and hopefully i'll have some pictures to show soon enough. Thank you all so much aain for your valuable suggestions, i'm going to post some return comments to the last post shortly, when i've got a wee bit of time.
Meanwhile this is just a notice to say I have listed 'The Sleeper Dreams' paper theatre in the shop...I thought about keeping this, but i've not the room realsitically, especially since I have a whole host of characters waiting to fill the next one.
Meanwhile this is just a notice to say I have listed 'The Sleeper Dreams' paper theatre in the shop...I thought about keeping this, but i've not the room realsitically, especially since I have a whole host of characters waiting to fill the next one.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Shop update today and when things don't work out
Well now - the Monkey and Bear theatre appeared to be going well however - here's the back story. Generally speaking I always work out colour values for every aspect of an image/theatre before hand...Usually by doing a drawing and then digitally colouring it or using felt tips. The reason is that I always end up with one aspect not fitting with another, and then i'm stumped. The same thing happened with the new theatre. The background was fine, then I added bear and you could barely (heh) make out bear. So I put gold in the background. Fine...Then I added monkey, and the two of them seemed to come from completely different pictures. I could have sobbed... I didn't I just went and drank a glass of wine and hoped to find out the problem later on...I never did manage it. Here's some pictures!
Monkey on his own - vicious little devil eh?
Bear on her own - serene and sad
Somehow it just isn't working. It's actually driving me insane. Part of me logically realises that there are more layers to be added, more sea and also some circus bunting around the top....these things may mean it will come together. Unfortunately in a pique of - something - I ripped out the organ painting off he back and there's now a mess there....I really need to leave it alone for a bit! My other thought is that i'll repaint bear in monkey's browns and then they'll both occupy the same colours......we'll see, I don't think I can sit down with it again for a bit!
Anyway, I have some things to put into the shop in a sec. Here's a photo of the queen and I:
And! A jumping jack! He's a tatooed wonder - it's all very mystical
And finally, I leave you with a pic of monkey hanging around on the stand I use at Glasgow Craft Mafia fairs:
Hoping everyone is having an excellent weekend, i'm going to bust out of my studio and go for a walk in the sun.
Monkey on his own - vicious little devil eh?
Bear on her own - serene and sad
Somehow it just isn't working. It's actually driving me insane. Part of me logically realises that there are more layers to be added, more sea and also some circus bunting around the top....these things may mean it will come together. Unfortunately in a pique of - something - I ripped out the organ painting off he back and there's now a mess there....I really need to leave it alone for a bit! My other thought is that i'll repaint bear in monkey's browns and then they'll both occupy the same colours......we'll see, I don't think I can sit down with it again for a bit!
Anyway, I have some things to put into the shop in a sec. Here's a photo of the queen and I:
And! A jumping jack! He's a tatooed wonder - it's all very mystical
And finally, I leave you with a pic of monkey hanging around on the stand I use at Glasgow Craft Mafia fairs:
Hoping everyone is having an excellent weekend, i'm going to bust out of my studio and go for a walk in the sun.
Saturday, 22 March 2008
And the winner is...
Well, you guys have got some wacky ideas eh? Technicolor bunnies, native spirits, Ghosts, living toys. I sort of lied when I said I wouldn't steal your ideas, I did - well by accident, they just kind of lodged in my brain and i've got several sketches of different ones, which, I will post when I have some time - I hope really really soon!
Anyway, the winner is picked by a random number generator! So far we have 19 posts, although one of those is from that really annoying spammer who keeps posting naughty videos...it would really be the pits if (s)he won. Anyway, the winner is number 11! which makes it Lonnie but, since Lonnie already has one of these (bizarre eh?) then she will recieve something else which i'll think of and do asap! So, I must chose again! And it is number 4 :) Which is Joanna! I love your idea, it reminded me of Ernie Fosselius (What a name hey?) and his hand-made car with his hand-cranked automatons. He is actually a film maker by trade but there's such magic and charm in his hand whittled toys. A life like that seems to run completely against the speed and direction of the world in which we're living.
Special mention must go to Jo for being a fan of Benjamin Pollocks toy shop. For anyone who doesn't know about this place, it is a fantastical place, the museum and shop are seperate entities, but both celebrate the magic that is toys
http://www.pollocks-coventgarden.co.uk
http://www.pollockstoymuseum.com/
A while back the toy museum almost closed, but has thankfully survived. I was blogged by the lovely Trish and as a result the toy shop now carries some of my Heart Revealed theatres and some Dark Forest dolls.
Anyway, I digress, Lonnie and Joanna I will be in touch!
Anyway, the winner is picked by a random number generator! So far we have 19 posts, although one of those is from that really annoying spammer who keeps posting naughty videos...it would really be the pits if (s)he won. Anyway, the winner is number 11! which makes it Lonnie but, since Lonnie already has one of these (bizarre eh?) then she will recieve something else which i'll think of and do asap! So, I must chose again! And it is number 4 :) Which is Joanna! I love your idea, it reminded me of Ernie Fosselius (What a name hey?) and his hand-made car with his hand-cranked automatons. He is actually a film maker by trade but there's such magic and charm in his hand whittled toys. A life like that seems to run completely against the speed and direction of the world in which we're living.
Special mention must go to Jo for being a fan of Benjamin Pollocks toy shop. For anyone who doesn't know about this place, it is a fantastical place, the museum and shop are seperate entities, but both celebrate the magic that is toys
http://www.pollocks-coventgarden.co.uk
http://www.pollockstoymuseum.com/
A while back the toy museum almost closed, but has thankfully survived. I was blogged by the lovely Trish and as a result the toy shop now carries some of my Heart Revealed theatres and some Dark Forest dolls.
Anyway, I digress, Lonnie and Joanna I will be in touch!
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Another quick update and a giveaway!
Hello!
A very quick update due to work work work...bleugh. I now have a full size (width and height) theatre with fully jointed dolls in the shop. It's relatively expensive due to the sheer quantity of ink and the cost of the Etching paper. However, I think it is rather beautiful and although it takes a it of time to construct, being more detailed, I think it was well worth it.
Here's some pics.
Along side the smaller theatre.
I'm only doing 20 of these as they are a bit long winded production wise, but the very first one i'd like to give away! :) Obviously there's a catch, heh. I'd like to hear what kind of theatre you'd build. Don't worry I won't steal your ideas! :) I will pick one from random and send the theatre your way.
For what it's worth, the theatre's story (which i'll one day illustrate, curse this procrastination) is that the girl on the dragon has a horn which contains a heart, and when she blows it, it reveals what a person really thinks and feels. Does anyone else think that this could be quite devastating?
A very quick update due to work work work...bleugh. I now have a full size (width and height) theatre with fully jointed dolls in the shop. It's relatively expensive due to the sheer quantity of ink and the cost of the Etching paper. However, I think it is rather beautiful and although it takes a it of time to construct, being more detailed, I think it was well worth it.
Here's some pics.
Along side the smaller theatre.
I'm only doing 20 of these as they are a bit long winded production wise, but the very first one i'd like to give away! :) Obviously there's a catch, heh. I'd like to hear what kind of theatre you'd build. Don't worry I won't steal your ideas! :) I will pick one from random and send the theatre your way.
For what it's worth, the theatre's story (which i'll one day illustrate, curse this procrastination) is that the girl on the dragon has a horn which contains a heart, and when she blows it, it reveals what a person really thinks and feels. Does anyone else think that this could be quite devastating?
Sunday, 3 February 2008
High theatrics
Today I decided to set things up so I could take some better photos of the theatre and ended up taking better photos of the old paper forest and of the new thing I have made from the theatre! I'm quite excited to show you!
So here's some photos of the theatre itself:
Unfortunately you don't really get to see the gold paint in these photos, by candlelight it's all mysterious and golden - but candlelight is not ideal for photos :)
If anyone's wondering what i'll be doing with this, i'll be sending it to the wonderful CrankBunny because she's doing a book on paper puppets! Isn't that wonderful, and there's a section on other makers which she kindly asked me to contribute to, so this is my contribution. I have to send it to her so that professional photographs can be taken - thank goodness! I'm really excited about that, and I will also get a copy of the book which is really great.
Something else i'm excited about is that fact that after much scanning and messing around in Photoshop i've produced a paper cut out theatre based on the original! It's the first time i've ever managed to get a full theatre. Here it is hanging next to the original:
The paper version is going to have goldy bits too on the waves and as accents everywhere else.
It's made from thick 310 gsm etching paper so the print quality is lovely, the paper is a tad soft for this kind of thing but it is fine once constructed. Some glueing needs to go on but it's just pritt stick type stuff. All of it is just smaller than A4 and a couple of centimetres deep.
You can choose to have the girl or Mr I don't Know the bear displayed. Currently I use a tiny bit of blu tack at the very bottom of them each to secure them to the wave at the back. It needs to be kept out of view because the blue tac can ruin the print on the wave due to the nature of the paper. The best way is to permanently install one or the other.
I'm pre building a few and have ordered boxes for them, I can paint the edges of the cut out and I have super sharp scalpels so it makes it a lot easier for people, but otherwise they are sent as 4 printed sheets with the gold parts painted on by myself. Then you can cut and glue yourself :)
I'm also going to be listing the paper forest for sale. I wasn't sure about selling her because it was the first theatre I ever did and the construction is a bit wobbly and she's fiddly to install. I've loved having her hanging on the wall but time to move on and get some new things on the walls! Here's some better photos of her anyway:
So here's some photos of the theatre itself:
Unfortunately you don't really get to see the gold paint in these photos, by candlelight it's all mysterious and golden - but candlelight is not ideal for photos :)
If anyone's wondering what i'll be doing with this, i'll be sending it to the wonderful CrankBunny because she's doing a book on paper puppets! Isn't that wonderful, and there's a section on other makers which she kindly asked me to contribute to, so this is my contribution. I have to send it to her so that professional photographs can be taken - thank goodness! I'm really excited about that, and I will also get a copy of the book which is really great.
Something else i'm excited about is that fact that after much scanning and messing around in Photoshop i've produced a paper cut out theatre based on the original! It's the first time i've ever managed to get a full theatre. Here it is hanging next to the original:
The paper version is going to have goldy bits too on the waves and as accents everywhere else.
It's made from thick 310 gsm etching paper so the print quality is lovely, the paper is a tad soft for this kind of thing but it is fine once constructed. Some glueing needs to go on but it's just pritt stick type stuff. All of it is just smaller than A4 and a couple of centimetres deep.
You can choose to have the girl or Mr I don't Know the bear displayed. Currently I use a tiny bit of blu tack at the very bottom of them each to secure them to the wave at the back. It needs to be kept out of view because the blue tac can ruin the print on the wave due to the nature of the paper. The best way is to permanently install one or the other.
I'm pre building a few and have ordered boxes for them, I can paint the edges of the cut out and I have super sharp scalpels so it makes it a lot easier for people, but otherwise they are sent as 4 printed sheets with the gold parts painted on by myself. Then you can cut and glue yourself :)
I'm also going to be listing the paper forest for sale. I wasn't sure about selling her because it was the first theatre I ever did and the construction is a bit wobbly and she's fiddly to install. I've loved having her hanging on the wall but time to move on and get some new things on the walls! Here's some better photos of her anyway:
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Valentines cut
On a totally seperate tack, I recently got myself a Craft Robo (I think they're called Wishblade's in the U.S) and it is my favourite tool of all time!
For those of you who don't know what it does it basically cuts any vector shape you give it into certain depths and types of card. I bought it because I would like to be able to print and cut dolls/small theatres for people rather than them having to cut them themselves. We'll see how that turns out. Meanwhile I made my first proper thing on it this week, a valentines card for people who are tired of teddy bears and kittens:
The white card is cut away to the heart shape and then I put a piece of red card behind it and voila! It's amazing how finely it can actually cut. For these I have to do a double pass on the card but it can do that with such precision....I spent about 20 minutes just watching it do it's thing last night...It's a thing to behold. Anyway, the cards are for sale in the shop.
For those of you who don't know what it does it basically cuts any vector shape you give it into certain depths and types of card. I bought it because I would like to be able to print and cut dolls/small theatres for people rather than them having to cut them themselves. We'll see how that turns out. Meanwhile I made my first proper thing on it this week, a valentines card for people who are tired of teddy bears and kittens:
The white card is cut away to the heart shape and then I put a piece of red card behind it and voila! It's amazing how finely it can actually cut. For these I have to do a double pass on the card but it can do that with such precision....I spent about 20 minutes just watching it do it's thing last night...It's a thing to behold. Anyway, the cards are for sale in the shop.
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Theatre update and some slightly better pictures
So last night I finised the dragon off, I was a bit dissappointed once i'd assembled him...Something was wrong...I realised there was too much green and blue going on.
So I quickly revised the colouring on his tail and other wingy bits this monring...that's not finished yet but I couldn't resist trying him out in position - nothing is permanently installed yet, it's all being held together with blu tac and bits of string until it is completed...so it's kinda wobbly looking. But it gives me an idea about what's needed.
The first thing is another layer of larger sea at the back behind him. The next thing is that...somehow I want to be able to change the scene of the girl and the dragon to a bear catching a fish....It's just something which has been bothering me .... I want 2 scenes...and i'm running out of time...I haven't even started the young lady - I feel like I haven't washed or eaten properly or cleaned my house in weeks...It's all gone skanky again.
Anyway, I plan to work till my fingers start shaking tonight and see what kind of progress I can make.
So I quickly revised the colouring on his tail and other wingy bits this monring...that's not finished yet but I couldn't resist trying him out in position - nothing is permanently installed yet, it's all being held together with blu tac and bits of string until it is completed...so it's kinda wobbly looking. But it gives me an idea about what's needed.
The first thing is another layer of larger sea at the back behind him. The next thing is that...somehow I want to be able to change the scene of the girl and the dragon to a bear catching a fish....It's just something which has been bothering me .... I want 2 scenes...and i'm running out of time...I haven't even started the young lady - I feel like I haven't washed or eaten properly or cleaned my house in weeks...It's all gone skanky again.
Anyway, I plan to work till my fingers start shaking tonight and see what kind of progress I can make.
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Another Theatre Update
Well, once again I feel like i'm fighting against the tide with progress, however some progress has been made! I have attached some bad pics of the progress - I always take pics at night after a day of working one something - I promise once complete there will be bright day light pictures!
A full shot - bit grainy, sorry
You can see the gold edging on the waves here
Some more details at the bottom
Hanging up, terrible photo but you can see the start of the outside decoration
A scene of chaos! I got half way through today and felt all glum because I couldn't move without standing in wet paint or gluing myself to my tea cup....Anyway, I abandoned the mess to eat dinner and blog and try to forget it exists! Till tomorrow!
A full shot - bit grainy, sorry
You can see the gold edging on the waves here
Some more details at the bottom
Hanging up, terrible photo but you can see the start of the outside decoration
A scene of chaos! I got half way through today and felt all glum because I couldn't move without standing in wet paint or gluing myself to my tea cup....Anyway, I abandoned the mess to eat dinner and blog and try to forget it exists! Till tomorrow!
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Thank you! And some progress
So the first thing to say is Happy 2008 and Thank You! To everyone who reads this blog and buys my work. You have all been incredibly encouraging and kind to me. As a thank you, the first person to comment will get a surprise gift :) - so, comment and i'll get in touch with my email address so you can give me your postal address... I think that's probably the best way of doing it :)
Here's some progress shots of the theatre...it's frustratingly slow progress, and today I felt I had to actually clean the house and myself! Yes i'm ashamed to say people that I had become a total skank. I think the great idea about getting old is that you could just scud around in your ripped dress covered in paint with dishevelled hair and feel like you'd earned the right.
Cut & gessoed pieces of wood for the the theatre surround
Mixing the basic colours for the whole thing. This is the only way I can work, if I don't mix base colours for everything upfront I get confused and irritable part way through :)
The base colours painted onto the front. This took almost 2 days to do completely! This is because to get total flat coverage with Acrylic inks you have to go over each layer several times.
Details added to the top.
More details on the top and the back panel beneath to show the contrast between the reddy/orange and the blue/green of the backdrop.
A rather desaturated picture of the top and bottom details
Bottom details up close
Full picture - not that great but there you go. There's one last set of things I need to do - the lettering on the top and bottom banners. Also I started painting terllises up the sides and didn't like them so am now having to go over them....phew..I actually thought it'd only take me 3 days to do this front panel but it's taking an age. I'll also be doing some gold edging when all of the details are finished. Then i'll assemble the box istelf and start doing the paper bits! I have another fortnight scheduled off this month so I should be able to finish it. Hopefully without personal hygiene slipping too far ;)
Here's some progress shots of the theatre...it's frustratingly slow progress, and today I felt I had to actually clean the house and myself! Yes i'm ashamed to say people that I had become a total skank. I think the great idea about getting old is that you could just scud around in your ripped dress covered in paint with dishevelled hair and feel like you'd earned the right.
Cut & gessoed pieces of wood for the the theatre surround
Mixing the basic colours for the whole thing. This is the only way I can work, if I don't mix base colours for everything upfront I get confused and irritable part way through :)
The base colours painted onto the front. This took almost 2 days to do completely! This is because to get total flat coverage with Acrylic inks you have to go over each layer several times.
Details added to the top.
More details on the top and the back panel beneath to show the contrast between the reddy/orange and the blue/green of the backdrop.
A rather desaturated picture of the top and bottom details
Bottom details up close
Full picture - not that great but there you go. There's one last set of things I need to do - the lettering on the top and bottom banners. Also I started painting terllises up the sides and didn't like them so am now having to go over them....phew..I actually thought it'd only take me 3 days to do this front panel but it's taking an age. I'll also be doing some gold edging when all of the details are finished. Then i'll assemble the box istelf and start doing the paper bits! I have another fortnight scheduled off this month so I should be able to finish it. Hopefully without personal hygiene slipping too far ;)
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