Two steps forward, one step back......

Busy, Busy here in the studio yesterday!



The basket has now had a layer of antiquing gel applied to it (I only had black on hand, I think a warm brown would have been slightly better, but this will do).

I really like the way it looks with the layering of colors. When I put the gesso on I deliberately left some of the creases without any of the gesso so a tiny bit of the pink would show through (I also used a very thin coat for the same reason). Then when I put on the antiquing gel I was careful to put it on in a thin layer and rub it off right away.

Now the plan is to add some metallic gold accents, then its on to how to fill the inside (some kind of fabric liner seems in order -- wonder if I have any prints with little berries on them -- that would be perfect)




I got the beads stitched onto the main vein in each leaf, then decided that perhaps a bit more color in the tree trunk and branches would be a good thing

So, I carefully pinned the leaves closed (so I wouldn't accidently get paint on the front side or the beads) then pulled out the fabric paints.

The first color I used was a chocolate brown that had a very matte finish. This new one is called "tea" and its a shiny color (although its hard to see that in the heavy texture of the fabric)

The cool thing about this was that when I tried it on (BEFORE I added the extra paint) the leaves actually do move in the way I had envisioned. I do think that I will be adding a lot more leaves to get the real impact that I want.

Obviously I have not reached the LEAF IT ALONE! stage yet.



Earlier in the week we did the inventory of the jewelry we had on hand. This is usually a one day job, and happily it was that again this time.

Inventory of the critters, however is usually at least a 2 day job. For one thing, we have to haul in all of the tubs (small, medium and large Rubbermade containers) from the garage, the basement, the storage shed and where ever else they have wandered to in the house during the year (why we can't manage to keep them in ONE place is beyond me -- but I digress)

Anyway, we had decided that this year we would be BRUTAL in which animals would actually stay in inventory and which would be either relegated to major rework or scrapped out entirely.

Rework is generally a pain in the butt, but sometimes makes a butt ugly animal into a big hit at the next show it goes to.

Scrapping, however is both hard work and a money saver. The reason is that when I scrap out an animal I sort and reuse any accessories (ribbons, buttons, bells, etc); the joints; the eyes; and all of the stuffing materials. Sometimes (on big enough animals) I can even reuse some of the fur.



These animals (as well as a large number other than this) were among the ones that we had decided were headed to the scrap heap.

As you can see, there are seven very similar bears that are a design that I made about 15 years ago (have a mentioned we seem to have an issue with scrapping bears?) Anyway, 6 of these are mohair and one (the front left one) is alpaca and silk, and they are all that sort of primitive, long legged, loose jointed critters.

As they sat in the tub waiting their turn for the scrapping yesterday afternoon, they formed a union and petitioned for a stay of execution. I began to think about the "folk art" style that they might become.

And so it is that they have been officially deemed to be "LAB ANIMALS" subject to my whims of trimming or sanding or painting or other means of making them look more like the primitive style their bodies suggest. Perhaps they will be my next top sellers -- and that would be the ultimate makeover!

And so it is that today there will be more inventory, probably more scrapping and "drawing" of more buttons as I'm working along on the website revision.

movin' right along!