A Couple of New Things and a Work in Progress

I just finished this little chipmunk, yesterday. I hope you like him. His stump can be used as a candle holder, too.  I fashioned some shelf fungus and a butterfly from polymer clay and attatched them with glue and I wove a cover for the candle hole from pine needles and artificial sinew. This little chipmunk will go up for auction this Sunday.

Randsburg General Store

The White House Saloon

The folks at Old Dog Haven commissioned me to do a sleeping dog for their auction. Sleeping is a favorite passtime for the senior set.  So I did one after Rufus, a very sweet old fellow from the neighboring town of Randsburg. He was quite the town dog. He kind of had his route. He first would start at the General Store with the hopes that some kind soul would give him some bacon. Next it would be off to the White house Saloon for some french fries. He would then walk into our now defunct store for a nice long nap. His owner, Richard would stop in to coax him home. Rufus crossed the rainbow bridge at well over 20 years of age. He was quite a town character and will be sorely missed.
 

I'm also working on a 1:12 scale horse.  I first made a wire frame. Then, it was covered with Fix-It to  to help it maintain its shape.  Next, I added balls of aluminum foil flattened and shaped with a hammer. They were attached with masking tape and a coat of glue was painted on.  Next I'll be adding a layer of Apoxie Sculpt. After it is dried and hardened, polymer clay will be added for the fine detailing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn out. We'll see.

Richard's mother, Jenny, in front of his store.

Richard creates the most beautiful wire and glass sculptures.

Jenny passed on this year to meet good old Rufus.

Cubby & Daisy

Here it is Sunday, again! I've got a lot of things to write about and should post more on Monday. But here's a quick run down about these two. Both start tonight on eBay at 6:45 pm PST and have a reserve price of $135.00.  Cubby has been weighted with steel shot and has Apoxie Sculpt nose and claws. His pics were kind of hard to do. I always have a hard time photographing blacks. I can't seem to get the light and exposure right. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Anniversary Give Away Details, Plus my Latest Two

Here are my latest two creations and some more details on the Give Away.   They both have a reserve price of $135.00 and their auctions begin tonight at 6:45 pm PST.

Well it looks like the mouse won as the prize. I will hold the drawing on Sunday March 21, the first day of Spring. It will be a "names in the hat" kind of drawing. Each and every time you post a comment on one of my posts entitles you to another entry to win the little mouse. I will email the winner once his/her name has been drawn and will post the results here in the blog. Good luck to all of you!

Triplets?

Daffodil

Silas

Ashley

I just put the finishing touches on all three of these felties, yesterday. So they all share the same "birhtday".  They're kind of a different set of triplets, a sea dragon, a little bunny and a sleepy little deer mouse. Their auctions start tonight at 6:45 PM PST.  Both Ashley and Daffodil have a reserve price of $135.00.

There is no reserve price for Silas and he does not have a charity permission letter. But I plan to donate 30% from his sale to Doctors without Borders to help the Hattian quake survivors with their medical needs. Doctors without Borders is a great group and 100% of the donation goes directly to aid and not to administrative costs. I decided not to donate through eBay's Giving Works program as a sizable portion of the donation is taken for their program's administrative costs. $3.00 out of the first $5.00 and a percentage after that. I think it's around 2%.  As with all of my felties, I will send a receipt for the donation so you will know that it has been made.
Thanks, Robin

Lion & Lamb ~ a Wish for Peace

I just finished this lion & Lamb set yesterday afternoon. They will be listed on eBay as a pair on eBay starting this Sunday @ 6:45 pm PST. Their reserve price is $135.00 with a Buy It Now price of $245.00.  I hope you like them. 

Click here to see my current listings.

20% from this sale will benefit Old Dog Haven ~ a senior doggie hospice & rescue

Little Miss Emily Rose ~ A Dainty Lady Mouse

 I just finished little Miss Emily Rose this morning. I believe she is my last felty for the year. Her auction starts Tuesday night on eBay at 6:45 PM PST and her reserve price is my usual $135.00.  I've done a few things differently from my usual mice. She has Apoxy Sculpt and hands and feet and some of her features were hand shaded with achival artist inks.  I'm working on refining my felties a bit. I hope you like her :-)!

Here's a recipe to make your own edible Southern Teacakes:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees~

In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder together. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Dough should be soft. Roll dough out onto a floured surface until approximately 1/4-inch thick. Cut dough into desired shapes and bake on a slightly greased sheet for 10 to 12 minutes.

6 to 8 dozen...

Enjoy!

A Gift from Old Dog Haven

I recently found out that I'm the sponsor of one of Old Dog Haven's final refuge dogs. It was kind of a thank you for all of my past donations. In a way, each of my customers is also sponsor of Jessie, too. If it weren't for your support of my art it would not have been possible. Your support is helping to pay for Jessie's food and veternary expenses during his final years. Thank you all very much :-)!

If you would like to sponsor a final refuge dog of your own, you can do so for as little as $25 for a three month sponsorship. Please click here to learn more.

Emma - a Sweet Little Bull Terrier Pup

Here's my latest little one, a sweet little bull terrier pup. Her auction starts tonight at 6:45 PM PST and her reserve price is $135.00.  20% from her auction will be donated to Old Dog Haven, a senior doggie hospice and rescue.

Meet Pepita and Grace

Here are my latest little ones. I'm particularly happy with the way Pepita's nose turned out.  It's pretty rare for me to be completely satisfied with my art. I guess it's a good thing to have a critical eye. I think it helps me to improve my work. Her little nose is the fist one that I've ever done out of Apoxy Sculpt. I really like this type of nose for the pups and think I'll continue to do all of my doggie noses this way.  I'm working on a Bull terrier next.
As for Grace she is going to have a little raccoon companion to be sold seperately. The little raccoon's auction will be a 5 day auction and will end the same time as Grace's.  Both Grace's and Pepita's auctions start tonight at 6:06 pm PDT. They both have a reserve price of  $135.00 each.

Java ~ A new Siamese Cat

I just finished this kitty a couple of days ago and have him listed on eBay now. He's kind of a big fellow for one of my felties. He's 9 inches long. His auction ends on Sunday at 6:45 PM PDT. I named him Java for his coffee and cream colored fur and because he reminds me of my Charlie who was a very mischievious Siamese. His favorite thing was to walk along the edge of the bath tub and splash water at you. However he wasn't the most graceful of cats and would sometimes fall in. He'd also get in one of those moods where he would race around the house knocking things over. And because he was so cross-eyed he'd end up running into walls. But that didn't seem to stop him. Charlie very often seemed like he had one too many cups of coffee. He was a great character and a part of my family.

20% from his sale will be donated to Old Dog Haven. They now have 190 senior pups in their care!

I hope you all have a very spendid Thanksgiving!

Happy First Day Of Fall!

I had some fun over the weekend. I went to the Ridgecrest Pow Wow. It's kind of on the small side as Pow Wows go. But it was nice to hear the drums and see the dancers. I also got to buy a few things for some new works. I was so happy to see the vendor who I bought beads and artifical sinew from last year. I also bought some very tiny hair pipe bone beads to make choker for one of my bears. I plan on giving Honey boo bear another look. I always enjoy pow wows. I'm kind of new to this area so I didn't know many of the people there. But it was still very welcoming.

I'm so excited that Fall is finally here. Soon the wheather will begin to chill a bit. We still have nearly 80 degree wheather well into October. It sure beats the over 100 degrees. I'll be out hiking in the afternoon instead of sitting at the mini-mart drinking soda.

I just finished two new pieces and have them listed on eBay. Their auctions started last night. One is a little piggy that I named Isaac for his amazing discovery about gravity and apples. Plus he figured out why they call this season Fall. Things are always falling from the trees. I needle felted his apples and hand dyed them using Koolaid.

The other piece is a little black kitten that I named after a black cat that I knew when I was young. His name was Black Magic. The elder lady who owned him said he had 13 lives. She used to dress up as witch on Halloween. She always gave the best treats, Popcorn balls (still warm) and cupcakes.

I hope you enjoy my new works. Please click here to view their auctions.

Spooky and the Scary Spider, Plus Pegasus

It seems I'm on a Halloween kick. My latest work is a cute little mouse in his ghost costume. He has a Halloween cupcake and treat bag. There is also a felted scary spider that has designs on Spooky's loot. I designed little Spooky holding his tail as if to keep it away from the icky spider.

My next piece is Pegasus, the mythic flying horse. He stands 9 inches tall rearing on his hind feet. Both of my felties start tonight on eBay at 6:45 PM PDT. They are both 7 day auctions with a reserve price of $145.00. I hope you enjoy them both!

Please click here to view their auctions.

Honey Boo Bear

Here's my latest piece. She's weighted with steel shot and has Apoxy Sculpt claws. Her costume was needle felted and hand sewn and is removable. Her little pumpkin is hollow and was completely needle felted. I hope you enjoy her. She was quite a bit of work and took me longer than I expected. Her fur was hand mixed from several different types of wool. Her auction starts tonight at 6:45 PM PDT.

Honey's Reserve price is $145.00 and her Buy it Now price is $275.00

Me Pages & a New Work Sold

Well this week has been very busy! Since it seems that I can't seem to get back on my Sunday listing schedule, I decided to go into my ME page (big mistake) and change it to read that I genrally list on Tuesdays at 6:45 PM PDT. Well, when I went in to save the changes, my whole page just disappeared. The html for my page vanished into thin air with no trace. I'm no html whiz. It took me all of yesterday to get a new Me page up and running. I spent most of the time trying to figure out what colors to use. Then I got hung up on how I was going to arrange the table. In the end simple won out. It still is a work in progress, though. I would love to know your opinion of it. You can click here to view my ME page.

I spent most of last week needle & wet felting a hollow pumpkin to fit a little piggy into. It was quite a bit of work to get it firm enough and to get the top so it fit snuggly. I've done hollow items before. But this one was much bigger than usual. Consequently, I only had one item for this week and much to my surprise, it sold the very next morning!

At present, I'm working on a standing bear. He's been weighted with steel shot to help him stand up. But he needs a bit of coxing to get him to do that. I also made him some very tiny claws with Apoxy Sculpt. There's another item for him that I'm working on. But it's a surprise. I'll post more on him when he's finished.

Iris, the Amazing Little Flutter Pig

Ok this one has another weird end time. I keep forgetting to schedule it. She ends next Tuesday at 11:38 am PDT. There are a few things different about this little piggy. She's the first weighted felty that I've done and her wings are embroidered and hand dyed with koolaid. I really like the way they turned out.

Iris was weighted with steel shot to give her some heft and a real feel. I like the dichotomy between the lightness of her wings and her weight. It speaks to me of the sheer impossibility of a pig's flight. Her delicate antennas are thin beading wire that has been felted with black llama wool and a black onyx bead was attached to the end.

Her reserve price is $145.00 and her Buy it Now price is $224.00. The starting bid is $9.95.

Please click here to visit her auction.

New Felties!

I just finished these two new felties and listed them on eBay last night. Plus I decided to give Henry a vacation from ETSY and put him on too. Now there's an item on auction for each of my charites.

• Posie, the piglet and her teddy - 20% for Old Dog Haven
• Mojave, the bobcat - 20% for Sarvey Wildlife
• Henry, the not-so-scary monster - 20% for Dreamchaser PMU

It's been a real scorcher here in the Mojave. Temperatures have been well over 100 degrees everyday. I've been turning on the swamp cooler earlier and earlier. I think it's even been too hot for the lizards. They're always in the shade. When I was doing the photo shoot for the bobcat, a big desert spiny lizard ran up the tree and got in one of the photos. It's too bad that he was just a blurr.

Mojave, the bobcat is after a fairly young bobcat that I've seen in the wash in front of my house. I use the rocks there to do a lot of my pictures, especially for the horses. There are always bobcat prints in the sand. I was hoping that if I got pictures early enough in the morning, they would show up well. Unfortunately, the winds that night erased most of the prints. I think this little guy is the offspring of the one that I used to see up at the graveyard above my house. He heads down to the park everynight to look for the cottontails that congregate there to eat grass and get water. I'm happy he hasn't gotten any of the bunnies that use my yard.


The next one I finished was a sleeping piglet. I just love the way little pigs seem so content when they sleep. It kid of reminds me of the way dogs will wag their tails when they dream. I tried to capture that expression in Posie. Posie also has a needle felted teddy to sleep with. Her tiny teddy bear is 5 way thread jointed so his head, arms and legs move.

Henry - Now on ETSY

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28159687

Henry is a sweet guy with a very big mouth. But he can still keep your secrets and he's not afraid to tell you what he thinks. He's only 7 inches tall and can stand on his own with some prompting. But he prefers something or someone to lean on. His eyes are musical jingle bells with flowers that give him an astonished look. He has a very small sewn on "belly" button and was stuffed from a mixture of polyfil and wool to make him extra huggable. His tongue is lined cotton cloth that can be either stuck out or tucked in to make a handy pouch to keep your special secrets. He's made from the most shocking yellow plush.

Henry would make a very special friend for you or someone close. However he prefers to be kept away from small persons who might pull out his eyes and swallow them. So no small children, pets or other people inclined to chew on plush.

Henry is my first plushie. He's also my first item in my ETSY store. I plan to add other furry not-so-scary-monsters in the near future plus some of my felties. I'll keep you posted.

Ferdinand & Diego & Grizzly Bears?

Diego

Staring Bid $68.99

Buy it Now $250.00

Click here to view or bid

Ferdinand

Starting bid $66.00

Buy it Nowy $95.00
Click here to view or bid

Well, I just finished these two little guys and listed them last night on ebay So far having a reserve on my auctions has worked a lot better than I had thought. But my eBay fees have more than tripled. So I'm starting these two with higher starting bids with no reserves. We'll see if they do as well. If not it's back to reserves. It's kind of a good thing that summer is sooo slow. I've got quite a few commissions lined up. My problem with commissions is that I tend to fuss and fret over them more. They tend to take more time. However they do stretch me and make me perfect my craft. So it's a good thing. The other good thing about it being kind of slow is that my sister and her husband are visiting me from Indiana. They'll be here on June 20. I have to make sure that I've got enough items done in advance so I won't be poking wool the whole time they're here.

Last night I watched Werner Herzog's documentary,"Grizzly Man", for the first time. It's about the naturalist, Timothy Treadwell who lived with the Grizzlies in Alaska for thirteen summers and was killed along with his girlfriend by a Grizzly. I think the guy was a wannabe bear and a wannabe Steve Irwin. He saw himself as the lone defender of the bears. It's really a tragedy. But he should have known that it had been a very lean summer for the bears and that they needed to gain enough weight in order to hibernate. Staying so late in the Fall was a fool hardy thing to do and even more foolish to take another person along with him. I think he had a death wish or an unimaginably huge ego to think that the bears would leave him alone. The upshot is that it was a very good movie that led me to ponder all kinds of things.

As an animal artist, I've often wondered that if my cute little wild ones help foster the "Bambi' syndrome where nature is just there to pet and hold and to sastisfy our need for companionship. We as human beings tend to either anthropromorphize animals or to think that they are so much lesser and different than mankind. I think there's middle ground. They all deserve our kindness and compassion. Animals should be appreciated for who and what they are and not what we hope them to be.

Jade & Poseidon, Plus My New Website

Posiedon

Starting bid $9.95

Reserve $66.00

(Please Click on Poseidon's name to view his auction)

Jade
Starting bid $9.95
Buy It Now $300
Reserve Price $165.00
(Please click on Jade's name to view her auction)

It's been a while since my last post. I've been busily working on my new website. It's not quite complete yet. I guess it's a work in progress. It all started when I found out that googlepages was migrating platforms. The new platform doesn't support Java script and CSS. Hence all of my furious work to get a new site up and running before June 1 (today). So if you're interested my new site still has the same address, www,artbyrjandreae.com. It's just being hosted elsewhere. One new thing that I've added is a store where my items maybe purchased from. Unfortunately, it does not have inventory control. So for the time being, I'm offerring only my felted pastries and portrait commissions on my site. Hopefully. I'll be able to offer my one of a kind pieces there, too, in the near future.

On another front, Summer is nearly here and eBay is slowing down as folks are spending more time outdoors and less time in front of the computer. So, I've instituted reserve pricing on my ebay items. My average reserve is $95.00. My low reserve is $66.00. It's higher for the larger works, like Jade pictured above. She has a reserve of $165.00. I hated doing this. But it was either this or giving up my donations to Sarvey Wildlife and Old Dog haven. I chose my charities. Also if my items started to go for too little, people may get the idea that that's what my art is worth and would not bid higher when things start to pick up on eBay.

Talk to you all again soon !