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.

It's November Already!?!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I can't believe how this year has flown by! We've already had a couple of pretty good freezes. And both my husband and I came down with the flu! So while I was resting between sneezes and coughs, I tried to catch up on some reading. When I opened up my last month's Utne reader, I saw the cutest thing I think I've ever seen. It was a photo of a little St. Andrew Beach Mouse by Joel Sartore. It brought to mind warm days, white sand beaches and the gentle waves of the Florida coast. And when I finally finished little Periwinkle and listed her, she sold right away.

My second piece was of an Inuit man and a baby harp seal. I continued my sale and it didn't go as well as I had expected. One of my regular buyers got a real bargain. They sold for under $30.00! I think that's the lowest any of my work has ever sold for. I was happy it was to one of my good customers. I guess people aren't ready for snow and cold, warm sunny beaches did much better.

I have three pieces on now, a little chipmunk named Hazel, a piglet by the name of Gingersnap and a little mouse named Kringle. They all end Sunday at 6:45 PM PDT.

Click here to view their auctions.

My flu is still lingering on a bit. Living in such a small town you get see how these things progress through the community. It seems the whole town has had this one. It's just the regular old seasonal flu. But we've had a couple of cases of swine flu already. One of them is a pregnant woman who contracted it by going to her prenatal checkups at the Ridgecrest hospital. She is recovering nicely. But it was a bit of a scare. The town children (all nine or ten) get innoculated for swine flu soon. I hope you all stay well!

A Little Opossum and a Sleepy Chipmunk

I have two new ones on eBay now. They started on Sunday at 6:45 PM PDT and are 7 day listings. Hopefully, I'll get back to my old Sunday listing schedule. As I promised starting this Fall, I would dropped the reserve pricing. But things seem very slow on eBay right now. I'm worried about starting the bidding at my old $9.95. So for now until things pick up again the starting bids will be at least $95.00.

The opossum's name is Filbert. He, like my other possums, was inspired by the little ones that nested in my Christmas ornaments in my basement. My little guys were born in the Summer and by Fall they were getting to look more like adults and most left to start their own families. But Filbert stuck around. When I put out the kid's jack-o-lanterns, he could be seen very often perched on top of one. I made him to look like baby Filbert because he was just so adorable when he was small.

The little chipmunk is named Peanut. He kind of reminded me of a little peanut and of course that's their favorite treat. He's made from a variety of wools. I have him curled so you can lay him in a couple of positions for different looks. I also created a little nest of fall leaves using the nuno felting technique that I learned from Chrissy. I've added a few of my own twists to that technique. I use two pieces of bubblewrap. I slightly wet the first one with very hot soapy water. Then I lay my wool down. Then the piece of tulle or silk on top of that. More wool next and I sprinkle some more soapy water. Next I lay the second piece of bublewrap on top of that. I gently move the piece back and forth, just a little. Then I roll it back and forth. Next, I slam the whole thing against the counter (that's the really fun part). Finally I shock the piece in a bath of ice cold water and leave it to dry. After it has dried somewhat I iron it with my steam iron on the wool setting, Finally each leaf was hand dyed and embroidered.

20% from the sale of both of these pieces will be donated to Sarvey Wildlife Care Center. Fall and Spring are particularly busy times for wildlife rescues and I'm sure they can use the cash. Next week the donations will go to Old Dog Haven. They have over 170 senior pups in their care right now!

Please click here to see my auctions.