I haven’t been idle… +one

Sculpting class started the Tuesday after we got back from vacation.

I started a sculpture AND made a vase. Remember the longest yard sale and how we only got to visit a few sales before it rained so hard I was expecting the ARK to float up? Well, the long story is…my friend, knowing I’m a treasure hunter (not the financial rewards kind of treasure) said she’d like a wall pocket if I came across one in a yard sale (wall pockets are usually ceramic, hang on the wall and can hold flowers).

I never see wall pockets at yard sales. The second sale we went to during the shortest, longest yard sale, had a few wall pockets for ONLY $5. I grabbed the Sunflower with a Bird wall pocket and thought – Whoo Hoo for me. When I got home I was real disappointed to notice a chip on the back. I put it with the rest of my “things to go with other things” in the garage.

Back to sculpting – on the first day of class I began a head sculpture. I brought the head home and had it in my hand walking around my garage when it connected to the wall pocket (yes, it “connected”). Wa La! The title of this sculpture is Bird Watcher in Camouflage. The head and birds are sculpted onto the top of the $5 wall pocket. She wears a sculpted cap with sculpted flowers and seeds on it. A disaster response friend sent me some antique barbed wire from Texas that will be shaped into a nest holding three bird eggs to sit on top of her head. After it’s fired the cap will get other bits and pieces as well as a leather tie under her chin.
The picture has a piece of plastic between the head and the wall pocket so it won’t stick until after it’s fired and painted.

ANOTHER COOL THING: A leather saleswoman gave me some leather samples (3″ x 3″ & 5″ x 5″) yesterday in exchange for making some “clever” things for her out of some of them. So I’m thinking jewelry. But that’s another blog.

Needing to get out in the beautiful Atlanta weather today I went looking for a leather paring knife. Not finding it in the usual places I went to one of my favorite “walking around” stores, Rockler Woodworking. I didn’t find the paring knife there either – BUT LOOK WHAT I DID FIND… a Banksia Pod.

Before altering it’s approximately 8″ long. I’m thinking it looks like a lot of talking mouths. Sculpt a face on the front and have the pod be the voices in our heads from the back? What do you think?

OH MY Goodness – did you know there’s a store JUST for SPICES? Next to Rockler in Sandy Springs is a new store called Penzey’s Spices. I walked every isle. It is gorgeous! I could just envision me cooking. I’m a mixed media cook. Thankfully – it was just a vision and went away as soon as I left the store, empty handed.

Have a fabulous weekend.