Snowy Glitter

Yesterday we had a rare occurrence – a sunny day in winter. With pristine snow.

It did not lure me outside, I loathe winter with a passion and winter sports even more. But I did point my camera out of my window and did some clickety-click. It looks pretty. From the inside of a warm living room.

Resin Art: All polished up

There’s a box sitting in my craft cupboard of pieces that are almost finished. Seriously like 95% done and then I don’t finish them and if that’s not the story of my life I don’t know. But yesterday I made myself take out the Dremel and the polishing paste and finally finished some of them. None of these are new. I do have some larger projects planned, one that will hopefully proceed next week and one that I’m kind of respectfully dreading to start. In the meantime, here’s some pretty. With very bad pics. Just imagine the pieces being artfully draped on moss in the sunlight.

Bog oak with red resin. This piece from Marcus made me wonder for a long time, as the original was a longish rhombus. It was too long to use for one piece with resin on top and too short for two pieces. This is what I came up with, and I like it a lot. The red is pretty dark and “glows” like fire.

“Old something” with resin. The problem with photographing polished resin pieces indoors is that the light will fracture and reflect, leading to blurry pics. I had to try five times to get a pic of this piece. OK, I could set up the whole camera equipment, using indirect light, etc., etc., but who’s got time for that?

Nailed it! Got the inspiration from another resin artist. The partially sanded down nails really look cool, but they also burn your fingers when sanding…

A rose by any other name… Pear wood and dried rose bud. Here my problem was how to turn it into a pendant. For some reason, the piece ended up with little resin above the rose, so I didn’t want to drill a hole into it, not even for a hook. Yesterday I finally had an idea. I used copper wire to “hug” the piece.

I drilled a hole into the bottom, hid the ends of the wire and fixed it with some UV resin. There’s also a dollop of UV resin on the top, so the piece won’t slip out of the wire.

I also finally managed to finish voyager’s pieces. Dear voyager, they’ll be sent your way next week.

What happened here? For some reason, the resin hadn’t soaked through and sanding removed the resin soaked parts of the wood. I really should get myself a pressure pot. From 600 grit onwards, I need to do wet sanding. You guess it: the wood soaked up the water and burst the resin. One piece fell completely apart, one lost a piece at the side (yet to come)

Yeah, I actually wanted it to be that shape…

And, last but not least, a little egg. This has been made without mould or lathe, and I’m pretty proud of it.

The Art of …

… sculpture, by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois.

She carries 32 large marble eggs in her sac and sits quietly on guard outside The National Gallery of Canada.

Maman (mother). Image from The National Gallery of Canada.

Friday Feathers: The Birds are Back in Town

I put up the feeder some while ago, and especially with the light snow, the birds are really happy about it. Only the pics are bad because we don’t have any light. The skies have been overcast for more than a month now, which is really getting on my mood because it never gets light. 9 am, 2 pm, 4 pm, it’s all the same and then it is dark.

©Giliell, all rights reserved
Footprints of unknown bird, but I think it was a juvenile

Spiders Brave the Cold

This was sent in by Avalus near the end of December. I’m hoping, but not confident, that these brave little arachnids continue to survive.

I completely forgot about these pictures I took at the end of November!

Spider bridge is back!

But now with my good camera I could take nice crispy close-ups of the spiders. Also a Glowspider! Happy Holidays PZ

There are still some orbweavers left, exploiting the night-lights in the railing but in November, the railing was full of webs. Now they are a scattered few. But it is really warm, 5-15°C, we had one day of snow at the beginning of December.

The rest of the photos are below the fold.

[Read more…]

A Handcrafted Mausoleum and Graveyard

The first Monday of the new year demands something special, and thanks to Avalus we have it. Behold the wonderful mausoleum and graveyard to accompany his Wizard Manse and Observatory.

No town frozen by magic and populated with the undead is complete without a graveyard. So here is my interpretation. I tried making it creepy but also quite peaceful compared to the other buildings that are in ruins.

Again mostly cardboard, with a wooden base, a leftover from furniture. The tombs are just — stuff I had around. I wanted to avoid any real life imagery for the headstones, so I used several established fantasy designs. The fence is pieces of foam and some cocktail sticks a flatmate bought years ago and never used.

Sneaky bit: The mausoleum is removable. Actually, for storage purposes but it might be used for some reveal in a game with a gamemaster.

Also, one work in progress shot. Making these kinds of roofs is actually really satisfying. Just cardboard strips cut with some irregularity and then bend and warped a bit und finally glued to a roof substrate. Just handling the house to take the photos makes me want to make another small house just to have an excuse to build another roof. :D

So let’s take 2020 to the grave!

Robin? Robin!

Happy new year, everyone.

I had a new and surprising visitor in my garden two days ago, a robin. I have seen robins in my garden before, but never ever in winter. And I was lucky enough to take a picture this time, so you can see it too.

Merry Holymas

Merry whatever you celebrate. I personally would not mind a little war on Christmas, I hate the holiday and everything it officially stands for (hint- it does not stand for love and family, that is most people’s personal addition). But I love the winter solstice and the promise of longer days and shorter nights again. We had an extremely warm bud muddy and gloomy fall so far, but today, finally, winter has begun for real – we had our first real snowfall of this year. That has cheered me up ever so slightly.

I might have to dust off the snow of the bonsai trees, if it gets wet, it could break them.

The Art of …

… simplicity, by Nailia Schwarz

Nailia is a German photographer, originally from Russia, and this is from her series “Simple Things.” More of her work can be seen at Fine Art America or on her Facebook page.

Simple Things – Christmas, by Nalia Schwarz.Image from Fine Art America

The Wizard’s Manse and Observatory

I have something wonderfully whimsical to share from Avalus,

A wizard manson with an observatory:

All made from cardboard, leftover foamboard and a few bits of fly netting and translucent paper for the windows. I did not make many photos of the building process.

It was really fun to craft models again and over the next month or so I created a handful of different buildings.

When I was younger I was a regular tabletop wargamer. Over the years, the gaming fell away, but the crafting and painting of miniatures and terrain pieces stayed, if somewhat periodically. In the first week of the lockdown, some stuff in my flat broke and I had to order replacements over the internet (something I do not like to do). And then, when I had a few boxes and other carton pieces, ready to be thrown away, inspiration struck.

I am not sure yet, what I will now do with them, as I don’t really play more than once a year. Probably gift them to my gaming friends.

A Glorious Christmas Spider

This incredible shot of a Christmas Spider comes from Sally’s garden, where Winterfest happens in the summertime. (photo is below the fold) [Read more…]

A Cheerful Cardinal

This bright red feathered dinosaur comes to us from the camera of Some Old Programmer, who notes,

Through a kitchen window that, admittedly, needs cleaning. Eastern Massachusetts, US.

All kitchen windows need cleaning by December, but very few have a view this nice. Thanks for sharing.

Jack’s Walk

It’s drizzly and gloomy today, but I don’t mind a bit because the sun is shining in my heart. Finally, after a difficult month, my sweet Bubba is able to walk again. Not far, but he can easily get to the end of the street and back with his tail wagging. His gait isn’t pretty to watch, and we go very, very slowly (think Tim Conway’s old man slow), but Jack is himself again. He wants to go out and explore all the smells and as of yesterday, he’s able to lift his leg again to leave behind a smell or two of his own. The past few weeks Jack has had to pee standing up and he couldn’t direct the stream, which he found frustrating. I found it frustrating, too, because he often peed all over his front legs, requiring a post pee sponge bath several times a day.

We’re very lucky to have a good vet whose clinic is nearby. She has started Jack on an injectible bone-building drug called Cartrophen in addition to an oral anti-inflammatory and Tramadol for pain and collectively they’ve set Jack back on track. He’ll never have his light prancing gait again, and our future adventures will be smaller, but he’s happy and comfortable, and I can finally take a deep breath. I know we’re entering the difficult times in the life of a big dog, but for today the wind is at our backs and life is good.

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Snowy Glitter

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Resin Art: All polished up

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The Art of …

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Friday Feathers: The Birds are Back in Town

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Spiders Brave the Cold

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A Handcrafted Mausoleum and Graveyard

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Robin? Robin!

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Merry Holymas

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The Art of …

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The Wizard’s Manse and Observatory

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A Glorious Christmas Spider

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A Cheerful Cardinal

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Jack’s Walk

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