Kind of Strange

The precioussss has been acquired.  Earnings from SakuraCon have been transformed into a Foredom 2230  setup.  Of course I’ve had absolutely no time to play with it just yet, but hopefully soon.  My Dremel, it weeps with the knowledge that its days are numbered.

I was asked over the weekend whether or not I ever work in bones other than mink.  The answer is yes, but not often.  The only bones I can tend to find in bulk of the right size outside of mink tend to be bird bones.  If you’ve ever gotten to take a good look at a bird bone, you know that they’re very light and brittle.  They’re designed to fly and thus their bones are hollow and light.  Good for flying, not so good for adornment or re-imagining through hand drilling and reworking.

Occassionally I find a good turkey bone that will work, though they are few and far between as most turkeys have been cooked and/or boiled before I get at them and their bones degraded in the process. 

But it is possible!  Just a considerable amount more tricky to find.

The Navigator here is an example of a turkey bone being used in an OotB piece:

Another shot:

The Navigator will always be a bit more fragile than his mink-based brethren, and will stain a bit more easily (I’ve had a hard enough time trying to keep the varnish where I want it) so I’m hesistant to sell this one off when it’s done without knowing the owner will take good care of it and understand the limitations.  I am rather protective, though I know I need to get a bit better about letting them go on to their new owners.

Another option is putting this one in a display case of some sort.  I like to angle for wearable pieces, but I can entertain the idea of something neat to hang on the wall as well.

Adding pieces up to Etsy at a fairly steady pace. I still have a decent amount to get through, but they’re coming along.

Order of the Bone - Gutter Brat:

Reminder, if you can show you were at SakuraCon this past weekend and would like to buy one of the pieces for the special event pricing, just drop me a line and I’ll give you the special convention discount!

Expect plenty of pics of the new items shortly, as well as their addition to the store.

Special for those that saw me at the show:  If you can prove you were at SakuraCon and really want to buy a piece from the store, I’ll give it to you for convention pricing.  Just email me with some manner of verification that you were there and I’ll give you the same deal as the show pricing up until Friday, April 4th.

Nearly finished with this one.  He was a surprising amount of work, though I think the next time I make a similar pendant it won’t be as complicated as I learned quite a bit in his construction.  Tricksy little bugger, he is.

PMC3, which means he’s .999 silver.  I buffed up most of his front considerably before applying the staining element, so his hunched up little back is particularly nice to the touch. 

Not ready to show the new OotB pieces just yet, but in the meantime I have a few other things to show.

In progress shot of the ‘Happy Fox steals the Moon’ in PMC:

He still needs a bit of work before going into the kiln, but thus far I’m pleased with the results.  The ‘moon’ at his tail is a dichroic glass cabochon and has flecks of purple and blue within it.

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The kiln has been acquired!  There was much celebration at its arrival as I pulled it from its mighty FedEx box, and subsequent ‘removing the cat from the kiln box’ shortly thereafter.  The fat one, he covets the cardboard sanctuary so.

First firing of said kiln will occur this weekend, under my paranoid supervision and self-imposed house arrest.  I have an insane amount of projects that need to reach completion in time for SakuraCon, so I’m not allowing myself the leisure of tooling around away from the workbench for any extended period of time this weekend. 

Expect some new pics over the course of the weekend.  I’ve got more than 30 OotB pieces to finalize, so there will be something to show at some point soon. 

Speaking of the OotB, three of my little guys have gone on to new homes recently.  The First Bone Son, Cross Bone and Earring have all gone to new owners.  I’m surprised at just how hard it was to let them go.  It’s nice to know they’re going on to people who will appreciate them though, as that is what they’re meant for.  Bringing a little bit of surreal specialness into the lives of others and all that.

Unfortunately struck with a case of no-focus-whatsoever mixed with a rather silly disposition tonight, therefore sketching wasn’t exactly fruitful.  Fun, worthwhile, but not exactly productive in terms of having anything to show.

 So here’s an older sketch, shrunken down to blog appropriate sizing.

Evidently I shall be attending SakuraCon to peddle my wares.

March 28th - 30th, Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle WA.

I’ll be sitting in with the devilish maskmaker Dmitri from Tormented Artifacts.  If you’re in the area, stop by, view the wares, and chat for a while.  I’ll have some new things to share and promise to keep the eye-poking to a minimum.

He was intended to be ‘coy’, but I couldn’t bring myself to erase his happy once it accidentally materialized.

Very quick little messy doodle, the outline of which I intend to use as a template for a pendant or two.