Campfire Friends step-by-step

Some of my favorite things I have made are my embroidustrations, which I started in the early summer of 2010. Aside from a few commissions and tiny side projects, I hadn't revisited the medium until this month, in preparation for the mini show I had last week at Kustom Kribs (a kids boutique in Park Ridge). I was thrilled to get back into it, because as time-consuming and hand-cramping as all of the sewing can be, of the varying media I work with, I think these have the most unique look.

Here is a step-by-step series documenting the creation of 'Campfire Friends,' one of the new pieces for the show.

This piece has a lot more thought in the layering than most of the others, all due to the composition of the over-lapping logs and flames. In the end it was worth the grief, but boy-howdy was there GRIEF!

You can't really see it in these photos, but the 'meat' of the logs (the inside, lighter tones) actually filled the bark. With as much over-lap as there is in this piece, I had to piece together the 'inner logs' to make the top levels of felt lay on the same level... ISN'T THAT INTERESTING?! Sorry - back to photos...

So much stitching...

Viola! I'll post all of the new work soon. Oh, and thanks for reading one of my more poorly writ posts!

That Show I Had, Way Back Whenever...

It was a real hoot! Thanks again to everyone who turned out to drink the drinks and look at my doodles. Special thanks to Nick and everyone at AlleyCat Comics for putting on the lights, the music, and above all, the AIR CONDITIONER.

Also, thank you, dear Kaitlyn McQuaid, for taking these lovely photos. Kaitlyn is a talented photographer of food and other things. You really should check out her lemons. She offered to snap pictures of my reception, and I must say, the art and the Ben have rarely looked better. Please excuse the vanity of the first image, she made me a little collage, and I thought it was too nice to not include.

An important note regarding the reflections in a few of these off center detail shots: not the work of Kaitlyn. That's all Ben. The good photos are the ones that deserve a high five.

See? See the quality of these two? The soft focus, the lack of reflections... McQuaid? More like McQuality!

Well, that's about that! It was a great turn out, evenly composed of friends and strangers. Lots of happy faces and great conversations. Isn't that the point of it all, anyhow? Thanks again, all.

Custom Nesting Dolls in Five Easy-to-Follow Steps!

Not to sound too self-gratifying, but I make a lot of things. I've been known to make stuff, junk, and even trinkets. One of my favorite things to make, and probably the one that gets the most attention, are custom nesting dolls. I've made five of these over the last few years, and, as mentioned before, they weren't my idea from the start. The brilliant idea was that of my cousin Margo, when she asked me to make a set for her mom, for Christmas. From the first, I feel like my process is a little more refined, and the product so much better for it. This is the latest set, which was commissioned by my friend Lakshmi, as a father's day gift for her husband Prasanth. The report from the front is that he has them, loves them, and I can blog about them, as they are no longer a secret. I took process photos, which I always forget to do, and figured you might like to see them, if you are here anyway.

The first and most common (and ludicrous) question people ask is whether I buy them or carve them myself. First off, I have never used a lathe. Second, if these were hand whittled, the price would rest in the five-to-seven-hundred range, instead of the two-to-three-hundred spot that they currently occupy. I buy them online; The secret is out. Once i have the blanks unpacked and inspected, pencil comes first, of course.

Next I address skin tone, which this time was more fun than usual, as all of the dolls I have made have been caucasian (disregarding the Alice in Wonderland set I made last year). after the skin is the right color, I paint in the whites of the eyes and teeth. This terrified Rachael, who was watching, and really didn't like it when I slowly pushed them toward her end of the table chanting "One of us... One of us..."

Working the highlights and shadows into the skin adds an amazing level of 'life.' i didn't discover this until i had already completed a few early sets, and it boggles my mind that it wasn't always part of the routine. They do become remarkably more friendly with the addition of pupils and iris', don't you agree?

The next step is the biggest, as it sums up the majority of the paint work. Clothes, hair, highlights and shadows. Once this part is finished, the only thing that remains is the ink.

Ah the ink- my love and my enemy. As you may have guessed, there is no erasing at this point. I have been known to break a healthy sweat in the coolest of temperatures when applying the ink details on a set of dolls. The ink I use is India ink from a micron pen, so until it dries, it can be smudged, and once dry, is there to stay. Luckily, I had no twitches or sneezes while inking these, and they turned out really cute. I LOVED the double sided cat, though he/she is kind of hard to appreciate here.

Thanks for reading!

Showtime! 2011 edition

Hey friends and fans! Sorry, I don't mean to assume that you are a friend or fan just because you are tuned in and reading this, but I try to be positive. I would like to assume very few enemies or haters are reading this just to plan revenge or scoff at my general ambition.

ANYHOW! There's a social event coming up, hosted by me and the good people at AlleyCat Comics, in the charming village of Andersonville. Here is the general info, and a peek at one of the new paintings I'll be debuting at the show!

That's the latest work, tentatively titled Intergalactic Bromance. 7 to 10 on July 21st. You bring your feet, I'll bring the beer and snacks! See you in two weeks!

Art Camp! 2011 edition

A few weeks ago, I travelled to Kansas for my annual young artist's retreat, cleverly titled Art Camp! (insert year here). This was our third meeting, and, as usual, our group was mostly composed of students I had the pleasure of teaching back in my Kansas days, at Raintree.

There were a few new faces, but after three days, I felt like I had known them all as long as I'd known myself.

There was a lot of nerdy content in our collection, particularly Pokémon and Halo, as well as a lot of Star Wars talk, so naturally, I felt right at home.

Check out the photo spread below to see the fantastic work produced by Drew, Gabby, Rhiddi, Aidin, Eliot, Payton, Macy, Izzy, Julia, Madeline and Erik!

On the final day my BIL (brother in law) Joel stopped by and regaled the kids (and gave me time to clean up) with a string of terribly hilarious knock-knock jokes. The kids loved it. I loved it. Joel is an absolute peach.

And he can sew one heck of a taco!

Thanks again and again to the parents who make this possible. Without your lunch provisions, snack supplies and last-minute-runs for the supplies I left back home, it would have been a tear-filled misery-camp. You all rule, with much vigor. Really, truly, so much fun. See you all next summer!