Thursday, June 24, 2010

First time I tried selling my work

I'm really grateful to my sister for sending me this picture. There was a community center close to the home I grew up in, where they held an annual craft sale. It was a heady experience for me, since, at least by the standards of a kid, it was very successful for me, and a real confidence booster. But for me now the most interesting part is looking back, seeing examples of much, much older work.





Almost everything I made long ago is gone, except for a few things I made for others that they kept safe. (My oldest sister Sabynthe has a centaur and a man-hunting monster that I made around this time.) The other creations fell to the economic realities of childhood- I could not afford to buy a neverending stream of pipecleaners, so when I tired of a figure, I would disassemble it and make it into something else. The figures on this table had all lived past lives as other sorts of creatures.


It made sense to me at the time, and certainly the enjoyment of making these critters was vastly extended by recycling the material, but it also means that I have lost the physical history of how I went about teaching myself how to make these creatures. So this photo is fascinating to me, as a glimpse into the past.


These figures were made before I realized you could make flat expanses of woven pipecleaner, so the red dragon on the table has empty gaps in his wings, rather than solid wings. I'd say that weaving pipecleaner into flat expanses was one of the most important things I've worked out, because it allowed me to break free of the 'stick man' model. Everything I made at this point was basically a stick man with various embellishments, but weaving into a frame of pipecleaner allowed me to make winged dragons, castle walls, ships with rooms inside them- anything my imagination could devise.


Of course, even that freedom was limited by the strength of the pipecleaners, because everything was wobbly and easily distorted. It took a surprisingly long time (ie the last five years) to think of using thicker wire armatures to allow more elaborate structures that would not collapse under their own weight.


I just keep thinking- on my own, I've come up with a handful of tricks that allow me to make all sorts of things. But what sort of tricks have others devised, that I never thought of? Because for everything I work out on my own, there's surely ten other tricks I'd never have thought of on my own.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Catching up on Image Backlog

It's amazing how little time is left, once you're done all your 'grownup' stuff. The only time I can really call my own is that brief interval after the kids are in bed but before Angie and I go to bed- and because we have varied interests, it's terribly difficult not to keep carving more time for ourselves out of the only thing left- sleep. So it's when we should be asleep that I'm doing my writing, my game night preparation, and so forth. I even steal a few minutes on various computer games (which I have always loved, but my upbringing has sort of conditioned me to feel embarrassed about. Thank goodness they are becoming mainstream, it makes it easier)

So we're pretty much sleep deprived all the time. Apparently this is common for members of modern society, but we do it without coffee.

Anyhow, I've got a bunch of images of things I've made that I've been sitting on for a while, and I hope to carve a few minutes out of each day to start posting them. I'm not working on any active projects now (at least, nothing pipecleaner related) but that will change.

My sister sent me an image of the first time I ever tried selling these pipecleaner creatures- I don't remember the year, but I would guess I was about nine years old. That's going up first.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Ramping Down

As soon as I finish three current projects, I'm going to take a few months away from pipecleaners- with a family and garden and many beasts in the house, there's not a lot of time to spare on multiple hobbies. So rather than dribble my way through multiple hobbies at once, I'm going to focus on a few at a time. This is nothing new- I've always done pipecleaners in surges, then taken a break. But every surge I find myself figuring out all sorts of tricks I've never done before.

This last time, I made the largest, and (at least, I think) coolest dragon I've ever made, and in the process figured out a few new tricks that I've never done before. The scales of the dragon are totally new, for instance. I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

I'm also going to finally have time to post the pictures I've taken of my work, and to comment on them- this is over six months of photos. So while my hands are less busy (with pipecleaners, anyhow) this site is likely to get a little busier, for a while.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Going to Stellarcon

It took some time to decide whether to go or not, because I've been spread mightily thin of late, but in the end, I've decided to attend a second local con, Stellarcon, in order to take part in the art show.

While I enjoyed MACE very much, there was a lot to do there, and I was unable to participate, because I was tied to the dealer's hall. This time my work will be on display on my behalf, alongside the work of other fantasy and science fiction artists, which will allow me to enjoy the opportunities of the con a little more fully.

The theme of the con is 'Steampunk,' a genre I've learned to love over the last year through the excellent ongoing story of Girl Genius, and my failed attempts to master Steamband (a steampunk themed variant of Angband, which, laying aside the complexities of the family tree, is a member of the family of roguelike games).

Once I finish my current projects- a sculpture of Great A'Tuin, the largest dragon I've ever made, and a few other things, I'll be free to consider a new sculpture with the steampunk theme. We'll see what happens, but for the moment, I am excited to attend- maybe get to a writer's workshop, definitely try out a few new games. And hopefully find people interested in my work.