You know Tomomi, my dragon. This was the very first picture I got to see of her. Her creator was not totally happy then, but wanted to show me a first glimpse. I was in love right away and as you know I still am.
But as much as I was in love, I was in awe as well.
Meet ColtPixy, the lady behind the dragon.
I had been wandering through her studio before, unfortunately only online although it must be big fun to do it in real life to see her projects and her tools, and to listen to her.
As guild master of the Polymer Clay Smooshers on ArtFire she is doing a great job, holding the pack together (no easy task, I'd say!), blogging, promoting and inspiring.
As an artist - only talking about polymer clay now because there has been so much before - she has made jewelry (I love my bitchy peas necklace which tells my coworkers what mood I'm in ;-)), supplies, but right now her heart belongs to miniatures. Personally I think her heart has definitely shown her the right way because she made some fabulous miniatures!
You want examples? Well, calm down, they are coming right up!
And you know what the best part is? You can get them at ColtPixy's ArtFire studio! What are you waiting for? Run!!!
Stop!! Wait just another moment, I forgot something. If you want to follow ColtPixy's creative journey, head over to her blog and check it out. Ok, now go, go, go! ;-)
I'm a big fan of Monty Python's. The first of their movies that I saw was "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". The odd humor really got to me and Monty Python is responsible for a lot of my most often used quotes of which you will still see quite a few, I'm afraid ;-)
The one I chose for today even became kind of a trademark for me at work for some time. Whenever numbers were our subject, I blurted this one out. I used it for my e-mail signature for a while, too. There came the time when it became annoying to have to explain it over and over again, though.
It's from the scene when the Knights around King Arthur have to deal with the killer rabbit guarding the cave they want to enter. Their only chance is to use a hand grenade, but first King Arthur has to be told how to handle it.
"Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out."
I only use the part "Five is right out". Try it, you will confuse the heck out of people!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, UK, 1975
No worries, I am not talking about a computer bug. I haven't had to deal with that since I got my new notebook - which by the way is called The Patrician, for those familiar with the Discworld, a name that I find fits very well.
So why am I calling out bug alert?
Well, the Polymer Clay Smooshers on ArtFire had a challenge called "Bugs" this month. It took me a while to have any ideas at all, but finally I came up with two entries.
This is Ms. Ladybug. She stands out between her bug friends as compared to them she's a monster bug with her 1.75 inch length and her (still) shiny copper wire legs. She doesn't care much, though. All she needs is her leaf, a little sun and some love.
My other entry is one of my mixed technique items that I like to make. It's a small black butterfly that has landed on a purple rose blossom. The blossom is lying in one of my wire crochet baskets on a bed of brown "soil".
You can find both entries in my ArtFire studio.
And don't forget to check out the Smooshers' blog to see all of the fabulous entries. Amazing work from amazing artists!!
I decided to do a new regular category on my blog each Sunday, the quote of the week. Unlike the quotes on my team blog that I try to choose according to the weather, the month, the news my quotes will be from movies.
This is a favorite game of my family's, but I took it to work, much to the despair of some colleagues. Whenever they hear a suspicious phrase, they start to shiver because they know what will follow: "What movie?" Some words can't be spoken without continuing with a movie quote. Yes, I know I'm annoying ;-)
One of my favorite examples is the one I'll start with.
"Oh, my God! Ken, somebody just called!"
A Fish Called Wanda, USA/UK, 1988
It's impossible for me to hear someone saying Oh my God without at least wanting to go on ...
I often hear about cats scolding their humans because they spend too much time at the computer.
When I settle down in my armchair, I need to wrap a blanket around my legs. I call it the hammock because usually, as soon as I sit and many times even before I'm really ready, my black panther invades it lying down as if it is one. He stretches out, trusting I won't let him fall, rests his head on my arm (preferrably the right one, on rare occasions he chooses to lie the other way round) and starts purring.
And then the black panther, aka Ponder, turns into a sweet, adorable, harmless, innocent little kitten. The cat going through the house like a rocket on doping gets all snuggly and sleepy. The monster that likes to dig his claws into most delicate spots softly puts his paw on my shoulder.
He can stay there for hours and as the cat slave you already know I am it's hard for me to make him go, even if my legs start hurting, if I'm thirsty or hungry. How could I resist him?
I'm doomed.
On the other hand, what better excuse do you get for long computer sessions? ;-)
P.S. Just now his sister Esme made one of her more rare hammock visits. For your information an "archive picture" .....
If you now wonder what the two have to do with each other, that is indeed a very legitimate question.
When I posted my first spool knitted pieces to Flickr, I was asked to include my pictures in a group pool for spool knitting. I became a member of the Flickr group, later of the Yahoo group (which I have terribly neglected, I must admit) as well.
When the Flickr group admin, Maz, posted a picture of her new spool knitters, I was reminded of Mary Poppins right away. Mary Poppins has always been one of my heroines. She is magic, she is stubborn, she is strict and stern and thinks very highly of herself and still she is lovable and I would have loved to have a nanny like her. I have all the books and I can't even count how often I read them and yes, I still read them from time to time.
It was very hard to pick just one color, they all looked so great, but finally I decided to order a red spool "Mary" and now she's here.
When I opened the parcel, I found a box, that was what I had expected, I was just a little surprised about the height.
Then I opened the box and what I found in that, I hadn't expected at all!
Instead of just my "Mary Poppins" there was so much more in there!
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
Thanks Maz, this was a gorgeous surprise and Mary will get a special place in one of my cabinets for sure!! I wish you could have seen my face when I opened the box, it would have said so much more than my few words ....
And hey, people, if you want to know more about the history of spool knitters, be sure to go by Maz' blog!
I don't know if a sorcerer got mad at me or if I crossed a witch, but I sure feel jinxed lately.
I won't even tell you about everything, just about the last strike.
My computer died on me again and my IT guru has not found out yet what it is. That means I'm back to the tall guy's computer. No bookmarks, no speakers (meaning no YouTube favorites!), none of my recent files, data or images AND this thing is slow.
This is just an explanation for me being absent at the moment.
Instead of spending time at the computer I work on something that I really like and I hope you will, too.
So please stay tuned, I WILL be back eventually!
Who would have thought?? ;-)
I went to the crafts shop yesterday to show them my alien. The first salesgirl looked shocked, she said she had never seen anything like this. At least she didn't think it was something I cooked up in my mad scientist's lab. Instead she called her coworker and lucky me, it was the one who sold me the can and remembered (I know, I'm hard to forget).
She didn't even think about not exchanging it for a new can although I had mislaid the receipt, she only worried about how they should get rid of the alien can. Probably they shot it back into space or maybe they called Mulder and Scully, who knows.
Meet - the resin. Fluid, clear, beautiful.
I have two test pieces waiting at the moment which I have no scruples to hide from you if they don't work out. I want to keep at least a tiny bit of my dignity.
If they work out, though, I'll be happy to brag about it and maybe give some of you back your faith for an attempt of your own. Cross your fingers for me!
