Wednesday, October 24, 2007

What a Month!

So far this month,I've had major dental work done; started several new projects for the holidays; tried to learn about
how to use my new embroidery machine with little luck and feel really behind on all the things I wanted to produce for this
Holiday season.

MJ is working on drawings for our first Pet Shop of the Old Ones coloring book. I'm designing a flying monkey and some special dragons; as well as trying to
get a couple of new chihuahuas and a few Futhark cats done too. I just sold Miguelito a few days ago. I'm working on a new kitty his size in red. I want to call her Ruby Tuesday.

This little fluttercat and Ruby have the new glass eyes I got from VanDykes. I'm really liking them because I don't have to worry about the glass eyes changing color or scratching so easily.

I hope I can get everything done. We'll see what happens .

Monday, October 1, 2007

Flying Monkeys or Why I have problems with the Wizard of Oz


I don't know about you, but these guys scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I mean the the evil witch was scary and so were a lot of the other characters, but hands down those monkeys were the most frightening.

When we moved out here to California so that MJ could pursue an effects career, it was funny to find out that most effects guys felt that the flying monkeys were some of the freakiest images in film history. I was kind of glad to know I'm not the only one with monkey problems.

I guess I'm working on a flying monkey sculpt that will eventually be a character in my storybook/diary, The Conjurer's Workbook http://thepetshopoftheoldones.blogspot.com/
as a harbinger of doom, because villains do have to have cool or scary minions.

I am so happy with the glass eyes from Van Dykes. I've finished one piece already and am very impressed with how they look. My monkey is going to look amazing with the glass eyes I've chosen. Here is a link to Van Dykes. http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/category/1/?source=aw-glasseyes&gclid=CKve1ISs-o0CFRLxhgodsmP0Kw
If you need any kind of eye, these are great for the price. They have all kinds of other interesting materials too.

As I was designing my monkey, I used sites that just had primates and birds. I opted out of watching The Wizard of Oz because while it's monkeys may have inspired me, it still scares me a little.