A week later ...

Well, my head never exploded or imploded, and I never did get to my list of blogs from the OWOH that I had enjoyed. Instead I got attacked by a nasty cold and haven't been doing much of anything at all, except working a little bit on my website. I'll have to be completely done before I can upload it though, as it involves a new structure.

So back to the OWOH. I found that I have little interest in collages of any kind, which seems to be a domminant artform. I were pleased to find a couple of soapmakers (as I am in the market for a shampoobar) and several quite amazing dollmakers.
These are a some I have come across, which make me want to make dolls myself, but I guess I already had that bug :)

Check out:
Linda Smith Originals for how-to's of beautiful fairies
Melissa Valeriote for holiday themed dolls
Sprite for fairies, goblins and dragon eggs
Mealy Monster for creepy-cute polymerclay creatures
Woodedwood for strange caricatures of humans
Rosanna Pereyra for beautiful faries and other people
Loopyboopy who I knew from etsy already.

I have still not been through all participants, so if I have missed you and you are wonderfull, I am sorry. Next year I will do better, because this was fun!

P~

We have a winner!

I have counted through the comments twice, just to be sure, and the winner is
Becky Holso! Congratulations Becky, thank you for participating, and thank you to all the other commentors too.

It was fun to be part of this and I will definately join in again next year. I didn't get to visit all of the participants quite yet, there were more than 900 after all, but I did get to see a lot of blogs, and I will post a short list of some of my new favourites later, when my head stops feeling ready to explode. Or is it implode? I can't tell. I'll be right back (or perhaps do it tomorrow).

P~

One World - One Heart: International Give-Away

I couldn't help but noticing this fun event, and I have decided to join in on the karma-fest. You can read all about it here.

In short - all participating bloggers will give away one or more items, handmade or not, on february 12'th. This will be done by drawing a random number among all that has commented on the give-away post.

My gift to the universe and the lucky winner will be this nifty pair of earrings. These are the smallest tiny little lampwork birds I have made yet. Very delicate, and in a lovely skyblue colour. The earwire, wire, daisy spacers and little dangly flowers are all vermeil.

So hurry up and leave me a comment :) Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you if you win, either your email or through your own blog.


Do visit my sister's 2 give-aways of a very artfull framed rose transfer and a stunningly pretty bracelet.

I'm off to check out all the participating blogs, all 780+ of them :)
Have fun!
P~
***************************************
Sorry, no more comments.
Thank you to all commentors, now let's see who feels lucky today :)

P~

Art Dolls

Yesterday I had a short exchange of words with Amy Kuczewski of Torch by Night about this fascinating piece of glass:


Thank you Amy, for the use of your pictures :)
She makes such wonderfull beads with electroforming that I can't help to be intrigued by this process. I simply must try it at some point, but that is not what I want to talk about right now.
I proceded to remember the dolls she has in the gallery section of her website. These were one of the things I remember marveling at as a super newbie lampworker about 1½ years ago. This one is my favourite, as it has bend-able arms and legs and a funky helmet. I'd like to see her face :)


Again - this I must try. I can come up with loose ideas for at least 15 of these already, but if I could finish just one, that would be huge for me.

So how to go about it? I am guessing a detailed, in scale sketch would be the core of success. I would very much like the seperately made parts to fit each other in size at first try. Also, any decorations should be determined before I start, as I would otherwise end up with all different looking parts. What can I say - I have a scattered mind. Perhaps I should try to make a simple decorated beadset before taking on a complete artdoll, yes? Or even a proper face :)

I am wondering how one might make it stand up, and not just hang limply from a hook/string, although the jangle would be lovely. Yes, I am allready considering display of the thing, before even setling on a theme :)
Could all parts be strung on a heavy wire, and then even end up poseable? It could be a wonderful shelf-sitter (with a propper safety belt of course, our floors wobble). Maybe give it a miniature chair to sit on ...
Or how about one of those winged spirits that hang from the ceilling (usually made of wood)? There is also the possibillity of making a working puppet, with a string holding up each limb ... hmm?

So last night I made a search for Glass Art Dolls, and I came up with ... Ta-daa, nothing!
Now I know that can't be right, so if you have any links to share, please do. I am looking for jointed dolls, and they should be lampworked. I did find one nifty picture of a doll, but it was beaded, and while beautiful in itself, not what I were looking for.

As for art dolls in general, here are links to some of my favourites:
Lynn Dewart has a ton of beautiful and strange artdolls.
Amy L. Rawson masters miniature tayloring too, and Beth Robinson has a spooky collection of creatures.

Nice stuff I found while seaching:
Karen Woodward has many funny and sweet lampwork faces in her portfolio, Bruno Torfs has a garden full of sculptures,
and the Needle and Clay blog is full of wonderfull doll related links.

Enjoy!
P~

I sold something!

It does not happen so often, so it makes me quite happy :)
This is the necklace that sold:


I really hope she likes it, as I haven't made a lot of necklaces yet, but I think she will as it is a super cute little item, and I am very pleased with the assembly of it too.

As for my shop, there are items that has been relisted for close to a year now, and since they don't sell I will simply let them run out and not relist. I am looking to improve my items this year anyway, so it's 'out with the old, and in with the new!' from now on.

P~

Web-cam fun :)

Well, I guess you'd have to have been there :)

Oh, and yes, I'm ONLINE! Wooot!!!

P~

I've got a new toy!

It's not directly bead related, but still ...

Last year I had my 10'th anniversary at my dayjob, and I got to order my own present :) It took me a while to get around to it, but finally I did, and two days ago I got it.
It's my very own (and very first) laptop.

My old PC is very old, and a hand-me-down. It has a habit of freezing up within 10-20 min. of starting it up, so I have not been using it much (at all) for quite a while. BF has been slightly annoyed that I have been taking up the seat by his PC at home, but that is going to end now that I have my own shiny equipment. At least it will as soon as I get connected to the web :)
Yesterday my sister and I had a blast playing with it, even if off-line. It has a webcam and an array of squishy effects, making us look all kinds of funny. It was great, and as soon as I get connected I will have to post a few handpicked faces.

I am looking much forward to being able to transfer my files into this new pristine space, and then I will work some more at (if not just plain finish) my website Version 2. And even if it weighs a ton (aren't these supposed to be mobile?), I just might bring it to work and use my lunchbreak for taking beadpictures, so I'll have something to post and list and all that good stuff :)

And I hereby pledge to keep it nice and uncluttered, to remove files I don't use anymore, to take regular backups and in general be a good housekeeper of the virtual space that has been given to me.

And now - to get online ... hm ...?

P~