Friday, January 30, 2009

Critter Valentines

Now you can send your favorite critters to your favorite people as Valentine cards!
I think they'd be super cute to hand out in a small group or at the office or such.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Site Renovations

The revamping of my store has taken on a whole other shape than when I first began so I am temporarily closing until things are back in order. Everything should be back up and running by the end of this week. Expect a new and fresh look for this site and my online shop.

Thanks for your patience during this transition. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding custom work: christinas.studio @ gmail.com

Christy

Monday, January 19, 2009

Say it with fur...

...or something that looks furry. :) This kitty and pit bull are ready to help convey your 'I love you' message!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sunday to Sunday Sale

I need room in my studio and room in my shop for a new look and concept so that means I'm having a sale! From today, Sunday the 18th to next Sunday the 25th, ALL ornaments and select figurines have been marked down to 1/2 the original price. Some of the figurines are even marked down half of their former sale prices.This is a great opportunity to get something cute for yourself or as a gift! Hope to see you there!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

In the works...

I've got two new sculptures in the planning stages:
'Dog Paddle' and 'High Speed Hounds'....stay tuned!
In the mean time you can find the Frenchies on ebay and English bully in my etsy shop. I think they'd make great Valentine gifts and are nice enough to display year round. :)

Easy Like Sunday Morning

(I know...that song is gonna be in your head all day now. You're welcome.)
Anywhoo! I'm REALLY super excited about this piece. These two frenchies are enjoying a leisurely Sunday nap after reading their morning copy of 'The Bully Times'. I've titled it 'Sunday Kind of Love' (there's another song to bounce around your head) and featured them as front page news.It's also a larger work coming in at 6 3/4" for the fawn bully and 5" for the black and white. The whole thing is about 3 inches tall and oh, about 8" or 8 1/2" in diameter. I haven't decided if I'm going to mount them on an acrylic base. I rather like them as is.ACK! I just love it! Not sure what I'll do with this one yet. Sometimes I just want to keep certain pieces...even though I know it's better to see if it will sell.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Who hasn't played that game with a random daisy or dandilion? This bulldog puppy went a little overboard with it and, well, you see the aftermath. Silly bully.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Struck by the 'Corgi Cupid'

I couldn't resist and I did it again...another corgi valentine figurine. This puppy has been struck with an arrow of luuuuuuuuuuv by the Corgi Cupid and now he's in serious puppy love.Shoot, he's even made a little puppy valentine for his one true wuv.I dunno...with all this cuteness goin' around, I might have to break down and watch a Halmark movie or something. I just feel all warm and fuzzy! Oh wait, that's the dog laying at my feet.If you're interested in some puppy love of your own, you can check this fellow out on ebay for the next 3 days. After that, he'll move to my etsy store- if he's still here that is.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Cats, eh?

Yes, sometimes I do make cats...but I must admit that I am not as proficient with them as dogs or other animals. Cats, at least to me, don't seem to lend themselves well to manipulation...or maybe I just need to practice more! Come to think, maybe I just like dogs more...hehehe :) Well, that and the practice thing.
Here are a couple of recent cats:

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Awesome

THE biggest rainbow (double even) I've ever seen in my life...in my own backyard! How awesome is God?

Monday, January 5, 2009

Valentine's Day is coming!

While I've never been a fan of that day in Feburary when everyone gets all lovey dovey and I'm stuck at home with 'Ben and Jerry' and a DVD, I do from time to time enjoy making things for those that are indeed privilaged to relish in the festivities. (Wow- that sentence was like a paragraph long!)
Anywhoo...I'm a BIG fan of Pembroke Welsh Corgis and thought what better way to create a Valentine than with a corgi!. This little love bug is an original figurine, complete with a rose bud and a heart around his neck. How in the world you couldn't love him, I dunno. He's on ebay right now along with some other critters that might make cute V-Day gifts too

Saturday, January 3, 2009

A New Look

With the new year has come a new look for the site! Hurray! I hope you'll find it welcoming and user friendly. It may take a moment longer to load, but I think it's worth it.

Well things are getting back to normal around here for the most part. I took down the Christmas tree and decorations this morning. Nermal the kitten assisted by climbing the tree and knocking it over- hence removing ornaments.
Work will resume in the studio full time on Monday. I hope to have some new work in the shop by next Friday with some special pieces for the upcoming Valentines holiday. I'm thinking I may have to do a ground hog tribute as well. Woodchucks (ground hogs aka whistle pigs) are WAY underrated creatures. Sure they look like a giant rat and a beaver had a love child, but on the other hand they bring a lot of media attention to Punxsutawney, PA. And who woulda ever heard of that place if not for the ground hog?

Alrighty then...that turned into an odd ramble. I think the cookie dough I just ate is going to my head. (Yuck.)

In other news:
This little ornament is based on a Delta Society therapy dog.

Friday, January 2, 2009

From Progress to Completion

When I left off this morning the basic sculpture was complete, minus a few bits of fur here and there. So I added those in, fired it up, and began laying down a base coat of paint.
This is just a rough color, something close to the actual photo. Later on I'll add a few extra hits of tone here and there. Next came the large black areas. I like to use a glossy acrylic when painting with black. It just looks 'perty'.Now onto the face. I dry brushed in some of the facial markings to give me an idea of where things were going to end up.At this point I usually get a little concerned that it's looking more like a freakish ash tray than a dog, so painting the nose helps calm me down a bit.Okay, so where are we? Oh yeah! Next I start getting serious about the facial detail.When I'm satisfied with the head I move on to adding tonal details to the rest of the body and the VERY LAST thing I do are the eyes...

And now, the FINAL piece. Well, for the moment anyway. I'm not sure if I want to add tooth details yet...and in a couple days I'll see other details I need to add or change. But this is pretty much it. :)



Time wise, this fellow took about 10 hours from start to finish. I was way off on my earlier measurements- my ol' trusty ruler says he's 10" from tail to paw and 5 1/2" from elbow to ear tip. I'd say he weighs maybe 3 pounds. In a couple days I'll add some felt to the bottom and he'll be ready for his new shelf.
Well, thank ya'll for stickin' with me through these posts. I know they're SUPER long, but I hope you enjoyed the work progression.
Tomorrow I'll tell you a bit more about the subject dog. ;)

Work In Progress

There are a few personal side projects that I've been wanting to work on for some time now, so I thought what better way to begin the year than by doing just that.
This track of progression will be a little new to me, as I don't usually photograph my work indoors or before it's completed. My photog skills are still a work in progress too!
Ok, so onto the work! I don't want to get too detailed with the description of this piece just yet as it's a personal gift for someone, so forgive my lack on background info to start.
This is a German Shepherd Dog and the finished work will be aprox. 8" long by about 4 inches high or so. I'll have to get some better measurements- I'm just eyeballing it.
Since I didn't think to begin the progression shots from the beginning, I'll 'type' you through the steps up until this point. First I built an armature base using newspaper and wire for the bulk of the body. Polymer clay doesn't fire up well in big hunks. You'd have to bake it a pretty long time and the end result would be surface burning and cracking. I think it would probably effect the strength/durability integrity of the clay as well.Next, I began covering the body with clay piece by piece. I don't use a pasta machine to roll out the clay to a certain thickness to cover the whole thing in one fell swoop. All my work is done by eye and hand because in nature you'll find A LOT of variations- nothing is ever perfectly symmetrical. 'Least that's the way I see it.After everything is covered I drop in the limbs and finally begin work on the head. The eye and ear positions are extremely important as they lend themselves well to exhibiting personality. After I'm satisfied with head position I begin placing bulk fur around the neck and back and add some texture, which is where the photo progression starts.


In my next move this fellow will be getting a little more bulk fur and some other details I'll show in the next post.