The Soaring Dragon is complete. She is finally finally ready for moldmaking. Where I'm using a new technique for making molds, I'm trying it out on a smaller sculpt first though. So today I've spent a decent portion of the afternoon on making a mold for the Winged Hermit Crab. With any luck it will turn out nicely, and I'll be able to start up a mold for the dragon next. In the meantime, while rubber cures, I'm working on detailing the DragonOtter. Lots and lots of work to do, not to mention a run to the PO at some point today.

Curse it all...where is my SANDPAPER dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes it surprises me just how well crabs enjoy digging and burrowing. The only thing I believe they love more is climbing..which is nearly as shocking. Before owning them as pets...I did alot of research so I'd know how to properly care for them. It's one thing to read information...and totally another to see it in action. It now makes me really sad when I see petstores displaying them in little desert scenes...with shallow sand, heatlamp and only a small "hermit hut" for escape. No provisions for humidity at all...AND they endorse those stupid "critter keepers" with the screenlike lids. Which happen to be the worst thing EVER to home hermits in. Yeah..they can live in it, for a while...before the lack of humidity suffocates them. Which, can take months, of agony for the poor little guys. They breathe through gills for goodness sake...those arent really meant to function in a dry arid environment! And the tap water most stores will say is just fine for them...which contains chlorine...which blisters their gills, and again, suffocation! Ok...enough petstore rant.


I swear there are little burrows crisscrossing the tank substrate, which cave in, then the hermits excitedly begin re-excavating. the plants I got for them to climb on were so well enjoyed I had to find a different way to hold them up! they came with little suction cups...but those couldnt handle the sheer weight of 6 or 7 crabs hanging off of it at once. They're now hung and entwined on their winding driftwood root..where they can all hang on there if they please. It's funny to watch them climb down..cause you can tell their pinchers must be strong....to keep their shell from causing them to roll the rest of the way down. It's a wonder they can climb..dragging a heavy shell along.

Nearly done skin texturing the Soaring Dragon, then I'll be moving on to texturing her wing membranes. this has taken longer than I anticipated, but I'm enjoying the work. I plan on sculpting her a mate...as soon as I get through some of the other projects littering my house!!

My backstock boxes came in this week, so I can now put sculptures in their own small boxes, to be fitted into larger boxes for shipping. It also makes it soooo much easier to store already painted sculpts...without having to worry about dusting them from having them lined up on a shelf in the open.

I've got a new technique for moldmaking I'll be trying soon as well...which should allow me to do more complex sculpts...and make molds that will last longer as well. I plan on trying it out on the soaring dragon, as soon as she's complete.

I just love this pic.....his face is priceless....

More Vacation pics!!!!!!



These guys had just recently hatched!

I'm gonna do this in two entries. This one will be my work entry, and the next will be more vacation pics....I just have to sort THROUGH them to pick out a few. whew....we took a TON of pics. Seriously. i sculpted another small dragonsnail today, and I was even more pleased with it than the first....so now I have two ready for prototype casting...which'll need refined. They're smaller than the original dragonsnails...so they dont take terribly long to sculpt..which is a nice break in between the larger task of refining the large pieces. I did some more skin texturing on my dragon today....whom I'm still calling Ollie...so I guess I'll stick with that for a name. Or...if I'm in a joking mood, "Ollie-Take 4". Rofl. Here's a couple close in detail shots of the skin texture I've been working on.

Back hip area

Wingarm area

A few vacation pics!

I've gotta post some vacation pics up later, but for now it's just great to be back home. Vacation was awesome, but there's always something wonderful about being at home, in your own bed, under your own covers with a few cats strewn across your chest and legs.

Today I'm workin on a few things for my shipping. Looking up stock boxes, so I can have more easily accessed backstock, and double boxed shipping for all my items. Also makes it so I dont constantly have to dust my "for sale" shelf, and all the pieces on it.

Gonna work some more on my website, and take down pictures of the discontinued items. The store should fill back up as I finish my inprogress pieces...but it's no secret I'm reworking the overall look of my pieces. Some of the changes are more subtle than others, but it should have a really nice end result.

Vacation is AWESOME!!!!! Though, I did have a mishap. I got excited about the big fluffy lookin beds...and had to jump on them. the kids were in the other room....I SWEAR! But...jumpin from one bed to the other...I had too much momentum, and went head over heels SPLaT into the air conditioner. My rear end hurts, but otherwise I'm fine. hurt pride maybe. Had a blast racin the gokarts, over and over...i swear I could do that alllll day. Got some awesome pics of the babies on the ferris wheel, and little baby cars. awesome fun, first family vacation. uber fun.

Mostly, I've been refining the Soaring Dragon so far. Where my past dragons have had scales covering their entire bodies, this is a real change. I'm working and working skin texture and wrinkles over parts of this dragon. She does have scales, but they're incorporated in with the skin, for an armored look. I've used some neat elephant skin photos as reference, but it's slooow work. It's looking beautiful though so far, I'm really pleased. It's also fun to be trying out a new texture, and exciting wondering how they'll look painted. She'll be tricky to cast, but workable.

yes yes....I am such a terrrrible tease. What is that in that pic of my area where I put projects in process....?? Could it be a dragon prototype? and clay baby dragonsnail?? twittergriffin? DragonOtter?? Or just a messy shelfspace?

whew.....the last couple days have been super busy! I have a successful prototype casting of the DragonOtter, which is now being refined! The Soaring Dragon though.....had some issues with the mold. She's gonna be a tricky girl to cast, but I think I can get a good prototype outta this mold if I try again. Hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll get a successful prototype for her sometime today.

I have a complete clay sculpt of a new dragonsnail. They're being redesigned, and will be somewhat smaller now. I'm changing the scale somewhat, to make it easier to sculpt the adult counterparts. Plus, dragonsnails are terribly cute when done slightly smaller. I havent started up a mold for it yet, I plan to do that when I make the production mold for the new dragon.

The new twittergriffin is coming along, I've completed the front side...and am now in the hair pulling stage of matching up the rear side. Symmetry is an artist's bane.

I have sketches now for a workable pose for the dragonmouse, if only I could get a few other things taken care of first. I'm rather excited to start him up, but dont want the other pieces waiting to get forgotten, so I'm holding off on starting him.

Chris bought me the coolest gift which arrived in the mail today. It's the Eternal Dragon by McFarlane's dragons. I'd seen it and marveled over the spotted wings, and the pose. It's really lovely in person. I've never had one by that artist before, and though several of the designs dont do much for me, I was really excited about this one, flying over trees with it's wings spread.

Made some changes to the website today, flagging items that are discontinued, or soon to be. I'm reworking my entire sculpture line, discontinuing several types of sculpts, most of them with the false eyes. The Dragonsnails and Twittergriffins won't be gone for too long, I'm redesigning them and should have new sculptures released sometime in the upcoming months. If you're concerned about a piece, or want to grab something before they're gone, just email or message me and I'll try to be some help! :)

Gettin lots done today! The last coat of rubber is curing on the molds for the DragonOtter, Flermit, and Soaring Dragon. By tonight, or tomorrow morning, I should be able to start the shell portion of the molds. Then, on to refining! for the DragonOtter and Soaring Dragon anyway, the Flermit is ready for casting.

In the meantime, while waiting on rubber to cure, I've started up the new version of the twittergriffin. Some features will be changed, and some will be consistent with the old design. The short beak, large ears and tail fluff are definately staying. I love the cute little smile too. This version should have a more accurate anatomy, and better detailing than my last one. Once this version is released...the old version will be discontinued, so if anyone's been considering grabbin a twitter of the current design, grab one soon! This is a small sculpt, so I wouldnt anticipate it taking terribly long to get into production. Though, I do have the three in moldmaking to release first, so that'll take some time.

Pics...hmmm.....I might put up progress pics of this one...maybe, I'm still considering. :P

Spent most of today cleanin up and getting caught up on stuff around the house, where I was sick yesterday. Thankfully, I'm totally better today, and got a ton of stuff completed! Well...around the house stuffs anyway. Had my knee safely wrapped up today too, and it didnt give me too much trouble, despite going up and down the stairs constantly. Still gotta get those molds underway, but the rubber did arrive! I also have more plaster on the way, so I'm now well stocked. :) And....the big accomplishment of the day.....(drumroll here) I actually organized some in my workshop! This is a huge feat. It was a MESS. One of the reasons I've not been getting things done in there lately. It looks alot better now, though I only got about halfway done with what I actually had in mind, but that's still quite alot. Small accomplishments. :)

Ok...so chris and I went out for lunch yesterday, and I'm pretty sure there was somethin bad in it. Food poisoning sucks. I think I got rid of most of it, I'm feelin some better...like a tank on severe empty...but hey, it's better than vomiting. Blech.

Well....Kashka seems to be feeling better. We had taken her into the vet for urinary trac problems, and she's on pills now, for 10 days. It was clear she wasnt feeling well, because when we started giving her the pills, she barely gave any fight...and this cat was the hellion queen of refusing medicine in her younger years. She knew every trick to refuse a pill. And...well, for the past 5 days I've been able to get the pills in her by myself, on the first try. yeah....not her usual self. This morning, she growls at me when I say good morning to her, cause she knows what's coming. And, does one of her old tricks of quicklaunching the pill from her mouth when inserted. Once I pulled the sticky pill from my forehead, and positioned for another try...I eventually got it in, after another 2 tries. Kashka is feeling more like her old self, this is good. :)

Well, here's a progress report of what's goin on this week:

I'm dying for that moldmaking rubber to arrive....I'm ready to get some of these pieces movin along! The Dragon sculpture is in the oven baking right now, so in a couple hours I'll have a viable clay version to make a mold from. I'm gonna make prototype molds for both her and the DragonOtter at the same time, then alternate out detailing them so I can make their production molds together as well. I'm also excited about the Flermit...even though I doubt he'll be a huge seller, I find him rather cute, and hermit crabs are underappreciated little critters. they have beautiful colorations too. I really have no idea what my next sculpture after that will be, I guess whatever whim hits me. I still gotta do cleanup on the refined octopus, where his molding rubber was bad...the poor fellow is a terrible mess.

I dont know why, but my knee is giving me terrible trouble (the one I dislocated forever ago). I've not had it hurt like this in a while, so for the most part I've been takin it easy, tryin to do work that keeps me off it for now, or only gives it light activity.

Tia, Chris's kitten...has been driving me NUTS at night! She's a terribly social kitten, and has to be in the room with a person, always always always. This is perfectly fine, Macky does this too...but he doesnt insist on nursing at night. In my hair. She does this superquick kneading thing on my head, and makes yucky slurping sounds as she tries to find a lock of hair to suck on. EEEW! I can spend the entire night flinging her off the bed. Otherwise, she's a sweet kitty, but we gotta find some other solution to her nighttime loneliness. Because she's well past the age of having a need to nurse. Of her siblings, she's the only one with this behavior. Anyone heard of anything that might help with this?

Ordered a new shipment of moldmaking rubber, so that'll arrive within the week! Once it arrives, I'll get a production mold made for the flermit, and hopefully prototype molds made for my DragonOtter and Dragon. The Dragon doesnt need much more, and she's looking awesome.