Today's Pic Of The Pops!

Well some days it just falls into place like cream cheese on cake......

Went into town yesterday and started searching for 'parts'....like old rusty 'parts'. Screws and bolts and hinges and just about anything that looked, well, robotic. Also hit up the squad around town and scored big at the bike shop when my good friend Francois gave me all SORTS of cool shit! And a final stop at the hardware place to load up on nuts and bolts and plumbing bits....but not too much 'cause that stuff is darn expensive!

AND then today I played with it all.

And this is the sweet result!

And best of all, she 'wiggles' ...... man, sometimes even I amaze myself.......of course now everyone will want one, I can just feel it!

I'll have to figure out how to make own 'life-size twin'.......

* UPDATE* We have a name for the little robot: M.U.S.E. - The Multi Use Specialized Exploration Robot or Muse-bot for short!

Is It Real Or Is It Memorex.....?

Ok, that title is a wee bit pretentious on my part but I thought I'd give you a look at where my ....um, strange (?).....mind goes. I wanted an edgy kind of vehicle for the new guy to ride...(this is really not going to make sense until you see the finished production so just bear with me) so, anyyikes, I was rolling around cars and walking houses (now that is cool as an idea but for something else perhaps) and went cruising my collection of ephemera to see what I might have. Now, I may have mentioned one of my personal art Icons is Georgia O'Keeffe and she was into skulls. I really love skulls too and so far I have a deer, crow and cat skull in my collection. Well long story short, I looked at the cat skull and got that creative charge that happens when the I-don't-know-how-to-explain-it jump and went for it. But I didn't want to use the real skull and thought I'd try to duplicate it.

There is the result. Obviously the real one is on the left. But I'm pretty chuffed by the way my 'fake' came out.

And that leads me to pic number 3. It's a bird-nest-in-a-tree hat. And let me say I have a real respect for birds after weaving that nest. Now, I have 2 hands and - hopefully - the big brain, but that bloody nest was one of the most difficult things I've done and it really looks lame......the leaves are appliqued over an old ball cap.

Now here's the story that goes with the making of this.

Some years ago, a friend of mine turned 50 and his wife threw him a large party, in the way of marking these monumental numbers (snort snort) - but I digress. Because he was an ex-logger the 'theme' was such....old logger costumes. So everyone comes in the plaid jackets and blue jeans and big boots. Some hardhats and ear protectors too.

But not this happy camper.

I came as a tree.

Now baring the whole 'tree hugger' thing, this, in retrospect, was a bit over the top in such an entourage. And it wasn't just the hat because I made a whole outfit as a tree. My pants were old brown corduroys that I ripped the bottoms of to resemble roots and a brown shirt plus long vest that was appliqued as well with leaves and branches and owls and moths and caterpillars. Certainly a work of art. Certainly more intense than anything else in the room.

And no one sat by me or talked to me that night.

Every once in a while I think I'm just beyond the usual page most of are on.............

Changing Horses in the Middle of the Stream

Ah.....big sigh inserted here. Well, this morning as I was (lovingly) (snort*) looking at the critter, I came to the realization that he was just too darn big for the project I want to create.
So we have had to change our "horse", so to speak, 1/2 way to completion. I'm sort of bummed as that was over a week of intense work to get to this point but there ya go....such is Life. So I've got a much smaller critter drying over the heater now.
And this has made me think that one of the blessings about being creative is that you can change your mind. So I made some beef, barley and roasted veggie soup and some organic whole mixed grain flatbread to go with that and went cruising for a pic to post with this little post.
One of the pics I found was used in an article entitled " Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain" by S. Begley which was a book about the scientific evidence that there are measurable changes made in your brain when you meditate or train yourself to do a new skill....kind of fascinating, if I may digress for a bit. This is not that surprising to folks who have lost the use of a limb and had to retrain themselves to use another. Even how stroke victims have to retrain their brain to 'reconnect' as it were. And your brain does, it makes new connections in it's neurons and ...well, stuff...pardon my lack of scientific terminology.
How cool is that?! I'm in the process of teaching myself about moving 'toys' because I want to make this new project as I mentioned. I'm learning about 'cams' and 'gears' and how you put this all together to get things to turn, go back and forth and up and down just with cranking a handle. It's fantastic! Last night I couldn't sleep because I couldn't get my head around how this all worked so I actually logged into the good old Internet and went to a kid's site and just followed along. All I'm saying is 'PEAR SHAPED CAMS'!! Who'da'thunk!? This is a girl who NEVER got the 'science' part of learning...boy! Has that changed! And you got to love the fact that at almost 60 (help) I'm STILL learning and GETTING stuff I never did when I was in my teens.
By Golly, I feel reborn!
...and hungry! Time to eat soup!

The pic is a poster called 'Change' by Russ Willms...I've had this in my collection for a long time and a fav.

I'm In LU-U-U-RV!

Yes I am! This guy has been worth the countless hours so far to get to this point....I love the whole jointed posable body and I love where 'he's' deciding to go. Also am really chuffed that he can sit up by himself!

Jeekers...I sound like a proud mama!

That is a 'steampunk' style hat on his head along with some old goggles from a teddy bear that I reworked.

Wait 'till you see the telescope!!

NOW! Clothing!

THEN exciting steampunky kind of vehicle!

!!!

Wheeeee!

..oh, yeah, gotta figure out how to make it move......

(Could I have added more exclamation points?)

The Name Game

Yes. Indeed. So, since I've changed the 'critter's' ...um....nature, (golly, it's tough working with inanimate objects....) I've got to change his name as well to something more "Steampunky".

Here's the list so far:

1. Prof. Obediah Atticus French (OAF..ha ha ha)

2. Luther Obediah Lamb (LOL get it?)

3. Buckminster Illium Revals Drury (tweet, tweet)

4. Inquisitor Abraham S. Smallhorn (...and the initials are....I ASS)

(I'm such a kidder!)

Must say I'm inclined to the last one just because.

So! I'd like some help deciding. According to that little 'stat' thing over there , it says there are some folks actually coming here but I admit to a certain suspicion that it could just be me addictively checking in as I like the look of my blog...vanity thy name is Marla...sigh*

Anywhythehecknot, if you - the great unknown - would help me decide by a vote, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise it's closed eyes and a stabbing finger.

Maybe.

ps... I know the pic isn't 'painterly' but I couldn't resist. It's photoshopped, by the by...

Down The Rabbit Hole

How do I explain being swept up in creating to anyone not , well, possessed by the feeling that you've fallen down the rabbit hole and nothing, I mean, nothing is going to take you away; ok, maybe having to go for groceries or the mail or (bleah*) paying bills but I really resent those moments.

And right now we are deep down in that hole with this new sculpture/art doll whataheckdoIcallit thing.

Illustration of how much I'm into this is, I missed a personal invite to a in house private music concert with Ian Tamblyn tonight......sigh. And I expect I'll be unable to explain with any satisfactory excusable way.

BUT!

So much cool fantastically exciting ideas are flying into my brain! I spent the day researching 'Steampunk' and being consumed with ideas on what and where I want to go/do with my little guy. I've completely changed what I was going to do - except I still want to make it move - but I ended up picking up all sort of little clock gears and some rusty tin sheets and making a fantastic little top hat and little goggles and getting up every couple of hours to cruise the Internet for some more ideas. Oh, and I tidied up my 'area' which is always how a BIG creative spurt works for me.

Yepper, a very very good day!

So, I'm completely satisfied right now but I do feel a tad guilty......I only hope allowances will be made by those who know me.

And if not; ah well, dems de breaks......

ps...no painting could be found to capture the feeling of this post. Alice-in-Wonderland stuff was NOT what I was getting at.....however I'll keep looking as you never know what will pop up when you go 'trolling'!

UPDATE! Found one! Le Grand Tour La Mer by Mike Worrall.....great!

Moving Right Along

Okey Dokey...we are moving right along with the 'critter' as you can see. I've added hair - found a great 'how to' article on making mohair wigs and that's what I did. I really love the Internet...gives me everything I need to know. And I added freckles to "Fortesque Arthbutt Rawfishington-Trout"......(just take the first letters and you can see where his name came from) And finished the other arm and strung it all up. I'm trying two different body ideas - this depends on where I go with the final look.

It can and does seem to change daily.....

Meanwhile I seem to be experiencing problems with saving and uploading pics the last few days...don't know what that's all about...I often think these things develop their own minds....oooo, scary stuff!

Anywayze...it seems I'm right into these creations now. So I guess I'll be 'playing with dolls' a while yet!