Tempus Fugit but Where?

Wow! This past week and a half has just flown by, with little in the way of minimaking to show for it. I did play with clay a bit and came up with some lovely porcelain-look plates for a 1:48 setting and made some 144th fireplaces and decorated blanket chests, but not much more. (Pix will be up later.) The weather has been so nice lately that I really found it hard not to walk the dogs until they were ready to drop instead of the just usual two or three 30 minute daily outings. Besides, I hate garden work and if I have had lots of exercise from walking the pups, I have an excuse for lacking the energy to grab shears and attack the jungle wilderness that is rapidly encroaching on my yard.  

My poor log cabin meanwhile sits on the top of the microwave  waiting for the rest of its' walls to go up. Every time I see it there I feel a twinge of guilt, but as it is supposed to rain most of Saturday and be cold most of the weekend, I think the time to finish the main construction has come.  And I promise to not even think about another project until this one is completed.  ;-D

Mini Hugs.

Evil Elf Disguised as a Fairy - photos

Last evening I posted about my experience as the hostage of the evil elf and dragon of my dream, and as of 5 pm today, I finally completed the evil elf's likeness. The above photos are not the best quality, but they show the essentials. (oooh, I just discovered that if you click on a photo, it explodes in a new window!) You'll have to forgive my excitement.  I'm still new to this whole blogging thing. :-)  Anyway, the poor dragon is still only a disembodied head and neck, with a half-done torso and no legs or tail, BUT he has sprouted a forked tongue, three fearsome horns and four sharp fangs since my last post. If I wait another day to work on him, do you think he'll start to grow spikes down his spine?

OK, back to the evil elf. In the dream he first appeared to be an elderly, pot-bellied, stubby-legged fairy, but upon entering the cave he removed his golden wings, revealing his true nature. As this blog and most of my mini items are rated suitable for all ages, I thought it best to create the elf as I first saw him, rather than as he really is. I don't want to be blamed for giving nightmares to any over-protected children of this 21st century who know only about the cute little elves that work at the North Pole and Disney's Tinkerbell.  If they are fortunate, they will eventually be introduced by a grandparent or similar figure to tales of the Old Ones and Wee Folk, both good and evil, who have inhabited our gardens, fields, forests, lakes, rivers and homes worldwide since the beginning of time. 

 

If not, I feel sorry for them. They will never experience the excitement of finding a fairy ring on the lawn in the morning, carefully building little twig and moss shelters under a nearby hedge or bush, including some choice morsels of food for their feast, and the anticipation the next morning of finding signs that the fairies slept or ate there.  In my formative years I spent many hours in my grandmother's kitchen as she cooked or baked, while she told me (as she had my mother when she was a child), not only a variety of fairy tales but stories from the Brothers Grimm, Aesop's fables and stories from Greek and Roman mythology. 

On reflection, there was a lot of violence, blood and gore involved in some of these stories,  but I knew they were 'make-believe', which I took to mean you could either believe them or not. So I chose at the time to believe in fairies, brownies, pixies and helpful elves, and ignore vengeful ghosts, wizards, witches, trolls, Medussa, the Minotaur and any scary monsters. When my daughters were young I told them fairy tales and fables, but admit that I did tone some of them down a bit until they were 4 or 5 and had a firm grasp of what was real and what was imaginary. 

Argh, the witching hour is nearly here, so I'd better get to sleep before that monster under the bed wakes up.

Mini Hugs.

Log Cabin Project Delayed by Dragon and Elf

No, I haven't disappeared into the woodwork, but was kidnapped by a juvenile dragon and an elderly elf three days ago. The two of them somehow managed to sneak into a perfectly ordinary dream in which I was hanging out my laundry and the next thing I knew I was being taken to a cave, conveniently located in my neighbours garden. There they forced me to make fimo miniatures of each of them in 1:48 despite the fact I told them I'd never made elves or dragons in my life. I had made a head for each and was just starting on the bodies when the alarm went off. 

All day I kept thinking about the dream, mulling over whether or not I would need an armature for such a small sculpture, in what order to make them, what parts would have to be cured and then have more clay added for a second curing, what to use for eyes, claws, teeth, horns etc...  After supper  I sat down and began work on the dragon's head and neck and surprisingly, it came out looking much like the one in my dream. The next evening I focused on the elf's face and today I have most of the elf sculpted. I have no idea why I feel compelled to make these two characters as I don't generally make fantasy figures nor do I have any idea where I will use them but it has been both challenging and fun. Perhaps this was my mind's way of giving me a break from making mundane things like log cabins and Tudor bathtubs.

Anyway, time to walk the poopies before bed, so I'll stop here. I plan to go to the OMEGA show in Fergus, ON, so I don't think I'll be making dragon feet or building cabins tomorrow, but hope to post Day 2 - The Cabin Raising Bee within 2 or 3 days. Mini Hugs.