VOTE VOTE VOTE for your fave filled bezel!

OK - I entered Objects and Elements monthly challenge. This month it is about bezels. Voting is on their blogsite. You don't have to vote for me (i used shotgun shell brass for bezels) but go take a look and vote for whatever meets your fancy! Voting is Monday thru Wednesday.
This is what i made:

shot gun shell brass filled with bb's and resin, bullet brass, ceramic hands, steel wire barbed-wire links, copper chain, red garnet drops and fine silver. ear wires are sterling silver.

I'll put them on Etsy later in the week - $38



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GLOVE IN A BOTTLE ...REVIEW!

I recently sent away (because no one had it on this island!) for a product called "Glove in a Bottle"
Glove in a Bottle is a heavy hand lotion that coats your hands so that they repel chemicals and daily grunge. I learned about it from my metals group ...
I get a type of chemical eczema on my fingers that is from certain chemical exposures...I'm not sure which ones... my doctor said it could be from dish washing detergent or even from my paints. I am VERY MESSY with my art supplies. When I remember, I put gloves on, but using gloves with some projects is just a pain. Antway, I get hard itchy sore bumps on the sides of my finger joints that look like blisters but are hard and eventually peel. Gross!
OK. So I have been experimenting (whenever I remember....usually i am halfway thru a project and then I get all messy and realize I have forgotten to put the lotion on!) ....but here are my results.
First off, you have to put a thick coat on. Fortunately it absorbs quickly and your hands feel soft but dry. The instructions say it doesn't wash off but rather it is removed when you shed the skin cells that absorbed it (well that's how I interpreted it!)

1. resin - AMAZING! I put a thick coat on and poured together a batch of resin. I accidentally over mixed it and it spilled ALL OVER MY HAND! at first I was panicked - this stuff is tough to remove, sticky, and I usually need half a bottle of alcohol to get it off. I grabbed a paper towel and wiped my hand. That's it. No sticky, gooey residue - it all came right off! WOW! I should note here that the Glove in a Bottle was FRESH on my hands.
2. acrylics - once dried on my hands, they rubbed off pretty easy. But then, even without Glove in a Bottle, acrylics always rub off easy.
3. ink- last time i painted with inks I got it on my cuticles....it was still there a week later! This time it washed off with soap and water and what was left came off in the shower....
4. black polymer clay - yay! came off easy with a paper towel and soap and water.
5. gel coat - once it had dried on my hands, i washed them with soap and water but i still needed a green scrubber to get it all off.
6. dirt - i work a lot in the garden and we have a thick red clay soil that leaches all of the moisture out of my hands. the dirt is impossible to get out of your fingers - it stains everything red. Ultimately it makes my skin dry and crack. With Glove in a Bottle on, the dirt washed off easy and hands stayed moist! i do wear gloves when i garden - but some of the finger tips have holes so i still get dirty. Next i want to try it on my feet....wearing flip flops all the time makes for grungy feet.

So, I have to tell you, I really like this stuff. It left my hands soft and it really did seem to repel all the gunk I put my hands into. My only problem with it is I HAVE TO REMEMBER TO PUT IT ON!

...I got mine from drugstore.com...i found a $10 off coupon, plus they had free shipping...so i got other stuff too - but most mainland drug stores carry it.


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TERRIIC GIVEAWAY!

Here's another Giveaway at Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shop that's easy to enter with great prizes! 27 fat quarters of exquisite fabrics, and she just added a $100 gift certificate. ...and if you mention that I sent you, I get a 2nd entry!



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...the WORST and the BEST of halloween costumes

Blog hopping, I came across a fun post on Paul Overton's blog, dudecraft.....it's a blog for men (and women too) with ideas and projects to craft outside one's box and personal gender bias. He had the idea to post about your BEST and WORST costumes.
My son Vincent has been a ninja turtle, a mummy, a vampire, a bug man, a mexican bandit, and my favorite - a giant hot dog!...i have no pictures of those that i could find (in storage, i hope!)..but here is a pic of probably the WORST and the laziest costume i ever made...
is that pathetic or what? it's not even a well made ghost!
now for the BEST - the tombstone has to be my all time favorite. Here is a pic of my younger son, Sky, about age 4, as a tombstone. Poor baby - when he fell down he couldn't get up!...oh the torture we put our babies through! ...but he DID glow -in-the-dark....

isn't he adorable?
...and here is the adult version. I wore this to a Halloween party with the cast and crew of !Huff. See the RIP Huff 2nd season on my chest? Unfortunately the show WAS CANCELLED at the end of that season...haha!

me...and Sky (all grown up), as a SWAT team member.

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POE TAROT CARDS..and 2 great links...

Once again I'm in a tarot deck swap. This one is with TravelersHart Group, and the theme is Poe...as in Edgar Allan POE. My cards were the 10 of Pentacles and the 6 of Wands. I did not choose these cards - they were assigned to me, which I took as a good omen, because both of these cards represent Victory, overcoming adversities, and blessings.

The 10 of PENTACLES. Roaches climbing over a skull. The background is copies of letters written by Poe. Roaches always were and always will be...since before we were and probably long after....you just can't get rid of them. survival. overcoming obstacles. VICTORY!
(gosh i hate 'em!)

The 6 of Wands...Victory again...with a little help from our friends....a digital card with vintage illustrations of Poe's works and the grave site where Poe is buried. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the ghostly details......

Here's a really cool BLOG with tons of free graphics to download and print out....The Graphics Fairy
and here's another one...Adele Sciortino's Costumes and Trims......you MUST sign up for the NEWSLETTER....There are 10 of them now, all high resolution color...an e-zine that is fabulous with ideas, freebies, patterns, etc from famous dollmakers.....and it's FREE!


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Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge Blog Candy

Here's a great blog giveaway - a TON of good stuff!

Pink Artist WINNER!

This is what I saw when I went to Monica Magness's Pink Artist's Blog.
Prize #56: Necklace by Gretchen Coats of art blog libeado.
The drawing winner is:
Concetta Williams

The focal bead pendant is from Guru Glassworks
YAY ....lucky lucky ME!
...and thank you to everyone who donated prizes and bought tickets!



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Dolphin's on Kauai Video

Here's the video I promised you from our boat adventure on Friday. If you are a friend on facebook with me, then you've already seen it!

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Painting Update

Continuing with the painting.....I made the bird blue and gave him swirling feathers and an eye.



tried different eye ideas...

...added "eye" leaves...they look like roaches...ugh.

..a bit more clarity...

so this is where i am now..
next, i want to take out the stars and most of the yellow, add in some leaves on the branches....put in some bright red and get rid of a lot of the blue background...maybe add tangerine... add some copper and metallics...and some pearlex powder...reline with black and white pens adding details, and lastly i want to put crackle over some parts and fill the cracks with dark burnt sienna....
..still a ways to go!








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Kauai Ocean Boating

We took the boat out again today - our second time! We launched the zodiac from Nawiliwili Harbor and went partially around the island all the way to the Kilauea lighthouse, which is where we live, about 24 miles by car, only 20 by boat!
The day was beautiful and the glassy and calm. There was a mist out to sea and over the island in some places - we suspected vog, but since we weren't having any respiratory problems we decided it must be a sea fog or something.
No matter! This time I took dramamine instead of the bonine, and I didn't have the sea bands with me to put on 0 but I never felt queasy - not even on the ride back when the water started to get choppy! Here are a few pics. We took some videos too, but DH has to edit those and put them together.
We even saw a flying fish jump up "fly" (more like glide) over the water for about 30 feet ....

a new painting...

I started a new painting. The idea was Tuscan colors and some favorite things. I couldn't scan it because the canvas is 18 x 24, so it won't be a scanner painting.
First I sketched whatever came to mind...

Then I painted in some color, sort of haphazardly...
...then i blotted out some color...

..starting to paint in the white to "pop" the images...the"rainbow" definitely didn't work for me....

more layers of color, a bit more Tuscan...

...more depth added....
...so this this the basic background for the painting. Tomorrow i will begin the drastic altering of and over the images...got to get rid of the "cuteness"... At the moment I am uninspired, it is not calling to me...so we'll see what it ends up as. ...i'm pretty sure I need eyeballs somewhere.... maybe the leaves...

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VINTAGE GERMAN BISQUE DOLL PARTS .....

I have had a lot of inquiries about the Vintage Bisque Doll parts from Thuringia Germany, that I have available thru my ETSY shop. It is too tedious to list them all...I am slowly adding them to my shop...but here is what I have available...Most of the torsos with heads have arm/leg sets available to make a complete doll. I do have multiples of the same doll. Complete dolls are around $14 - $20, depending on the size and condition. They come uncleaned, for the most part, but i will clean the whole doll for you for $1 extra. Individual parts are $.25 each for me to clean them for you. I have examples that show you an uncleaned part, and then the cleaned doll part. All parts come to you washed, but by "clean" I mean they have been soaked in water (so they don't absorb the solution) then treated with a solution and scrubbed...and then washed again, rinsed and dried. I repeat the process until they are as "clean" as I can get them. I tested many many products to find the best one that worked good enough, but did not damage the doll. Not all rust comes off - or burn marks.... but they do whiten up considerably.
OK. Below are the HEADS I have. Some have jagged edges, but I will file them smooth for you, no charge, if you indicate you'd like that done..... the price range is from $7 to $10, depending on the size and whether or not they are painted, the condition etc....lots of choices....



Next, are TORSOS. I have many many sizes and styles of torsos. The first picture shows a CLEANED torso, next to a row of dirty ones. Matched arms and legs are available for these torsos to make your own full doll. They are matched to the doll by me, and are not necessarily the arms and or legs that came originally with the torso. Full dolls are $14 - $20.....and $1 extra if you want it "cleaned".



Below are headless torsos. They are $4-$10 each....some are painted and pretty cute. I believe some of the heads at the top of the page were meant for some of these torsos, but the breaks do not match up...i tried!... Again I will round off the corners for you if you'd like.

...and then there are the frozen charlottes. All sizes teeny, small, med, and large. All of these are missing feet, legs or hands.....$7.50 to $10

This little doll (below) has a hollow on the top of her head for hair, I guess, and is still wired...she is painted. $30. Below her is a large body/torso that looks like it was knocked against another doll in the kiln and has porcelain gunk on it...$5...and on the bottom is an UNBROKEN frozen charlotte...$22

..and unbroken head with shoulders, painted...$10, and an unbroken hallow head and dress torso, $14

and then i have arms and legs. I have matched up the legs and have paired them...UNMATCHED legs are $3.50 each...I have many, many sizes. MATCHED Pairs of legs are $9....I have over 300 legs....ARMS are $2.50 each, and MATCHED ARMS are $7.




If you are interested in anything, let me know and I will send you more detailed pictures and we can work out a price. I will make an invoice thru ETSY for you! ...and I'll answer any questions you may have too!
Thanks for looking....

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***FREE SCREENING of MY FRIENDS NEW FEATURE FILM!***

My friend Jill Maxcy has directed a new film, "Black and Blue" and she is having a free screening at the Directors Guild in Los Angeles. If you would like to see this film...for FREE, please call the DGA (Director's Guild of America) and make your reservation.

Here's a blurb about the film:
'Every once in a while, a young actress finds the right role to truly showcase her talent. Noted Canadian singer and songwriter, Christine Evans, makes her motion picture debut in the independent feature film – “BLACK AND BLUE.”
17 year-old Amber doesn’t have much in life but her music and her dreams. When her mother O.D.s, the closed-down teenager is sent to live with a violent uncle. Amber escapes to the streets, where she hooks up with a group of kids who survive by playing their music for anyone who will listen. Frightened and lonely, Amber is given the gift of hope by an aging blues legend, Billy (Zac Harmon), who teaches her how to play from her heart. Armed with her guitar and her indomitable teen spirit, Amber begins to build a positive life for herself. PG13 (great for teen girls.) '
This is the TRAILER



...or you can go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUy5mkQXa58

You and anyone else you want to invite are welcome to attend the free screening of "Black and Blue."

Black and Blue
Friday Oct. 23 @ 3pm
DGA Theater 2
7920 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles 90049
Free parking
You must RSVP at mattg@dga.org or 310-289-2034
If over 150 people RSVP, we will be holding a reception after the film!
So you can invite anyone you like!

Please come and support this fine new filmmaker!



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Aimee's Birthday Giveaway...

To help celebrate her birthday, Aimee is having a HUGE GIVEAWAY on her blog...she has over 15 prizes, most contributed by cool sponsors. Check it out and spread the word! Click here to see....

Turquoise and Silver Eye-in-Hand Necklace

I have finished a new necklace....I should be hacking down over-grown hedges or cleaning windows...but no, I am stringing necklaces....


This necklace is turquoise nuggets and heishi with natural coral. The focal amulet is a carved bone Eye-in-Hand . The amulet was a gift from my friend Kathy. She actually gave me a pair of hands, but the first hand lost its wrist when I tried pounding the silver cuff onto it with a hammer....after I had accidentally scorched it when I tried to ball up fine silver wire to attach the silver cuff and I left the bone hand in place with the cuff over it and the wire inserted thru all of it....I put kiln paper against the bone to protect it.... the paper didn't catch fire, but instead it turned to ash and wouldn't let the silver melt....so I ended up keeping the torch there too long .....it sure all smelt bad...live and learn....
This second hand I re-shaped a bit (rounded the edges) and put a smidgen of blue in the eye to make it "pop". I used a brass bolt and nut to attach the cuff....no more fire...
The "Khamsa" amulet symbol is said to ward off evil and bring blessings and prosperity to its wearer.
I've listed it in my ETSY shop.

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