Who Am I Kidding?

With the holidays upon us, I have found myself bogged down in life. I have been managing a retail store for the past year and it's been... difficult to do anything else since Thanksgiving. The HotRod is repaired but it will need to stay in the case until January whilst I see to my family obligations.

I hope you are all having a Happy Christmas, and I will see you in the new year!

Scott

Artistic Thumb-Twiddling

We're waiting on a part for the hot rod. I guess that's the price we pay for computerizing the heck out of even things so simple as a sewing machine. They make our lives simpler, right? That's what I've heard, but I'm not sure I believe it. Incidentally, I'm also waiting for the truck tire to come in because I have custom wheels so I'm pretty much stuck here with not much to work on...

My apologies for the delay(s).

Since I'm essentially down to the artistic form of thumb-twiddling, I've been puttering with some other projects. Thanks to the miracle of Polymer Clay an artist doesn't require a kiln and a million dollars worth of equipment to experiment in the realm of sculpture. We've spent the last year concentrating on the inside of our new home, and now it comes time to look to the outside of the place.

One of the ideas I had was to do a row of sculpted faces along the front rather akin to gargoyles (though they would technically be called 'Grotesques' since they won't be used to manage the water flow off our roof). We are looking to add a fantasy/storybook touch to our otherwise architecturally unremarkable domicile. I'm of a mind to make them reflective of the seasons, rather akin to the four seasons painted by Mucha. I have a thing for Art Deco and Art Nouveau for some reason. Of course, the would be much more gothic than Mucha, but he was the inspiration.

Here are some pictures of the first study I did in polymer clays...



The final pieces will be sculpted in polymer clay (I use Super-Sculpy) and then cast in mortar or concrete using a silicone mold. My father in law has a lot of experience casting in concrete and I'll be looking to him for help.

In the meantime, my sketchbook is active... in case you were worried that I would never get back to the doublet diary with all these tangents. Just - you know - life getting in the way.


If the hotrod isn't fixed soon, I'll dig out the old (and highly cantankerous) machine or bite the bullet and sew the daggum thing by hand.

Scott

This pretty much sums up my weekend.
That's me by the hood of my beloved little blue pickup, devolving into hysterics because I'm at the end of a 48 hour oddyssey. I wish you could sew up a tire...

Bleah
-Scott

Snow Day Redux...

I just found out my wife had never built a snowman before!! Egad! I wonder why she never told me?! Hmmmm... could it be because she knew I'd throw a bag over her head and when I took it off, we'd be somewhere deep in the heart of northern Wisconsin? Nah, that can't be it. So anyway - of course - it was a moral imperative to drag her out in the cold and wet and force her to build a snowman with me... not that she needed much coaxing, mind you, but it did eat up all my free time this morning.

So, no sewing for yet another day, but fun was had, and that's what this is all about! Fun.

Yeah... We prototype everything around here...

Egad! It's Gatsby!
Oh wait, no... it's only Scott.

Cheers, everyone!
Scott

Taking a Snow Day

It is snowing in the Puget Sound region which doesn't happen very often! So I'm going outside to play. Back tomorrow with a real update!!

Meanwhile enjoy this old picture I found on the hard drive of my old laptop of my wife & I shilling for the Washington Ren Faire at Seattle's "Folk Life Festival". Someone thrust a couple of parrots at us and took our picture.

Kristin is - as always - ravishing. I am... moderately well turned-out. That was one of the first five doublets I ever made, I think. The tabs at the collar were intended as an ad hoc supportasse for a ruff I never got around to making. The burgandy cotton is quilted so I still wear it when there's a nip in the air. The collar is made from plaque belts that I combined to (I think) good effect. I need to find a better picture of Kristin in that dress. The rusty velvet skirts are amazing, especially in the sunlight. I learned everything I know about sizing patterns mocking that bodice for her, which is a modification of one of Margot Anderson's.

God, was my hair ever really that long?
I look like Geddy Lee in garb.

-Scott