My husband has gone off to a Vampire Con in Atlanta, GA, which gives me plenty of time to burn.  I’m pretty excited about that.  My plans include cleaning off an area of one of my shelves to house my STUFF which is currently in a box I’ve stolen from somewhere that will eventually be cannibalized for lining.  So I better do something about that.

I do my burning on the kitchen table, and the staining and lining too.  But my husband spends most of his time in our computer room, and if I could clean off my computer desk enough I could burn and line in the computer room too.  I’d still stain in the kitchen because the ventilation is better, and I wouldn’t want to subject him to the smell.  So I’m going to try to make that happen while he’s gone too.

Meanwhile, I purchased some inks to play with, and also some metallic sharpies.  I wanted to see how they would stain the wood (if at all) and how I could get a metallic look.  The sugar-skull pirate chest really needs some brass fittings on all the sides and maybe some metal rivets as well.  Or maybe I’ll burn the fittings black, I dunno.  I had a steamer trunk when I was younger, and the supports on all the corners was black with brass rivets.  That might look pretty good.  I’ll have to try it and see.

There’s also the paint or nail polish option, but I want to avoid that, if I can.  I like having the wood show through.

It’s interesting though….I’m learning by the color of the wood to set my burner temperature at different levels for different effects.  I practice with the things I know I’m going to be burning darker, because I know that if I make a mistake it won’t matter, because I’m going to burn it black anyway.  I’m actually getting pretty good at it.  I’ll post a picture of my friend Lori’s box a little later.  I’m amazed that the tone is so light and smokey and even.  Go me.

OH YEAH….I also bought a satin-gloss varnish.  Looking forward to testing that out too.

Damn.  People better start buying stuff if I want to break even, LOL!  It’s my fault for not starting an Etsy account yet.  I have to start a sole-prop first, and I’ve been waiting until after tax day to talk to my accountant.  I’ll message her today.  After seeing some of the work on Etsy, I can see my work is on the higher end of “average,” or the lower end of “high quality” with a promise to raise in skill level as I keep going.  So I think this will work itself out in the long run.

I don’t know nothing ’bout no web design, Miss Scarlett.  That probably shows.  So I have a friend, Ben, who has been able to help set me up, and I’m trying to add and edit as I go along.  I’ve learned how to add header images, and how to link some things to other things…I’m not sure I like the look right now…meaning that, some pages have an awful lot of images and that must be a pain to load up…but I’ll learn.

Meanwhile, you must be wondering what I’m up to.  Assuming you’re reading, of course.

I’ve been very busy.  I have the two small boxes commissioned by a friend Lori, and a larger book box that has been commissioned by a new friend, Mike.  (In the long run, I think I’ll end up friends with most of the people I do work for.   It’s a collaborative thing, and I think trying to get someone else’s artistic vision nailed down is something that kind of bonds people a bit.)

Mike’s box is here.  I haven’t done the lining yet, so it’s not in the finished products.

It’s worth looking at that front cover larger, btw.  The shading on the front cover is very suggestive of vertebrae (I did my best) and there’s some shading lines along the feathers that I used to make them more…well…feathery.

I’ve also been working on some personal fun stuff which is going to be for sale.

I’ve been working on this lovely little candy skull treasure chest:

and a mermaid that’s going to be all about shading and motion…It’s intimidating and exciting at the same time.  No pictures of that yet

I’ve done this lovely “Om” Mandala thought bubble.  There’s no stain on that at all, and I’m kind of torn.  It looks beautiful just as it is.  I thought some stain on the Om might make it pop more, but it pops already, and some of the background could use some shading, but it might take away from the Om.  So right now, I’m just leaving it as it is.

I’ll be adding a “Currently For Sale” page shortly.

Thanks for stopping by!