chevron curtain

I recently made a few curtains for my house, after realizing that those mini shower-rod-esque expandable poles were only $3 each at Home Depot.  Now, I know exactly how leaky all the windows are.  This is my favorite curtain behind my prized succulent collection.  Right now I really feel this is the best looking part of my entire house (sans the water bottles and spray bottle...).  

Making the pattern for the Faux Fur Bear Hide / progress shots

I had a lot of trouble making the bear head pattern, which is interesting because I don't remember having too much difficulty making the coyote pattern.  I had to try three different bear head patterns before I got the final one.  I use foam rugshells/head forms that I buy from a taxidermy website to make the patterns.  I started off trying to sculpt the animal's head, and then make a pattern off of that but not only did that take forever but I feel like I wouldn't have gotten as accurate results.  The foam bear head is specifically a grizzly bear head- and a small one at that - but it's still HUGE!

The final pattern taped to the head.  I go through a lotttt of computer paper in this process.

Turning the paper pattern into a more permanent pattern on thin cardboard. I also test out the pattern by making a head out of less valuable fabric first.  You can see my tester in the background of this picture, made out of an old sheet.

The coyote and bear head.

The incomplete head laid on top of the foam head, just to see how it might look.  The foam head isn't used in the final skin.  They are stuffed.

For every animal, I have to look at photos of skulls and teeth and draw the teeth.  Each set of teeth is specific to the animal.  I don't use the same teeth for the wolves that I used on the bear.  I really like playing the researcher and drawing the top and bottom sets of teeth.

Faux Fur Bear Hide

My biggest and manliest faux fur hide yet!   So far this is my favorite so far.  It can be seen and is for sale on my etsy shop, here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/123931479/grizzly-brown-bear-faux-fur-hide-skin

Mason - my new/only/first dog!

 So I got my very first dog about one month ago!  I've only waited my entire life to get a dog!  And this is a real good one!  His favorite thing to do is lay down and be a couch potato.  He's a schnauzer mix and is 3 years old.  He's really unique looking and has a full beard and mane that get him lots of compliments.  I got him from Hopeful Hearts Dog Rescue in Wilmington, DE, but he is a rescue originally from Taiwan.  He lived in Taiwan up until about 6 months ago.  I gave Joan Chen, one of the people that runs Hopeful Hearts Rescue, this drawing of him the day I adopted him as a gift.

Mason drawing, 10" x 8", graphite on bristol paper, 2012.

This is a photo Joan took of Mason, her wire-haired rescue Daisy (who loved to stand on you so you were forced to give her pets because you couldn't get up), and myself.

 Mason with Alec, my boyfriend's mom's shepard/husky mix.

Now I get to vacuum up faux and real hair every week!

Blown Up Cross Section Drawing

I made a series of 14 cross section drawings for the construction of the bison model and final life-sized bison sculpture. For my solo show, I blew up the tallest, widest cross section drawing using an overhead projector.  I even transfered my disorderly notes to myself and my scratchy 5th-grade-boy handwriting.  I used this gigantic piece of graphite to draw the whole thing.  It gave the feel of a single (albeit gigantic) pencil line.  

 The only wall that was clear of a lot of hanging pictures and furniture was where we usually keep the trash can in the kitchen.

Here it is at my show. The actual cross section is now 76" tall, which is the height of the bison sculpture at it's highest point.

 It looks small compared to the bison!  That drawing is the actual size of the timber framed section.  There is a lot of felt/fur bulking it out!

This is the original drawing.  The entire drawing is  only 16" tall.  The "wood" is 1/8" thick in the original drawing, and in the enlarged version it's almost 1".

Here are some cut paper pieces I made in preparation for Positive/Negative.  All but one sold in my etsy shop.

This one is currently for sale in my etsy shop.

 I really liked the final one, so I knew that the white on white idea had was worth giving a real try.