Lots of Pictures Monday!

So here are some pictures that I took today & that I've been saving up for a fun photo post!!!


Frog Automaton Almost Done!!

Just need to tweak the motion & glue him into place, then he's done!! Hopefully will finish him off & get some final picts & video done in the next couple days....

























Finishing Up Koi Automaton!!!

Need to finish painting the box black & gluing it together. Then final stages of tweaking, and done!!

























Felted Chicken Goes Hollywood!!

Here are some pictures of me (looking pretty short & dumpy) next to NBA SuperStar Kobi Bryant!! Everybody's laughing and having a great time with the Felted Black Mamba!!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Plus Drawings!

(not-so-but-was-supposed-to-be) Quick Sunday Post:

Started my day-job yesterday, it was fine, work is work. I was nervous cause of the awkward first-day thing: introductions, eating lunch by yourself, feeling dumb cause you don't know how anything works.... But it went really well. We were busy & I was impressed that I could pretty much help all the customers w/o help (occasionally having to ask if we had something or where it was). But overall pretty good!!!

And here are a couple of drawings for my next sculptures!!! I'm gluing the boxes together for my Frog & Koi & should finish them today!! But already looking forward to bigger & better projects!!




I've been wanting to make a Pink Elephant for a while now. And I really want to make something CUTE!!! I've been working on more realistic type felted pieces, but want to take inspiration from some of my fellow Needle-Felters (Kit Lane, feltmeupdesigns, paintgranny) who make really amazing, clean, fun, stylized characters. So I want to make my Pink Elephant super cool, plus I want him to twirl in a drunken spin. Going to try to do an electronic motor on this one!!











And this one was my Boyfriend's idea!! I think it will be really cool! Want to make a tattoo-style Asian Dragon with a snake like body that undulates up & down all snake-like. Want to make him BIG, and since I made the Black Mamba, I think I can pull this one off pretty easy; basically a giant snake w/ hinged legs & a bearded horse-face. No problem!!







HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
Today is me & my BF's unofficial 2 year anniversary, nothing planned, not really into celebrating holidays... except Christmas of course!!

Koi & Frog all Painted....

So got some basic picts I wanted to share with you guys of the Koi Fish & Frog all airbrushed & ready for their mechanical parts. I still need to go to Home Depot & get the wood for their boxes, but I'll do that today cause I will be out anyways. Hope the rain we are supposed to get holds off till I get back home!!

Koi Fish Painted:

So went with a dramatic Tattoo Look. Right after I painted him, I was iffy about the shading (I tend to have a really heavy hand cause I'm no airbrush expert), but he's growing on me. Now I just need to build the box & mechanical crank parts. I'm gonna go with black for the wood parts, and add the couple cherry blossoms or lotus flowers to accent his tattoo-ness.







Frog Painted:

I'm happy how he turned out with his shading. I was going to add some warty-type details on his back, but am rethinking that. I kind of like his generic look, almost a little more fanciful. He's soft & pretty. I'm probably going to make his box & mechanical parts blue (like water) and maybe have him sitting on a lily pad. Gotta think about it.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

So it is the beginning of a long week of rain here in SoCal. They are predicting that it could be the worst rain storms in the last decade, which kinda sucks cause my house is old & totally not rain-proof. Also, when you live in a place where it rains like days out of the year, it's annoying cause I count on having warm, dry days to help with crafting. I work a lot outside with painting, or hanging things to dry, or taking pictures. Well, glad I got a bunch of stuff photographed last week, cause it's going to be a while before I get out there again.

So here are some awesome in-process picts of my jumping frog!! He's all dyed & has his joints put in. I put grommets in the joints to help protect the felt, then put some small nuts & bolts in to have the movement. I just need to finish the detail on him, add a couple more joints & make the box & hardware, still a lot to do to finish, but he's coming along!!


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Question for my Fellow Crafters!!!

So I've got a question to those of you that sell at Craft Shows regularly:

Do you customize your table or booth display for each show or season... OR... Do you just keep the same setup for every show?

I'm going through my products & thinking about what I want to sell & how I want to display it for the upcoming show Pink Parlour Festival. I see that it's about 2 weeks before Easter & was wondering how many of you really tailor your products to the holiday or even the feel of the show. If you are selling at a more Artsy Show, do you feature more fine art pieces, or a more Crafty show, do you show more hand-made DIY stuff?

Or do you even think that much about it?


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(bad) Videos of New Pieces!!

So sorry about how HORRIBLE my video skills are, but hey, I was using one hand & my digital camera not a video camera. But I was so excited that I made these 3 mock-ups of my next pieces, I had to share.

The mock-ups are made with black FoamCore, dowel rods, clothes hanger wire, hot glue, and card-stock. They are pretty crappy, but at least you get an idea of how the pieces are going to work.

*And sorry about the really bad video quality....




This is the Koi Fish model. I think I don't want it to be so wonky, which I can fix with more precise holes for the dowels, but you get the idea!




This skull model isn't as cool as the other 2, but I think it's funny. It was kinda hard to make the mock-ups for 3-d sculptures only using cardstock. I don't think the movement translates as well in 2-d. Like for this one, the jaw will be hinged, then go up & down.




I think the Jumping Frog model came out the best, even though I screwed up the video. I like the movement & hinges in the legs. I think this one will end up great!

Next Step: Felting the sculptures!! I started this today & will have a fun tutorial on how I made part of the Koi Fish that I will post tomorrow!

After-That Step: Making REAL mechanical parts. Have the measurements & idea of how I will make these, but need to make a trip to HomeDepot! Planning on getting these done this next week, along with cleaning the house, cooking good-for-you food, and possibly trying to find a new job... boo on that last point...

Dynamic Movement!

As you know, I am constantly trying to experiment & explore the possibilities of felting. So far I've done a few pieces that jump outside the box of traditional felting techniques. Mostly done with the addition of different materials (like metal) or electronic components (like lights). Well, the evolution of FeltedChicken is about to take a giant leap forward!!! Here is what I have been working on trying to incorporate into my next large sculpture....

An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot.

So I've been trying to learn ROBOTICS!! It's my eventual goal to basically make my felted sculpture come to life with animatronics. It's a pretty lofty goal, but I'm slowly taking baby steps. I have started to teach myself basic electronics (circuit building, soldering, etc.) That is taking a REALLY long time, since I have never done a single thing involving electricity or volts. But now it's time to teach myself how to make things move!!

**This drawing of a Duck Automaton shows how the duck would eat something, then poop it out!! Not sure how it works, looks complicated!


What the heck is an Automaton?!?!? You might not know the word, but everyone has interacted with one!! The most common automaton is probably a clock or watch. It is a rather complicated automaton, but has all the parts. Gears, springs, cams, non-human power source, etc. I say "non-human power source" because this is the key to an automaton. The difference between Automata Toys & Puppets is that a puppet needs constant human input to manipulate the object's movement. An Automaton may be "human-powered" by a hand-crank or winding up a spring, but it will complete it's movement cycle on it's own.







Another simple, yet common, automaton that you might know is called a Jumping-Jack!! The toy is strung so that when you pull the string down, the figure preforms a dynamic movement on it's own. Very simple (actually I should start with this type of automaton because it is simple & fun). But... of course... I've decided to jump head first, right into some more complicated pieces!!








Here is a drawing of one of the first large-scale Automaton that I want to make. It's a tattoo inspired Japanese Koi fish that will (hopefully) swim. In theory, when someone turns the crank, the fish will move it's head and tail up & down, and side to side. I'm in the process of making my first mechanical mock-up for this piece. Since I don't quite get how all the parts work, I'm making the parts out of FoamCore & clothes-hanger wire. Once I get all the moving parts perfected, then I will need to make it out of wood or another more permanent material. The fish will be made out of felt (of course) and that's one reason that I love wool!! It is so forgiving and easy to manipulate, that I can incorporate it into any new art process that I want to!





This is another idea for a piece I want to make. With this skull, in theory, the jaw will be hinged and it will move up and down to make it appear that the skull is talking. The mechanics for this piece are easier than the Koi fish piece, so I might be making this one first, just to baby step into the art of Automata!!

So I hope I peaked your interest & introduced you into a new art form. Automata are seen throughout history, as far back as ancient Greece. Even in ancient times, people were fascinated with giving life to otherwise inanimate objects!!