I just Joined A Fanciful Twist's 8th Annual Mad Tea Party!

It's been quiet here at Sunflower House these past few months. I haven't touched clay in weeks and my studio is so bad that the term cleaning just isn't strong enough, I'll be mucking it our later today :0) so I can get back to work!

I am so excited to be a part of the 8th annual Mad Tea Party being hosted by Vanessa over at A Fanciful Twist! I've been working on some fun things for this year's party and later this week I'll be posting some updates.

Check back on July 11th to join in on the fun and if you'd like to join in on the fun head over to A Fanciful Twist (or click on the picture above) and sign up to be a part of this magical event!

Welcome to a Mad Tea Party

Welcome to my Mad Tea Party. A big Thank You to Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist for hosting this fantastic event. There are lots of stops on this blog party, for a complete list be sure to visit A Fanciful Twist.

I'm glad you were able to stop by. It looks like we interrupted someone's painting project.

Of course, I knew  we were in the right place when I saw those flowers. Too bad the painters decided not to join us. Well, come on in and let's see who is here.

Everything looks ready. Don't those cookies look good. Please, help yourself! There are plenty.

It looks like we've gotten here before the white rabbit though he did drop off a time piece as a gift earlier this morning. He is so thoughtful that way. He's probably out visiting others so he'll most likely be a bit late. Typical!

I know the hatter is here somewhere. Yep, there he is. For some reason he has decided to keep to himself. I think he is nervous that I'll let someone take him home. I'm sure he'll come out and visit once I assure him I've created something else to give away today.

That silly flamingo sure gets around! He was out back playing games just a few minutes ago. I think he is here for moral support for the hatter.

Don' t you just love tea parties! Have a seat and I'll get you some tea.

While you are here, take a minute to follow my blog and leave a comment to be entered to win a set of two Alice in Wonderland themed embroidered tea towels. I am almost done the embroidery and will have the pictures posted on Sunday. I will be drawing a winner randomly on the evening of Monday, July 21st. 

Thanks for stopping by. The Hatter, decked out in all his finery, will be making an appearance on the blog soon, along with some mummies with glow in the dark eyes, and a couple of book goblins. I hope you'll visit with me again and see all of the fun things I am working on!

**Update** Here is a sneak peek of the Red Queen embroidered tea towel. This set will have the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter. They are almost finished and will be posted soon.

If you are travelling on the the next party I'm sure to see you again soon! 

Thanks for stopping by :0)

Almost Complete!

The Mad Hatter

I wasn't sure about this color, it is the color of a carrot and a bit unruly which is why I decided to go for it and I am thrilled with the results. Once he has his hat on it should really look great. 

Here he is, ready for his costume. I know he looks a bit lumpy and his hair is wild but once he has clothes on he'll look fine - kind of like me LOL Anyway, I have some fabric for his clothes and I am pretty sure he approves. We'll see this week. I can't wait to see how he turns out!!

Check back soon to see the Mad Hatter in all his finery then stay tuned for the Mad Tea party and the Where Bloggers Create party - both on July 12th and the Book Goblin process which will begin once the hatter is complete.

For the Where Bloggers Create party I will be cleaning the studio and posting lots of pictures of where I work on my art. I am looking forward to that process and sharing the results here.

Oops! I Can't Believe I Did That!

This week I have been working as often as possible on my Mad Hatter so that I can send off the last of the photos to the Craft Fair Jury and today, actually just a few minutes ago I realized that I had done something that is so cool that I wish I had thought to do it. (This is how I learn all sorts of things...by accident!)

Let me preface this by saying that when I sculpt a figure I pre-make the eyeballs out of an off white clay mixture and then bake them so that I can set the already hardened eyes in the face and sculpt around them. I make lots of eyeballs and have painted many sets from this batch, however, I usually don't paint them at night so it wasn't until I was set up and ready to go that I noticed the eyeballs of my Hatter were sort of glowing! Yep, I used glow in the dark clay for this batch of eyes and I had no idea.

In the first photo you can sort of tell his eyes aren't quite right. I don't know how to set this camera to take images with a slow shutter and no flash so I sort of had to wing it using different settings. The first was for a night time setting but it still flashed. The last two were done using a sunset setting and you can actually see the glow though the pictures are blurry.

Now that I know I have glow in the dark eyes all ready made I have to make something that needs them! Some fun goblin creature that hides behind books, yep, that's what I'll make- a Book Goblin - so check back in a couple of weeks for that project! Of course I may have to make more eyeballs out of pure glow-in-the-dark clay so they glow brighter.

Here is the Mad Hatter as he is now. He has bones and muscles. Once I paint him I'll add his skin then it's hair, costuming, accessorizing and making his stand.

My mind is too busy to paint right now. He'll be painted tomorrow. I am thinking of all the cool creatures I can make with glow in the dark eyes!

I just love when things like this happen :0)

More pictures to come soon.

New Work in Progress!

Yep, that's me! 

I had to submit some additional photos of me actually creating my figures for the juried craft fair that I applied for so I decided to get started on another Mad Hatter. I am not sure whether he'll be staying here or finding a new home at the Mad Tea party in July so you may want to stop by here on July 12th just to see what he decides ;0)! It promises to be quite the event!

Here is where he is right now. I'll be posting progress pictures as I complete him. This guy isn't a zombie which is good and bad, the zombies are so much fun to create I'll eventually have to make one for myself. As for this guy, I am really excited about making another Mad Hatter! I still have some of that awesome fabric left over from the Hatter in Zombieland sculpture and it is so lush I may use it, then again, he may demand his own style which means I have get to shop!

Either way, he is really excited to finally be started.

A Hatter in Zombieland

This is the latest project I've completed.  He just arrived at his new home and I miss him already! This was part of an online doll swap. Our challenge was to choose a character from Alice in Wonderland and zombify them! I chose the do the Mad Hatter and I had such a great time with him.

I've been away from my blog for almost a year and I am working hard on getting back on track. I have lots of new sculptures to share and another show coming up! I hope to update with new pictures next week.

Stay tuned :0)