Summing up the Year

Jupiter Sphere

At the end of the year I try to look back and see what projects I have completed.  During the year I feel as if I am working like mad and have hardly made anything.  When I go back and see what I have done over the year I am always amazed at how many craft projects I have completed.  Some of the projects were big, some were small, and some are ongoing but all in all I did much more than I had thought.  The photos are not posted in order, so you may have to search for the picture that is referenced in a paragraph.  I was having some trouble getting the pictures on here, so I thought I should leave well enough alone while I had them on here.

Painted box.

I went back to a post from early last winter where I listed my goals for this year.  I found that I actually accomplished most of the goals.  There was one goal that I never completed and that was to try some encaustic painting.  I never did get around to that.  I have not yet decided whether I am curious enough to try to add it to my list of goals for next year.  Sometimes things grab my attention but when I get back to them I have lost interest in them.

Abstract quilt.

I worked on making mandalas as I said.  I had wanted to make a papier mache' substrate for making a mandala but that project did not ever come about.  I ran into trouble trying to get the substrate to work for me.  The paper kept curling as it dried and I could not get it to stop.  I became so frustrated with the situation I decided that it would be better to revisit the situation at a later date.  However, I did draw a few mandalas.  I enjoyed doing them, but it will never become something that I will pursue with a passion.

I also painted the wooden box, which came out much better than I expected it would.  It took a while to relax and just paint rather than worry about whether everything was going to be symmetrical.  Sometimes I try too hard and then whatever I am working on looks stiff.  I have to relax before I feel that I am doing things that look right. 

Billy Jack O'Lantern

Another goal was to use a found object for a Halloween project.  I made a project, but it did not work out as I thought it would.  I planned to make a doll that would move its arms and legs when a sting was pulled.  That did not come off because I put the hooks for the shoulder strings in the wrong place.  By the time I realized it, the work had progressed so far that it would have been more trouble than it was worth to try to correct the mistake.  So the project became a dangle doll whose arms and legs swung back and forth if the doll was moved.  It was not what I wanted, but for the moment, that is what I have.  The doll was an anthropomorphic pumpkin doll.

Perry Pumpkin

Aside from the dangle doll, I made a few other anthropomorphic figures.  The first was a pattern cloth doll called Tom Mato.  Another anthropomorphic figure was Perry Pumpkin.  Both of these dolls were made from cloth and had wire in the arms and legs to make them so they could hold a pose.  However, as the bodies were made from pattern instructions I found that the instructions called for a wire that was too thin to support the weight of the doll.  It posed somewhat, but not as well as I would have liked.  Unfortunately, I made both bodies before I found out that it was going to be problematic.  They are both very cute though.

I made one other anthropomorphic figure out of papier mache'.  This figure was called Billy Jack O'Lantern.  He has a pumpkin head.  I named him that because his painted body looked like camouflage.  It looked like the outfits hunters wear.  Hunting is not necessarily a Southern only situation, but I decided to give him a Southern name.  Virginia tries to distance itself from the South now by calling itself a Mid-Atlantic state, but most people who live here consider it to be a Southern state. 

Tom Mato

Along the way I made a couple of small paintings.  I wish I had spent more time on painting.There never seems to be enough time.  I wish I had spent more time painting and drawing.  Maybe I will spend more time on that in 2016.

There were a few quick projects I made for Halloween.  I made two crepe paper wreaths.  They were just quick craft projects that were destined for the trash after Halloween.  One crepe paper wreath was made with a styrofoam base.  The purchased styrofoam upped the cost of the craft considerably.  I made a second wreath using scrap cardboard as a base.  This made the craft much more affordable.  After all the crepe paper was added you could not tell the difference between the two wreaths as far as the base was concerned.  The other project was a bunch of black crepe paper roses.  It only took a few minutes to make each one and soon I had a macabre bouquet of flowers.  I made a black dahlia as well.  The flowers were cute for Halloween.  They made their way to the trash as well.

One of my big projects for the year was an abstract art quilt.  It actually took two years to complete.  Extra fabric was hand sewn to each rectangle of the quilt to make each rectangle an abstract design.  Then the rectangles were sewn into vertical rows which were then joined to solid strips of fabric make the quilt.   In the general sense, the design was unplanned in that there was no pattern other than the stripes that were formed by the rows.  I drew each rectangle out of a bag and just went with what I picked other than that the base color of the block should not be the same as the base color of the block next to it.  It was an interesting quilt to make, but I am not sure if I would make another one.  It was a lot of hand sewing.  I like it because there will never be another one exactly the same.  I prefer to make things that are going to be one of a kind rather than purchase a kit which will sell dozens the same fabrics and patterns.

Walking Stick with Celtic knot work

Gazing balls are one of my long term interests.  This year I experimented with painting Hypertufa balls that I had cast myself.  I also received a bowling ball from someone so I made a gazing ball out of vitreous glass as well.  All the glass was one color.  When you are standing several feet away, the ball appears to be solid blue.  If you are closer, you will see that there is grout between the glass tiles.  I still have one more ball to paint before I need to cast some more.  One of these days I will get around to doing some more painting.

Winter painting

There were two painted balls.  The first, smaller ball was painted to look like the planet Jupiter.  This was inspired by a false color ball I saw on the NASA website.  The second ball I painted a solid antique copper color.  It looks like a big metal ball.  In hindsight, it is probably not very interesting visually, but I do like the look of a metal object.  It is really not worth the effort to repaint it in some other way.   My experiment is to see how well the paint stands up to the sun and harsh winter weather.  So far, the Jupiter ball, painted with acrylic craft paints, has withstood all of last winter and the rainy and hot summer and still looks fine.  The copper ball has not been out as long, so the jury is still out on the spray paint.

My other big project was to learn how to do enough Celtic knot work to make a pattern for a walking stick.  I drew the pattern myself modeled on some that I had seen in a book.  Although a transfer pattern was available in a book, I preferred to draw my own, even with all its imperfections so that the work would be truly my own.  It takes a long time to make a walking stick even if the pattern is even if the pattern is wood burned rather than carved.  I think in the future I will explore wood carving.  There is not a lot of interest in wood burned sticks so far as I can tell.

New flooring at cabin.

New ceiling.

I did an experiment with home made craft clays.  I wanted to try to find something that was less expensive than paperclay. The problem with paperclay is that it does not keep very well.  It can be wrapped and refrigerated for a few days, but in my experience is that the product will start to mold.  The paperclay is not overly expensive, but I have never cared for the smell of it.  I did find three different craft clays that were usable, but the smell was still an issue.  I don't think I could walk into my studio for about a couple of weeks while the clay was drying.   Yes you can use the clays I experimented with, but my recommendation is that you use the paperclay and just plan some other project that can quickly use up any remaining paperclay quickly.

This year my last craft was to make a Father Christmas doll.   I finished it up in time to get everything on the blog for the year.  It was a relatively quick doll to make.  I sculpted the face from bake in the oven clay.  The rest of the doll was cloth other than the accessories.  I have not done much face sculpting for a while and pretty much had to re-learn everything about it.  I plan to do more work on making faces.  If I ever make a face that I truly like, I may learn how to make molds so I can cast the head.

Another mandala.

Our cabin makeover is always a work in progress.  This year we we ripped out some of the flooring in the dining room and repaired some rotted joists.  After that we added a wood slat ceiling and laminate flooring through the living room and dining room.  It was a major job.  We had to work in segments based on how much we could accomplish in a three, four, or five day segment.  Each trip was a working vacation.  We are looking forward to finishing up the makeover so we can go up there and just enjoy it.

Dangle doll.

I was on the road a lot this year.  I made trips to Glasgow, Virginia in the winter.  From spring until late fall we made numerous trips to the cabin.  We also made a trip up to Pennsylvania.  I just returned from a trip to California.  It has been a very busy year.   I have enjoyed the trips and hope that there will be many more to share with my readers.

Well, that about sums up the year.  I hope that my readers will keep on reading next year.  I hope to have more interesting projects and experiments to blog about.  This is the last post for 2015.  See you in 2016.