The First "Scrutinizing Eyes II" Masks

So when I haven't been busy being a full time cat tormented mommy, I have been busily casting and painting the new "Scrutinizing Eyes II" masks. I finally have a few to show here.











So much fun to paint!!

These guys are a major pain to cast. Though the mold is small and there isn't a lot of surface area for me to cover, it takes me a looooong time to get the paper down into all those nooks and crannies and around all those little bends at the edges. It's very slow, meticulous work. It takes me seven to nine hours just to finish a cast and get it ready to paint.

I made one major refinement to my method as I worked on these. I sealed the edges of the masks with... coffee filters. Since the fronts and backs of my masks are made out of two different kinds of material, I had originally been reluctant to seal the edges with anything but glue, as I had thought any material that would match and blend in with one side of the mask would not with the other. But coffee filters are a truly miraculous kind of paper. When coffee filter strips are applied in torn strips and smoothed down with thinned down glue, they just... vanish. If they're applied well, it's almost impossible to tell they're even there, no matter what surface they're applied to.

Thanks Creaturiste for the tip!!

What I Did(n't) Do Over Winter Vacation

I've been so busy with this that and the other thing that I realize March is almost over, and I haven't yet posted my annual "it's winter and I'm not getting a thing done" post yet. So, here it is.

Isabelle's winter vacation is always tough. I'm not able to work in my studio much at all during the day when she's home, so I try to work at night, after she goes to bed. Only problem is, THIS.



THIS being one of our cats, Rumpleteazer, aka The Teaze to her friends. Nighttime is HER time. After Isabelle goes to bed, she's used to sitting on our laps and getting lots of cuddles while we read or watch TV. In her mind, it is SO not cool for us to do anything else at night!



This is one of Teaze's usual bids for attention. Here she is, standing up on her hind legs and clawing my stomach while I try to work. Usually she claws my butt, but I haven't figured out a way to take a picture of that yet.



And here her bids for attention are escalating.







Oh well. I managed to work for a grand total of ONE HOUR while Isabelle was on vacation, and most of it was spent taking cat pictures. I suppose if I can think up some snappy captions, I could at least post them on icanhazcheezburger.com!

Sans Souci Studios, The Movie

OK, the two minute TV clip actually, the one that aired last October. The link has expired at WCAX now, so I'm giving it a more permanent home here. So, for your viewing pleasure, here it is.