Jamming the Xylophone

A tornado warning is a horrible thing to wake up to in the middle of the night. All is fine here but tonight is supposed to be stormy as well.  I was thinking about this on my afternoon walk and when finished, I grabbed my chalk and played.  We are thankful for the weather alerts but sure hope we do not hear them this evening.

He played his xylophone

with

wild abandon

This is my first attempt at the Xylophone Player.  His head jams as his arms swing across the music makers when he is moved.  The bars are made from cut bottle caps, as well as his seat.

While the arms move across the bars, they only move as long as the piece is being jiggled.  I would like to have the arms swing more freely and continue to do so after the piece has been handled.  Springs for the arms may be the answer but, of course,  not any of the ones I have on hand.  I will just have to keep thinking about this one.

Well,  I am off to get settled in for the night.  Hopefully no crazy weather tonight!

Sweet dreams, 

Hilari

Skinny Dipper Designs @ ETSY.com

Not a cloud in the sky

With the beautiful weather we have been having I have not been able to spend much time on my wire work. Two years ago we had water issues ( water running under the house after a huge storm) so we had to address the problem.  We started with bobcat work and lots of manual labor and ended up with a great place to build a 24 by 12 ft shop.  Little by little we have been working on it and this week we are building our first official workbench.

  So far so good...it seems very sturdy...so we are pleased.  Tomorrow we will tackle the top.

I have taken a moment or two while my husband figured out his plan of attack for the benches to play with the magician idea.  These are going to be the pieces of the magic box where the lady is cut in half.  I thought the casters would be stable enough but I see that I am going to have to add small dowels for support.  They should not be too obtrusive if I can hide them behind the casters.  This is the fun part...figuring out how to make what I see in my head become a 3-d piece.

Next week I should have Pole Dancer completed and ready to share...

I hear an ice cream truck coming down the street. Got to run...

Always support the Ice Cream Man!!!
Hilari

Skinny Dipper Designs @ ETSY.com

 

My Jack will hopefully weather the weather

My favorite fauna in my yard is my Jack in the Pulpit and he has come up to enjoy our beautiful weather...well, beautiful until today.  We had a snow flurry this afternoon with chilly temps tonight.  If cool enough we will have a fire and roasted marshmallows...yum.

I enjoy making these smaller books because I get to rip dis-guarded book pages and I find it soothing.  It may be because it is brain dead work compared to working through designing, creating and, usually, stabilization.  And then, of course, after enough ripping I am ready to get back to using my brain.  With these little books I get to think on a smaller scale and to use decorative papers, which I do not use a lot of, to help convey the ideas that pop into my head.

Well, off to cover my flowering plants to keep off the possible frost.

Good night,
Hilari

Whew....what a couple of weeks!

Spring has sprung and all is abloom...It sure is a beautiful around here.

What a couple of weeks we have had here.  Work and car problems on top of raging hormones...whew!  At least the hormones have calmed down.  Car is back in the shop and work is still teetering on the edge but all will work out in the end.  I did get the kitchen junk drawer cleaned out, as well as the part of the closet that holds all the clothes you hate to get rid of but never wear...thanks raging hormones!

 When he walked into the room

she stood frozen

like a deer in headlights

knowing that one day 

he would break her heart

Finally...here is the project that needed a solid base to hold up the car light.  I was able to find a cigar box that was a good size for the base and so far so good.  The top of the box has held up under the weight of the lamp and the figure was simple enough to attach.  The only problem I have encountered with the cigar boxes is their sizes are limited.  I have not seen any that would work with a single figure or smaller project.  I may have to get into the box making business.   I feel that the box base gives a more finished look.

I had an idea today using a jigsaw blade, a magician and a magic box...Can't wait to see how it turns out but I think this one will be a slower process than some others.

We have pineapple orange pound cake cooling and the house smells good.  Cake for supper??

Peace,
Hilari


SkinnyDipperDesigns on ETSY