Persistence and Pestilence

 

There

is a fine line

between

persistence and pestilence

These words speak for themselves.  We have all been there at one point...either marking or crossing the line. When I found these small metal roses on a great site for mixed media supplies I knew what their use would be.  Unfortunately for her followers, the curator of the site was ready to slow her life down and, as they say, stop and smell the roses.  During her closing sale I was able to pick up some other goodies that I hope to put to good use soon.

 As you can see, I sure needed to unearth my living room work cart ( as well as the work table in my craft room).  I used our long holiday weekend to finish up some of my projects that have been pushed aside when shiny new ideas popped into my head.  I still have a list to address and am always glad to be in completion mode.  It is a little more quiet during these times.  My head can feel like it's spinning in all directions when inspirations come in fast. Although, that is part of the fun...catching the fleeting mental pictures or words that have the ability to stop you in your tracks.

Well, so far we have kept our zinnias watered and they are already about 2 inches tall.  We only have to keep this up until they are 2 1/2 feet tall and blooming.  Wish us luck!

Good night all,
Hilari

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The Scarlet Harlot

Our spring colors are making way for all the beautiful shades of green that cover our landscape of East Tennessee. I sometimes wonder what it would look like in shades of blue or yellow, or even red.  I think God got it right though with the greens, cool but energizing. Purple shades would be interesting, but I am partial to purple.

Speaking of color, we spent Sunday afternoon cleaning out our flowerbed and planting zinnia seeds. I have a black thumb and always forget to water so we will see how this goes. I have stopped buying the beautiful plants I see ay Lowe's because I know of their future demise.  Lucky my husband has a greener thumb than I so the zinnias have a fighting chance.

They whispered her a harlot

so she adorned herself

in scarlet

and boldly walked 

into the room

I have a close friend who is very recently divorced and her association with any male is the speculation of her small town and idle minds.  Her feelings of being scrutinized and possibly labeled poured out during a conversation and this piece was my result.  Her result was to know that this too shall pass and, soon, idle minds will be focused on their next unfortunate victim.  For this I used all red bottle caps and accented her torso with red wire to complete the scarlet effect.  This one worked up quickly, I think, because it helped to release the negative energy generated by negative people.  

I want to thank Cheryl for turning me onto a Crop-A-Dial!!  Boy, making the connecting holes in the smashed bottle caps was a breeze compared to the nail and hammer process, and much quicker as well. And I only had to use 1 band-aid during the whole process...YEA!

I must admit that while in the process of writing and posting this I did buy a small batch of petunias from Lowe's.  My grandfather always had a planter full and I can never resist them in the spring.  

I am off to watch my favorite movie genre, 1950's syfi.  In store today is a black and white movie called The Deadly Mantis.  The trailer showed a real life praying mantis crawling up a tiny Washington Monument...I can't wait!

Peace,

Hilari

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Serendipity

 Serendipity

This carbide lamp was, unbeknownst to me, was given to a kindred soul of my father years ago.  At a holiday gathering my father and Jim ( men of the same era ) met and enjoyed each others company discussing all manner of important topics...photography, books, caving, etc.  I have been asked by Jim's son to make a wire sculpture of this lamp.  I find this to be a lovely thought...I am creating a piece of artwork for a father from an item given to him by my father.  As my father would say, "It warms the cockles of my heart".

 It all started with a $30 table

I woke up Saturday feeling refreshed and ready to go so we decided to hit some of the yard sales in our neighborhood.  Our best and last find was an old restaurant table to use in the workshop.  Little did I know that this perfect work table would have us spending 5 hours rearranging, cleaning and setting up shop, as well as moving items from our mud room to the shop.  Of course that meant rearranging, cleaning and setting up shop in there as well.  On this side of it all, we love how much more functional both places are.

This has been a week of working late, so my extra curricular activities have been nil. I need to weed my flowerbed and get my zinnia seeds planted and hopefully will get that done before the weekend.  Rain is coming on Saturday and I am planning to hole up in the workshop and play.  I am almost finished with Pole Dancer...still working the mechanics of getting her pole to spin and she need her purple boots.

We all need purple boots!
Hilari

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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


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