Come on in...

...to my studio. So, what does an artist's studio look like? Well, in my case it's kinda cramped quarters, with too much "stuff" and too little workspace! Good lighting but over stimulation galore! I stole some very precious getting-ready-for-the-show time to re-organize some of my studio space to allow for "critters in progress" shelves, a much needed open area where projects in the works could comfortably wait and be reached when the mood hits! You can see the nearly empty long shelf on the bottom and the quarter round shelves to the left of the desk. Yippy!

Here's my ever helpful Willow, wondering what I'm up to with the camera and here is the (extremely over-crowded) closet of possibilities! Do I need more mohair or what?!

Onward!

So, what's next?

Well, as you may know, rats are my "thing" and I'd be foolish to show up without any, so 2 rats are in the works! A milk chocolate and an old-bone white!

Also a bear, a bare Teddy bear in black with a raspberry nose. I bought this gorgeous multi-tone raspberry Pearl cotton years ago and will now create the bear! Some ideas just take time to re-surface...

It was a productive day, pinning and cutting these 3 critters. I'm listening to Stephen King's "The Green Mile" and this ordinarily somewhat tedious task has been flying along: what a Master storyteller! Mr. King is truly awesome!

Trial and error

Yesterday I did manage to finally decide on a fabric! After going through the studio closet crammed with brilliantly beautiful, creamy soft mohairs and synthetics, I laid out 5 options on the floor and put the accessories on top... Mom and I both agreed the swirly, cream mohair was elegant, a good color, not too dense and of a short enough pile to work for the costume. I also found a cream fabric to make the "bathing suit" part of her costume which almost matches the fur, for that nearly-nude look the poster teases! Finally, I'm choosing to use red velvet for the armlets... much easier to work with than the satin fabric in the poster.

While laying out the beads, though, I realized I didn't have nearly enough, so today after lunch we scooted out to the DollarStore. Sadly, there weren't enough of the pale beads, so Mom suggested that the red and black would work. She's right, since I'm already introducing black feathers. So here is a picture of all the elements!

My goal today was to try the head pattern, made smaller than my usual dressed bear, to see if it would be the right size for the wig. Sadly, it's a bit too small, as you can see. So I enlarged the pattern and plan to try again tomorrow! Baby steps! But steps none the less!