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Biggest Challenge Ahead

17 Apr

Last week, I took a big plunge and attempted my biggest piece ever! All these while, the biggest I have done are four-inch tall carvings, Halloween Owl, Dinky and the first giant Gnome, from ready sizes of the basswood.

Now this chunk is two pieces of Meranti glued together to become a towering 7.5 inch block. An ugly block to begin with but it’s not stopping me, even with the outline drawn and redrawn for a better proportion.

Within three days, I managed to complete the piece and the biggest Gnome ever in Gnomie-wood was ‘born’. It’s seven inches tall after sanding down and towers over the rest. It’s just simply adorable. Love it.

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And So It Continues

16 Apr

Three weeks ago (before the laparoscopic surgery) on a hot Sunday morning, the carving began. This latest Monument is different from the earlier pieces in many ways, the most obvious being the choice of wood – Meranti versus balsa. Then it’s the characters on the totem pole.

Previous pieces have different species of Citizens stacked up. This piece has only one species, looking the same yet different in their expressions. And it wasn’t easy to execute because being a denser wood, it was quite a challenge to shape the smaller area of curves and crevices. Definitely different from shaping a single big Citizen.

Patience is the key I guess. And at the height of this excitement, I overlooked having a platform like the others for this new piece. Oh well. Every piece is unique in its own way.

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Shaping Up

23 Mar

The carving experiments have taken shape and color! Citizen on a Tree is looking good despite the flat head. The flat head Gnome was painted much earlier and two nights ago, I finally painted up the Citizen.

These few days, carving has been slow because I had to work late, an unusual busy run which is good and I shouldn’t complain.

I hope this weekend, all the queued up pieces will take shape too. Can’t wait for the weekend.

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Hammer Time

20 Mar

Last week, I had a short respite in the middle of the busy work week and escaped to the mall for a nice lunch with hubby. And after the meal, we took the opportunity to scout the place for a little bit. I am not quite the shopaholic for clothes and beauty stuff but I love browsing through the handyman aisles at the hardware store.

And I had to buy a hammer to use with my big chisel set! With all that supply of Meranti wood, I felt it was necessary to have a hammer to add on to my tools. Whee….hammer time!

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A New Species

16 Mar

Suddenly, the balsa and the little Citizens of Gigglesville are forgotten with so much focus on the Meranti wood and Gnomes.

Feeling guilty, I decided to go back to the balsa. And you know what? I found myself unable to hold it properly. It’s so tiny! How did I ever managed to carve up a village of Citizens, Superheroes and all?

Working with the harder Meranti, my carving strength is so different. I had to reprogram myself to dealing with the soft balsa again. It wasn’t quick work as it used to be but I managed and after its completion, I jumped back to the Meranti.

Even though the big block is glued (two big pieces and two smaller pieces), it’s easier to shape and a new species came long. I think this has potential to be little Citizens. We shall see…

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Gnomes Alert, Part 2

15 Mar

There are now seven Gnomes, all in different heights and sizes, unlike the Citizens of Gigglesville where everyone is about the same size and height. To call the hamlet, “Gnomie-wood” is getting more and more appealing at this point.

The Gnomes currently ‘live’ in a tupperware (whereas the Citizens of Gigglesville live in trays). And with all their hats painted red, one evening I mistook them for being watermelons from the corner of my eyes. Just because we had watermelons a day before. Even M2 thought they were watermelons! Hahaha…

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Don’t they look like mouth-watering watermelons from this perspective?

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No News is Good News

29 Jan

News headlines generally suck, world news suck and local news are no different. It is as though there are no positive news to update humanity. So it is better not to read the news than to learn what is going on around us to keep sane.

For this reason, I like to stay in my little bubble, away from all the shenanigans of the world for as long as I can manage.

So I carve. And I carve and carve.

After Monument 5 came about to kickstart the carving mood, everything fell into place. Within a few days, Monument 6, six Citizens and another Gnome were added to the population count of Gigglesville. No news is good news if this is the result.

 

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Farm Heroes No More

23 Jan

I have stopped playing Farm Heroes on my iPad, iPhone and the laptop. After such a long time at it, I find that I cannot go pass Level 1105, so no point in continuing the game. It was fun while it lasted.

As for my other games, I still do Candy Crush Soda (to collect the Daily Bonus) and Candy Crush Saga (on the office computer occasionally as it has been deleted from the iPad and iPhone) besides the two Monster Busters.

There does not seem to be a whole of appealing games offered these days, at least to me. Maybe it’s for the better as I can stay off my devices and go back to reading (which I did) and carving (which I will).

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Stuck

22 Jan

After the completion of Dinky the Dinosaur at the towering four inch height, I find myself stuck to progress with little Citizens which are only an inch tall. Oh no!

I thought I could whip out more Citizens after M1 went back to university but somehow, I can’t seem to get the carving motor going. Suddenly a Citizen’s size, being so tiny to hold (compared to Dinky), seems like a gargantuan challenge. How did I ever reach 120 Citizens and a handful of Superheroes, Friends and Gnomes in the first place?

I had to will myself to stay focused and over the weekend, Monument 5 came about. Perhaps I should get a few more monuments or bigger pieces done up before settling into the carving mood on the smaller ones. The township needs to grow to enable further migrations this year.

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Here’s Dinky!

18 Jan

Over the weekend, I finally painted up Dinky the Dinosaur. And my… my… what beautiful white teeth it has! Towering over Gigglesville at four inches tall, it is looking rather fierce in dark blue but the dazzling white teeth and shiny light blue belly softens his fierceness to make it live up to its name.

Dinky is not considered an enemy of Gigglesville, that title remains with E.B. (Evil Buster). It is just so dinky in 2D as a tattoo on my leg and in 3D as a carved figurine for display.

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