Tag Archives: carving

A Good Mess

20 Jul

Everyday I would sit at the living room and carve if time permits. Gone are the days where I would be on the iPad, being device-reliant all the time which is bad. So this is a good thing.

I wouldn’t say the place is messy because I am stationary in the middle of the spacious comfortable zone. And with everything I need within reach in an IKEA RÅSKOG trolley (which M2 helped to put together), it’s a good spot. A good mess I’d say.

Days when I don’t have time to carve, I would take out the Citizens of Gigglesville and just look at them. Simple silly act but full of satisfaction. Delight would envelop my heart whenever a citizen is completed. It’s funny how I discovered this engrossing activity, thanks (sort of) to the tennis elbow.

Carving-2

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My Poor Canvases

18 Jul

I have been so engaged with carving lately that my poor canvases are just sitting in the corner collecting dust. Even the tubes of oil paints are neglected because I use acrylic instead.

Everyday I would carve a piece, two if the mood hits and definitely more on weekends. The citizen count of Gigglesville now stands at 48, minus the superheroes series.

Sigh… I hope to go back to painting. Eventually.
Canvas

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More New Colors

17 Jul

As Gigglesville is booming, I felt I needed more new colors. I am not too particular of the brand but the color choices available. So over the weekend, I bought another two tubes of acrylic, burnt umber and red ochre, totally new from the brands that I have because I just so happen to be at a new bookstore and not my usual art haunt.

It has been very colorful so far for the citizens of Gigglesville and now with the introduction of brown (I call it mocha), the range is pretty diverse. I foresee a boom in mocha-colored citizens as they need to catch up in numbers with the rest of the red, blue, green, orange and purple citizens.

AcrylicColors

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Gigglesville is Booming

14 Jul

It must be a burst of energy or something because suddenly Gigglesville is booming! Or could it be that Citizen #30 migrated just two days ago and I have this need to replace the void. For every one departure, there should be at least two replacements.

Citizen #30 is the second one to leave the sanctuary, the first being Citizen #10 who now resides in Penang.

Gigglesville is shaping up well with a mayor, citizens and superheroes to protect them (especially from Evil Buster). Citizens even have passports issued for them if they are selected to leave to spread their giggles. Citizen #30 had its passport approved hence, its migration. This weekend another will leave… sniffle.

I have grown to be very attached to all my citizens but it is for spreading giggles and love that I am allowing them to migrate.

Gigglesville!


Citizen #10 (top) and Citizen #30 (bottom)


Citizen #30 with its passport

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Green Fingers, Part 3

6 Jul

Hubby had been very busy the past few weeks with his air plant creations. Every evening, after dinner he would sit at the terrace and be at it while I would be either carving an owl or just chilling indoors.

During the day, if time permits he would be on the net looking for inspiration. One day, he stumbled upon a site that took orders online. The lightweight box arrived in the office two weeks ago.

They were some interesting air plants that he purchased. It’s amazing what one can buy from the web, all sorts of things big and small, and even live plants.

Air plant-5

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New Colors

4 Jul

Over the weekend I decided to buy two new colors to add to my acrylic color collection. I made this decision after holding out for so long because I thought I could mix the orange and purple consistently when I needed these colors to paint the citizens of Gigglesville.

But each time I mixed, I failed. The purple has come out in many shades unfortunately but luckily, the orange fared better and not so obvious. There seems to be no consistency in my mixing ability because I forget the ratio every time.

So to avoid this for future citizens, I thought best to get the two colors in tubes like the red, blue and green that I already have.

There’s at least four different shades of purple!

The orange less obvious in shades

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The X-acto Knife

29 Jun

One of my favorite design tool is not the Mac computer but the X-acto knife. I could be called old school but tools like the T-square and triangle rulers are still used by me, more so now because of the carving.

Recently I bought a new blade, an X-acto #16 to replace the #11 and to supplement my other carving tools and I must say, I love it!

The angle and its size is just perfect to etch the tight spots of the balsa wood. Carving just got more fun! Whee….

Carving-1

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Green Fingers, Part 2

20 Jun

A few weeks ago, hubby had a huge and colorful air plant hanging on the frangipani tree in the garden. From that big fella, he harvested many little ones to create interesting displays on driftwood pieces or simply by themselves with just wires that he would bend with a plier. Like me with an activity interspersing painting with carving, he’s into cactus and air plant creations.

I ventured into the garden upon his insistence and lo and behold, a whole lot of them are hanging on the tree! The green fingers in him certainly makes the garden more interesting. And the tiny air plants sitting on wires are just as appealing indoors.

Air plant-1
Air plant-4

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Full House

16 Jun

It’s been a busy and stressful week for me. I have been working late the past few nights on a super duper urgent design project. As the deadline looms without negotiation for an extension, it doesn’t help when the client gives the material to me late. I have a responsibility then to do my part.

Because of this, the carving has stop for the time being but last night, I managed to squeeze one in as a stress reliever. The new balsa wood was extremely soft and it was easy to carve.

Citizen #23 was born and now Gigglesville is just so crowded! Pretty soon, the ‘O’mobile cannot be parked in there anymore. When the house is full (I have space for one more), maybe there will be a migration. Some citizens of Gigglesville will leave for adoption and spread their giggles elsewhere on earth.

As for me, working on this project, I draw the giggles and positiveness from the citizens of Gigglesville to stay sane and cool. I can do it.

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Green Fingers

9 Jun

It’s a known fact that the one who has green fingers at home is not me but hubby. Yes, the man of the house has more appreciation for the flowers, plants and trees than me. He enjoys gardening and the garden more than me; I just stay indoors to carve, paint and crush candies.

The hot weekend last week had us staying at home after returning from lunch at the mall and doing what we enjoy most – gardening and carving.

Whilst I added more citizens to Gigglesville, hubby was busy creating cactus landscapes in little pots. Who knows, maybe they can be props for my Gigglesville?

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