Things are happening in the mold department! We have unearthed the “Keeper Dragon” master. This sculpture is the larger of the two Paint-your-own dragons I made. If you would like to see him out of his case, here is a link to a picture of a test painted Keeper in my Elfwood gallery: http://melodypena.elfwood.com/Paint_your_own_paw_up_dragon.3031676.html We … Read more
Doesn’t everyone ? I have made foil creatures since I was in kindergarten. My mom started me on this hobby by teaching me how to make ducks. Ducks are made by rolling a piece of foil around your finger with the open seam up. You pinch the end into a duck head, remove the foil … Read more
I think carts of finished product is a lovely sight. It is so nice to see stuff getting finished! I thought these bobcats looked so cute all laid out like cupcakes on a bakery rack. The packing department is starting to be filled with product, but even this last stage of the finishing process is … Read more
This is “Wild Plum”, the raffle prize for May! He was an Amethyst colored Oriental dragon that got a wild hair and turned out a coppery plum color. He is one of the test paints I did for a “Copper Plum” color I am working on. This is a experimental color combination sort of like … Read more
This is our backyard at the Windstone factory in Corvallis Oregon. Isn’t it great? There is a little creek if you keep going towards the big trees. The creek feeds into the Mary’s river, which is at the end of our street. We thought it would be fun to put in a big vegetable garden … Read more
This is a photo shopped pic of three, make that four, new flapcat colors I have painted. ( I flipped the black sunset cat , he really faces the other way) I have been painting all the flapcats I can find around here. We have quite a few of the eye shut ones, so I … Read more
There are allot of finished or almost finished pieces that I have sculpted for Windstone that we have never produced. Sometimes they are just finished sculpture, but sometimes they nearly reach the stage of being in production before we go “eh” and shelve the idea. This chick is one of the ones we made mold … Read more
…you are probably wrong. Since the website “Snopes” became the ultimate source for truth… I now have come to accept that 99.9 percent of everything I thought… is wrong. The “Great Wall” is not the only man made thing visible from space ( I guess I could of figured that one out myself if I … Read more
I have been experimenting with transparent glaze-like finishes for years. They look really great but they always run and make puddles at the bottom of the piece. I managed to get around this problem on this flegeling by holding him in my hand and rotating him until the finish dried. That won’t work in production, … Read more
I haven’t had time to write about whats going on in the Windstone factory lately! We have been working hard to re-learn everything from casting to paint color mixing. It is very frustrating work. I took some photos of our three long-suffering painters. These people deserve a round of applause for putting up with everything! … Read more
Its hot. And I had a beer. So I was looking around for a different subject to draw, and decided to draw the toilet tank, because it is pretty cool sitting backwards on the toilet in the bathroom with a beer. This is part of my life-long effort make myself draw things that I am … Read more
I was asked about our reject pieces by “Nakase” in a thread on the Windstone forum: http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11360 I have been whining about how much trouble we have been having with the gypsum lately, so here are a few photos of what we are dealing with. I tried to photo the more subtle defects that these … Read more
Bengal poads, of course! I airbrushed about thirty of these chocolate-grey ones so far. . Like a herd of zebras, each one is unique. They have individualized tribal markings on their backs as well as leopard rosette spots on their bodies and rumps. Some of them remind me of the markings cuttlefish have. What else … Read more
(This blog entry was written by Windstone artist Helen Mishkin, or “Arlla” on the forum) Very often, to often in my opinion, the beauty of a thing is judged by it’s rarity. If something is so common that you see it every day, it becomes unextraordinary. Similarly, things that are considered pests – which also … Read more
Quickie blog: Here are some pics of the ornate “cuttle poads” I painted last week. This is a pattern that developed while I was trying to make something cuttlefish-like. They seemed to need those those shield-like markings on their backs in addition to stripes. The shields were derived from the spine markings the Bengal poads … Read more
