[Heather]

I am dying to see the new movie as well. Toothless is freaking adorable… for some reason, maybe it’s his mannerisms, but he really reminds me of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.

Mannerisms and shape of the head and limbs, plus those great big eyes, I think. Otherwise his face reminds me of a freaking axolotl, which is NOT a compliment. :~

Did anybody else collect the McFarlane dragons? The first two rounds were great, with handsome six-limbed and four-limbed designs. But as time went on they got more and more into the four-limbed designs, and worse: they started looking more and more humanoid. We started calling them “Maninsuit Dragons” (anyone remember that episode of Dexter’s Lab?) and I stopped collecting them. I wonder if a lot of other dragon collectors felt the same, because, the line died not long after.

I don’t terribly mind wyverns, although I greatly prefer six-limbed dragons and consider them “proper dragons.” But I really, really, really can’t stand dragons that look like a dude in a suit is playing them. 😐 At that point, what’s the point?

[Heather]

Spitballing a crazy idea here: would it work to temporarily affix each Pebble to a dop stick, like a gemworker does? The stick provides a means for holding the stone while it’s being worked. With the Pebbles, a modified dop might be used, say a section of dowel with a small square or round of wood on top (to give larger surface area for the sticking putty) and sticky the underside of the Pebble onto that platform. Then the stick end slips down into a heavy holder, like a block of wood with a hole drilled in the center, and keeps the carving in place while it’s painted. When the painting is done and the piece is dry, unstick the putty or whatever was used to keep the Pebble on the stick, and attach the felt pad. It wouldn’t matter if there was a little stickum residue left, since the pad would cover it up.

Meanwhile I am giggling hysterically at the image of little Pebble foxes bolting for the exhaust vent: “Aaagh! That airbrush tickles! Run away!”

[Heather]

Sweet heavens to Betsy, if there are Old Warriors coming up in this color scheme, I’ll be all over them like fuzzy on a peach! :love: WANT.

[Heather]

That thing is kind of disturbing haha XD it would definitely be an odd sight if someone actually lit it!

Agreed! Although it’s ironic that it’s a candle, because that awful thing really should be burned! J)

[Heather]

Thank you! :bigsmile: Every piece I paint is a learning experience; I’m becoming resigned to the fact that even when I have a color sketch sitting beside me, the paint job develops in its own direction and is apt to leave the original plan behind. But so long as people like the results, then it’s all good. I keep telling myself I can always paint another to look like the first one was intended to. (Heaven knows what direction that one will go! :~ )

I love experimenting with what the paints can do. N’Twe’s eyespots are a combination of metallic purple and purple interference overglazed with a transparent purple. It took a few layers to get the kind of color I was after, and I’m glad people like the effect! My tastes generally run towards “magpie” and sometimes I don’t know when to stop adding color.

[Heather]

Just finished this little guy. He looks nothing like I’d intended when I started. 😛 But I guess it makes a certain sort of sense. When I started him in March, he was supposed to be mostly brown and cream with hints of green, because the color scheme I sketched out was inspired by the long-last arrival of the rain, and our brown countryside starting to green. But by the time I finished him, we not only had tons of green but tons of wildflowers too. I think the colors I was seeing outside leaked onto the dragon. 😉

[Heather]

Oh yay, whee, hip-hip-Foo-ray! :bigsmile: I’m so glad to see these guys hit the Store! Now to get serious about planning the paint job. This is going to be so much fun!

[Heather]

Here’s another thought, regarding the letter to the Bishop: If you can write a letter that states plainly Rod’s behaviors towards you and the boys, and keep your anger controlled during it, the Bishop will be more likely to accept that Rod really did these things. It’s easy for a person reading a flame letter to think, “Oh, this person is so angry, they must be blowing things out of proportion.” But a letter written by someone who, while clearly upset, is able to state things in a dry, just-the-facts manner has a lot more impact.

It almost sounds as if the Bishop has real doubts regarding Rod’s integrity and propriety. He may be asking you for your side of things because he thinks Rod did wrong, but without a statement from you he can’t really do much. Either way, an angry letter can be called slander. But a strictly factual letter, with anger held in check, may be embarrassing to the other person but it isn’t slander.

One thought: Is there any advantage to you, at all, for the Bishop to not declare the vows cancelled? Is there any advantage to you if he does declare them cancelled? I’m a little ignorant of the ramifications, is why I ask. But I do know that I want the outcome to be what will benefit you!

[Heather]

@ Barrdwing. I remember when I was in high school I could find dragon everywhere, even gas stations. Now, I’ve been confined to ebay. It’s sad, but maybe they’ll come back around. Thank goodness for windstone for supplying dragon lovers with quality pieces.

I’ve wanted to try a PYO, but I have no idea what paints to get. Then there’s the debate with myself over airbrush or paintbrush.

Thanks for the welcome. I think I’ll have fun here.

Well, as far as paints go, the PYOs are very forgiving! I painted my first one (a Muse) entirely in craft paints from Michaels (Apple Barrel, FolkArt, Delta) and it turned out better than I expected. Currently I use a mad hotchpotch of Golden, Lumiere, and FolkArt (metallics), and it’s all paintbrush. Takes me a dog’s age, because I never know quite what I’m doing and work in lots of little thin layers while I’m figuring it out, but I like the results. I’d suggest just buying a PYO (or four ;)) and trying things out. :bigsmile:

[Heather]

I just loved the Twilight coloration, especially since it was combined with the dichroic eyes. There was also a gorgeous burgundy one. To this day I still think the dichroic eyes are AMAZING on a SK!

[Heather]

Welcome aboard! It’s not a big surprise that you hadn’t encountered Windstones in person until that antique store: “back in the day” there were a lot of odd little places you could find them (New Age shops, Wicks ‘n’ Sticks, animal statue shops, tobacco shops), but many of these have closed up, sadly. My first encounter was at the Scottsdale Mall, of all places; I steamed up the display window pretty good before slumping away with my $20 still in my pocket, but a couple of years later I had my first Windstone. Unfortunately the current market has kind of gotten away from high-quality fantasy art, at least in malls and chain stores. There’s still plenty of cheap low-quality stuff out there, but many big companies seem afraid to commit to quality items that cost more.

Fortunately, Windstone has expanded its online market considerably! This is both good (for collectors) and bad (for collectors’ wallets). 😛 They’re able to produce items better-tailored to the collector base, and the creativity has simply exploded. I’m a big fan of the paint-your-owns, which let us collectors create our own nifty critters in turn. And every now and then you’ll find a jewel at an antique shop, which is always a great moment. Congratulations on your collection, and I hope you have a lot of fun here! 🙂

[Heather]

Good on ya, purpledoggy! You handled that extremely smoothly. You stood up for yourself, but did it in such a way that your folks haven’t got a mosquito’s chance at a frog picnic of ever taking it back. It’s a shame they had to be such warts about it before, but I think you’ve wrapped the matter up beautifully. Enjoy your painting! :bigsmile:

[Heather]

Well, a very Happy Birthday to you! :party: I hope that you’re having a wonderful day, and that the year to come holds lots of good things for you. Thank you for helping to nourish the sense of wonder for so many people, with your creations!

[Heather]

Cost of living in CA being what it is, you’re better off in Denver! California is really expensive: food, fuel, housing, everything. If your work requires you to be near a big city, and you don’t want a long communte, then you’re going to be looking at high housing costs for not much of a house. It’s hard to find work out here too, and the businesses know it: the wages do not keep up with cost of living and some businesses take rank advantage of their employees because there’s always another person desperate enough to take the job even if it does pay peanuts. It really stinks to see your entire paycheck go for housing, food, and gas with nothing set aside for the future. Don’t get caught like that!

Denver is less expensive but still has the benefits of a large city. Plus the sense of community seems to be a lot stronger out there. Think of it this way: Denver is a much better place to start out. In a few years, if it’s not working out the way you thought it would, you can always move to CA. You’ll have more money in the bank and a better standing in your profession, making you a stronger competitor for the work and better able to choose where you want to live. It’s always better to negotiate from a position of strength. 🙂

[Heather]

Same thing kept happening to me. If you’re using Photobucket, use the second code from the bottom, not the one at the bottom. If you’ve got things right, the photos will show up in your preview of the post.

[Author]

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