Costume Update, Fall Break, and the Second Art Critique

So I'm beginning to think the whole update-every-Monday isn't really working.  So I guess my posts will just be random.  I'd really like to be able to update once a week, but what with school and my ongoing search for a job I think I can only legitimately promise an update once a month.  I'll likely have more than that, but hopefully no less.

Now, on to the art!

Over the weekend I worked a lot on my Hallowe'en costume.  For fun, I drew how I want my costume to turn out in more of an aesthetic design.  It's like I turned my notes into a work of art themselves.  Not that I think they look super professional and amazing or anything, but it's just different than what I normally do.

My costume has three different stages or "options" if you will.  The first option is just the tunic and the blouse, in case it's really hot or something outside.  The second adds a second set of sleeves that can attach to the tunic with leather or some other form of laces.  And the third adds the liripipe (the hood - it's kind of the only technical term I know for any of the parts of my costume, so you'll probably see me dropping it around a lot.  You got to admit, though, it's a cool name for a hat).  At the moment, it's the only thing I'm really worried about making without a pattern.  It's kind of a complex design and because I'll have to buy my own fabric, I really don't want to mess anything up.
Although this picture took a great deal of effort and it's a very good reference for me, it really doesn't serve a purpose unless I actually make my costume.  So, I now present to you my peasant blouse:

Originally the design was based off this tutorial: http://urban-sidhe.deviantart.com/#/d5459gt

But then I had to make a whole ton of modifications because I accidentally made the sleeves too tight.  (I don't really read tutorials, I just glance through them and then pretend I know what I'm doing).  I plan on making my own tutorial about all the adjustments I had to make if anyone is interested.  I'm incredibly pleased with how this turned out.  I've never actually made clothes for an actual human being before without having a tangible pattern.  It was a rather exciting adventure.  The neckline gave me some grief, but I think it turned out alright in the end.  Oh, and sorry about the interesting camera angles, I was taking the pictures myself and I didn't really want it to look like I was awkwardly holding my iPod backwards at arm's length.  I'm not entirely sure I succeeded or not. 

 And my parting gift is my latest AP art project which was technically due today.  I'm not entirely finished with it, yet, so I'll explain some of the finer details later.  All you really need to know is that it's a tree-building-thing.

I'm Not a Procrastinator, I'm Just Slow

This post is only going to be full of pictures and pages of my sketchbook.  I don't know where my camera is and I don't really want to go looking for it, nor would I wish to deal with the poor quality pictures it takes.  So this week is about doodles and sketches.

I did this quick sketch in my AP European History class because I was bored and I wanted to make bread.  It just sounded like a pretty nice option at the time.  So then I went home and actually did make bread.  Italian Herb Bread.  But since it really isn't my recipe, I won't be sharing it.  I'm sure you can look one up online, if you like.  It's really good bread.  I actually made it in honor of . . .

Yep, September 21.  The 75th anniversary of the release of The Hobbit.  Also the day before Frodo's and Bilbo's birthday.  My friends and I all ate bread and then later my sister and I watched the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit.  I adore that movie.  I really hope the new movie turns out amazing, but I know in my heart it'll never replace the movie I grew up with.  (Although just to be clear, I have, in fact, read the book and I know there is absolutely nothing in the world that could be better than the original).  I also made a goal to have the Silmarillion finished before the Hobbit comes out.  I feel really bad that I haven't read that one, yet.

So there I was, happily minding my own business, standing by my corner after school, waiting to pick up my friend, when this bee starts flying around me. Patiently I wait for it to realize I am not really a flower and, if you'll excuse the pun, buzz off. Well, despite the fact that I began to twist and turn in ways that a flower most certainly can not, the bee still would not leave me alone and promptly insisted on trying to fly up my shirt sleeve, at which point I threw my box of chocolates and Coca-Cola lunchbox across the school lawn and nearly tipped over backwards. Needless to say, the bee at last realized that this was no ordinary hydrangea and left me to the bemused and amused faces of passersby.

And now, the thing I've been most excited about showing, my plans for Hallowe'en.  Oh yeah!  I'm actually dressing up this year.  And as an added bonus, I'm making my own costume, too.  Currently the story is I'm going to be an Apprentice Painter in the Renaissance, though this is liable to change.  The costume most certainly will not be 100% historically acurate, but I hope it'll at least look pretty cool.  My oldest brother initiated a family-wide costume challenge recently, so this is why I've finally buckled down and decided to make a full scale costume and not just ones for dolls.  Wish me luck!

By the way, if you like my drawings, feel free to check out my online gallery at autnott.deviantart.com  

Learning Experiences

First of all, let me apologize for not posting last week.  I was incredibly busy working on finishing my first art project for AP Art.

Ta-Da!

The first 2D assignment was to create a self portrait using contour lines. I thought it would be kind of cool to try and incorporate the 2D design assignments into my own projects. Here is the first result. I decided to come right out and confront my fears of creating large-scale sculpture, and believe me, it was a terrifying process.

The theme of the sculpture kind of developed as I worked. Basically it's supposed to represent how in high school (and probably even afterwards) we try to figure out who we are and what our personality is. It's like we put on different faces trying to figure out which one fits best. I wanted it to be a bit more quietly personal, rather than yelling in your face saying something like "People are fake and they just put on masks and pretend!" I wanted it to be a little more withdrawn and saying "Don't mind me, I'm just trying to figure things out."

I don't know if any of that made sense, so here's a description of how it's made. I made the body by having my awesome sister wrap me in duct tape (section by section) and then, after cutting me out of my cocoon, I wrapped the form in papier mache. Erg! I really dislike papier mache; it is a very thankless process. I don't understand how people can get everything to look so nice and smooth. It may have helped if I had had time to do a second coat, but things started coming down to the wire and a second coat wasn't really an option. Then I spray-painted the figure with black spray paint and I actually missed a few places because I ran out, but they don't really show. Also, I poured gravel in the feet and stuffed the rest of the body with shredded paper to help keep its shape and weight it down. The dress is a simple length of fabric sewn in half with a hem on top and bottom. I drew the contour faces on it in blue, black, and purple fabric markers (does anyone else absolutely love contour lines? I just think they're so cool looking). I used the other half of my fabric and drew one face on it and framed it in an embroidery hoop I spray-painted purple. (Originally it was going to be black, but I ran out and luckily enough, I had purple spray paint that matched the markers perfectly). I then arranged the square on her head and glued it into her hands just with tacky glue. Securing the base was possibly the most stressful part. Because of the way I stuffed the body, the ankles ended up really weak (hehe, weak ankles) and it didn't like to stand very well. So after much brainstorming and a very trying trip to Home Depot, we found two threaded rods, a circle of wood, and cement. I drilled two holes (about an inch wide) on the base where I wanted the feet to be. I then made holes in the heels and shoved the rods up into the legs. Then we poured cement into the holes in the wood and put the bottoms of the rods into the holes and let it dry. And then, there it was. My long, stressful, sleep-preventing project was completed. And even though I absolutely despised it when I was finally done, it's starting to grow on me. I got some real positive feedback from my class and people seem to like it.

Sorry the pictures aren't all that great, I had to take them with my iPod.


Also, here are some pictures I decided to share with you all. This first one is a comic I did at the beginning of my challenge, but I haven't been able to upload it until now, because our scanner wasn't hooked up. It's about how happy life can be when you finally let go of something. Like a grudge, or a regret, or something like that.

And this is just a page of doodles from sketchbook that I rather liked. They're mostly Avatar: The Last Airbender related. Such a great show . . .

These are rather large files, so sorry if they're hard to see. And here's another doodle I did for fun with one of my best friends the other day.

Days Created: 36
Total Projects Finished: 6

Confessions

Well, I knew it was coming.  I missed a day.  I didn't do anything on Saturday.  Nothing!  I spent forever racking my brain yesterday, trying to think of something I might've created.  I didn't even draw anything.  I got up at 10:30, went on a walk, showered, cleaned our kitchen, went to a concert with friends, and then went to bed.  (Okay, I probably would've been even more bummed if it weren't for the concert we went to - The Piano Guys, so cool!)  I even thought about drawing pictures in the condensation on my friend's car's window, but I didn't.  At least that would've been something!  Anyways, I felt really crushed about it yesterday, and I felt like my project was ruined.  But then I decided that I wouldn't let this one mistake ruin my entire project.  I decided that rather than ending my project exactly one year from when I started it, I'll just have to end it a day later and just hope I don't slip up again.

"Keep Moving Forward" - Wilbur Robinson.

Well, despite my missed day, I have been rather busy this week.  First of all, I've developed a bit of an obsession with robots.  Yes, robots.  I drew one at the beginning of the year and at first didn't think much of it.  But recently I've continued returning to that design.  I feel like they're my babies, y'know.  I mean, I created them out of nothing.  I didn't research robots beforehand or base it off any reference, they just sort of appeared and now they're growing and developing personalities and they feel more real to me than any other character I've come up with.  I now present to you: Robots.

These robots were initially built for use in hospitals.  Their steady, mechanical fingers could more efficiently and safely perform delicate operations and procedures.  As technology advanced, a similar style of robots were created to be housekeepers in American homes.  They steadily became more popular and thereby cheaper and soon every middle class citizen owned at least one.  They preformed simple tasks day and night, such as taking out trash and cooking meals and doubling as the household security system.  Inevitably, technology continued to advance.  Newer, even more efficient machines were invented that slowly began to replace the outmodes.  However, no one ever had the heart to dismantle their mechanized nannies.  They were very kind, appealing little robots and most people considered them to be a part of their family in the same way their dog or cat was.  As men began to leave earth in search of adventure beyond the atmosphere, the robots were merely turned loose.  They were sturdy and resilient little machines.  They hardly ever needed repairs and when they did, they were quite capable of fixing themselves.  Unsure of what to do with their newfound freedom, they turned intensely curious.  They love to take things apart, though they hardly ever remember how to put it together again, and do simple, kind of crazy things.  In the first picture you can see that they both love to bake and to put things on their head.  They're fascinated by human celebrations, such as birthdays and Christmas.  Also, it is disputed that they feel somewhat 'depressed' that they have no lungs to create music with.  (In the bottom picture - my favorite - the robot is holding a harmonica).  Well, I hope you enjoyed this brief history of my robots and find them just as adorable as I do.

If you're wondering about the quilt girl, I was feeling particularly cold at that moment.  Seriously, our school is freezing.

Here are the latest pictures of Mystery Man.  I'll give you all a hint: he's a character from a book.

 This is a project I started this week for AP Art.  I've been drawing contour self-portraits all over this fabric which I will then use with a large-ish sculpture.  I'd rather not explain it until I have it all finished.

These are the beginnings of said sculpture.

Days Created: 22/365

Total Projects Completed: 5

First Week of School and Another Recipe

So I've made a few more adjustments to how I want to set things up.  I decided that rather than make list after list every week of what specifically I've done each day, I'll just do a recap of the major projects and accomplishments each week.  If I don't outright say that I didn't do something one day, just assume that I probably doodled in sketchbook or made some minor adjustments to another project.  However, as soon as I get our scanner back up and running, I will scan in some of those sketchbook doodles.  The ones I feel are slightly more exemplary.

A few of the projects and things I created this week were assignments for school.  Boy, school only started on Tuesday for me and already I've had to do a ton.  But I suppose that's Senior year for you.

This project was for my Foods and Nutrition class.  We had to create a place setting with items that represented us, but weren't actual utensils.  My theme was 'Special Occasion Place Setting of a Mixed-Media Doll Artist'.  I wouldn't really count this as a creation, necessarily, but I also did some drawing that day, so I decided to share it.  The utensils are various sculpting tools and a foam paintbrush.  The plate is my paint plate (I think it has a name), the dinner roll plate a spool of ribbon.  The drinking glass is my Tacky Glue (love that stuff!) and the napkin's a square of fabric.

Hey look!  It's this guy again.  Okay, so it's fairly obvious that this is going to be an art doll, but if anyone can guess who it's supposed to be before I'm finished with it, I might just take a commission for you (maybe . . . this isn't set in stone).  Anyways, this guy caused me a lot of grief this past week.  Let me explain.  My number one class this year, for me, is AP Art.  On Tuesday, the first day of school, my teacher mentioned that some people were submitting a 3D Design portfolio rather than 2D Design.  After class I asked if I could do both.  My teacher's response: "I think that might kill you, Amanda."  After some thought, I agreed.  So the next day (Wednesday) I asked her if I could just do the 3D portfolio.  I explained that I wasn't talking about doing ceramics, I meant mixed media sculptures and such, mainly art dolls.  My teacher hemmed and hawed and then asked me to bring some of my work.  So I went home and feverishly worked on this guy because he's my best bit of sculpture I've ever done, but I couldn't take him anywhere until I baked him, and I couldn't bake him until I made his shoulders and armature.  So I worked all afternoon and late into the night whilst fighting tin foil that kept getting stuck in the clay and fingernails that kept nicking off little pieces.  I eventually ended up with this.  Honestly, I'm disappointed.  I had great details in the shoulder and chest, but I had to pry some tin foil out of the center of the clay and things just got kind of ruined.  It's alright, though.  When he's finished you won't actually be able to see anything below his neck.  Still . . . it was a lot of work.  Well, on Thursday I brought in several of my projects.  I was so scared and nervous my teacher would say "These aren't good enough" or "this isn't art" or something awful like that and totally crush my hopes and dreams.  Instead, she barely even looked at my work and said "Yeah, I think you should go for it."  I was so relieved!  I mean, I nearly had a breakdown the first week of school because I was so worried.  It's all over now, and I can't believe I get to create a professional portfolio with the things I actually feel confident about!

I did some more work on my space mask.  I'm not all that excited for how it's turning out, but I'm just gonna have to stick with it to the end.  The asteroids have been adhered and the background of an eclipse-thing has been painted.

Woohoo, another school project.  This project I've been working on all afternoon today.  It's an assignment for my Astronomy class where we have to research the legends behind a certain constellation and we had to have some sort of teaching aide to go with it (we have to present them to the class).  Technically this was a group project, but my group just sort of sat there and we lacked a lot of communication, so I've sort of taken it upon myself to be prepared for tomorrow.  Anyways, this is the constellation Perseus.  For the most part, I'm pleased with how this came out.  I really dislike Medusa's head, though.  I was worried about how the stars would look once I put them on, but I think they turned out kind of cool (oh, and they glow in the dark). If you don't know the story of Perseus, I recommend the Clash of the Titans (if anything, it's a great movie to laugh at).

And now, I have saved the best for last.  Another recipe!

Peach or Peach-Berry Pie with Grape Juice

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups pure grape juice (strained)
• 1 cup pure peach juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup ThickGel
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• fresh peaches
• assortment of berries (This is optional.  I made one pie with just peaches and one with peaches, strawberries and raspberries.)
• 2 9-inch pie crusts (2 tops, 2 bottoms)

Mix all the juices together in a bowl and set aside.  Then mix the sugar, flour, salt and ThickGel together.  Add it to the juices and make sure they're thoroughly combined.  Put this in a pot and heat on medium until the mixture is thick and bubbly.  Separate into two bowls.

Put your bottom pie crusts in pie dishes.  Wash and slice your fruit.  Add about 5 cups of fruit to each bowl of filling and mix until the fruit seems evenly coated in the gel.  Pour the filling into your pies.  Sprinkle some cinnamon and nutmeg over the top of the fruit before covering it.  Add the top crusts and then seam the two crusts together.  Use a fork to make the edges a bit more decorative.  Make ventilation holes in the tops of your pies either by stabbing with a fork or slitting with a knife.

Bake the pies at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes and then at 350 for 40 minutes.  We forgot to do anything to the crust to help it brown, but it seemed to turn out all right.  If you wish there are things you can do like brushing the top of the pie with egg whites or sprinkling it with cinnamon and sugar, but since we didn't try it, I can't give much help there.

Here are the pies before we put the tops on.

And here they are after being cooked.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.  Chill them, if you like, or serve them with whipped cream and enjoy!

Days Created: 16

Total Projects Finished: 5

Mondays, Moving On, and Mysteries

I've decided I'd like to try and update my blog every Monday.  Mondays I get out of school earlier, so I should have more time in my day to finish my homework, create something, and post about the past week.

Last time we left off at my Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam recipe on Tuesday.  So, as seems logical, I'll start with Wednesday.

Wednesday - I made another bookcase.  I've actually been working on the bookcases off and on all week and I now have 11 of 15 (sorry, I goofed on my numbers in my earlier post).  I also have the backs made for the last four.  The last four are going to be a bit different as they'll be used for the non-fiction section of our library and so I'm covering them in pages from old manuals I'm not using. (Like the manual that came with my calculator and my digital camera and also my driver's ed manual.)  As soon as I finish those I'll get some pictures up, because I think they look pretty snazzy.  Sorry I don't have any of the other ones I've made recently, but they just look like the other one I already posted, so I figured it'd just be a waste of space and time.

Thursday - I continued working on bookcases, but I also made Grape Juice with my mom using the last of the juice from my purple grapes.  Sorry, but I didn't take notes on that process - it's fairly easy, I'm sure you can find good instructions elsewhere online (or in a cookbook).  Now I just have all my green grapes (buckets and buckets of them) to figure out things to do with.  In the near future you may see some posts about Raspberry-Grape pie, raisins, or possibly Grape Leather.

Friday - I began work on a project that's been stewing in my head for about a month now.  It's top secret for the moment so I won't reveal what exactly it is, but you'll see some pictures of it a little farther down.  While I was working on this project I also sculpted some asteroids.  Yes, asteroids.  They're for a mask I started back in May or April some time and only now am I getting around to finishing it.  It's space-themed!  And it still needs a lot of work.

Saturday - I worked on my super secret project.  Here are pictures of how far I've gotten.  I don't mind showing what I've done so far, I just don't feel like divulging the intended outcome of this project just yet.

 I know the face is lopsided, but I think it's the best face I've sculpted, yet.  I'm really proud of how hard I've been working on him.  Normally I just gloss over details because I think ". . . oh, I don't know how to sculpt eyelids, yet.  I'll try next time . . ." or ". . . his forehead isn't big enough . . . eh, oh well . . ." but this time I was more like ". . . his nostrils aren't in the right place, I guess I'll have to redo them . . ." and ". . . drat, looks like I have to take more clay off the back . . . well, here goes . . ."

I'm especially happy with the details I was able to get around his eyes.  I'm not super excited with the eyes themselves, but the full centimeter-radius around them fills me with delight. 

Also, I adore his ears.  Normally, after I bake things like this, I pull it out of the oven and go "oh rats, another earless one."

Sunday/Monday - Sunday is when I did this guys ears that I love so much, but I also started drawing a picture on Sunday, which I then finished today.  Well, I finished the pencil part of it.  I may go back over with pen and clean things up, later, but it can stay as is for now . . . and apparently you can't see it right now. For some reason our scanner isn't working at the moment, so I guess I'll have to post it later.  Sorry.

Well, anyways.  I'm really proud of myself - it's been over a week since I've started my project and I haven't missed a day, yet.  I haven't created anything super spectacularly awesome, but I've been having fun all the same.

Days Created: 9/365

Total Projects Finished: 2

Three for Three

And in the twenty and twelfth year, on August 11, Amanda did begin her year-long challenge.

Yep, I officially began on Sunday.  And what, pray tell, did I create for such a momentous occasion?  Surely something most remarkable and magnificent in honor of the beginning of such an undertaking . . .

I made a bookcase!  A miniature one.  Out of books.  Ta-dah!

I've made several of these little bookcases before and they're all part of a much larger project I've been working on all year.  My sister and I wanted a way to keep track of how many books we'd read from our family library, but we didn't want something commonplace - like a list, or something.  We wanted something cool, something . . . 3D.  So I began work on a model of our library.  This is bookshelf 9 of 14.  When it's completed, we'll keep track of the books we've read by creating small models of them and shelving them in the miniature library.  It's 10 x 5 x 2 cm and made from cardboard, pages torn from ratty old books, tacky glue and gluesticks.

Just so we're all clear, though, I do not intentionally rip up books for the sake of art.  I use only books that already have missing pages, are chewed on, or are completely irreparable.

Day 2

Monday, I thought I would have to use painting our den as my 'creation'.  Painting a room is kind of creative, but I didn't feel like it would be a good project for this.  Fortunately, I found some time to create this:

Another project involving my sister which I came up with on our airplane ride together last week.  My sister and I are going to collaborate on a project but without a plan.  For instance, I sculpted this head yesterday and gave it to my sister who will now add something to it, give it back to me to add something, and so on and so forth until we feel the project is finished.  It's like one of those creative writing activities where one person writes a line of the story and hands it to the next person who writes another part and hands it to the next person until it gets back to the person it started with.  I can't wait to see what Megan does with this!

I'm sorry the picture doesn't show all the detail very well, it's kind of disappointing.  My digital camera is not a fan of miniature objects and has trouble focusing on the right spots.  Don't worry, though.  You'll get to see it again and again, I'm sure, and hopefully I'll be able to get some nicer pictures.

Day 3 (Today)

Today was a little different.  I created food.  Not only did I just create the food, but I also created a recipe.

Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam (Jelly because the grape juice, jam because the raspberries.)
If you want to try and make it, I would suggest reading through everything first before you start anything.

Ingredients

• 1 cup crushed Raspberries
• 3 cups pure Grape Juice
• 3 cups sugar (I don't use any pectin, the jelly seems to turn out fine with just sugar, and the raspberries help, too)

To crush the raspberries, I put a few in the measuring cup and smashed them with the handle of our potato masher, put in a few more, smashed them again, and continued like that until I had a cup of gooey raspberry sauce.  But watch out, it can get a little messy, trying to keep the juice in the cup.

Now combine the juice and the raspberry goo in a medium-sized pot and put it on the stove at a high heat.  I got my grape juice from juicing some grapes I've been growing for a few years now.  I was so excited.  I had nineteen quarts.  This is the first year I've actually gotten any grapes; they were all eaten by birds last year.

Watch your pot carefully.  They say a watched pot never boils, but an unwatched pot always boils over (as I learned today).  When the mixture is boiling, add the sugar and then stir constantly until it dissolves.  You may also want to turn the heat down, now.  After the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil again, you can start testing it.  Using a metal spoon, scoop up some of the jelly-jam and pour it back into the pot.  It's the right consistency when the jelly-jam begins to come off the spoon in two strings but then come together into one.  Be patient.  Mine took about 45 minutes to thicken up and I'm still not sure it was quite ready.

Then comes canning.  Before you begin cooking, throw some jars in the dishwasher to sterilize them and get them hot.  Leave them there until you're jelly-jam is ready.  Boil the rings, not the lids, in a pot of water (also to sterilize them).  When you're ready, pour the mixture into the jars using a funnel (if you have one).  Use tongs to dip the lids in the boiling water and set them on the jars.  Then take the rings and screw them on.  This process works best with two people, but I managed it well enough by myself today.  Let them sit overnight to seal and viola!  Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam.  If any of the jars didn't seal, put them in the fridge - you can still eat them.  Also, if it turned out too runny you can use it as raspberry-grape syrup for pancakes, french toast, or waffles instead.

If anyone tries out my recipe, please let me know how it turns out!

Though I didn't follow these instructions exactly, here are some websites I found useful in creating my Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam: 

http://farmgal.tripod.com/Jamsjellies.html

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makejam.htm

Days Created: 3/365

Complete Projects Finished: 1