Sep 07
This is another example of the plaster mold. When I made the molds of the keys and keyholes in plaster, I used the wax positives I’d crafted with paraffin and the two-part soft silicone molds. To get the wax out of the plaster, I baked them inverted in a craft oven over a pad of …
Aug 31
Here you can see both the background text (made with a rubber stamp, highlighted with iron oxide after bisqued) and the sprig. I wanted to make sprigs of keys and keyholes, for a steampunk theme (goes with the text. Don’t ask, in my mind they go well together. Garth Nix will back me up here.) …
Aug 17
The clay I used this session was a mixture of leftover clay and some new bags that I bought from an artstore that is (sadly) going out of business. This Amador is lovely unglazed, but it turns this iron-speckled grey when it has clear on it. The clear also obscures some of the detail from …
Aug 10
I haven’t done a lot of artwork in the past three months except work on my book covers and create postcards. Just finished a pottery class though, and I got some of my pieces from the kiln. I made a mold of some of Tim Holz’s keyholes (and a few antique ones) and used them …
Apr 09
The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody I really enjoyed Matthew Cody’s first book, POWERLESS, so I was delighted when a copy of Cody’s latest MG fantasy THE UNDEAD GENTLEMAN arrived in the mail. Unabashedly steampunk, this novel throws steampunk elements at the reader like a magician flinging cards. Submarines! Goggles! Mechanical birds! Time travel! One …
