Back...

Ok, so things have been busy and I've been gone for quite a while.  Here are some things I've been up to in the in between time...Started teaching Kindergarten at a montessori school.  Our main focus for the summer was SCIENCE! and it just happened that the first KC Maker Faire was this summer too.  So in anticipation for it we tore apart many unused and non working electronics, learning how they functioned, and brought tons of "junk" from home to recycle and made a robot: 
He's completely non-functioning except for a "Twilight Zone" sound chip from an old greeting card but they LOVED him!

I started playing around with layered embroideries.  The idea is to embroider a little bit of a scene/image on each layer of tulle creating a dimensional aspect to the 2D work.  The first one I did was of the Crab Nebula and turned out decent for a test of concept.  Needs much more detailing though to be a good depiction of a nebula.

Photo of the Crab Nebula from NASA.

                                                  Layered embroider, 5 layers deep.

 Each layer was mapped out individually and then layered in between a section of the wooden frame.  I think for my next attempt I will do something much less complex.

Halloween.  Good old Halloween, time for the fun and stress of a completely different home-made costume than the years before.  In my daughter's class they have animals that begin with the same letter as their first name that help them recognize their coat hook, cubby, etc. Her animal is a Macaw so it seemed like a good costume idea.  After 9 hours of sleep total in 2 days (I'm great at budgeting time.) I completed a very successful Macaw costume:

 The feathers were cut out on each side of the wings differently, to match a real scarlet macaw's patterning.

 She also had a skirt with a "tail" on it.  The hood had eyes with embroidered pupils on it.  She loves to run around in it "flying"!

Lastly and the most recent project accomplished are my Apple Pie Pies. Hallowed out apples, chilled, and filled with warm apple pie filling and topped with pie crust stars:

I brought these as wells as peanut butter and chocolate dipped granny smith apples to all the Fall festivities.  Keep posted for pictures of all of my new giraffes I'm in the process of making as well as Christmas projects, gifts, etc.

preparation for birthday #1!

my daughter's FIRST birthday is this friday and her party is the 19th so i have TONS of work to do...so far i have the invitations and her "1" shirt for on her birthday and during the party done.

that's it- no crafts, cakes, cupcakes, decorations or anything else...so, let's see how much stuff i can make happen in a little more than a week!  here's a peek at the cake's i've made for the last two birthday parties i've thrown.  the first is for my friend eric who hadn't had a proper birthday party for far too long because his birthday is too close to a holiday.  so we decided to throw him the best party we could must up, all eric-centered.

I made a portrait of him in cake (details and more well-lit pictures of which can be found on my flicker- http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravystrudle/5475773402/in/set-72157626132784436/ ) My most recent birthday cake extraordinaire was for my husband- who is particularly fond of things that "go boom".  I made him a (fully functioning) ACME Bomb cake.  If you are interested you can see the full video of the cake in action as well as the after photo go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravystrudle/5475773772/in/set-72157626132784436/.  I can't wait for this extra special birthday party for my little girl.  Keep posted, I will update on what i've come up with for this fantastic event!

Edibles...

I have recently started to make sculptural cakes and cupcakes, trying to learn the techniques.  Here are a few of the delicious beauties I have made so far:

More photos can be found on my flicker ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravystrudle/ ) in the edibles set.  The first image is one of my Valentine's cupcakes with gumpaste flowers.  Working with gumpaste is not too bad, a lot like clay in some ways.  I had some problems with cracking but other than that they turned out pretty nice!

Here is the little cake I made for Valentine's Day.  It is a strawberry cake with chopped up strawberries inside and a fudge icing on the top.  Continuing the theme of strawberries I sliced a strawberry into thin slivers and made it into a rose- seen in the detail here.

The most recent edibles I have made were for a celebration of the Tibetan New Year last night.  This year is the year of the iron hare- hence the rabbits.  They are made of chocolate that I melted and piped on wax paper.  I'm looking forward to exploring this technique further to create some more intricate designs.  Keep an eye out for more edibles- I have St. Pat's, my daughter's birthday and MANY more special occasions calling for (or being an excuse for) fantastic looking and tasting treats.

Ragdoll

so, i am trying to make, make and make some more.  my daughter fell in love with a ragdoll that this little girl that we know has and so i decided to make her one.  no big deal, i can sew and sculpt. well, it was more involved than i originally anticipated but i think it turned out cute and was completely worth it since my daughter loves it.

i sewed and stuffed her body after embroidering the face.  then the fun began, starting on the clothing.  it's been a few years since i've made myself anything with sleeves (i generally make myself skirts with elastic or snaps) and i had forgotten how (annoyingly) difficult they can be.  let alone how difficult they might me for a doll less than a foot tall.  the rest of it was not as frustrating.  i hand tied each of the hair strands and for the leggings i dyed lace and wrapped it around her legs.  like i said, she love it.  it took her a few day though.  she saw it all naked and hairless when i first started on it and played with it for an entire day.  after i finished it and gave it to her she looked at it like, "what did you do to her?" that's the fun of children- "i'd rather play with a hairless, naked doll" is just like the old "i'd rather play with the box that the expensive toy came in" situation.  now that a few weeks have passed i'm thinking of making some more and putting them on my etsy store.  we'll see.  i'm busy photographing my sculptures to put up there tonight and tomorrow.  check it out come march!

hello all

Welcome to the blog of Ryan Bell.  A few things about me: I am the mother of a wonderful baby girl who I get to hang out with all day and fit in some art making or research too, if I can.   I love both creating art and art history.  I strive to constantly expand my knowledge of both.  Here I will share my creative endeavors in the hopes of inspiring others, get feedback and meet other creative individuals out there.  Check out my links to see my art/crafts and what's for sale in my etsy shop- all will be up in March 2011.