Huggy Buggy... Huggy Wuggy... The Huggy Buggy Monster

At last the huggy buggy monsters have arrived

Huggy Buggy Huggy Wuggy Huggy Buggy Huggy Wuggy

This little Huggy Wuggy REALLY wants a BIG HUG. After all, with arms like his, that's what he was born for.

He does have part Kissy Wissy Monster in his lineage. His great grandfather on his mother's side

I love BIG HUG. He has the cutest face in the this new bunch of Huggy Buggies. He is 11 cms tall (just over 4 1/4 inches). He has patchy green skin with a crackle glaze over the surface, lovely deep red shoes, pretty pink lips and big brown eyes

O.K., So who are the Huggy Buggies?
Ever since my little girl could walk and talk, (that's a few years now, since she's 10 years old) the Huggy Buggies have been our friends and when they turn up they ALWAYS get a hug.

This series of Huggy Buggies are ceramic. They are made from Earthenware. BIG HUG has been decorated with underglazes in the greenware stage. He has then been bisque fired. After clear glazing he was fired again.

This guy used to be for sale on my etsy site, but I just couldn't bring myself to part with him, or any of the other huggy buggy monsters for that matter . . . . . .

Maybe when I've filled the house with them, I'll part with a few but I doubt it. I'll put on more pics of other Huggy Buggies soon

:0)


P.S. For those who are wondering about the dragon, I took a couple of pics since he was fired, but he still looks pretty similiar to the last lot of pics. I'll take more photos in the next stage when he gets his wings and a paint job, but that probably won't be until after Christmas, since I'll be VERY BUSY 'till then with the City Farm Art Market, It'll be on every Saturday in December - Please feel free to drop by and say hi

Aaaaaaaaagh He's Survived Being Fired

At long last. . . .
I had the joy of opening the kiln today to see my magnificent dragon all fired up
HOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAY

Now there is the joyous task of transportation home

And the VERY time consuming task of making his magnificent wire wings

There are a couple of small cracks in some horns, but it's nothing that can't be patched before painting

I'm thinking silver?

Keep Smiling

More pics as they come to hand

Dragon Update

He's finally heating up . . .
The kiln has been turned on low for a long slow firing
It'll be turned up high early next week and will be out by around Wednesday of Thursday
I'll put the pics on as soon as he's done

Etsy Meet Up

It was a nice little group that meet up in Perth last weekend. On the left hand side in the left hand photo is my beautiful and talented daughter, Bethra - keep an eye out on my etsy shop for her listings soon. In the right hand photo on the left hand side is me - Holly Courtney














Second from the left in both is Sandy from Auntyevil - http://www.auntyevil.etsy.com
Next up is Feli from AbsoluteFeli - http://www.absolutfeli.etsy.com
And on the right is Pam from Get Silvered - http://www.GetSilvered.etsy.com

We originally meet at the moon cafe but opted for more light and less music down the road at Icey Ice. In a very short time we whiled away a good couple of hours chatting and sharing ideas - much to inspire . It was unfortunate that the trains and other commitments kept a few away but I very much enjoyed meeting in a smaller group with my poor hearing I missed much at the previous meet up.

Looking forward to catching up again soon.

Keep Smiling

Holly

He's in the kiln!!!

At last! My dragon is in the kiln. It was decided it was best to move him whilst still wet and leave him in the kiln to dry out slowly before firing. Gee I look really worried in the last picture don't I? I am not worried yet - that will happen when the kiln is turned on in a week or two!

My Pretty "house work"

These pictures were taken just before Christmas last year (as you can tell by the date on them!)

The first 3 pictures are from our dining room. I took a 5cm (2 inch) paint scraper and hand rendered all 3 walls. This took . . . well a VERY long time. After it was rendered, it was painted a very nice metallic purple. The divider between the lounge room and dining room was originally exposed brick. This was cement rendered and then painted the same as the largest wall in the lounge with suede paint effects.

After spending a large amount of 2006 making things pretty, we will soon be selling our little house. It will most likely be purchased by a developer and be smashed to pieces so that they can build a triplex on this rather large block. Boo Hoo.

Well I guess I will have to start planning the rather spectacular finishes for our new home
:0)

The Huggy Buggy Monsters are Coming. . . . .

Beware!!!
The Huggy Buggy monsters are coming . . . . .
Huggy Buggy Huggy Buggy Huggy Buggy
. . . . . . . . . .
Stay tuned for more information . . . . .

Oops

Well I forgot to take my camera with me on Friday.
I will have to take pics on Monday now.
:0)

Good News - Dragon is Done

Good news. . .
My dragon is finally finished(well the making in clay part is) and he survived being transported into a kiln.
Now he'll sit and slowly dry out for a couple of weeks before he is fired.
It will definately be a sleepless night the night the kiln is fired up!
I haven't taken a pic again - will try to remember to take my camera in tomorrow.
Of course I am trying very very very hard to not be attached to a positve outcome - I've heard far too many horror stories about disasters in firing.
If he does come out all pretty, he'll need his wire wings made - that will take another small eternity. sigh. . .
I know it will all be worth it in the end

Happy Birthday Wayne!!! :0) The big 40

A great time was had by all on Saturday night when Wayne, my dearest hubbie celebrated his 40th Birthday. Unfortunately I was a little busy playing host to remember to get the camera out until the birthday cake.

I set up a space with a large piece of cardboard and some paints in front of it for everyone to get artistic and paint their birthday wishes. It turned out quite good. It measures 1.2 metres x 2 metres.

Keep Smiling
Holly

Doggie Picture

This time I thought I would include the original photo I used for the drawing.

A Few Drawings . . .

Here's a few pics of drawings I've done for presents recently, unfortunately they don't look as good scanned in as they do in real life. . .

PICTURES!!!

I am not really in a very chatty mood right now, (very unlike me really)
so here's some pics of our family cats.
The ginger & white one is called Kenny (a.k.a. Woogie)
The black & white one is Missy

More up to date Dragon Pics

Here's some of the latest work in progress pics of my dragon

Dragon going well

Sooooo. . . .
After a day of crying when my Dragon went splat, I started again. . . .
He's going well and is nearly finished . . . . .again
Here's some pics
the first pic, he's called Squish, for obvious reasons!
(he's the head from the first time around)
The second pic is mark 2 - I am not giving him a name in case something else happens.
I'll name him if he survives, when he comes out of the kiln for the last time!
These pictures are about 2 weeks old, he's progressed more since these were taken, I'll post more up to date pics soon
'till next time. . . .
Keep Smiling

I feel sooo old

Computers make me feel ancient.
There is soooo much to learn and understand, and they've proven that the older you get, the less your brain is wired to learn new stuff.
Today I just had my very first lesson in photoshop and boy do I feel stupid.
Thank goodness the group I was learning with had a few other oldies in it.
At 39 years old, I think mine was the last generation to grow up without a computer.
I remember my dad having a computer in his office that took up half a room - now you have 10 times as much memory in a ipod shuffle (probably more)

Back on the horse, well back on the dragon

Well I had my day of crying and then I started again.
I know now to take photos on the way up to finish :0)
I am sure he will be as pretty as ever, it just make take another month or so. . .

Hoo ray I worked out something new!

Wow - I just worked out how to add pictures - yaheee
Now I can add lots of lovely things, but not today, still feeling sulky after yesterday's heartbreak

Heartbreak

Here's a story most artists will have encountered.
I spent most of yesterday crying.
I went into the studio yesterday morning to find the sculpture that had taken approx 300 hours & was close to complete collapsed on the floor.
It was a clay piece. I had been working with clay that was too soft, walls that were too think - well I am sure you can picture it, if you know much about clay work.
He was a magnificent dragon. The worst thing was I hadn't taken any photos. When this sort of thing happens you wish you had proof - look at all the hard work I did, the piece didn't work out but I did make it see my picture.
I spent a lot of time hearing the horror stories of others yesterday - they're like war wounds and I think every artist carries at least one. It's my first big one & I hope my last, but I'm sure that since I love working with clay it probably won't be the last!!

Starting Out!!!

???
Hello and welcome.
I have absolutely no idea what I am doing here.
Please be patient with me & drop by again occasionly.
I do hope this blog will improve as I learn more and find out what I can do.