Glass or wax?

Dee isn’t only a client, she’s also an artist and designer herself.  She’s crafted and  sent me some BADASS glass skull beads.

These little f’kers are so cool- the pics don’t really do them justice.  Dee makes these in her shop.  She hasn’t put together an official online shop yet, but that might be in the future.  Who knows?

Pretty freakin’ cool.

I’ve been working on….yeah, more wax.  I’ve got a batch of little silver fellas coming out soon for a few clients, but most of my time right now has been spent making a cool realistic skull pendant for Benny.  These take a LONG time to put together and Benny’s been very patient.  I even screwed it up, cutting too much wax off the forehead in order to fit the symbol and had to re-build it.  (Thus two colors of wax….)

 

This is designed as one of those slider pendants where the chain runs right through the middle of it.  I’ve done a number of these and I think everyone knows I’m a big fan of this kind of mechanism.  It’s much more modern and less disco than a big roundish pendant hanging BELOW a chain.

More waxing.

Another waxy post…..

More progress on Desmond’s sugar skull.   We’ve got our design rocking on the forehead now – the sunbursts around the eyes finished as well.  Next up is some floral carving around the shank.  Onward we go…

 

I’ve also got a finished Sugar Cat.

 

LAST but certainly not least, I’m getting closer to finishing up Marx’s custom skulls.

His skull is nearly done, except for the teeth and the question of the jaw.

 

Marx is thinking NO BOTTOM JAW – leave it like it is.  He’s probably right…but I’ve gotta at least block out where the jaw WOULD be so Marx can check it out before putting his final stamp of approval on this sucker.

 

 

That’s about how much more mass we’d be adding if we go for the jaw.  Ignore where the teeth are blocked out.  This might make the ring just too big for this order.  I’m torn.

What I’m not conflicted about the ring for Marx’s wife.

 

 

 

That’s a Little Voodoo with a custom sunburst theme.  This bad boy is finished pending notes from Marx.

More to come soon.  Stay tuned!

Skull on a string, Skull without eyes, Skull with stripes…

I’ve finished an awesome collaborative piece with Jason over at the Custom Mala Shop.  I carved up a sugar skull guru bead for a client and designed a dark wood and turquoise bracelet which Jason has expertly fabricated on thick Chinese knotting chord.

It’s always a pleasure to work with Jason.  I do custom beads like this for him on a regular basis, so if your’e into it, order from his website at http://www.custommalashop.com

I had a shit-ton of work waiting for me state-side as you can see.  In addition to all of my standard orders, I have a slew of custom stuff that I’m hacking up.  Yeah, I’m covered in wax. My snot is blue.

I’m still working on that special client’s sugar cat.  Wrapping the ornamentation around the shank of this Mystery Cave frame.  I should be done with her by the weekend.

No rest for the weary.  Part of it’s my own fault.  See, I made a custom ring a while back featuring a Taotie demon (Eater of Men) from ancient Chinese mythology.  It’s a one-of-a-kind piece, but I had to make myself a slightly different version of it.

It’s proportioned differently than the original, but like the original it wraps all the way around the finger, mirroring the mask on both sides.  See below.

There’s a lot of detail on this bad boy and it’s tough to make, but I can do this new version for 500 bucks if anyone else wants one.

Back to waxes.

So this is an eye-less version of the Big Voodoo with a bottom jaw added.  I’m creating this piece for artist Marx Myth along with a custom sugar-skull mini voodoo for his wife.  Making work like this for an artist like Marx is always intimidating so I’m really focusing on pushing the envelope here.

I actually got the idea for this from artist Jim Woodring and his book “Seeing Things.”  When I was given the opportunity to make something for Marx, this kind of style is exactly what I wanted to explore.

The eyes are taken out and I’ve cut a line from the nose up through the head.

Now I”m going to set one of the following stones in the forehead before adding the bottom jaw.  We’re going with one of the following:

   

Circular or an oval?  Right now, Marx and I are thinking “oval” but we need to make sure that’s the way to go before I set it.

I’m also working on a Stars and Stripes King Skull for Chuck.

I have stripes coming off of one side of the forehead, stars on the other.  They meet in the back.

Call it a concept piece, but I think it’s cool.  Chuck will have to weigh in on this and let me know how we’re doing.

I’m also inking out a new sugar skull for Desmond.  More on this later……