Goblins tell horrible time.

"The Goblin King's Pocket Watch" sculpted September 2013. Yes. I've been obsessed with Labyrinth since I was 5. Pretty sure it colored my whole life.....

Goblins tell horrible time - at least that is the excuse I'm using for not updating the blog as often as I should. As usual, it's been flat out madness around the studio, and it's only going to get revved up higher as the holiday season starts to rear its unfashionably early head.

"The Mermaid's Cradle" Sculpted August 2013

 Normally, I would have a couple of new faeries to share by now, but it's been the year of custom orders for The Silver Branch, and very little time for the work I dream up on my own. I think I'm going to start changing that and making my own dreams a priority once again - cutting back custom orders to a quota per month. Since Branwen, I have really only made one larger sculpture to submit for your entertainment - this new mermaid, The Mermaid's Cradle

 

Checking on the baby... being part fish, I think mermaid babies should be called fry?

So tiny and cute.

The mermaid mother's tail is inspired by the black and white plecostomus.

(Sorry for the random formatting - sometimes I just can't get blogger to put the photos where I want them because of my page format.) So! I still have  - I think, so far - six more shows before the New Year. I'm hoping to have a special "Steampunk Faery" ready in time for the Milford Great Pumpkin Festival in October. I'll be sure to share her here when I do. In the meanwhile, I am trying to get a gaggle of pocket goblins, pumpkin gnomes and sgnome-men, and grumpy faced mushrooms ready for next weekend when I will be at the Canterbury Shaker Artisan Festival. And then there's Grotonfest the weekend after.... oh dear.... *runs away to sculpt some more*

wedding gnomes - this is just a few out of  177 to be exact

okay - not a sculpture. But this is a frequent visitor to my studio gardens and worth sharing with my friends - it's a Hummingbird MOTH. How cool and twisted and fae is that?!

So busy I forgot to notice!

"Ilyana and the Enchanted Koi" - Hand sculpted without molds - January 2012

Things have been insane lately. I expected that after the holiday season, I'd have a dead spell and wonder what to do with myself. I certainly wasn't looking forward to it financially, but I almost think I wanted it just so I could catch up with everything I sold in the shows and festivals I attended last season. Not happening!

"Goblin Chess" - January 2012

He's cheating!

I've been really busy prowling about looking for leads for shows, festivals and shops which would like my creations. This is a hard process when you're relatively solitary like I am. Social networking is key in this game and has never been my forte. I find myself in a muddle trying to remember names and locations and dates and applications. And who do I talk to in order to find out who I talk to? I'm sure it'll come to me... what's her name again? What's my name?? Let's start over.

Faery Baby #30! She's at The Garden Party

January marked the second year The Silver Branch has been in business! This second year I'm still looking to do shows and festivals, but I'm also going to focus a lot in the spring and summer on getting my faery babies, Green Girl boxes and jewelry into shops and boutiques. Today, I started selling my faery babies at two shops that I wouldn't have thought to sell at. One is called The Garden Party. It's a floral boutique located on the oval of Milford, NH (263 Union Square). Look them up on facebook! Eileen keeps a lovely shop with lots of amazing flowers and local artisan gifts. The other shop is Here Today Emporium - an antique shop (primarily, she also sells greeting cards, bath and body stuff and .... my babies!) located on Main St in Wilton NH.

I'm also trying to expand - a hard thing to do with my tiny little working studio (I'm grateful for it, don't misunderstand that for a moment!). I've been throwing children's birthday party workshops and classes on everything from how to sculpt dragons to how to make polymer clay sushi.

Happy Birthday Madeleine! The whole party made awesome gnomes!

The Atkins Family in gnome form

My gnomes are really expanding in variety. I get so many custom orders for these cute little guys! My favorite order was to a family in Australia who wanted themselves depicted in tiny garden gnome fashion.

Other creations from the past 2 months include....

I hand blended 3 colors of viscose to make Ilyana's braided hair.

"The Faery Tree" complete with door in roots, glass leaves and good listening skills.

Sushi Ring! Leftover from teaching sushi caning.