Beyond Natty Boots

"Well, even the brightest star won't shine forever.

But, all of the hands I've played are working out right.

And, every move I've made feels like a winner.

There's something in the air.

Maybe for the only time in my life,

Something in the air

Turning me around and guiding me right.

- Alan Parson's Project

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"Ohmygod." That's all I could say when I opened the package. Originating in Korea, I missed snagging these magnificent 'Orchidworthy' boots for Orchid when they were in Colorado. Finally, after many hours and months of chasing: they were shipped out from Arkansas.

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The work on them is simply incredible. Pictures truly do not do them justice. They are comprised of a multitude of tiny individually stitched straps laced with a fine silver chain. Even the shine on the high, unusually sculpted sole is better in person.

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In the photo, Orchid is wearing her new 'skull leggings' which I made for her in anticipation of the wonderful present which A.D. has promised her: a new coat sporting genuine bone skulls. One needs matching pants for such a coat, don't you think?

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Nine

We're taking it one hump at a time.

The three of us have been working diligently, painstakingly, arduously on the limited artist edition of Nine. We are on track and we expect to have the 'artist proofs', of which we have planned four figures, to be completed by mid-September. OurThird has complete control over the resin casting and plans to produce Nine in a variety of colors. What the color 'proofs' will prove to be will be a surprise even for A.D. and myself.

Carmilla Bah Bah Bah Bare

Ahhhhh; now to sort that out.

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"Carmilla" was written in 1872 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Predating "Dracula", "Carmilla" not only influenced Bram Stoker in the writing of "Dracula", "Carmilla" is simply one of the best, most seminal, stories in all vampire literature.

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" 'Carmilla' deals openly, using both subtlety and gruesomeness, with the sexual content of the vampire myth. IT provides unforgettably chilling scenes and compels the reader to return again and again to its mysteries. In 1970 it was filmed as 'The Vampire Lovers', but thee is nothing quite like Le Fanu's 'Carmilla' itself." - Alan Ryan

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The character Carmilla was a master at hiding in plain sight; often, for excellent reasons, she flat out refused to answer any prying questions regarding her past. Inquiries to Carmilla were met with memorable, ponderable, blatantly blossomy prose. "You were quite right to ask me that, or anything. You do not know how dear you are to me, or you could not think any confidence too great to look for. But I am under vows, no nun half so awfully, and I dare not tell my story yet, even to you. The time is very near when you shall know everything. You will think me cruel, very selfish, but love is always selfish; the more ardent the more selfish. How jealous I am you cannot know. You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me, and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature." I find that to be an excellent response to nosey individuals.

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Many of you have asked to see pictures of my 'sheep'. Bah Bah who has all his fur, and Bah Bare who has none, are two of them. One of the smaller varieties of my 'puppets', they are tiny enough to fit in a pocket and still large enough to dress or dance around. I hope to have sheep available for November.

Sweet Days of Summer

"The jasmine's in bloom

July is dressed up

and playing her tune.

I come home

from a hard day's work

and you're waiting there.

Not a care in the world."

- Seals and Crofts

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This summer finds us completely engrossed in characterization. Seemingly endless daydream-like discussions coalesce into a sketch; lines form the boundaries of a figure. After literally endless hours, I can say endless because the hours haven't ended yet, the sketch turns to form. Body will soon, with a little forcing, and cajoling and coercing, meet soul.

It's been a long time, another hard go; we've been working on a million things at once. The 'final' original, to the left, was thoughtfully provided and beautifully rendered by A.D.; I have gotten permission of theMomma to share it with you. I say the pants are jeans; A.D. had something more European in mind.

Since he'll wear the pants in the family, I guess they can be whatever he wants.

Shibumi

Lately, for a variety of excellent reasons, we've been engrossed in discussions regarding: What constitutes the perfect man? Skills? Looks? Brains? Stature? Physique? Do clothes make the man or do they hide the flaws?

It's also the height summer, a time of increased leisure reading. I've been asked numerous times: Can you recommend a book?

Therefore, what could be more appropriate this particular summer than a book featuring 'the perfect man'?

Trevanian wrote "Shibumi" in 1979. It took me several years before I happened upon a hardcover First Edition. Prior to that I'd read "Shibumi" more than once, which is unusual for me, and I'd bought every paperback that I chanced upon at garage sales as presents to pass to 'reading friends'. The paperbacks' covers tout five million(?) eleven million(?) TWENTY million(??) copies sold; my husband regularly accused me of buying all twenty(??) million copies.

From the dust jacket:
"In Nicolai Hel, Trevanian has created the perfect assassin for our times: a man wrought out of the crucible of war and devastation. Brought up in China by his aristocratic Russian mother, he found strength and education in the arms of his Japanese warrior foster father, who instilled in him the determination to attain shibumi. Shibumi is a word like charisma. Literally, shibumi means the essence of beauty. But by extension it has come to mean a rare kind of personal excellence.

"Nicholai Hel is taught by the Japanese devastation of China and the American devastation of Japan during World War II an ineradicable loathing fro political killing. But it is killing to which he turns, using his nearly superhuman mental and physical prowess to destroy political terrorists - from the PLO to the CIA.

"...ranging through the subterranean caves of the Basque country to the elegant manor houses of Britain, he demonstrates why he is considered the world's most dangerous man."

The hauteur and perfection of Nicolai Hel has never failed to intrigue me. He even lives in an awesome house. This is a book or all of the guys out there who enjoy our work, and who work along beside us. Nicolai Hel might be a ladies' man, but this is not a ladies' book.

Vampire Loves

Vampire Loves is another hysterical French treasure by comic artist Joann Sfar. Translated to English with Sfar's original quirky illustrations, one experiences the dating scene from the standpoint of a shy polite vampire.

If you double-click the images, the larger resolution may allow you to read enough to see what you are missing if you have not experienced the glories Sfar's humor; hurtyourface laughoutloud funny.

The Professor's Daughter

Written by Joann Sfar and translated from French into English, the Professor's Daughter is a graphic novel which depicts the madcap Victorian love affair between a Professor's daughter and the mummy from her father's Egyptology collection whom she adores. Marvelous, original, and utterly delightful.

In the photograph is Rodin by teddy bear artist J.Wells. Rodin is caramel mohair he is wearing one of my "Bear Collars". Rodin is actually a tailless rat as opposed to an actual teddy bear. I loved him instantly.