Enoch Thompson - Finished

Oh Nucky Thompson, you look so awesome.

Also, here's a Youtube slideshow:

 And another shot of it sans the LED love:

Elsa Cut Out

Elsa from Frozen is now cut out and painted front and back. Also, I have managed to paint and cut out a few other creatures for my other projects.

Enoch Thompson 3

The Nucky Thompson project is another one that involved much wiring for many LED lights. It took a few weeks for all the parts to arrive for us to complete this diorama. We shall post photos of the finished product very soon.

Frozen Elsa - Progress

Many of you who know me would know that I don't do princesses. But out of pure kindness of that which is my heart I'm doing this for Emma, our niece. So we can use it as a bait for her to listen to the grownups!

I've never watched Frozen because I hear it's all about princesses. But Emma loves this Elsa character. So this is going to be a paper doll set. With a flat wooden doll.

Ghostbusters Ecto 1 Diorama - Videos and Animations

Since this diorama is an interactive piece, I thought I'd post a video of how it works and looks. We only have a very ancient camera that has video settings, so excuse the awful quality of the video.

I am also uploading gif animations of the diorama. Here you can really see the "interior" of the car.

In the Youtube video, it looks like it says "Poo" on the inside of the door. I feel obligated to mention that it says "Boo". Not "Poo".

Ecto1 - FINISHED!

Holy crap. It's finally finished. Man, that was a lot of work!! My back hurts like hell and my throat hurts from all the super glue fume. But look at it. It looks pretty awesome! Totally worth all the work.

Gaze upon the interior surprise! Boo!

Will be posting more photos tomorrow. For now, I need sleep. And Candy Crush.

Ecto1 - Almost Finished

This diorama of Ecto 1, the Ghostbusters' amazing Cadillac is starting to look pretty good. There will be a lot of cables here and there, so it'll be yet another challenge to figure out how to hide them all. But all we have to do now is groom the frame (sand, apply wood putty, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand and paint), install the LED lights, the switch and the battery, and glue everything in its place. Pretty close to the finishing line, I do declare!

Check out the progress photos.

Enoch Thompson 2

Dan's Enoch Thompson in color. Did we mention that we love Boardwalk Empire?

Ecto1 - Slimer WIP

This little Slimer is designed and drawn by Dan. It's been a challenge to figure out the right amount of UV paint to put on it so this isn't the only thing that pops out of the Ghostbusters diorama.

Enoch Thompson 1

Play Boardwalk Empire theme song here. And please, no spoilers! We haven't watched the last season yet.

We love Boardwalk Empire, and Nucky Thompson is a perfect character for Steve Buscemi. Dan's been working very hard painting these wooden cut-outs. The painting is actually all finished now. Just waiting to install everything.

Ecto1 - More Details

This is for the Ghostbusters car "Ecto 1" diorama we've been working on. Dan is a really good character artist so he did the sketch of some of the ghosts for me. Here's a shot of Slimer doing his thang. The ghosts will be painted with UV paint to glow in the awesome UV LED lights.

I also need to glue the doors to the car body with the hinges. Which means I need to paint the hinges so they blend into the interior of the car.

I will be adding all these extra details for the rest of this week, and possibly next week. I can't wait to see what it all looks like in the end. Hopefully I can wire everything ok.

So much painting

These are just some of our current projects. We have reverted to using traditional media, so everything takes a lot longer to complete.

I am still waiting for some parts to arrive for the Ghostbusters car (Ecto1) project. The car itself is painted. Now I need to paint the characters in it, create a frame and install the lights. Piece of cake!

This is my other project, which is also incomplete due to some of the material being somewhat different than what I had initially thought. I am hoping to create a couple of wall arts with these, with hidden text. I shall elaborate further once everything arrives.

And finally, a frame for my snow leopard project. It has taken a long time to come this far. We had to custom make our own frame due to the unique dimensions of the artwork.

Ecto1 - The beginning

Oh man... This project has been delayed by EVERYTHING. I thought it would be cool to try a wood cutout, add a few UV painted ghosts with UV LED lights. Sound simple? Yes. But is it? NO!

I had trouble with the UV paint I bought. It wasn't working well with wood, and also it didn't work with a lot of UV lights. Also, the acrylic paint I ordered for this project never got shipped, so I had to find something else. So I was back to square one for a while and blah blah.

The concept was created probably a few months ago now. I am not impressed with how long it's taking for all the supplies to arrive and the lack of information I get given of each product. But I'm getting there! Still waiting for the correct UV paint to arrive, and then I'll order the correct LED lights after making sure the UV paint works.

The project goes on.

Delorean Finished

The Delorean is complete. I know I say this after every project, but I really enjoyed working on it. It was fun trying to figure out how to make it interactive, and figuring out how many layers I would need.

 It turned out pretty good. I personally like the idea of having a wall art that you can play with. And because of that, this particular piece doesn't come with glass for the frame.

The dimensions of the frame are 13.25" x 5.25", and the Delorean measures 9" x 2.5". The negative space of this frame works well for the design of the car. We tried a narrower frame, and it looked a little too tight for the artwork. The handle on the door is popped up, so you can use it to pull the door open.

It's available at our Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/179777587/back-to-the-future-inspired-delorean

Duckling Prints - Double-Decker Bus and Tardis

Here are some new monotone prints. I am very picky about the frames I use for our artworks, so we ended up buying a couple of nice brown wood frames. And sanded them before putting 3 coats of white paint on them.

 I don't know why I am so fascinated by machines. But I love drawing them. The text "Jolly Good" came from me and my husband using the most cliche British slangs whenever we try to talk in the worst British accents.

I don't know why the ducklings are trying to climb the Tardis. These are fictional characters. They can do whatever they want.

They are also for sale. Get your own Double-Decker Bus Print, and the Doctor Who Tardis Print today!

Price for Delorean

So, this is my very first paper cut-out Delorean. I've been wanting to work on this for so long! And I finally got some time to do it. Woo!

If you are a true Back To The Future fan like myself, I don't need to explain anything to you. Hell, I don't even think you need to be a fan to know what this is about. The door on the Delorean opens to reveal Einstein wearing a stop watch. You can see the side view of the famous Flux Capacitor behind Einstein.

The problem with this kind of 12" x 4" black frame is that it's hard to find. And when you do, it is not cheap. Which will add to the cost of this artwork. We haven't posted this on Etsy yet, but if anyone has an idea on how to price this, let us know!

Back to the Future Delorean Sketch

I enjoy drawing cars. And since Delorean is my favourite movie car of all time, I had to start a cut-out of it. I will be posting the finished cut-out very soon.

Lots O' New Products!

We have been really busy lately designing and creating new products as well as doing a bit of home DIY. Our lovely friend Millie who owns an awesome shop in Boise (who also sells our stuff!) had a wonderful idea that we turn Dan's Tiki ornaments into greeting card gifts. So we did.

And while we were at it, we also turned my antique card cut-outs into greeting cards. Yeah. Remember those cut-outs that everybody liked, but didn't really know what to do with them? Here they are now. Pretty and OF USE!

Visit our Etsy store now to have a browse. We are very sure you'll like what you seeeee.

Baking Bread

Breaking Bad has become one of our ultimate favourite shows. A few months ago when I woke up too early, I mispronounced it as "Baking Bad". After a good laugh that lasted a few minutes, I thought how funny it would be to do a parody of Breaking Bad in the lovely style of Ardman. A few months went by with our busy schedule. But here it is at last! Enjoy.

Another collaboration with my wonderful husband.

The Walking Dead - Daryl Dixon

I don't watch TV. But The Walking Dead (and living in Dunedin) has changed all that. It's such a cool show! And what about their character Daryl Dixon? Isn't he something? And because he's so awesome I had to draw him based on the killing spree scene in the second season.

For those of you who don't remember how awesome Daryl was in that scene, I shall kindly embed the clip here. Enjoy!