Random Thoughts

Molds for Paper Mache Sculptures – Is this a Crazy Idea?

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Share  An idea for a new small business has been floating around in my head for a few weeks, and I’d like your input. Feel perfectly free to tell me I’m crazy. Or not. Honestly, I really haven’t decided myself. This would be a way for me to expand my own income while also giving [...]

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Practice Mutt, and Pinterest for artists

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Share  I made a short video to show you a little portrait mask I made of a puppy. This happy guy invited himself to my house last weekend. (I saw him later, tied up in front of a house a few blocks away — so I’m happy to say that his owner quickly found him [...]

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Want to Have an Online Paper Mache Class?

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Share  [Edit: the lessons have begun! You can find lesson #1, How to Make a Paper Mache Cat, here.] I’m not procrastinating, honest. I really did start my figure sculpture. In fact, I’m now on the third one, because there’ s a bit of a learning curve going on. In fact, right now my latest [...]

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Making Changes to My Mask Making Studio

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ShareI spent some time today making a new mask form over a life-sized plastic skull, and then modified it a bit so it will (hopefully) work for animal masks as well as people. I also made a few changes to the tiny rolling table that I like to work on, so I can work on [...]

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What Makes a Good Artist’s Website?

Share  I’m between projects now. My new How to Make Masks! book has gone to the printer, but it still hasn’t appeared on Amazon.com. Soon, though, so I’m on pins and needles, waiting… Meanwhile, my daughter and I have been having long discussions about artist’s websites, and we’d like to get some feedback from you, [...]

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Quick Post – Jessie’s Having a Benefit Auction for Every Mother Counts

Share This is going to be a fast post. We have another mask post coming this afternoon, I think, but I wanted to make sure nobody missed Jessie’s benefit auction. Jessie will donate 100% of the final bid to the charity Every Mother Counts. (Check out the movie on the site to see why this [...]

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The New Community Blog is Ready for Your Ideas

ShareThis is going to be a fast post today. I have no new artwork to share, and we haven’t received any new masks lately (the ghosts will be arriving any day now, folks – time’s flying by fast. Submit your Halloween-related items here and show them off to the world.) But I did manage to [...]

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Need Help Naming a New Website about Intentional Communities…

ShareUPDATE: a name has been chosen. Thanks to everyone who submitted suggestions, even if I didn’t use your idea for the name of the new site. Now I hope you’ll all start thinking about how you would describe your ideal community – your ideas will be the core of the new site. Original post: While [...]

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Calling All Maskmakers – An Online “Halloween Mask Party”

ShareYesterday, Tejae suggested that we have a Halloween Mask Party here on our blog. Now, I must admit I don’t know exactly what she meant by that, but it does sound intriguing. So much so, in fact, that I started my mask this morning while my onions were in the oven. I even decided to [...]

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Felt Moccasins – Finally!

ShareI mentioned back in July that I was trying to learn how to make felt. Now it’s September, and I finally have one pair of moccasins that I actually like. (Next week I’ll start working on those hats again…) If I can manage to make a few more slippers and hats that I like, I [...]

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Daily Paint Works – For Selling Artwork Online

ShareJessie just signed up for a new site that specializes in helping 2-D artists sell their work online. Naturally, I asked her to tell me about it. The site doesn’t handle sculptures, but I know many of you sell paintings and prints, so you might be interested. Jessie is trying out  Daily Paintworks, which is [...]

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Sad Day for Paper Mache…

ShareToday, I found out through the good folks on the Yahoo Paper Mache Art group that we recently lost one of our own. Jonty, who shared so much of his knowledge with anyone who asked, has passed away. He had a big and generous heart, but it just wasn’t strong enough. I spent most of [...]

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What I’ve Been Doing Instead of Paper Mache

ShareAnd a creative question for you — that also has nothing whatsoever to do with paper mache… Last month I started making some big changes to the front of my house, and the project has taken up most of my creative energy. That’s my excuse for not producing any paper mache sculptures lately. First, I [...]

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Practical Paper Mache – Anyone Up for a Contest?

ShareI want to have a contest.  The details haven’t been worked out yet, so I hope you’ll help me figure out how to make this work. [edit: The contest idea quickly morphed into a reader-supported project. You can read about it here. You can see what we've come up with so far here. And you [...]

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Jessie Has a New Contest – Win an Original Oil Painting

ShareJessie announced a new contest on her oil painting blog last week, and some lucky person will win one of her original oil paintings. I didn’t want any of my own blog readers to miss out on a chance to win, so I talked her into writing up this short guest post: Hi Jonni’s fans, [...]

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