The process...

I am so behind on my bloggin' I hardly know where to begin.
So I'll start by bragging on my skills. I am with my sister and fellow blogger Brandi McKenna of "She's Off Her Rocker" in Atlanta GA. We will be vendors at Scott's Antique Market once a month all year, and we will sell our beautiful colaberative works there to people with fantastic taste & deep pockets.
Here is some of what we have to offer.

This is the same piece earlier on in the process; a small trumeau with hand carved pastiglia. I am shifting to working in plaster because A) I love it B) I can execute the entire work in my kitchen C) It is economical and a very forgiving medium.

Here is detail of a large French Rococo trumeau I did a while back, but just sold. This is all wood. The carving is entirely made of wood. That is hard for some people to understand, I have found. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that ours is a country of importers, not doers or makers, and it's hard for many to comprehend things that don't come from Wal-Mart.
Here is a detail from the top of this piece.
This is random, but isn't it cute? Poor thing, I found Mixie roughing it up in my bedroom one night while doing some gold leafing. See the trumeau underneath?
Here's another newer piece. This is a detail of some more delicious pastiglia after gold leaf, but before final finish.
Here it sits with red "ground", the traditional underpaint for gold leaf.
Before the ground, I apply texture to the entire surface to help build the gorgeous, richly textured patina.
Here is the raw wood & plaster, one of my carving chisels sits next to it. I should explain that "pastiglia" is an old masters' technique of applying plaster by hand to form embellishments to surfaces.
First I draw the silhouette of what I will pour & carve.
Here is the finished product!
And now I have to run because I am about to leave the restaurant who's WiFi I'm using...
I promise to be a more faithful blogger this year. SO much to do & so little time, but I have the same number of hours in a day as anyone else so...
Be back soon!