P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell

Sometimes I start a carving project by sketching; at other times I may draw a few sketches to support a project that is already in work. Sometimes I do a bit of both! My second Mrs. Beetle carving was well under way on a block of Lirio laundry soap before I sketched anything. The sketches can consolidate my ideas and keep me focused when I am not carving.

I also want to create a finished art work that will incorporate multiple beetles, however I did not have any clear vision or concept of what that might look like until I did some doodling. Here is one of my sketches to support beetle carving, and another one that may help me create a finished artwork.

Last night, sketching, I may have come up with my plan:

I think many of my beetles will be installed in one or more “specimen drawers”! Why it has taken me this long to come to this idea, I really don’t know: it seems so obvious. I have built “museum drawers” before now, though these were archeological rather than botanical. So I have a plan, and I am excited, but a long way from having a sufficient collection of beetles!

I enjoy assembling, and I have created several art assembly pieces in old drawers, or in shallow wooden boxes that I think of the same way. When I am experimenting, I create many pieces and parts: items that don’t really stand alone as much more than amusements. But sometimes these parts created separately come together and create the kind of magic I want from my artwork.

When small pieces that I have created with care, even treasured for quite some time, eventually do become part a greater whole, it is immensely satisfying. I really enjoy the process of preparing an artwork from many parts. And so far, I am usually pleased with the results.

I am especially fond of the dimensional work I have assembled in drawers, which requires a variety of skills. It can take time to find just the right pieces to create the odd scenes that fit my vision. I may need to alter or repair found drawers and boxes. Sometimes I add lights, which always complicates the process, and getting the final finish details can take time and patience. But I find it all very satisfying.

Well I think I have found the perfect hobby for this year: soap carving for Covid-19 safe practice! Constant hand washing is built-in to this activity; even with dry soap you need to wash and wash before touching anything else!

I have a few extra large bars of soap purchased some time ago for this purpose, and one carving almost completed when I set is aside last year. It is cheap and quite nice to work with, if you can take the rather strong scent added to this soap! The soap chips do get all over, and could be a bit slippery if damp, but they are not sharp or toxic!

My plan is to cast the carved soap using silicone. This should work pretty well for simple molds using poured silicone. However I don’t even know if I will be able to make a brush on silicone product work directly on the soap. But if not, I will spray a matte clear acrylic over the soap, which should create a better surface. I really hope this works out, as my little figure is not suitable for a poured silicone mold.

The new carving will be another scarab beetle: a friend for Mrs. Beetle casts from my carved alabaster original. Carving alabaster was fun, but much trickier. The piece I was carving was very fragile, full of veins!

So I highly recommend soap carving for Covid-19 safe practice, and for fun. And I hope to be able to recommend it for productive artistic creation also.

The first photo shows three turtles from the mold. I carved the original turtle from a soft (conglomerate stone?) tile, thinking to give it to my youngest granddaughter. But of course a stone tile is not a great idea for a 3 year old; it is a bit heavy and too fragile for a young child! The head & limbs could chip and break off very easily if dropped. So I made a cheap silicone caulk mold, in order to reproduce my low relief carving in a more suitable material.

Now there are several six inch long turtles from the mold, and there will soon be a few more. My granddaughter got the first one in a package last week, along with two more scarab beetles. She was happy, but I don’t think she needs more turtles at the moment. So with the texture and paint, I am enjoying these myself. I imagine there may be a larger artwork with turtles at some point.

I foiled this photo of Mrs. Beetle; that is what inspired me to get out the metallic & iridescent paints for recent beetle and turtle casts. With winter on the way, a bit of bling is called for!

Murky waters and the right light lead to some fabulous digitally enhanced images!

I am revisiting foil: real aluminum foil with the addition of a digital foil plus the usual fixing & fussing.

The time has come to sort through my old printing plates, now that the Blick Etching press has a new home in Anacortes. I sold the press, and have not been a member of the local Printmakers Guild, Corvidae Press, for many years now. I don’t plan to much printing, but I have kept a number of “permanent” plates that still amuse me. Yesterday I shuffled through a set of mat board & aluminum foil plates, which were used for a “low tech etching” technique.

I colored three of these plates, using various marker pens. Then I scanned these, for the record… After the scan, I digitally foiled the images, of course! Here are the two that I like best. Not my favorite works, but fun nonetheless.