The Making of Guin XL – A Guided Tour

Hello, my Lovlies!

Recently {not actually “Recently” so much, as this post was original written/created on Nov. 5th, 2012 and I never published it[until now, quite unfortunately, clearly -.-], as there’s was always “something more/else” that I wanted to include, etcetera. Anyhoo, now continue and don’t be shocked when you notice edits, should I make any. I feel nearly more concerned with “dusting things off” honestly, whilst feeling faced the the decision of “Action/Inertia(Stagnancy/Procrastination)” and doing nothing more…of course, I’ll…well, I just shut up and let “you” read ^.^}, I got commissioned for a “from-the-bottom-up” custom creation and since I am frequently asked about my process and/or how do I go about making Guin, I thought that I would take this opportunity and share a bit of that with all of you :) This will also give you all a bit of an idea about how easy it can be to work with me and bring your custom creation to life! The following is an excerpt from the message that my client sent me, requesting a special custom piece:

My dad is going to be celebrating 25 years in law this coming April, and after showing him my figurines, he’s considering ordering 2. He’d want Guin to be bigger though (about 50% bigger than the current Guins) and he’d want Guin to look like a lawyer, with the scale or a briefcase, etc. We don’t have a lot of ideas, but he’d like to know a price estimate for 2, along with an idea of how Guin would be. He’d also want his initials and 25 years, along with 2012 somehow on it, either on a briefcase that Guin would carry or on Guin’s stomach. The Guins would be going to females, if that would help you with ideas in some way. My dad would want to receive them by the end of March. If you could let me know if it would be possible to do that, or if you could sketch a picture and show me, that would be great.

So that was what I was given as a starting point, which wasn’t actually that bad. I do prefer some pictures to get a better idea of what my clients really want, but we were all very pleased with the end result, so that just goes to show you, you don’t even always need a picture, just hopefully some general idea of what you want and/or don’t want.

Alrighty, so here we go! Below is a photo of the initial concept of Guin XL – Lawyer Edition, which was created using some Dollarama modelling clay. Working out concepts with modelling clay is something new to me, as I once used to sketch out my designs was how I used to work out all of my concepts, but recently I decided to give modelling clay a go and will never look back! This also saves me a lot of time, effort, and money (in the form of potentially wasted materials, should something not work out)! Also, it’s just fun ;)

I found once I got past the insane difficulty that I had, trying to convince my hands to make Guin (who I have been make the exact same size since 2008!) a significantly larger size, it was relatively smooth sailing after that. Though yes, I still sat there and stared at the clay with a furrowed brow for periods of time that were a little to long and frequent for my liking (I had trouble getting the size of things just right and was trying to make sure I had copies of the clay ball sizes that I would need for each piece), but all and all it wasn’t quite as bad as I had originally anticipated.

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Here is where I stood Gasping Pengahli beside Guin XL, to illustrate how much larger he really was, since I knew it didn’t translate well with Guin XL by himself. This was also the very first time that anyone (who doesn’t live in my house) had seen Gasping Pengahli!

Tastes Like Clay Logo Finalized!

It took me the better part if the day (makes it difficult when your husband is at work and you have a little monkey pants running into you at the worst possible times ;p), but I finally finalized the design! :) Wish I thought to use acrylics in the first place – would have cut down on all the “AHHH! Nooo! I was almost done!!!” moments ;p Live and learn ;)

Now off to upload and edit out the crappy white bits! Yaaay…boo ;p

A New Creation Is In The Works!

Alrighty, so I just wanted to give everyone a head’s up, that I got inspired by my own quote that I posted on Twitter, and once I hammer/clay out some of the details, will be coming out with an entirely different series! These sculptures will be unlike anything I’ve ever done, or attempted to do, so it should be interesting ;) Keep checking back for updates!

Here’s the quote that inspired it:

Our world is a Magic Eye, with hidden images & secrets waiting to be found. Breathe, let your eyes unfocus, & step into the Secret Garden.

Have a Guintastic day!

~Amanda~

My Newest Creation!

May I present to you…The Great Pengahli!

Pengahli is 2-1/8 inches tall, though that does not include his lovely feather, which I personally reshaped. On a side note, feathers do not like to hold still to be trimmed, so a little more work went into it than I anticipated! His turban has been authentically wrapped – I even studied this YouTube video to make sure I got it right, except I did have to omit the tucking of the end pieces. My work is generally on the cutesy side of the things, but I do put in a great deal of effort into bringing a “cartoonish realism” to my creations. Also, his headdress is finished with a single, deep sapphire crystal that has Swarovski elements.

Not only is Pengahli my newest creation, but he is also the first PenGuin, of any sort, created in 2012! Yep, I’ve been busying myself with family and the online side of the business so much, that I haven’t really had the time to create anything up until now. It felt so good to finally have created him :)

Well, I would love to chat it up some more, but I’m going to off and finally watch “Breaking Dawn: Part I” with my husband :) I’ve really been looking forward to seeing it – yes, I’m a Twilight fan (I read the books before the movies ever came to be), not a fanatic, just a normal sized fan ;) I found the books to be somewhat of a literary hug ;)

Well, off I go! Hope you all like Pengahli! Sweet dreams tonight and a good day tomorrow ;)

~Amanda~

The Time Has Arrived…

…For a much needed update that is! Yep, I just wanted to pop in and let all my Lovlies know what I’ve been up to and to simultaneously answer the big questions of “Have you even made anything new since Pengula, in 2010?” and/or “Amanda, when are your new creations going to be released to the public?”. So before I go too far, I will just take a minute to answer those questions now. Yes, I have made a couple of new things since Pengula, but most certainly not as many as I would have liked, nor even remotely close to how many are still rattling about inside my head (I bought an Idea Log from Chapters – I’ll post a picture of it later – that I fill with my ideas/designs), that are threatening to stage a mutiny, if I don’t release them soon – they’ve been extraordinarily patient – some have been waiting since 2007, when I first began fiddling with clay, to be created. I know, I’m awful. As for the question of “when will they be released?”, the answer is – hopefully within the next month, or so. It’s hard for me to give a more definitive answer since my Little Miss’s sleep bits have been a bit wobbly lately – her sleep times being my main work time.

Anyhoo, I am currently working on something brand new (WOOT! Finally!), but unfortunately, I can’t give you any sneak-peeks, as I haven’t really had the time to finish the poor thing and I’m still working on how I want Guin’s expression to look. In the end, I may just launch the new edition with varied expressions, or perhaps I’ll put it to a vote and see which one everyone prefers and then release the winner! Who knows? We’ll just have to see – the clay always sorts itself out in the end ;)

Finally, before moving on to other bits, below are the photos of my newest creations, the Penglets, Rinn & Molly! The term “Penglets” actually came from my husband (he’s even the one who came up with “Penguin Kisses”! He’s fantastic with titles and whatnot ;)), who to make me smile one day, asked me if baby penguins were called “penglets”. Once he said it I knew immediately that that would be the name of my PenGuin Kisses line! Rinn was the first Penglet to be created and his name was derived from the client that inspired him, Marinda. Marinda had asked me if I ever tried to make Guin with a yellow, or orangey-yellow beak and feet, which while playing around, trying to come up with a suitable color, just in case she formally requested it, it somehow turned into Rinn. Yep, sometimes that’s all it takes and it wouldn’t have happened had she never asked me such a simple question, so I wanted to honor her by naming the Penglet, Rinn. I know, I know, Marinda’s a girl and Rinn turned out to be a boy, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. “Rinn” just didn’t work when I looked down at Molly, after creating her. Speaking of Molly, (who is actually the first female anything that I’ve ever created), there was no grand reasoning for deciding her name, other than I have simply always loved the name “Molly” and it always makes me think of something adorable – usually a little, cherub-faced girl, with ringlets up high in pigtails (not too many things cuter than that ;)). So there. I think that covers everything in the creation area. Oh, except I would like to mention, Guin will never be created with a different colored beak, or feet. The clay won’t let me ;p I tried, but it just didn’t work. Alright, so without further adieu, here’s the prototypes of Rinn & Molly (I was playing around with the beak colors, so pay no mind to that bit).

Just a quick note, now that you all have finally seen them (though I did actually post pictures of them on my Facebook Page, when I first created them, but this is the first time on Mompreneurial Musings, so this may be all old news to some), I just wanted to let you all know that in the future, I will be releasing birthstone editions! After that, depending on how well me and flowers work out, I will release another birthstone edition that will have the Penglets holding the birth month’s flower! This is just a tiny speck in the sea of ideas that I have for Rinn & Molly, so stay tuned! These days I think that I may have too many ideas to be created for one life-time ;p Bah! I almost forgot (wow, what a shocker *rolls eyes with a smirk*), Rinn & Molly are half the size of Guin, so they are just a little over an inch tall!

By the by, I did want to mention that no, Guin will never be available with any different colored beak, or feet. I tried, but it just doesn’t work – the clay and my hands just won’t let me ;p! By the by, if anyone is curious about his colorings, Guin’s beak, which is a custom color that I made, is based off of the Rockhopper Penguin (his beak is actually darker now than it once was) and his feet are actually just Fimo Soft #75, but, to me, was essentially the middle ground between the Emperor Penguin and the Gentoo Penguin, though leaning way more towards the Emperor Penguin spectrum. In short, I tend to either naturally, or purposefully (though usually naturally) find a slightly different way of doings things and my work is certainly no exception – especially color choices. I LOVE colors that don’t conventionally match. Here are some photos of the penguin species that I mentioned:

Well, I’m sorry to say, but this ran a lot longer than anticipated, so I think I will leave the rest of the update for later.

I hope you have a Guintastic night/day, my Lovlies ;)!

Wishing You Sweet Dreams Tonight & A Good Day Tomorrow,

~Amanda~

PS ~ Please don’t bother to ask me why I feel the overwhelming compulsion to capitalize my sign off bits. It’s just a thing that I would immediately change, should I try to write it normally *shrugs* What can I say, I’m “special” ;)