Creatures By Chelsea

Wedding Photos

2010-07-20T22:38:00.001-07:00

And here are the pictures of my master project! It took over a year in the planning and hours and hours of crafting. The day was amazing, absolutely the best day of my life. My face hurt for days from smiling. The Orange grove was in full bloom and smelled soo good. And it was cold and overcast, just how we like it =]

back to blogging

2010-01-28T18:44:00.001-08:00

Wow wedding planning take a lot of time! especially if you are like me and have to do EVERYTHING DIY

I couldn't find a graphic I liked for the invitation, so I ended up drawing one for it. Maby I'm just a control freak, but I like doing it all myself. I have total creative control of this huge event design project. And now I am a florist, so that makes it even more relevant. It has been tons of fun too.

I'm going to post pics of all the little projects I do for the wedding. Only 2 months left! yipes

here's the drawing for the invites last night. minus my name ofcourse

Woohoo made it to the front page of etsy!

2009-07-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

after 2 year I finally made it to the front page on etsy. it wasn't even a freshly renewed item. someone made a elven collection, everything else is really cool too.

here's the screenshot

Upcoming show!

2009-03-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

I will be creating a booth at the Mythical Creatures L.A. bellydance show. There will be a matinee show and a dinner show both on Sat. March 28th in North Hollywood.

http://www.sacredcirclesproductions.com/

These women are awesome dancers and I can't wait to see this show. It is also for a great cause, the Breast Cancer Treatment Task Force. If you are anywhere near LA please come to this show. I will be bringing my full inventory and lots of new ears to try on and play with.

New Studio Space

2009-02-11T10:55:00.001-08:00

I acquired this awesome chair from someone who was moving, he also gave me some great art supplies that I've been having fun with. I just love this chair. It reminds me of the circus, and I feel like a little kid when I sit in it, witch is exactly where I want to be coming from when making art. I want to forget all those rules and ideas I learned in school and be child-like again. This chair definitely helps, my boyfriend thinks it's garish, but my striped cat thinks is the comfy camouflage he's been searching for =]

Here's the corner of the bedroom studio space I have now in my new apartment. The two windows make the great natural light I was craving in the last place. It also has wood ceilings, very cozy. This is as clean as it gets. I always see interviews with artists on esty and their studios are so organized and I always think they must have cleaned up quite a bit before taking that picture for the interview.

My dad got me the hippo lamp for Christmas, it totally fits in.

Drive By Shootings

2009-02-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

We drive to L.A. all the time. I love taking pictures out of a moving vehicle. It was a particularly awesome drive because it was stormy and sunset, everything looks better when it's wet. Here are my 2 favorites.

Adorable Mouse tile finished

2009-02-07T12:39:00.001-08:00

Here's the finished product. I made a rubber mold and cast 3 tiles so far out of Permastone, a lovely material that is quite strong. I did a couple different painting styles. Vintage, and bright, see it here.

New wall tile sculpture

2008-11-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

I have been getting back into sculpture, and I found this adorable drawing in a family cookbook from the 70's .I didn't trace it,(although I later realized that would have been easier) I just looked at the drawing and made it 3D. Such an irresistibly cute mouse!! And Mushrooms of course, I love mushrooms.

Tasty Artichokes

2008-11-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

This artichoke recipe i took from a Mediterranean cookbook. I got those little artichokes from Trader Joe's. First steam them until they are almost done. Then cut them in half, scoop out the spiky insides, cut lemons into quarters, or halves if you have big artichokes.

The wonderful thing is the lemon piece fits perfectly snug in the artichoke, whoever figured this out is genius. I'm sure it was a million years ago in Greece.

And then heat up a pan with some olive oil and fry those babies until it's perfectly browned. serve with a little garlic butter. YUM! The lemon flavor permeates all the leaves and is soooooo good. Ok now I have to go get more and make this again.
I don't usually post about what I'm eating, but cooking is an art too, and I'm excited when i find something good i can make =]

2008-09-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have been getting inspired by the wonderful home decor that is popular now. I made this decoupaged teapot with some paisley fabric I just love. I found a white teapot at a thrift store, ran it through the dishwasher, and then cut the fabric into little pieces and smoothed them on there with some waterproof medium. I intentionally wrinkled the fabric so it has a wonderful texture and grip.
The teapot became the focal point for this mood board I made to design my cousins baby shower. Her nursery is aqua blue and coco brown. The shower will be a summer tea party theme.

2008-09-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

New for 2008 K i t t y K o u t u r e Fuzzy cat ears for your Halloween costume. I also made a tail to go along with. There's a crystal on one ear for extra bling too. I'm really proud of these ears, they are super cute on, will work for kids too.

kitty kouture

2008-07-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

A preview of my 2008 Halloween line of Kitty Kouture. I found some wonderful fabrics, these are going to be much nicer than what you find in costume stores. I'm even going to add a little swavoroski crystal to make them sparkle. Also working on matching kitty tails to go with. Coming Soon to an Etsy Shop near you!

Crowns fit for a Goddess

2008-07-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

An Autumn inspired head wreath. It is woven together with sturdy floral piecies and the curly willow based is wired so it will shape to your head. This is so my style, I love ferns!

This is my mermaid crown made of almost all natural materials. I made it with the mermaids home in mind. What would she have available to make adornments? seaweed, starfish, a rusty bottlecap, maby some piecies of twine. I love this one so much it's not for sale It will be part of my costume this year.

Tissue Paper Paintings

2008-07-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here are my newest paintings. Both are made almost completely with tissue paper, it makes a great texture and bold colors.

"Autumn Glow" 10x10" more pics in my etsy shop.
" Searching" 12x12x2" also in my etsy shop.

Pitcher Plant

2008-07-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

I found this awesomely weird plant at a wholesale greenhouse I shop at for work. I had to buy it, I've never seen such a big one. I love having funky specimen plants, gives me the feeling of being one of those collectors in Victorian times with a glass room full of strange and exotic plants.

A new painting style

2008-05-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this new painting style, It's very texturized. these are some small 6x6 ones, I have 2 bigger ones almost finished, more pics to come.

DOn't Do This!

2008-05-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

OMG! People actually do this! Please save us all the horror and don't mutilate your own ears, just buy some of mine. They won't freak out your possible future dates.

Maby I should make this into an ad? LOL See I can do it with no anesthesia...

New ear designs

2008-05-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

I have been working on some new ear designs. I love these, I've added a little fur to the ends, for a little anime style. I actually have 2 identical pairs of these, witch never happens! I made 2 Left ears and I didn't notice until the last step of putting them on the headband, I was totally shocked! how could I not notice? They were one of my favorite designs tho, so I made 2 right ears, it took many tries to get them to match, but now there are 2! I hope someone will get them for A Midsummer Night"s Dream play costume.

I have been really frustrated with my camera lately, pics just are not coming out well, as you can see I built a light box that was too small, so you can see the seams. On the one above I cropped them out, but the lighting is still not very good, although I love this angle.

I'm going to set up a whole different lighting scheme this week and hopefully get my old camera fixed, I liked it so much better. I also have some new little paintings I really like, they will be scanned and up soon!

Foggy spring camping

2008-04-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

I love this picture, it just really captures the feeling of quiet on the foggy morning meadow

A few weeks ago we went camping with my brother and his girlfriend. It was a chilly time but the morning fog in the scrub Oaks and dew-covered wildflowers was well worth the chill. We took a long hike in the morning, and collected some wonderfull smelling white mountain sage too.

Photo Screen art project

2008-04-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

My Cousin got me this awesome photo screen for Christmas, and I left it empty for a long time because I wasn't sure what I wanted to put in it. I thought of going through our albums and finding pics for it, but then who wants to look at themselves all the time?
So when I was going through some stuff, trying to purge for moving, I found my old Life Drawing class work. I'm not going to hang up all these chubby women in my house so, instead of throwing them out I decided to make a sexy puzzle art screen!

First, I cut them all into 5x7's. Then laying out the pieces I switched them around a lot, this was the funnest part. I thought it looked best if they were mixed up by row instead of the whole picture together. I think the sexiest part is the sepia toned leg down the middle, nice curves.
And the finished product! And the coolest thing is the frames swivel around, so I can make a new puzzle everyday, since there are drawings on front and back. It's a big naked puzzle! It's going in my bedroom so visitors won't be offended by random nipple drawings.

2008-04-02T19:00:00.001-07:00

Moving to Portland in a few months.

Apparently there is some kind of magnetic draw coming from there drawing artist's of all types there. Since we planned to move there randomly last July, I have heard of literally dozens of other people moving there too, from all over.

The beautiful blooming trees everywhere were my favorite thing about Portland. An I absolutely cannot wait to see fall, I love fall colors and living in Phoenix and Southern California I will find just a few each season and try to soak in all their colors. I want to drive down a country road and be immersed in golden yellow and red. I will post the pics when I do.

And the urban parks with their huge trees, and Frisbee golf!
And of course there is the Art! It is everywhere, this was my favorite outdoor piece, a giant of a tree attached to an office building downtown. I don't know if it was grown in bondage like that, or if they just added the metal afterwards.

Tree Mural

2008-03-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

I just painted this on my brother's wall. It took a few painting sessions, I didn't realize how long it takes to paint a whole wall. I've only done one other painting this big, it was a forest background for a kids play of Narnia.

I will be going back soon to add more leaves and maybe a bird or two.

Portland, city of trees

2008-03-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a lovely vacation to Portland, Or. And I am in love, the cherries trees literally bloomed overnight when we were there, and the parks are full of huge, ancient trees.

Even the houses all look like the dream house I've always pictured. Post-Victorian style, wood floors, basements, lots of windows. And everything is green and covered in moss! I love moss, is that a weird thing to love? I guess it's from growing up in the desert where I only could find those dry, flaky lichens clinging to the backs of boulders.

So, I will be moving there the end of summer. I can't wait to go exploring all over Oregon.

Pictures soon, unfortunately I left my camera cord in Portland, so my pictures are trapped.

Valentine's

2008-02-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

I get the most beautifull flowers. My boyfriend never picks out the premade ones, he puts them together himself, and always with something really yummy, like tuberose. Here's what I got for this Valentine's Day. Awesome.

2008-02-12T22:06:00.000-08:00

Whew~
Spent a lot of last weekend working on an order for a green mushrrom stool. I've considered calling it the 1up mushroom, or extra life. But, I don't know if Ninetendo will be mad?

Otherwise, I have been working on projects that invole lots of found natural bits and piecies. I love to collage, but not in the traditional, paper or even vintage sense. I have a very earthy mask piece almost done, that may seem creepy to some, but I like to call her Earth Mother. Her hair is made of some floral piecies and sticks, plus a lot of interesting stuff I found on the beach after a storm. Well, it was kinda of in a break in the storm, I was freezing with peacoat, scarf, and hood. But, it was so beautifull at the beach with the storm clouds rolling in and all the interesting stuff on the sand. Things washed up on the beach are like piecies of a story all scattered, and you can try to put them together, or just marvel at the individual strange objects and wonder how they got there. Everything from Troll dolls to bones.

new fun stuff

2008-01-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

Check out my Toadstool footstool and some new ears. I thought these darker fairy ears would go well with those dark fairy wings everyone has at Halloween, or for a Morgan costume. The red fairy ears have black feathers on the headband. I'd like to say I plucked them from an annoying crow in Ladera Ranch, but who needs botchilism? They are always eyeing me and yelling to eachother. Who knows what they are plotting...

Inspiration

2008-01-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

Today I witnessed another sculptor at work. I went to get my haircut at the fancy Laguna Beach salon my friend goes to, to get my hair fixed from her guy that she's raved about for 7 years. Now I have the coolest haircut I've even seen, and it's on MY head! He took my unruly locks and created an awesome sculpture out of it, in the style of a mad Edward Scissor hands frenzy.

Totally worth it.

And so I got some inspiration to really discover what I'm good at. And I realize I am still searching, and probly always will be in a way. But my love of moss and wood and natural objects led me to think of sculpting trees.

So here's the beginning of a new natural materials endeavor. It still needs something.....not sure what yet, I'll let it stew for a night, like I do with all my projects.

My eternal struggle is trying to stick to one art form and really perfect it, I'm always wanting to start new things, so I have to stop myself from say taking up metal working. We were joking today about how long my resume' would be if I included every job I've had.

I've assisted or apprenticed under 4 different artists and worked for a bunch of small businesses and started a few enterprises of my own. All in my quest to find that one artistic career. The sculptor's studio was the most exciting and challenging. I helped create a huge bronze tree complete with doves and a landscape relief, a million little pieces and a lot of bronze dust. I got impossibly dirty, burned, and frustrated everyday. But it was awesome to work in Laguna Canyon with all the great artist's there, and the deer that would come up to the back of the studio when we weren't making terrible noises.

So I guess my future will include some sort of sculpture, the masterpiece is bubbling towards the surface....

New Years reprieve

2008-01-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

I think my kitten got santa!

Bad Kitty

I love taking pattern pictures, I find so many beautifull patterns in nature, I must have hundreds of these types of pictures. I should do a book of them , I used to do photography as my main art form, but then along came digital and ruined all the get-your-hands-dirty texture of it.

Ah the first day of the new year, I had to go watch it sink below the ocean, but the ocean wouldn't let the sun go. After it sunk the orange glow lit up the whole sky and the ocean, even the sand. We were surrounded by yummy orange glow, the air even got warmer!

It made me feel better about the coming year and all my big goals, the beauty of the universe re-inspires me and all that scary worldly stuff seems a little more manageable. Or at least I can release it from my mind long enough to fill up the lungs with bright orange light.

tgif

2007-12-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

I made an adorable footstool last Friday, and I just got it photographed today. I'm going to do a line of Toadstool Kids Stools. I like working with different textured papers. Although I don't want to get into the wide world of handmade papers, since a lot of people are already doing that so well!

I'm trying to keep my developing line mushroom and elves and foresty centered, that keeps me in line and out of making jewelry or other random stuff like I used to.

I'm so excited and fulfilled to be starting this art business from scratch. I've just finished a small business management class, and it really helped me to get focused and decide to do it no matter how small it is at first. I'm done working for someone else! As are most people in my generation.

2007-11-30T15:05:00.001-08:00

Working today to make more inventory so people have lots of choices on the style of ears. I've also made some smaller ones for kids. I will be posting them to etsy one per a day. Still working on a mushroom footstool. It has turned out to be waaaaay harder than I thought. I like upholstery foam, but not Upholstering! I want to make more mushroom-related pieces, I've always loved mushrooms, their a classic.

And It's raining today!! finally. we've been going up in flames for months, and a heat wave in November, but it is finally wet. I work better when it's raining, it inspires me to no end. That's why I'm moving to Portland, Or. But it kinda scares my cat Trigger.

2007-11-11T21:07:00.000-08:00

Alright, it's time for some new creatures. I've been in a rut for a few months, and moving.. So now I have my little studio set up in my new place and I'm ready to go.

I am going to do a line of simpler ears for kids, I know how kids love to play dress up. Hopefully their parents will get some too and they can play in the back yard together. I just want everyone to get off the couch and play.

I'm Also going to do some really fancy headdresses too, I'm thinking Ice Queen and Queen of the faeries and wood sprites.

The painting above is the last one I did I couple months ago, with paper Orchids I made modeled after the ones I have growing in my house, They are the most intriguing plants.

White Weasel custom commision project

2007-08-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

He wanted a white weasel wearing a rice hat for Comic Con and similar conventions. I made everything completely from scratch, building off the rice hat. Building in foam and fur makes a very easy to wear and lightwieght costume.
I also made furry gloves complete with claws and matching paws for the feet.

Process

2007-08-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

I always start with the nose when sculpting the face. It's the most interesting part.

Then I began to build the face off the rice hat.

Sculpting in foam is quite difficult. Making everything symmetrical is the hardest part. If it is pulled just a little to one side the whole face is crooked.

To make a pattern for the fur, I found a genius idea online. Using packing tape I covered the whole thing, then drew arrows to indicate the direction of the fur. It made a very accurate pattern for the fur, witch I then glued onto the foam.

Last step is adding the eyes and nose. I also made furry hands and feet. The buyer had a robe and sword to go with it.

The Birds are done!

2007-05-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

New full masks made of paper mach'e' reinforced with wire mesh. They are lined with felt and super comfortable since I formed them on my own head.

I like this method. Now I am in super-research mode, looking at the best creature-makers out there and figuring out how they make their masks. http://www.goblinart.com/ is the best I have found, and she posts info on the materials and how to use them.

I am now holding off on the masks until I can afford the materials I want to make some really amazing sculpted masks. For now I am going to work on sculpting. I have some ideas for some small desk-sized sculptures in this style.

2007-03-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

www.creaturesbychelsea.etsy.com

go check out my new easy to use store at etsy. check back soon for more items.

2007-03-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

Here's some previews of current projects. first is a hat with horns, animie style creature.
These show the first steps in the process to make the new pheonix mask. first i molded the wire mesh, then covered it in many layers of paper mache'. Then I painted it and glued on feathers and fire shapes to make the back. you see through the nose holes in the beak. It has great visability. Then I used stuffed animal eyes for the birds beaty little eyes. I will get some better pics taken soon. I'm really excited about this new process, I will be making a few more birds in the same way.

here's a mock up in clay of a mask I'd like to make. It looks a little like the Luck Dragon from The Never Ending Story, but with a more asian look, intertwining horns, a fu man chu mustache and goatee. now if i can only figure out how to make it full size?

New ~Mushroom City paintings

2007-01-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

11x14" and 12x12"

The two colored ones also glow in the dark, the windows of the cities light up creating a nice glow on the city.

I've been drawing these types of mushrooms since gradeschool. Jason one day wanted to see a dirty mushroom city at night, full of grime, the opposite of most cutesy mushroom drawings you see. So, I painted him a table with a mushroom city that is now our coffee table.

They are black, the scans just didn't come out good, but you get the gist. many people have asked me for a painting after seeing the table. So here they are, Enjoy

Ears

2007-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

Here come the ears! While sculpting masks of foam I found that the ears are the most fun part to make. There are so many possibilites for ears a whole creature is imagined, there is so much you can tell about a creature from it's ears...different personalities come from each pair, I can never make the same pair twice.
These are all on headbands and individually embelished according to the personality that came out to me. Some are forest creatures, some live under the ground, some in the air, when you put on a pair you give them life and movement. I love seeing how people play when the put on some funky ears.

Blue ears with hemp & Flesh with ribbon and fern

2007-01-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Orc style Ears

2006-09-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Mossy Ears

2006-09-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Blue Elf Ears

2006-09-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Masks

2006-08-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

Elga
Alfrigg

These are my current mask projects, Mushroom Creatures of the forest. They are inspired by old Celtic tales of fairys and sprites and the many different artist's who have tried to capture thier wild nature.

These masks are all hand painted, lined with black crushed velvet, and ready to wear. I make them durable for years of play. A coating under the paint makes them water and flame retardant, so if the fog rolls in and leaves a coating of mist it will only add to your charater.

2006-08-04T12:33:00.000-07:00