The Henson Stitch

So from what I had read, the Henson stitch was a myth.  For those of you who don't know, this is the stitch used on muppets to make the seams less visible (by the way, really spellcheck? You don't recognize muppet?).  Anyway, it's real and it's labor intensive, but the results are really good!  I drew a little diagram for those of you who are interested in how it works.  Now I'm not using Antron fleece like the pros, but it still came out pretty nice.

knot through the back

Go under, up and through

Go back to where you pushed the needle through initially.  Go under, up and through

Go back to where you last pulled the needle through.  Go under, up and through

And so on...

After an inch or two, pull the thread tight and it should come together nicely

When you are done run your needle back and forth over the seam to pull out the fuzz

INVISIBLE SEAMS!

tip: try to keep your stitches close together and parallel to avoid wrinkling.

Next week: currently a mystery

Fun with Felting

This was a week of experimentation.  This is my first attempt at felting sculpture.  I used a mix of ivory, pink and red for this little guy.  I also started my Deviantart page: http://nathaniellewis.deviantart.com/. Next week: I'll be back to work on the masks! See you then.

 Alas...

 Coming along

 Father's day.

The reason for father's day.

Pressure (pushin' down on me)

                                          

         This week wasn't as productive as I'd hoped.  I got my pressure pot and air compressor (financed by a focus group I was a part of for Autocad).  Only to discover that my the pressure gauge on the pressure pot was busted and I needed a cap for to keep the pressure pot from leaking air.

          It turned out to be a really nice weekend with my family though and I got to relax a bit in Cambridge.

          Anyway, I managed to do one really rushed casting that defeated a lot of the point of having the pressure pot in the first place, but it definitely left some pretty great air pockets (see above).  Hopefully next week will be better.  I also managed to carve the largest mask so far (see below)

New Toys

Very Rushed castings

Carbonite

 Maybe to peachy?

 Waaaayyy too peachy

Big head day

My 2 year old draws faces

and sculpts horses

Rainy Days and Mondays

This week I thought I'd share some of my doodles and give you a little insight into my process.  I don't do nearly as many finished drawings as I used to.  Lately I simply distill it down to a basic image.  I find if I finish a drawing too much making the artwork isn't as fun because I've worked through everything already.  I usually have 2 or 3 sketchbooks going at once, the more fancy the book, the more artsy the drawings.  So, if you can't tell, this is the fanciest one.  Enjoy!

 Sad monster eats his friend

 Downtown Crossing

 Nerf Herding

 Stud.

 Smile

 Voyeur

 Spidey Draws too

Sometimes I make lists (all the time)