Trying some things out, and this year's Barkin' Ball...

Tiny swimming bronze turtles in resin 'water'

Originally I wanted to make bronze turtles swimming through glass that was cast around them.
But I asked a glass blower and learned that it would crack and break up as it cooled around the hard metal, so I explored other options, deciding to give a urethane resin a try.
I was advised to wear rubber gloves and eye protection, and avoid getting the uncured resin on my skin, as some people have an allergy to it and can develop a poison oak type of reaction.
And if you aren't allergic to it, you can become sensitive to it, so best avoid the situation and cover up.

Once it's cured it's completely harmless, clear, and hard as nails.
Just like what I wanted glass for, so I gave it a go.

turtles on the window sill while the 'water' cures

paraphernalia

You have to be really precise in mixing the A and B volumes. That's what the syringes are for.
The straws are for stirring them together.
And once mixed you have a limited working time before it starts to 'go off'.
And you have to keep it quite warm (ideally 140ºF) while it sets, or it will never cure completely.
So the window sill and a lamp took care of that.
The bronze was too hot to touch all afternoon.

Well I really like the effect, especially with a greeny colored patina under it, to contrast with the turtles.
It's got me interested in coming up with other things to do with it!

Mike finished the metalwork on my tree frogs on a vine and did a very nice job on the patina (of course!).
I'm undecided as yet about which base I prefer. I'm having the round metal one all tarted up so I can compare them side by side. I like its minimal profile, but I also like the reflectiveness of the granite.
We'll see...

Mike Masse doing his thing on my tree frogs on a vine

unfinished metal base

Barkin' Ball came along unexpectedly quickly this year. I almost didn't get my mice in on time!

Yee-haw! It's Barkin' Ball 2010.

These critters found a great home...

But I'm glad to say they found a great home at the end of the silent auction to benefit the humane society's animal shelter here in Santa Fe.

The Mouse Project cover and page layouts are coming along nicely, I'm using Lulu.com, so I'll have to post a few pics of them next time around. I haven't done the wordy bits yet. But soon I will have done, then as soon as the last pics come in I should be just about able to drop 'em in and be all done!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Espanola Valley animal shelter auctions 8 more bronze mice (and a dog bowl decorated by Hugh Hefner!) among other things...

The Scottish Rite Masonic Hall made for a very theatrical venue to auction off another bunch of mice to benefit less fortunate and homeless critters.

It seemed to be a building made specifically for a group of people who shared a remarkable fondness for wearing strange hats.

The walls were filled with framed pictures of current and previous wearers of odd looking hats.

I wouldn't have imagined that so many unusual headgear enthusiasts would likely be found in one place, Santa Fe being quite small and all, but it seems there's quite an underground appreciation for them.

We arrived early, and thanks to a bit of hustling by Fran Nicholson (sculptor, fellow donator and mold maker who lives in the Fred Flintstone house near Santa Fe) we got shown around the dark and cloistered theater by a very nice man, in a strange hat.

The theater is used by the members to enact certain rites of passage, sometimes before an audience, sometimes not.

Your's truly hiding in the trees...

The theater was wonderfully dressed to appear like a woodland scene, and it was quite magical being among the trees.

They are all painted on canvas, and stuck on string netting which allows you to see through the gaps. All stacked up, it makes for quite an illusion.

There's lots more of them up in the ceiling, ready to drop down and envelope the stage in numerous other gauzy worlds. I'd love to have seen more.

They were made in Chicago in 1911 or 12, for another Scottish Rite Temple which ran out of money, so Santa Fe got them instead.

Around 1950 a bunch more temple was added, creating an enclosed garden. It really is quite an enchanting place.

I would have thought it would make an ideal home for a ping pong club, especially when I learned it's unused and empty most of the time.

But alas, the sound of ping pong balls never echoes through its hallowed halls.

Mmmm, I wonder....if only the game of table tennis required the wearing of unusual headgear, then perhaps it might stand a chance....

The mice were arranged to be auctioned as a group of three, another group of two, and three individual ones.

The shelter put on a splendid event, very festive and fun.

My parrot ran out of juice before many people showed up, so I didn't get any pics of the happy crowds that arrived later.

Oh, here's my holiday card.

Hope you're all having fun!

My website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
My Etsy store, CritterVille.

9 mice auctioned at the "Barkin' Ball". How did they do?

Last night was the humane society shelter's "Barkin' Ball".

I really didn't have much clue what to expect, except I knew there'd be a bunch of stuff up for silent auction, some food, dogs and hopefully some beer.

Check out the pics, taken with my new fangled shiny phone thingy that does a gazzillion things, and even lets you send and receive calls!

The tables were laid with silverware and dog treats!

Check out the hound packing heat!

It sold out which we know because some friends of ours decided to try and get tickets.
It was much bigger than I expected, in a huge room in the new and very tastefully decorated conference center.
So it turned out there was a bunch of stuff up for silent auction, some food, lots of very nicely turned out dogs, and happily some beer.
And a band.

I'd swung by the shelter a couple of weeks earlier to drop off three more mice since the last half dozen.

I was pretty eager to see how my critters were faring in the silent auction.
People put their name (or ticket #) next to how high they're prepared to bid.
They had all nine sprinkled about either individually, or as group lots of 3.
Lots of good stuff on offer.

From what I could tell by nosing about the mice pulled in more than their retail value, which is great news for the shelter's critters, and a nice stroke for my ego which is such a delicate, fragile little thing!

Lots of dogs got a real kick out of the event.
Like they knew it was all just for them!
Some others looked a bit overwhelmed by it all.

That's Valerie above, one of the many volunteers helping out. She walks dogs at the shelter.


I noticed one of Louise Peterson's Great Dane miniatures was also up for auction. Her stuff pops up everywhere!
I saw her in Loveland while we were both participating in 'Sculpture in the Park' in August, and was mightily gratified that she asked to trade me one of her puppy bronzes for one of my mice.
I like her work a lot.


My website...
SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
My Etsy store, CritterVille.

How Sprightly mouse and Creamsicle kitty became friends, and Barkin' Ball, the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society bash...

A couple of weeks ago Celia at the coffee shop told us she had some kittens.
Not being one to miss a photo opportunity for Sprightly mouse, I asked if I could borrow them for a couple of hours.

Last weekend she brought two of them by. Creamsicle and Picasso.
They were unbelievably well behaved and photo friendly, and Meridee fell instantly in love with Picasso. If we had to have a Picasso in the house, that little kitty would be it.

Celia was keeping Picasso (not that we could have, Meridee is off the charts allergic), but said Creamsicle needed a home. So I used one of the pics to make a poster for her, which this morning she told us has done the trick (I cut off her phone # for this blog post version).


She put it up at the local Co-Op market and has been inundated with offers, so after a careful screening it looks like Creamsicle gets a home.


We also recently went to the Santa Fe Humane Society and Animal Shelter (or vice-versa) to meet Gabrielle who works there, and drop off a set of six bronze mice for their upcoming bash and art auction, the 'Barkin' Ball'. It will be held at the convention center and tickets I believe are $60 (as of right now).
The shelter's not far away, and is sprawled on a bunch of land overlooking plains and mountains with spectacular views of the sunsets.

Gabrielle was very nice and showed us around the building with all the otherwise homeless bunnies, kittens, cats, puppies and dogs that they are caring for. It's pretty hard to resist the big sad brown eyes as they get up and stare imploringly at you from their tiny rooms, gripping your hand with their paws. It's kind of a bit like doggy jail, except for the puppies who just roll about blissfully ignorant of their situation.

It's more like camp for them.

Since June, when I decided to give one mouse away to art auctions benefitting animal shelters, for every five mice I sell I've given 8 away. I'll need to give a few more to the Barkin' Ball and I suspect soon a bunch to Felines and Friends for their Christmas bash since those mice just keep trotting out through the door!

I think there's another homeless animal shelter locally that might host auctions, after that I'll be searching further afield.

My mice are on a mission to find homes for them, one kitty at a time...

My website, and Etsy store.

The day Nosey mouse was born, and his current work for charity...

These pics were taken the day Nosey was born...


It was Dec 29, 2006 in Santa Fe.
This was taken in town the day after...
I suppose Nosey should have two birthdays, like the Queen.

One for the day he was born in clay, and one for first day he emerged from his cocoon of investment material as a fully fledged bronze.

I decided, starting June 1st to donate one mouse to auctions benefitting animal shelters for every five mice sold. No matter who sold them (me, my Etsy store or galleries), and of course if each person buying only buys one, no matter, each gets added to the tally and every time I pass another 5, one goes to a charity auction to benefit animal shelters.

And of course it's not just Nosey mouse, it's any of my family of six mice.

I started by donating 2 mice to cover my first 10 sales from my starting date. They were auctioned at a cocktail party in a very fancy home and the proceeds are now benefitting cats and dogs at Felines and Friends in Santa Fe.
They assist other shelters in finding homes for unwanted pets and strays. They also take in some that need veterinary help.

I'm always a bit leery of websites that proclaim 'a portion of sales are donated to...' or 'a percentage of sales are donated to...'
Always seems a bit vague to me. I always want to know 'what portion?' or 'what percentage?'.
After all, you could drop a dollar in a charity bucket once in your life, rationalize it came from your sales, and therefore counts as a portion or percentage.

0.00000001% can be called a percentage of sales, as much as 50% can be called a percentage of sales.
If you stop donating after a dollar, but keep selling forever, the percentage or portion you gave just keeps getting smaller, that's all.
So to all those out there who want to know how my mice are helping homeless cats and dogs, I went with one mouse donated for every five mice sold.

So if donated mice sell at auction for their retail value, each mouse you buy from me, my Etsy store or a gallery amounts to about $50 of help for an animal shelter.

When we lived in Venice, California there was a female cat in the neighborhood who was bent on populating the whole area with her kittens.
We managed to catch one and adopted her as our pet. She had 2 kittens before we got her spayed (one of which we found a home for, the other we kept).
Later Meridee's doctor told us keeping them would kill her (Meridee's allergies were getting severely worse).
Luckily we found a great home for them both before moving to Santa Fe.
Here they all are in a pretend Friskies commercial I made for fun...

Other than that, I just got a tree frog (so I'll be making tree frogs - stay tuned for that!)
My website.

Southwest Art magazine features Sprightly and Nosey mouse!

I'm delighted to announce the debut of Sprightly and Nosey mouse in Southwest Art magazine's July edition!
In fact it's the first time any of my sculpture has been featured in a nationwide publication besides exhibition catalogs.
Here's a sneak preview (I believe the magazine will be on the shelves next week).
As it mentions, I'm donating mice to animal shelter art auctions (one donated for every 5 that sell).
I'll no doubt post all the details here from my website (probably next week's post) since it's a worthwhile cause.
And thanks, Southwest Art!