The Rolls Royce of shoe horns has completed its test drive...

Snail shoe horn

Wall hanging tree frog shoe horn

Lately I love putting sneakers on, perhaps more than anyone else alive!

I've been using my extra long tree frog shoe horn most days.
I whip it off the wall to slide into my sneakers, but it feels so nice to hold I usually swing it about a bit before hanging it back up!

I might even chase Meridee about with it if she happens to be passing at the time!

It feels great to hold. Nice and  heavy, with perfect balance since the heavy frog is at the grasping end, a bit like the pommel on a sword.

Edition of 25. The dark shape at the bottom of this picture is to the top of the slot for wall hanging.

The snail shoe horn sits neatly on the mantel, and when I'm planning to squeeze my plates of meat into my sneakers whilst sitting, I whip my snail off its stand and take care of business that way.

One of the most fun things about being an artist for me is that I can make things for myself that otherwise  I'd have to be Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet, or Richard Branson, Sir Alan Sugar or Donald Trump to own.

In fact I had to sit my Walmart shoe horn down in the board room earlier today, for a little chat...

'Walmart shoe horn...

It's not that you're not doing a fine job.

You are.
You get my sneakers on very nicely.

You're nice and long, with a flexible spring. I never had to lean down at all.

That string in your  handle lets me dangle you from anything.

You're as light as a feather, and thinner than my new bronze shoe horns.
You've always slid between heel and shoe with no trouble at all.

But you're cheap.

You look cheap, you're bendy, and you're no fun to hold.

Once I've got my sneakers on, I can't wait to drop you like a hot potato.

Just take a look at my Rolls Royce of shoe horns.
Either one.
I can't bear to put them down.

Why couldn't you be more like that?

Walmart shoe horn, I'm left with no choice.

Get out.

YOU'RE FIRED!'

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Click HERE to see all shoe horn related posts (making of, etc).
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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Show opens on Friday, and last chance for snapping up pre-orders on Kickstarter...

There's nothing like an upcoming show to make the gentle breeze of time passing turn into a gale and rip the pages off the calendar with frightening speed.

Especially when you're trying to get a few new pieces ready in time, and hoping a large piece arrives safely in time from a museum show the next state over.

Luckily I can rely on the handful of talented professionals I have come to know over the last few years to do a great job every time.  Thanks guys.

Testing my tree frog shoe horn for hangability before finishing, while Lee welds on a mouse tail...

Tree frogs with their sprues cut off

Snail end of one of my shoehorns. I might do this snail also as a stand-alone in the future...

Needs welding

Post weld hammering

Plenty of my old favorites will be in attendance, like my Monkey Discus Thrower, Bear Back Rider, various toads, and barring any disasters my large Sumo Toads, along with a handful of new pieces like various small turtles and tree frogs on a vine which are already installed, plus...

I've dropped off my artist's proof of 'Crossing Over' at Manitou, but several others (my tree frog  clinging on a wall, my wall hanging tree frog shoe horn, snail shoe horn, Pugnacious Mouse) should be ready this week, with my chameleon plaques not getting into my hot little hands until likely Thursday, which will give me just enough time to patina them before hanging.
Some of these new pieces will be mostly for order taking only, since  I've only had a few cast so far.


I also need to sort out the resin for my swimming turtles.

Anyhow, I'm very excited about it and I'm sure all will go well, even if it's just in time, although Manitou are also opening a new gallery at the bottom of Canyon Road which will have garden space to display outdoor sculptures, which is great!

So they'll be even busier than usual this next few weeks!

I'm the sculpture half of the show, so I'm proud to be sharing with painter Jennifer O'Cualain.
Her animal paintings will be the ideal complement to my bronze critters, and she generously painted a picture for my Mouse Project book.

Unfortunately my favorite mice are looking a bit too risque for this particular gallery.
I was a bit surprised since I never really saw myself as the Damien Hirst of Santa Fe!

 Rumpy Mouse and Pumpy Mouse - metal master, pre-patina

I'll be forced to sell them shadily on ever changing street corners from the trunk of my roving mouse mobile!
Coded messages shall appear in the newspaper, alerting those in the know where and when the next secret rendezvous will be...

My Kickstarter project is almost over, and I'm very happy to say that I achieved my funding goal early and then some thanks to the enthusiastic support of my backers who I'm delighted to say love what I do!
Which is extremely gratifying, and makes being an artist all the more rewarding.
Thanks backers!

It ends around midnight at the end of Sunday OOPS, I MEAN SATURDAY!, mountain time, so if you'd like a quick look before it ends you can click HERE.

Pugnacious metal master with a little metalwork to go before patina...

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

Through a glass darkly...here's a spooky looking scene...

Cut up bits and pieces embedded in mold material, waiting to be cut out so waxes can be made.

You might recognize the snail from one of my shoe horns, and of course a tree frog which I'm making as a stand alone wall mounted frog.

That isn't Rumplestiltskin in the background spinning straw into gold, it's Lee flattening the bottoms of my Bumper to Bumper mid size turtles.
Somehow he manages to keep his fingers off that fast spinning abrasive disk (I'm very glad to say).

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

Super slo-mo shoehorn progress, wax with a memory, plus Mike Masse's favorite ear plugs ever!

Slow moving snail shoehorn - a work in progress (it's not cast yet)

What do you do when you're wrestling with wax that always wants to return to its original shape?

I was working on my tree frog shoe horn. I had a mold made on my original wax shoe horn design and got some other waxes of it to mess about with.

Instead of the usual bendable wax poured into molds, this was injection wax, which behaves (or rather mis-behaves) differently.

Anyway it didn't hang on the wall just the way I wanted it to.
I tried bending it this way and that, and in the process broke the one I had my frog on. Before it broke it always wanted to slowly return to its original shape after bending.

Quite frustrating.

Eventually Lee suggested I try letting it soak in very hot water before bending it (I'd already tried this, but it would return to its old shape when it cooled). But Lee also suggested quickly cooling it back down in cold water. So I gave it a try, using a tray of iced water, and voila!

After getting another wax just how I wanted it, I broke off the top of the one with the frog on, so I could remove and transfer the frog to the newly shaped wax.

Left with a broken, now shorter shoe horn, I liked the way it sat sideways on the table and decided to take advantage of it.
So I tidied it up and now it's got a snail on it.

I happened to have some snail shells kicking around for just such an occasion.
I heated small quantities of wax in a spoon over an alcohol lamp from Artisan (the art store), and poured the hot liquid into the shell making it less fragile, and easier to attach wax based clay to.

After a quick google image search for snails (and likewise on YouTube) I had all the reference I needed for the slimy parts.

Oh, here's a handy tip for doing the tentacles...
Copper wire, even really thin copper wire inside the clay tentacles, is a bit stiff to bend just right. So heat it up in a flame (gas cooker stove tops work fine) to red hot, and let it cool back down. Then it will be nice and bendy. Just be sure to hold it in pliers (not your fingers) while heating!
Or I s'pose you could just use very thin aluminum wire.

Call it a sculpture you can put your shoes on with, or call it a shoe horn that looks great on the mantel piece!

I like how it looks, and I can't wait to get it cast. It's at Lee's getting its very own mold right now...
So I guess I'll have two uniquely individual shoe horns when I'm done.
His 'n' hers?

Spookily shot wax and clay snail shoehorn

On another topic...
I remember when I picked up what looked like nastily colored fruit pastels at Mike Masse's studio a year or so back.
But they were squashy. And waxy.
And ear plugs, as Mike was quick to point out.

But recently when I was there Mike was keen to show me what he called the best ear plugs he's ever tried.
He was very excited about them, as you can see...

Mike Masse sporting this season's must-have ear accessories. 

A perfect gift for the power tool enthusiast in your life.

Radnor reusable earplugs. Mike swears by 'em.

If I ever start snoring I'll know just what to get Meridee for her birthday.

By the way, she's put up some pics online, with more coming soon (and presumably regularly thereafter), at MerideeMandio.blogspot.com
Click HERE to have a look.

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