Side Project: Coasters and Ornaments

In addition to showing my recent paintings and drawings at Norton Factory's Open Studios and Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair on December 7th and 8th, I'll be selling my woodland creature ornaments and coasters.  

You may remember them from a few years ago, 

http://www.larahoke.com/larasblog/2010/2/21/rollercoaster.html 

Here's a shot of some of the coasters in progress.  Ideas for new creatures are welcome!

Coasters in progress

(roller)Coaster

Animal coasters in progresThis whole coaster project is finally coming to fruition.  I began stamping the wood slices en masse today and am pretty pleased with the results.  The next step will be applying thin layers of polyurethane, and sanding with a fine grain paper in between coats.

In other news, I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line.  Working on my coasters and researching vendors and artists for our wedding has given me a newfound appreciation of Etsy, blogs, and craft.  How great would it be to actually make some kind of income doing something I not only love but do anyway.  Today coasters...tomorrow the world!

The flock is growing...

The love of carving continues.  I've added an owl, quail, and squirrel to my team of woodland creatures and Ben got in on the action and carved a trout.  I ran into some problems with the squirrel - too many tiny details.  I made several mistakes and he just kept getting smaller and smaller.

Hand-carved woodland creature rubber stamps