A picture a day 2

Erm, still does what is says on the tin :)

A polymer clay millefiori pendant :)

Getting Ready for the Cardiff Steampunk Market :)

Very soon, I shall be trading at the Cardiff Steampunk Market

I am rather excited about this so I did a quick stock check and I am a tad low on my Gearpunk range.

This range is inspired by Steampunk but moves more across to revering the gears, I am officially obcessed with gears....

Anyways, I have run out of material now (waiting for a polymer delivery tomoz) so at 1am have decided to call it a night.

Heres whats been made so far!

I shall pop them in to cure and pop myself into bed!

Mwah everyone! xx

Pebble Experiment with free tutorial

Aloha folks, this is the next part of my series of tutorials for using up leftover surface treatments.

Inspired by some of the faux turqoise recipies out there I decided to try using my trimmings to create fantastical geode stones.

Ingredients : surface treatment scraps, acryllic paints, food processor,

first you need some surface treatment trimmings....

Then you need a food processor.....

This was five pounds at a car boot sale (obviously can no longer be used with food)

Trimmings

Plus some translucent in this case

Whizz it up into polymer kibble

Turn it out onto work surface. In this case my usual glass tiles are topped with recycled paper.

Paint all surfaces of the kibble

I wanted to experiment with two colours

Mmmmmm! I think it looks like robot vomit....but hey ho I am known for being peculiar.

Squish the kibble into lumps, compressing it really hard. I tend to dust my hands in cornstarch to make it all stick to me a bit less.

I prefer to cure my beads and things like this in cornflour in cheap metal food containers. Cure as per packet instructions.

Take the cooled cured pieces out and give them a wash in water.

Then sand the out surface off to reveal the internal colours. The paint between the kibble creates this lovely effect.

Et voila!


I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, more are en route eventually, I promise.

Captain Purky

xxx

Gearpunk Tunnels

Just a quickie, these are 12mm stainless steel flesh tunnels that have been Purky Gearpunked.

They coincide with the piece I made as a gift for a friend and use the same mokume nendo slab and fractured leaf.

Padding out the interior of the tunnel to make the end plates fit was an interesting challenge.

These pieces are not quite as highly finished as I would hope them to be but illustrate and exciting new Purky direction :)

Plus, I hope he liked them ....


Massive amounts of Purky loving!

xx

The Marvelous Sugarbean!

A short while ago I posted some sample beads to a very talented lady to see what she thought of the prototypes.

Imagine my total delight when I recieved a parcel on Saturday.

I knew something had been posted to me, so was rather excited to discover it on my doorstep.

There was a lovely letter and I spied something chocolatey and tasty!

So a brilliant book on selling crafts online, a box of maltesers and an anonomous brown box....

Inside were these beautifully packaged nuggets of joy.

I will take proper photographs of all these pieces but just had to share what I had recieved.

Look at all the clever intricate beadwork!

I must say that my enthusiasm for the products that I sent off as prototypes has massively increased.

The grand plan is that Purky Products will begin selling handcrafted beads and buttons alongside items of finished jewellery. Look at the fabulous things you could create.

I will post a bio on this marvelous creative lady later in the week (after I have checked she does not mind the personal exposure)

Big Purky hugs

(and send me as much stuff as you like, just email me for the address!)

H xxx

Heart of Purky

I like to think of love as being two people connecting and forming a bond. These bonds can last forever or maybe even a few days or hours.

The cynic in me says Love is either hormonal chemicals or social convenience but the real me has a very different opinion.

These heart pendants have not been made to cash in on Valentines Day. Recently I started to fall for an amazing guy but after a pretty intense eight weeks we have cooled down. That sensation of being entirely at the mercy of your heart and feelings is so intoxicating, bewildering and magnificent.

I have contrasted fractured metal leaf against Mokume Nendo. Both techniques are unpredictable and need careful handling to get the best results. They contrast with one another but show their closeness. The join is not smooth but toothed and meshed.

A bit like Love.

Purky Products is all about Handcrafted Joy.

What is Love if not the knife edge of Joy?

My Purkiest kisses for you all xxx

Purky Gearpunk

I do not like steampunk as an aesthetic.... Actually I feel guilty about it because on paper, it is so damned cool?

Anyways, steam is not my thing but Gears?

My gosh Gears make crazy, I love them!

I could literally cover my home in gear murals, even carve ornated tudor style plaster ceiling bosses in the shape of gears.


So, in celebration of the humble gear and cog, I dub my new style....GearPunk

There will be experiments, many many experiments before GearPunk hits the Purky lineup but it is coming sometime this year....mwah ha ha ha

Purky love to you all xxx

Old Friends

Once upon a time, I used to sculpt dragons. They came from my story universe called Alveon and had stories and certificates.

First a portrait of Imotir, a dragon of Alveon he is known as the 'Immortal' due to his dubious ethical practises. This likeness of him was sculpted in 2007 and was 25 inches from nose to tail.

Next up, Dragon Hatchling, Halensil. I do not know that much about this chap but he is from 2007 as well.

Dalminok, a mean dragon hatchling. He grows up full of attitude methinks. 2007 again folks!

Such a sad face, my favourite dragon hatchling sculpture. This is Taolifiren. I kept him but sold his siblings. Sculpted in 2007.









I find sculpting horribly stressful but quite tempted to return to dragons later this year, what do you think?

Purky Love

xxx

Just so you know....

I haven't actually dissapeared off the face of the Planet.

It has been a hectic 8 weeks. I fell for that amazing chap I met in December, I am clearing my Mother's house, I journeyed North for Christmas and to Cardiff for New Years.

I have started working on the new Purky Portfolio, made contact with large companies, started planning the first Purky show, started writing the Goblin Tailor performance.

I am writing the design document for the new Purky Products webpages, writing a new business plan, designing ten new ranges!

Phil and I are reconciled as Cat and Companion which is rather spiffing.

What else? I have a radical new direction for the business which shall be unveiled in due course.

Just to keep it ticking though, have a random smattering of Purky Pictures, they are being considered for the Portfolio :)

 Leaf Brooch - £10.00

 A selection of Revolution Pendants, all sold!

Golden Dragonfly Pendant £10.00 

 Embossed Pendant Experiment :)

 Filigree Mokume Nendo Pendant Experiment

Mobius Leaf Pendant Experiment :)

















So, there we go, I will get back to blogging properly very soon, oh lovely folk.

Big Hugs

Purky xxx

A sort of Catch up type post :)

It seems like great big long stretches pass where nothing really happens in Purkdom but the last month has been a tad hectic.

Getting ready for the chocolate festival and hogswatch took a lot of effort and I am finding full time work prohibitive to my creativity. Without full time work though, I would have no where to live, sigh!

I was working until 2am most mornings for a good fortnight and it seemed to be ok, the folks at work said I was a tad tetchy, I apologised profusely. Also got suitably embarressed when I made a few mistakes due to tiredness and being distracted by my personal projects.

Chocolate festival completed, it was time to get the final preparations done for my storytelling performance 'The Monster Chef' It went pretty well and really deserves a complete post all to itself but ho hum.

I raised just over £300 for charity and the audience seemed quite pleased with the entertainent. I am not happy with my performance and I did not allow myself enough time to prepare which showed in the end. Next scheduled performance is in Spring so got some time to work on it.

I went to see Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer at the Cheese and Grain in Frome, he was utterly brilliant. I also loved seeing Muriel Lavender perform her poetry and a young acoustic duo called Indigo Children sing. There was also a bit of burlesque as well.

I couldn't resist the call of Bristol and headed over to the South Pre-Hibearnation event. I have a terrible weakness for hirsute men and had a fun evening, well early morning really.  I met a really lovely chap and caught up with some folks I have met before. In the process of building  a new friendship network hopefully.

This guy? well he is tall and alternative and has a voice like hot melted chocolate. We shall see if any thing develops, hey?

I think that is all for now?

Oh, I also popped across to the Artisan Market in Frome which had some lovely things. I treated myself to a new bauble for my christmas tree when I eventually put it up. Also bought some special Strawberry and Vanilla Jam from Jo Harrington and some amazing smelling raw hot chocolate from www.elementsforlife.co.uk :)

I am popping off for now but thats whats been occuring in terms of fun stuff. I did have some post success depression in the week following my trading events and storytelling but hoping that has eased off for a few days now.

Nearly forgot to mention, I traded at the Wincanton Farmers Christmas Market which was cool. Folks were impressed with my work and display. I was super happy when some people that I respect very much told me my business was looking very professional and respectable. Brought me a lot of joy :)

Big hugs to you all and catch you soon xxx

Purky Packaging

From the beginning of Purky Products I had always intended to have shiny lovely packaging.

For many reasons, often financial, I put off designing and ordering.

My original logo was designed by Nikki Cox of Kiwi 2000 http://www.kiwi2000.com and she redesigned it to suit foil printing in a square.

I came home and found this box

And had to find something to open it!

And then said box was vanquished and inside there was.....!

A little beauty and soon all her friends came out to play!

And lets just finish with a whoop?

Very pleased with these. Roll on the Purky times.

Hugs everyone

xxx

Returning to my Blog

Its been somthing of a rough year so far.

Purky failed as a business, my relationship ended and my Mother has died.

After my last post, about something so important, I honestly did not know how to follow it.

These things however do not excuse me from active blogging and I apologise profusely to folks who have been waiting for an update.

I have been creative over the last month and taken literally hundreds of photos documenting my life and my work. There are several tutorials which I will get written up and released over this month.

A snap shot of pictures from the last month, just to give you some flavour.

Cute tame starling

My new adventures into indian cuisine

An important Purky project for the family in progress (full tutorial to follow eventually)

My beautiful sister on her wedding day

A gorgeous (late blooming) passion flower

My updated shrine, its a collation of things that are meaningful to me, though the skull candles are just for the ambiance of the thing....

New Purky display equipment and Phil supervising work in the new studio

New tile pendants, cufflinks and stud earrings about to be cured.

The night I met Lady Gaga...

New Revolution Pendants and new stud earrings.












I hope that gives you a flavour of what has been occuring in my life this month. I haven't included pictures from my Mother's funeral and other things like that.

I promise to return to regular blogging and my love and best wishes to all of you

Harry xx