Koi fish pond.

Koi Pond.

I always love the images of Koi fish ponds, and I thought I could try to make one.

It took several steps to make the final scene, first making the fish using polymer clay.

I bought a piece of wood at Michaels, and made a hole for the pond, glued the fish and filled with clear resin.

Then I used fake grass, also got from Michaels.

The Torii I made using wood and painted.

After putting all together, the final touches were the fox and the flower, made of polymer clay.

It looks like a very peaceful garden, and that is what I named it.

Kimono.

Kimono.

After all these years, I found out I am able to paint. Just not in paper, canvas, or fabric. I figured out that wood is my friend, and I can paint, make mistakes, paint it over and draw on top.
And since I discovered the colors in wood come out so vivid, I have been cutting and painting all my favorite things.
Neko Bus.
Totoro.
And something that I love, a lady dressed in kimono.
Because I can paint many, many details.
I can't wait to make more.

Girl Samurai.

I have been on my Japanese inspired mood lately, since all the Cherry Blossoms festivals are coming this Spring.
I wanted to use my scroll saw, plus I have a bunch of wood my friend John supplied, from breaking boards on his Karate dojo.
I had made a dragon last month, and something else that I love more than dragons are Samurais. So I decided to make a Samurai. First I worked on the sketch, after looking at hundreds of pictures. The next step was to make a copy and glue the paper in wood.
Then using the scroll saw, I cut the shape around.
And cutting more to shape and give more definition. It is very easy to mix up the pieces, and forget which way they connect.
It was a couple of hours to do this, and plus more time to sand the individual pieces.
After the messy job, it came to my favorite part, drawing and painting, layer after layer, until I thought I couldn't do any more details.
The final product came out a little different than my sketch, more because an error in the cut and the drawing. So my character ended up having more hair and a smaller face, and according to my son, it looks more like a girl.
So that is it. And my samurai is a girl.
They also said it looks like me.
And that is cool with me.