Gingko Mandala Spindle

I love this spindle that Nanette from the Yahoo Spindlers Group ordered! It was extremely "picky" painting, but it was worth every minute. Sometimes designs like these look deceptively simple and then once I get into the actual painting I find out how time consuming and picky they really are. Most of the time I can tell when a spindle is going to be difficult and then there are ones like this that sort of sneak up on me.

Overall, critters and people are always harder than any other designs. I personally think that's my own weakness though since they seem to be getting a bit easier as I continue to paint more of them. Mostly it's due to the fact that if you get one tiny brush stroke in the wrong place you have an eyeless dog or cat or a person who looks as though they have had a serious stroke. The small scale that I work on causes any error to be magnifed tremendously. But that's also part of the challenge!

And now, it's finally almost the week I have been waiting for and I'll be leaving on vacation soon! I will be out of contact for the next week, starting tomorrow. I will, however, be taking paints and supplies along to the cabin so spindles will still be getting done in any down time that I may have. A rainy day could prove to be very productive in this case.

Peace & Joy,

Jen

Ah, Summer....

Hi All,

It's been awhile since last I updated the Blog so I figured it was about time.

It's been a hectic summer... like this is anything new in my life! LOL!. My daughter is away at camp for two weeks, so I am busy catching up on spindle orders. Then, the last weekend in July through the first weekend in August, we will be away on vacation. It will really be nice to take a break and just relax a bit.

Other news. We are in the process of buying 22+ acres about a half hour south of where we currently live. We hope to build an earth sheltered, passive and active solar house in the next three years. All of the research and contract stuff has been really cutting a swath of time out of my life right now too. Tomorrow, we go to meet the realtor and put the down payment on the property and sign the contract. Whoopee! In the end, it means lots of long weekends trying to get a house built with us doing most of the work! But it's something we've been looking forward to for many years.

As for spindles, I am thinking about making the larger whorl spindle, the "Raven", my standard spindle. It's amazing how well it spins! I have been so impressed with this design that unless you are really set on a smaller, lighter weight spindle, I would really recommend this one.

I will get new pictures up soon for everyone to see.

Peace & Joy,
Jen