Robot Profiles : Captain Ginger

22580870023_15ec6bc4a9_o

This is Captain Ginger. As I was putting him together I started to paint the story in my mind ….a pudgy little kid with his bottom lip rolled up over the top. He’s running around the back yard with a piece of cloth that he found. He put some strings on it and it became a cape.

Now he’s jumping up over the picnic table and bench in the backyard. “Look at me mom! Look at me, I can fly” And as mom looks out from the kitchen window, she says “Sweetie, what a great cape! Of course you can fly!” 

superman

There are some aspects of him that make me think about the very end of Iron Giant when the giant is flying up and you hear Hogarth saying “You are who you choose to be”, then the giant says “Superman”.

Capt. Ginger was sold at the Boys and Girls Club Winter Craft Fair to a delightful older gentleman in his 90’s. He had been looking at him for 10-15 minutes; turning him over and studying all the parts/pieces. Then he turned to me, with the biggest smile on his face and said he’d like to take him home now. It totally made my day how happy this man was.

I can now picture that Capt. Ginger is sitting next to this man’s chair in his living room and each time he looks over there’s a lil’ sparkle in his eye thinking about when he was a little kid running through the yard with a cape. Man, I love what I do.

Robot Profiles: A Box of Art Supplies

What would you do with a box full of bolts and gears and random pieces of metal?

bolts-arrivalI received a package one afternoon (a very large and heavy package – condolences to the carrier that had to bring that parcel) which asked that very question.

It was story that started on Instagram with a challenge posed by a fellow artist named Bucket of Bolts. Each recipenent would take pieces from the box to create something, then add pieces from their shop before it headed out to the next artist chosen.

It arrived to me from Gunstone Creations and after 4 days of welding, cutting, grinding, drilling, hammering and bolting, it was done…well almost done. There was still a lot of sanding and paint prep to do. I started posting a daily play-by-play of all the fun I was having creating with this new supplies. Finally on day 5, it was complete. Meet Sir Bolts – he is created from about 50% box parts and 50% items I had in/around my shop.

sir-boltsHad an amazing time working on him, decided what pieces to add to the box and then choosing the next person to send it off to.

It went from the East Coast back to the West Coast into the talented hands of Joanie Butler, who created “Star Gazer” with the pieces.

You can follow all the fun by checking in on #boxofartsupplies and what will you create today?