Monday, January 04, 2010

out with the old?

I have a lot of my own art. Sometimes I find that some of it is no longer very representative of the work that I do. What to do? In some cases, I give it away. At other times maybe I'll sell it at a deep discount. Or I'll decide to keep it. Or I might destroy it. It's not always an easy decision, but sometimes there are things I've done years ago that I no longer want out on the market representing me.

But sometimes I can make them better. :-) I was sitting at the engraving bench tonight working on something, and I happened to take out the dragon pendant and look at the under the scope. Yikes! I scrimmed the dragon pendant a little over two years ago. It was my first color scrim, and the fourth scrim I ever did. It's a nice piece, a very cool image, but hoo boy have I come a long way since then as far as technique and tools are concerned. So suddenly there is a decision to make: keep it and don't have it available for sale, or make it better. I have mixed feelings about working back into a piece that was done years ago, I've never done that with my drawings but sometimes think about it. This feels different though, more okay somehow. I can really improve it, a lot, and feel really good about having it up for sale. I think I'll do that, I want to make it awesome.

So, what am I working on? Well, a few things:

1) something (top secret, it's a scrimshaw of something, I can't talk about it because someone commissioned it for someone, and someone and someone both read this) ;-) That's right, no WIP pics while I'm working on it
2) upcoming soon, scrimshaw lettering (initials) on a set of pistol grips
3) upcoming pending approval, a knife collaboration
4) reworking the dragon scrim
5) a pendant for me
6) there are a few other things "in the works" but far from being confirmed

For me? Yeah! I want to make myself something. I need a show piece, something I can wear to shows that's really nice but that I don't feel obligated to sell. I wracked my brain for a while trying to come up with good subject matter before I realized the choice is obvious. A subject near and dear, and orange and fuzzy. :-) It's going to be VERY difficult, and there are a few things I want to try that are kind of experimental, and that's why it's destined for me. I want to try some stuff on my own before tackling it in commissioned work.

I still need to post all the cool things I made people for Christmas...

And I need to set up the bench grinder so I can use all my nifty new sharpening stuff!

4 comments:

Granny Annie said...

My greatest Christmas treasures this year were the prizes won on your blog.

Von said...

Sounds good!Reworking is sometimes an option but each piece speaks doesn't it?

Katherine Plumer said...

Thanks Granny Annie! :-)

Von, yes that's exactly it. It speaks of a moment in time, a moment when I created it. Normally I wouldn't do this, but it's a very "structurally sound" image and I think with all I've learned about color scrim in the last two years, I can REALLY make it pop.

Anonymous said...

I love that you are doing one of that special kitty! Perfect choice :-)
--CS