Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Brown Red Japanese Bantams
"Brown Red Japanese Bantams"
colored pencil and graphite on cream Stonehenge paper
10 by 12 inches
by Katherine Plumer, © 2013
This was a custom piece, and it is now in Canada! :-)
Friday, July 26, 2013
July 26 work in progress
The little chicken scrimshaw is finished, and I will post it as soon as its new owner sees it!
Next on the list is the cottage scrimshaw. This is an illustration of the "Hansel Cottage" in Carmel, CA. This is a custom piece, and it's just over 2 inches in diameter. It'll be in full color. This pic was taken right after I transferred my drawing onto the ivory, so it's a bunch of dots. I've been working on all the outlines so far, and although there is a lot more done than there was when I took this photo, I haven't added any more ink so it doesn't look like much yet. This is an extremely complex image and I need to think very carefully how I'm going to do this...
Next on the list is the cottage scrimshaw. This is an illustration of the "Hansel Cottage" in Carmel, CA. This is a custom piece, and it's just over 2 inches in diameter. It'll be in full color. This pic was taken right after I transferred my drawing onto the ivory, so it's a bunch of dots. I've been working on all the outlines so far, and although there is a lot more done than there was when I took this photo, I haven't added any more ink so it doesn't look like much yet. This is an extremely complex image and I need to think very carefully how I'm going to do this...
Friday, July 19, 2013
July 19 work in progress
I transferred two images to two pieces of ivory today. They are both projects I "should have finished yesterday" if you know what I mean... clock's a-tickin'. The other, which I will show you later, is larger and EXTREMELY complicated and detailed, so I'm going to try to bust this one out pretty quickly (ha ha, "quickly" being a very relative term when it comes to working on a microscopic level).
This is going to be a portrait of two Sebright Bantam chickens. And to all my fancier/poultry exhibitor/chicken snob friends, I KNOW you're going to jump all over and say they don't look like good sebrights. I KNOW. They aren't! These are "hatchery grade" birds, and that's deliberate. So don't get all uppity about it. ;-)
This is going to be a portrait of two Sebright Bantam chickens. And to all my fancier/poultry exhibitor/chicken snob friends, I KNOW you're going to jump all over and say they don't look like good sebrights. I KNOW. They aren't! These are "hatchery grade" birds, and that's deliberate. So don't get all uppity about it. ;-)
Monday, July 15, 2013
Cape Buffalo knife now REALLY done!
Drum roll please...
And now featuring engraving and inlay on the bolsters and rivets by one of my absolute favorite people, Michael Dubber! I had to jump up and down and do the happy dance when I saw how COOL this turned out. YOWZA!!! Click on the pics to see these a little bit bigger!
And now featuring engraving and inlay on the bolsters and rivets by one of my absolute favorite people, Michael Dubber! I had to jump up and down and do the happy dance when I saw how COOL this turned out. YOWZA!!! Click on the pics to see these a little bit bigger!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
engraved Cape Buffalo floorplate
This is a floorplate for a Winchester Model 70 rifle. This part, in very simple terms, goes underneath behind the trigger. The scrollwork and gold inlay was done by John Barraclough. I engraved the Cape Buffalo in what is known as "bulino" style. This is NOT scrimshaw (it's NOT ivory). This is on steel. Yeah, I engraved metal. ;-) And I'm gonna do it again!
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
big shoutout to a little horse
Happy 10th Birthday to Shylah! My my how the years have flown since I got that scrappy scrawny little horse from Canada. She's really blossomed a lot this last year, and seems to enjoy not only her horsey friends but also her new role as a trail and cow horse. And we've come a long way learning to trust each other. That's a great feeling when it's just me and her by ourselves way out in the boonies.
Is it REALLY her birthday? Well who knows, but when I got her she had two little cardboard tags taped to her butt with the number "4" on them. She seemed so tiny compared to her "born in early spring" trailer-mates, so I decided June 4 would be her birthday. She's not really all that little any more. Just a smidge under 14.3. She just looks like a waif compared to the chunky fuzzy Gypsy horses she lives around!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
the excitement of roundup season!
There are about ten cows that permanently live on the ranch where I live. In the fall, another rancher brings more cows to this land and the surrounding parcels, and a lot more cows live here over winter. They have their babies between January in May. In April the bulls arrive. In May the cows, babies, and bulls are all hauled to summer pasture at higher elevation, since the grass here dries up. In the fall, they will return.
I spent the last almost-year looking forward to cattle roundups. My horse Shylah and I tagged along on the very last one of the season shortly after I moved up here last summer. We were only looking for strays, I think we found maybe three cows. Poor Shylah had spent her whole life in the flat land and was totally out of shape for mountain riding, so she didn't hold up to well for a long hard day or riding last year.
So I worked real hard to get her in shape, especially in the last few months. I rode as much as I could, went up and down as many hills as I could, went out and checked cows a lot, and so on and so forth. We were ready this year!
And it was so much fun!!! It makes for long tiring days, but I had a blast and Shylah did SO well. She gets pretty worked up when she sees the cows, and the first day she tended to be TOO fast, too pushy, I really had to hold her back a lot. She was much better the second weekend. I helped with sorting too, in the corral, and that horse is definitely NOT a cutting horse! Moving quickly in that situation doesn't seem to come too naturally. ;-)
Now, amazingly, everything got done in two weekends. I guess it usually takes about four weekends. The weather was great, that definitely helped and allowed us to go out and round up multiple parcels on the same day. I guess we'll go out one more time in a few weeks and look for strays, but other than that it's all done! That's great! And yet, I'd kinda hoped for a few more weekends of that. ;-)
I took as many pics as I could, but it was hard to have a spare hand for picture-takin' sometimes!
Waiting for the boss to show up on the first morning...
This was the first bunch of cows on the first day, which were relatively calm and went right where they were supposed to go. I wish I could show you more actual pics of the roundup action, but it tends to be fast and furious and "two hands on the wheel" so to speak. My pokey slow horse turns into a freight train when the herd gets to runnin'. She really did well, I'm proud of her, and all those conditioning rides paid off, she just wanted to go go go!
Going out in search of more cows. The bunch we were looking for is a wild bunch. We didn't find them.
Shylah and Blackie. Shylah really seems drawn to Blackie, she will follow him anywhere, and she really seems to like his rider, Linda. Shylah will sidle up to her any chance she gets for to get her face petted!
Last part of the day after lunch, had to sort a bunch of "strays" (came over/under/through the fence from the neighbor's place) out of the herd. Having no "cutting" experience at all, I wanted to give it a shot. She did okay. Not great (not quick and responsive enough yet), but okay.
Gotta get them in the pen!
Waiting for the next one to come down the fence line!
The second morning began with sorting cows that we caught the previous days. Those cows shall not pass! Okay, they did, a few times, but we're still learning... and those cows were nuts!
After sorting, out in search of more cows. Where ARE those cows? Most of the time on these roundup rides it's just a nice long trail ride, scouting for cows. And then you find cows. And then the cows start to run. And all hell breaks loose and you have to chase them. And at that point I don't dare try to get my camera out of the case. That day we brought in teh rest of the crazy Limousin cattle on the neighboring parcels. It actually went easier than expected, but still... Because we are all so awesome? ;-)
Shylah, Bigger, and Blackie
Freckles and Spot by the corrals at the end of the day.
Bigger at the end of the day.
Blackie at the end of the day.
Here comes the big trailer to haul the cows to their summer pastures!
Long day in the saddle that day! We rounded up something like 75 cows on two different parcels, including taking the worst possible path up the ravine (dang cows). Had to dismount and walk the horses for part of it!
This is from the second weekend, out gathering a sane bunch of cows on the neighboring parcel. They didn't run like the wild beasts on the previous weekend!
Cough cough, some dust may have been ingested that day!
Git along, little one! Lots of Itty bitty babies in the first bunch today, we had to take it really slow and easy so they could keep up.
Mooovin'
Heading for the corrals.
I walked out to the corrals that night to say goodbye to the cows. I've been out a LOT since these cows arrived in the fall, riding or hiking, and some of these cows have become pretty familiar faces out on the trail and I've given a lot of them silly names. Some may be back next year, but there's no way to predict which will end up on which parcel. Goodbye to Unicorn (on the left) and the Old Cow (on the right). This is surely the Old Cow's last roundup...
The Escape Artist (the gold colored little bull) who has a real knack for getting through fences.
Droopy Ears (with the white face).
Bye Bye to Jock, the big beautiful beast.
Funny Face.
Twisty Horn
Triple Wide (I learned today that her owners call her Pig Eye!) and her baby.
I decided to call him Ned. The little Hereford bull. Ned is staying for a little while longer to make sure the small resident herd (the year-round residents) are all adequately pregnant. He's just not quite as magnificent as the big black bull.
So that's it! Another year wrapped up! So much fun!! I can't wait to do it again! :-D
I spent the last almost-year looking forward to cattle roundups. My horse Shylah and I tagged along on the very last one of the season shortly after I moved up here last summer. We were only looking for strays, I think we found maybe three cows. Poor Shylah had spent her whole life in the flat land and was totally out of shape for mountain riding, so she didn't hold up to well for a long hard day or riding last year.
So I worked real hard to get her in shape, especially in the last few months. I rode as much as I could, went up and down as many hills as I could, went out and checked cows a lot, and so on and so forth. We were ready this year!
And it was so much fun!!! It makes for long tiring days, but I had a blast and Shylah did SO well. She gets pretty worked up when she sees the cows, and the first day she tended to be TOO fast, too pushy, I really had to hold her back a lot. She was much better the second weekend. I helped with sorting too, in the corral, and that horse is definitely NOT a cutting horse! Moving quickly in that situation doesn't seem to come too naturally. ;-)
Now, amazingly, everything got done in two weekends. I guess it usually takes about four weekends. The weather was great, that definitely helped and allowed us to go out and round up multiple parcels on the same day. I guess we'll go out one more time in a few weeks and look for strays, but other than that it's all done! That's great! And yet, I'd kinda hoped for a few more weekends of that. ;-)
I took as many pics as I could, but it was hard to have a spare hand for picture-takin' sometimes!
Waiting for the boss to show up on the first morning...
This was the first bunch of cows on the first day, which were relatively calm and went right where they were supposed to go. I wish I could show you more actual pics of the roundup action, but it tends to be fast and furious and "two hands on the wheel" so to speak. My pokey slow horse turns into a freight train when the herd gets to runnin'. She really did well, I'm proud of her, and all those conditioning rides paid off, she just wanted to go go go!
Going out in search of more cows. The bunch we were looking for is a wild bunch. We didn't find them.
Shylah and Blackie. Shylah really seems drawn to Blackie, she will follow him anywhere, and she really seems to like his rider, Linda. Shylah will sidle up to her any chance she gets for to get her face petted!
Last part of the day after lunch, had to sort a bunch of "strays" (came over/under/through the fence from the neighbor's place) out of the herd. Having no "cutting" experience at all, I wanted to give it a shot. She did okay. Not great (not quick and responsive enough yet), but okay.
Gotta get them in the pen!
Waiting for the next one to come down the fence line!
The second morning began with sorting cows that we caught the previous days. Those cows shall not pass! Okay, they did, a few times, but we're still learning... and those cows were nuts!
After sorting, out in search of more cows. Where ARE those cows? Most of the time on these roundup rides it's just a nice long trail ride, scouting for cows. And then you find cows. And then the cows start to run. And all hell breaks loose and you have to chase them. And at that point I don't dare try to get my camera out of the case. That day we brought in teh rest of the crazy Limousin cattle on the neighboring parcels. It actually went easier than expected, but still... Because we are all so awesome? ;-)
Shylah, Bigger, and Blackie
Freckles and Spot by the corrals at the end of the day.
Bigger at the end of the day.
Blackie at the end of the day.
Here comes the big trailer to haul the cows to their summer pastures!
Long day in the saddle that day! We rounded up something like 75 cows on two different parcels, including taking the worst possible path up the ravine (dang cows). Had to dismount and walk the horses for part of it!
This is from the second weekend, out gathering a sane bunch of cows on the neighboring parcel. They didn't run like the wild beasts on the previous weekend!
Cough cough, some dust may have been ingested that day!
Git along, little one! Lots of Itty bitty babies in the first bunch today, we had to take it really slow and easy so they could keep up.
Mooovin'
Heading for the corrals.
I walked out to the corrals that night to say goodbye to the cows. I've been out a LOT since these cows arrived in the fall, riding or hiking, and some of these cows have become pretty familiar faces out on the trail and I've given a lot of them silly names. Some may be back next year, but there's no way to predict which will end up on which parcel. Goodbye to Unicorn (on the left) and the Old Cow (on the right). This is surely the Old Cow's last roundup...
The Escape Artist (the gold colored little bull) who has a real knack for getting through fences.
Droopy Ears (with the white face).
Bye Bye to Jock, the big beautiful beast.
Funny Face.
Twisty Horn
Triple Wide (I learned today that her owners call her Pig Eye!) and her baby.
I decided to call him Ned. The little Hereford bull. Ned is staying for a little while longer to make sure the small resident herd (the year-round residents) are all adequately pregnant. He's just not quite as magnificent as the big black bull.
So that's it! Another year wrapped up! So much fun!! I can't wait to do it again! :-D
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
stuff that's in progress
Colored pencil drawing:
Elk teeth before cleaning and polishing:
Elk teeth after polishing! These will be a pair of pendants, wedding gifts. I'll be scrimming initials and a date on them.
The Cape Buffalo Winchester floorplate is done, pending approval. I'll show you soon.
There are about fifty billion things I need to write about.
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