Amelia Materials Are Arriving

Though, irritatingly, in pretty much the opposite order from when I'll need them.

The modelling wire is what I need to get started, and it's still not here; hopefully, it should arrive tomorrow. Or the next day. *sigh.*

But what HAS arrived is the glue, the pipe cleaners, and the material- much more than I will ever need. Thats the problem with buying online, I guess... I have enough fabric to make an ARMY of polecats. Literally. I've no idea how I'm gonna use it all; maybe I could make other animals if Amelia turns out as good as I'm hoping she will be.

The good news is that the material is lovely; really soft faux fur. Amelia will have a beautiful coat. To give you an idea just how much extra I will have, I've taken a picture.

That's pretty much all I've got to say at the moment- I havent had a chance to work any more on the story I was thinking of writing to go with Amelia's name.

Over and out.

Homework (Worthless) & Ideas for Amelia...

Homework. Two hours of it.

All possibility of me doing anything with my night has now gone, into the worthless time waster that is my education.

But I want to put that behind me. I know I've moved on.
Moving on to more interesting stuff, my pet hobby project Amelia. (My posable, furry, blue and grey polecat sculpture. More details up soon, when my materials arrive and I can actually start making her.)

(Or, you could just move down a few blogs to the 'My New Project' one. If you have no idea what I'm talking about.)

ANYWAY, I'm thinking I might write a short story to go with her, and upload it here, on DeviantArt, etc. You know, her tale? That depends how creative I'm feeling, plus how long I want this project to go on for, though. But one thing I know for definite is that she'll have a rhyme to go with her, you know like beanie babies when you first get them? On the tag? Sure you do. Unless you never had a childhood.

Except, obviously, the rhymes will probably be rather more sad/horrific/scary then beanie babies ones. (Whoever made them up was clearly no poet. Unlike me. Though I didn't know it.)

Amelia's definitely in the melancholy category. I like the same Amelia. To quote:

'You can step right into that name... Swim with it or spill it on your shirt. Whisper it over like a sad, soft ache, or bask it out like a mad, manic message: camellia, come heee-re, a-million, a murder you, ye-eah.'

I am such a big Jaclyn Moriarty fan, her books are so beautiful.

Returning to subject, I was thinking the rhyme to go with Amelia's name could be along the lines of:

She's not like other polecats
Because love tore her apart
And, inside her furry chest
There beats a broken heart.

Let me know what you think. :)

~Ziggy Lullaby

Ode To Painting & Drawing

Sheesh, that class sucks all creativity from my soul. At the moment, we're drawing peppers. PEPPERS.

I mean, I've got nothing against peppers. They're very nice, in their own way. Very... Pepper like. My enthusiasm for drawing them (never exactly buoyant) deflated entirely when our teacher spent all lesson talking about how much he loved them.

Its a free world. You're allowed to love peppers.

You just shouldnt be able to take up more than five minutes of my time telling me so.

During the time he spent informing me of his infatuation with the pepper race, he also covered how much trouble he was having concentrating today.

Four times.

The table was calling to my forehead.

I havent got any further with Amelia due to the fact my materials won't be arriving until friday (at ridiculous postage cost, I might add.) I buy some modelling wire, some fabric, some glue, some eyes, and some pipecleaners. D'you know how much it cost?

£26. I am officially bankrupt, and I haven't had any pocket money for five weeks.

*ahem le parents*

Plans For Amelia

So, last night I drew out the plans for my model polecat I'm making (see my last post for more details.) Her name is Amelia, and the plans pretty basic, but thats how I prefer it to be- my brain is far too overloaded with schoolwork, pets, etc, to worry about writing out a complicated plan to scale and everything. Plus, I had graphics yesterday, and that was ALL WE DID. So I'm kind of tired of it now.

Also, I don't have a ruler.

Anyway, no time for a long entry since I should really be getting my school stuff together right now. So, heres the plan.

The G's stand for grey, the B's for blue.

(My mum eats really loudly.)

My new project..

SIince I'm suffering from writers block at the moment (can't write a word of my story, seriously- I try, but anything I manage isn't quite right;) I've decided I'll find my way into creativeness a different way. Most of my drawn art looks crap at the moment, since the scanner has oh-so-helpfully given up the ghost, so I've decided I'll head off in a more three dimensional direction. Inspired by somebody I saw on DeviantArt, my next project will be a sculpture.

More specifically, a posable, furry model of a polecat called Amelia. At the moment, I'm still at a planning stage, doing basic drawings and plans, but I'm planning to order the materials either tonight or tomorrow. (Whenever I can get Mum to use her amazon account to buy the stuff.) (I am paying for it by myself.) (Just for the record.)

Anyway, if things go according to plan, Amelia's basic frame will be constructed from modelling wire, wrapped around with pipe cleaners, etc, to give her the nice bulk and softness that is appropriate for a polecat of her stature. Her fur (also ordered from Amazon) will be a mixture of grey and electric blue, and her eyes... I haven't quite decided on yet. Also, I'm thinking the main problem may be her paws, which will be tricky to construct accurately, but I'm sure I'll figure out a way somehow.

Something of a stylised polecat, but a polecat nonetheless. I find the way polecats walk and the way their backs curve incredibly cute for some reason, not to mention their little bandit masks. And their noses. Aaaw.

So, yeah. I might upload some plans for her outline, etc, later. Depends if I can be bothered.

~Ziggy

Something My Dog Does

Yeah, my life really is that boring- I am now resorting to blogging about my canine companion. Though it wouldn't all that surprising if you happened to know me, as you would have noticed by now that I am completely obsessed with my pets. I'm a dog person, and I will never be able to understand people who aren't. Cats? Meh. I mean, I'm sure they're nice if you've got them, but... dogs can be trained to detect cancer in humans. Cats can shit in a box.

Anyway, I'm the proud owner of a 8 year old springer spaniel with the wrong marking, bow legs and a dodgy hip (not to mention his limp.) Personally, I think he's gorgeous, but as he gets older I get the growing impression that those around me don't appreciate his charm. I suppose it takes real love to be able to find him cute when he's soaking wet, covered in muck, and has drool on his muzzle.

Yup. But he has developed this really weird habit, again as he got older- he no longer just collapses on my lap on the sofa, thus cutting all circulation from my legs, he now bites my nails. Just me, too, not any other members of my family. It's a little strange, to say the least.

Or, that's what people told me. Personally, I thought it could be the new craze- y'know, like those fish that nibble all the dead skin off your feet? A dog manicure, what's not to love? Unfortunately, it didn't catch on. *le sadness*

Anyhow, I've got school tomorrow, joy of joys, so I think I'll be off for now. Stay joyous! ~Ziggy

School (Hatred Of)

At school these days (my school, anyway) we've got a whole 'pupil choice' thing going on. You know, with lots of pictures of teachers and pupils high fiving and 'working together to create excellence for the new community.'

But school can never be fun for most people. (The exceptions being the criminally insane amongst us. You can recognise them by the frantic, needy light in their eyes.) Mainly because so many teachers drag the subjects out and kick all joy from them. Take my Support For Learning class. Three periods worth of teaching (ie, 150 minutes of it) and we managed to cover roughly three points. It's mind numbingly boring, not to mention how patronising teachers can be when they out their minds to it. My geography teacher springs to mind. Is it my fault she didn't know what an ornithomancer was? No. And yet she still downgraded my mark on that essay, because her instant assumption when a student has a larger vocabulary than her is that they must have copy and pasted it from Wikipedia.

Anyway, back to pupil choice and all that. We're picking our options in school at the moment, and it's really bloody stressful. I have, as yet, no idea about the limits of my intelligence in terms of memory, etc, so I have no idea if I'll be able to cope with exams and get good enough marks to get into university to study veterinary surgery. It's frightening really- all through first year you're treated like kids, and now halfway through our second year weve suddenly got our future, in the form of a rather intimidating pink folder, shoved into our clammy hands. Not that my hands are clammy. That would be disgusting.

Where was I?

Oh yes, the panic about my future. There are days when I'm all 'FUCK YEAH! I'LL PASS MY EXAMS, HEAD OFF TO UNIVERSITY THEN START A VETERINARY SURGERY, BECOME INSTANTLY SELF SUFFICENT, AND KEEP PEDIGREE GOATS!' Then I'll go into a subjec, take one look at the formula on the board, quietly deflate, and think 'Fuck it, I'll just work in McDonald's.

Still, one good thing is that at least I'll be able to drop Home Economics. We had it today- there's fifty minutes of my life I won't be seeing again. The irony being I can't even eat 90% of the things we make, because I'm a vegetarian. Therefore, that lesson is essentially pointless to me. I will never wonder what I'll make for dinner, and then shove some pieces of a cow in a wrap. Well, an ex-cow now. But that's beside the point.

Oh, sod it. I'll work in McDonalds, keep loads of dogs, live off Mild Curry Supernoodles, and die alone. Simples... *chirp*