Horses, Cakes and Tabbycats

Today I Iced the Christmas Cakes. Here they are :

Firstly Carolines :

Then Mine :



Tomorrow the taste test.... Hope it was worth all the effort!!

Nothing ventured nothing gained so I have decided to do a sort of bronzed effect with the Horse Head in Acrylic paint. First I sealed the lot with Acrylic Primer.

Next a basecoat of black acrylic.

The theory according to the Academy of Youtube is that I use Gold acrylic paint on top!! Watch this space.

And Finally to the Tabbycat here it is painted up with the first coat of varnish on.



More Horse and a Tabby cat

Last night I did some more work on the horse head. Now I wish to issue a disclaimer here as this horse head is an expariment to see what I can do and how it will dry so I recognise the shape is not perfect so please bear with me.

Here I have added a mane and forelock.

You can see from these angles that the shape is not quite right.

This is the worst view. My underlying structure was wrong but I dont mind as it was an experiment and I wont really know how successful it has been until completely dry and I paint it up.

I know how I want to paint him I have a couple of Piebald cobs whose portraits I have painted so I am going to use them as models for colour.

Continuing with my adventures I have also finished off this little cat its based on a drawing I did. I dont know how secure or stable the little tongue is until it dries but then there is always superglue!!

Yipee Day in Studio - Horse Update

I have spent all day in my studio today and had so much fun. My horse head is not wonderful but I am so enjoying doing it here are some more stages. I covered it in baking foil first then modelled some ears out of a bit of car and glued them on with Superglue. 

I know the head is a little broad but I am just bashing this out as my first go. The bronze heads in the background are just to give me a guide.

I sprayed the whole thing with mount spray and then started work. I am using Air Dry FIMO. I rolled pieces out in a polythene bag and began by wrapping layers around the foil base. It looks better from one side than the other.

Here it is tucked up for the night!

Air Dry Clay - A Horses Head - Probably

You woukl not believe that an adult could have as much fun with Cardboard,Scissors,Glue and Sticky tape as I have this afternoon. I am using a different brand of Air Dry Clay and either my attitude has changed or its better. I have made another version of Kat based loosely on a drawing called Kartoon Kate I did ages ago.

Buoyed by my liking of this new clay I hsve started a horses head. Well when I say horses head that will be the aim.

Yet again I find myself steering clear of overplanning and just got stuck in.

So here is Phase 1 and 2 of my horse

Phase 1

Phase 2

Housebuilding!!

I decided the time had come for some major refurbishment in the Hedgehog Household. The last home had just been used as a bit of a flop house so Heath Robinson here we come!!


The basis of Hedgehog Mansion is :

A Milk Crate.


I attempted initially to cut out the milk slots to make more room but after about and hour got fed up.

So I packed the inside with broken up polystyrene made some holes with an old soldering iron and then wired a piece of old wood inside to make a 'roof cavity'. A bit like poor mans loft insulation but it should also become somewhere that insects can hide in.


Here is Hedgehog mansion positioned behind the bamboo.

I blocked the holes on 3 sides with old edging stones and bricks. I put some large old lumps of wood on top and dumped loads of rotting wood around. Now over the winter I will gradually add to the heap as I find 'stuff'.


Thus hedgehog mansion becomes a combined compost area, food cupboard and hotel room.

I have piled up loads of loose grasses and leaves beside it as in the past I have found if you leave ample bedding around rather than stuffing it all inside Mrs Hedgehog drags it in and that way its easy to tell if you have any tenants.

And this is how much of Hedgehog Mansion is viewable from the rest of the Garden.

Contact Lens Woes

Thought as this blog is about me I might as well fess up to being a a myopic old bat with Advanced Kerataconus.
The company that make the only lens that works in my right eye.......... dont make it anymore so I am having to go through the hell of the Dark Art of lens fitting all over again.
I just got back from the first Lens Fitting (I lie I had a Cup of Tea first).

I have had an hour or so of trying out various fittings of Synergeyes lenses. I am guessing they are ClearKone as I have to fill the lens with saline to put it in.

As usual an hour of putting in lenses taking them out and shining lights in my eyes has driven me close to large bars of chocolate.

They are so new to my practitioner that she was double checking the fit in the instruction book now if she had gotten me a copy I could have memorised it and helped her out!! At least after we had muddled our way through crowbarring the first fit into my eye (my description not hers) by the time I left having inserted fit 4 or was it 3 I lost track I wacked it in first go.
Big thumbs up for Bill who waited outside and had been off and bought me a tube of smarties for when I came out. At my age fancy getting bought smarties for being a good girl.

Now we wait for 3 weeks for the order to come in from the States!!

Meanwhile I have been supplied a larger Scleral lens for my left eye which is like trying to stuff a bone china teacup under your eyelids. I am taking some time to get used to it and I cant use alcohol as internal medicine as I cant mix booze with some tablets I take.
Hey Ho at least I have decided to make November Quiche month - pastry anyone ??

Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson

For those of you unfamiliar 'Two Sheds' is a Monty Python sketch and of course the differences between me and Arthur are I do have two sheds My lovely Studio which no one is allowed to call a shed except me and My Garden shed  which has all my lovely gardening tools and 'Stuff' (In my opinion you can never have enough stuff!).

My Studio is in a sunny corner and my shed is in a very dark corner however my manservant made me a lovely little potting bench finished off with yacht varnish. I would like to think its because he worships me but I think he found the thought of having his own personal chef, Cake Maker Gardener and Launderess locked out of sight outside of meal times much too appealing.

I should however point  out that my brother has exceeded expectations and has I believe Two sheds and a greenhouse but then he doesnt have a garage.

WOW - ULEY FIREWORK DISPLAY

Last night we went off to Uley for their Annual Charity Bonfire and fireworks. Would you believe it is about err um mmmh oh god 30 years since I went to a bonfire night. They are always cold and I dont like loud bangs.

My brother is part of the team that organise it and has been doing it for 7 years so off we trotted!

Well Uley was gridlocked I have never seen so many cars so ambitiously parked apart from the ones that were slung or abandoned. I have never seen so many people. It was at the Millenium field we parked up on a layby near my bruvs house on Crawley Hill.

Not sure where the Millenium field was we followed the crowd. Then we discovered we were following the crowd who also didnt have a clue.

Arrived eventually and couldnt believe the number of people absolutely hundreds and the whole thing was 100% free all money was for charity and you parted with it by buying  ULEY BITTER or Coffee and Cakes or Barbecued Grub or Raffle Tickets or just chucking coins in a bucket.

Being a hater of large  queues there was nothing for it. The BBQ queue was huge so we had to content ourselves with eating the best flapjacks on the planet and drinking Uley Bitter after all it was for charity and to make up  for the guilt of not queueing for BBQ food we chucked our cash in the buckets (Being a keen gardener I have a soft spot for a good bucket).

The FIREWORKS were absolutely fantastic I was so impressed and really glad that Bill was with me because it meant I could spend the whole evening stood looking up with my mouth open without falling over as I had a good handful of coat.

The evening ended with some explosions that were so loud I couldnt decide wether to hide behing the teenage son of Neil and Louise or stuff my head under Bills coat. I had to have a Uley Bitter to recover (strictly medicinal of course its good for shock honest!).

Baking a Christmas Cake for the First time

Thursday the 21st October was the nominated day for the making of my first ever Christmas Cake. For the last 50+ years my Mum always baked one but now she is gone I decided it was  time.

Being a bit of an analytical person I took my Mums handwritten recipe and her Mary Berry cookery book and then combined the two by putting them into a spreadsheer!

Here is the Cookery book with spreadsheet inserted and tape measure for checking tin size.

Then I got all my ingredients out and placed them on the kitchen surface in my unique orderly fashion.

The night before, Mary Berry said, put all the dry fruit in a bowl and spoon over brandy.

I duly piled it all in and then looked at the bowl in stunned silence its never going to fit.

I knew it would all look more do-able in the morning so I slept on it. Following day I looked at the bowl of fruit and then back at the greased and lined 8inch deep cake tin . Its never going to fit. There was only one thing for it. I piled all the fruit into an identical cake tin to see how full it looked. It was fine.

Then I used my lovely new food mixer to mix up the Butter Sugar Flour Eggs 'Oh good grief even more stuff to fit in the little tin.

I decided to sit on the floor with my two big bowls of stuff and combine the two. Please note what a good girl I am. The old Road Atlas is being recycled as a mat on the carpet as well as many other tasks it performs.

Mums recipe said to add the brandy at the end and said add milk to get to dropping consistency. Well Mary had already got me to add the brandy to the fruit so I thought what the heck and added a splash of milk and a splash of brandy.

Well like the Tardis Mums square cake tin did the deed and it all fitted. Cooking time was 4 to 41/2 hours and four hours later here it is. Now apparently I have to keep it wrapped and feed it brandy ever couple of weeks.

Both Mum and Mary said spoon brandy over the cooled cake so I did.

Kat Battles - Where to find cute!!

First of July I started to play with Air Dry Clay. I was aiming for Kat's to be Cute but Cartoon Like and where has it got me ??

Zilch I have managed strangely frightening.

So in the past um er hang on a Tick............12 weeks where have I got to??

Well I have discovered it cracks!
I have found out how to make Armatures badly
I have discovered the benefits of Super Glue
I have discovered I like being messy.

So.... haveing worked out how to make an armature that gives me what I want I suppose it is back to modelling again and I need to discover how to model either Very Funny indeed or Cute..... I think I will have to go for funny as I cant work out cute.

So for anyone who cares here is the results of 12 weeks messing with ADC.

A Great Day Out and a Completed Mare

Today was Frampton Country Fair and as its just two miles down the road Bill and I put on our boots and hiked across the fields. Well I know thats not far but a lot of it was rough ploughed fields so it was like walking over lumpy bumpy things in high heels!

I had a brilliant day a massive Ice Cream a Panini and a Stowford Press!

There were Gloucester Cattle, a large cow with her calf, and I stood next to a small person who did the classic "Its a Bull its got horns!"

Then there were sheep goats falcons owls terriers hounds horses alpacas llamas ferrets and otters chickens geese pullets fly-fishing shooting fair ground rides.


 I loved it and I think my favourite had to be the Gloucester Old Spot Piglets and the Mummy I heard say dont touch the hounds they are dirty dont touch the piglets they are dirty dont dont dont! and yes there was handwash there.

Finally what I really logged on to say is here is what I believe is my finished painting!!

Star Trek Pie - the Voyage

As ever Star Trek Pie did not cook in anything like the recipe time so I looked up every fruit pie recipe I could find average out the Gas Mark and used their cooking time. It tastes much better than it looks.

It was too sweet though Bill and I like Sharp Fruit so next time it will be less Sugar,Lemon Juice and a bit of Ginger instead of Cinnamon but the important thing is it ate well. You can see my beautiful Patchwork around the edges and yes I used a tape measure to check 9 inches and the 1/2 inch strips.

Also it said to sprinkle with Caster Sugar while it was baking I think Demerara would have been better. The dent was when the idiot chef held it up to make sure it didnt look soggy underneath and stuck the grill pan handle in it!

Star Trek Pie

Well I have boldly gone where I have never been before! Following on from the resounding Jam Tart success ,the Lemon Curd Tarts were to die for, I have made what I shall call Star Trek Pie.

Its really a Rhubardb and Strawberry Pie but has been quite a startling adventure.

Firstly the Rhubarb 1.5 lbs cut into 1/2 inch slices! (Sorry if you are metric). I knew that the slices had to be accurate otherwise it wouldnt cook but when I had finish I had a Mount Everest of Rhubarb and Strawberries (12 oz but I only had 8oz) it looked like enough to Sink a small dinghy (notably Bills Dinghy Podgy).

The pie dish is the recommended 9 inches and I realised that this was a sort of Tardis Challenge.

Next the Pastry - make pastry divide in two roll out a 9 inch Circle. I had more of a wobbly Milky Way so I made it fit!! With a knife and some alien science.

I performed the Tardis operation piling 200 tons of Rhubarb into a 9" dish and most of it fitted.

Next the Recipe Comedian said Roll out a 2nd  9 inch circle (Fat Chance) cut a half inch circle off the outer perimiter and then cut the rest into 1/2 inch strips and put as a Lattice work across the pie. Then stuff the circle around the edges.

So I made the 1/2 inch strips and then massacred the scraps into another flat pastry cloud and bodged it around the edges.

So here it is watching me take a picture of it!!

My Tomato Hell!!

Last year my tomato crop was cr@p so this year I had more plants and I am now drowning in them.

I have left them on neghbours doorsteps and I  have made my partner eat them at every meal. Today I decided I would freeze some and then I decided to be very clever.

I skinned what felt like two tons of the them and hacked them up into a huge saucepan.
The plan is to reduce them down and freeze for winter bolognaise.

Stupid plan it took absolutely forever. No wonder Tomatoes need so much watering when you simmer them in a saucepan thats what you get literally tons of water.

Now for all that effort I have 3 small containers of tomatoes in the freezer. With Tinned Chopped Tomatoes about 15p a tin I just hope it was worth it!!

Pastry has arrived!!

Well September was supposed to be Pastry and its only the first week and I have started the pastry campaign.

Today is Jam Tart day made some superb shortcrust and was so carried away about how brilliant I am and how easy it was I used too small a cutter. I only made a few tarts and I cant show a photo because:

THEY HAVE ALL BEEN EATEN!! Some raspberry tarts and some lemon curd but they didnt last long.

So impressed by this I took the spare pastry back out of the fridge and made some little apple pies with some left over stewed Apple. I dont hold out much hope as they look to have exploded in the over.

By exploded I mean  that apple is oozing  out of the sides not a problem except that its also oozing out of the bottom!

What I find really interesting is that its only when I am cooking that I throw caution to the wind and say anything goes in fact for the worlds best worrier I am quite blase with a wooden spoon!

Pedalling Ironing Boards and Cracking up

No Art today I gave myself a day off. My OH suggested we went for a Bike Ride and would you believe he has been practising pedalling SLOWLY!! He has about a zillion more gears than me and I really enjoyed the ride it was a lovely day but I had to keep freewheeling as I didnt know which way we were going so he had to be in front.

On the way home he and his front wheel and saddle and suspension chose to cycle back along the canal path. I chose to skid as I avoided a pothole and he didnt even notice that I had fallen off.

I spent the afternoon with my ironing board. I have heard it strongly rumoured that some people use an Ironing Board to Iron Clothes I am suspicious of this because the only time I have found it necessary to get a crease out of anything it was a collar and I used my hair straighteners for that.

So what would I use an Ironing Board for well its a sort of multi level workbench.

• I have wrapped presents on it in the conservatory.
• I have set up a desk easel and painted on it.
• I have put it up in the shed and potted up plants on it
• I have built clay models on it

Today I put it up on the garden covered it with an old sheet and used paint stripper to remove old varnish from a garden seat I had taken apart.

Finally I am sad to say my latest clay cat has hairline cracks all over the place - blast it!!

Oh and Hello September!

And Finally Lucia

Well goodbye August I wave you a fond farewell with a posting of the Beautiful Lucia.

She is painted in Acrylics and was a 60th Birthday present for her owner Steve.

She is an Andalusian that Steve brought back from his holiday in Spain!!

Anyone normal brings a Hat, a stuffed Donkey and a Bottle of Sangria but not Steve no he brought back a Blinkin Horse!!

Hooked on painting horses in Acrylic here is the unfinished mare being painted because I liked the photo!

Fruit for Free Scrumbly!

The Glorious Fruit Cake is nearly all eaten it was really scrummy. I am now reaping the benefits of the glorious local freebies. Cooking Apples as often as I can use them, as much free Rhubarb as I can carry.


Most importantly of all its Blackberry time. So September may be pastry month but somewhere in between I have managed to squeeze Crumble time.

We went Blackberrying on Saturday morning and yesterday I made a massive Blackberry and Apple crumble it was scrummy with Ice Cream.

Not only Fruit we keep being given free eggs as well ho hum its a hard life !!

Well that was August then !!

Where on Earth did August go!!

I am just drying off yet another Cat I lose track of how many of the pesky blighters I have abandoned and chucked in the bin this cheeky chappy is looking more hopeful though.
I shall have to stop numbering them though as this would be um er ah Kat9 I think.
As long as no bits drop off I shall be painting him up soon.

A scruffy Stepford Wife

Continuing the cake making saga I have now produced the best fruitcake in the world ever having been through a bit a panic in the making.

Wrong sized tin
Wrong ingredients for the recipe

It is interesting that although I like an ordered life and following fixed instructions when it comes to cakes I become quite Gung Ho.

It a bit of a case of ok thats the rough idea of ingredients and thats roughly how you make it and then having a cake sat in the oven and a kitchen looking as if a tribe of inebriated chimpanzees have had a G and T party!

Now my kitchen comes equipped with my late mums cake tins rolling pin an lots of ingredients snaffled from her kitchen cupboards although I did throw out anything that was more than 5 years past its sell by date.

Having vowed that July was Ginger Cakes and August was fruit cakes I now do solemnly declare that September will be pastry and I feel certain that at this rate it will take a lot of exercise to walk off the sampling regime and a lot more than my lucky apron to make my pastry taste right.

Thats the end of the cooking update back soon with more adventures in Air Dry Clay. I so hope I dont get the two mixed up!!

August is Fruit Cakes

I do a garden for a local lady called Mary once a week.
This week I asked Mary if I could take some of her windfall apples. I asked if they were cookers of eaters and she didn’t know. They looked very like Bramleys to me. I was a bit gobsmacked as it appears as bugs get into the cores so they rot quickly they always get thrown away.


Anyhow today I baked more cup cakes and August being the month for Fruit based cakes instead of Ginger (that is my plan not some perverse EU regulation) I made what my book called Queen cakes. Little fairy cakes with sultanas in. I had been plotting interesting icing ideas and so I cooked up some of Mary’s apples and made a sort of runny Buttercream by adding stewed apple, lemon and cinnamon to the icing sugar and butter. I iced quite thin in case it didn’t work but its lush.  I am going to call them “Apple Queens”.

Rescuing a Bee

Today I had my first adventure in posting on Youtube. Just a 15 second clip of a Bumblebee I rescued from the conservatory. (After rescue as I did the video clip on my camera)

Introducing Kat6

Kat5 was abandoned to the scarp heap. I tried to develop it on a bubble and tape structure which was a nightmare.

So Kat 6 here is my next experiment with again a foil armature but this time I tried to stabilise the hind legs by adding Air dry clay and letting it dry. I sprayed with mount spray again to get some adhesion.

As another experiment I mixed up some AirDry with water and pasted onto the foil as a sort of base:

Lester Framed and sent on his Way

Here is the lovely Lester framed up just before he was collected. He is a 21st Birthday present.

Kat4 - a Survival Tail

Ok so the title is a little corny. Well Kat4 is alive and well and just been varnished. Most of my repair jobs worked and the last final crack was dabbed with superglue.

There were a couple of hairline cracks so I coated him with a couple of layers of Acrylic Primer.

Here is Kat4 in all his Glory nothing posh but not a bad start.

Kat4 Gets Doctored

Well Kat4 went and did it cracked all over the place. Here are the cracks : Upside down here between back legs and tail.

Another view

Neck

Front leg

I wasnt sure what to do for the best and as it was just a test go anyway I got a bottle of water and sprayed him wet. Then I wet some of the Air-Dry and moulded it into position. Then got a self-seal poly bag and bagged him up.

Bagged up.

So far one teensy line has appeared. T think this is the draw back of imported no instructions at all.

The Continuing Saga of Kat4

Well I dont hold out a lot of hope for Kat4. I really dont have a clue what I am doing but she who dares wins. I have added a bit of clay to the body and fattened up the paws. Made eye sockets and put big googly eyes in them. I just hope it doesnt just fall apart when dry!!