Where have you been?

You may have been wondering ...

Well, if you have been, let me tell you!

We got our book, "Mr Darcy falls in love" in paperback now, as you know, and have been out and about with it. I also checked around just for the fun of it, and found out you can get it at almost any online bookstore you want! (And at various prices too, I might add) There's also a Goodreads giveaway of our book going on till end of Sept, you better get in on that soon! (Scroll down a bit on that page, you'll see the "Enter to Win" button, only for US right now)

Noe has been making various Pride & Prejudice woodart items, you should go take a look at those on his wood blog. Of course, that blog is also needing attention, but soon (I promise) I'll get it ready for people to purchase from ... you can already email him if you want to place an order for a personalized, unique, elegant, extra-special handcrafted piece you just can't do without! ♥

AND Noe already finished the manuscript for his next novel, which I'm currently editing. Of course, this is the first draft, mind you, and you never know if the author will want to go back and make changes, so not sure how long it will take, but we hope that won't take too long either.

We have other stuff in store for the future, so keep coming back...

Thank you for reading what noeandcindy.write !

https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write

My InstaGram

Find us on InstaGram


I know, we're slow to get on to the social sites.... we're on Google+ 
And now on InstaGram. Check us out: noes_expressions

You'll also be able to see some of the woodart we do there.
Just starting to do our earrings and other things again.
There's a blog for those too, getting it up little by little as well.
But you can view some of the things we've done in the past:
noeswoodexpressions.blogspot.com

Thanks, look forward to "following" you there on InstaGram.

Our 12 foot -- no, make that 12 inch -- Mr Darcy!

Mr Darcy falls in love statuette

You know my Noe is a real artist... I've told you that before :-)
He has had this piece done for awhile, but we were waiting to unveil it when we got our Mr Darcy falls in love book out in print. I can't wait any longer, even though the print version will be out very soon, believe me!

The statuette is made using the same picture Noe did for the cover of our book, including the original font. We later changed some of the cover font, but this is still the one for the digital copy, at least for now. One of the nice aspects of the piece is that he's "reversible." That way, he can be displayed on a table and be seen from both sides. 

I had lots of fun playing with the pictures I took, some with my Samsung phone camera, the others with my camera I've had a few years. AND I'm not a photographer -- obviously! But you can see how cool it is.

 
  

We are considering the idea of having a giveaway with our Mr Darcy statuette, or we may use him in another fashion. If you would like to have some of your artwork made into a statuette, send me an email (find the address on our NoeCindy page).

Thank you for reading what noeandcindy.write !

https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write

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Some other talents Noe has --

You know I just love to brag about him...

Here's some more of the woodart personalized name pieces Noe did in the past. His stuff is so nice because he adds color stain to the wood. That way you still see the grain and the character of the wood, AND you get a colorful piece. Of course, the artist in him makes them outstanding :-)

One of these days I'm either gonna get his scroll saw machine fixed again, 

or get him a new one... this talent is too good to sit idly by.

If you didn't see it yet, check this page out: More on scroll sawing

Thank you for reading what noeandcindy.write !

cindy

More on scroll sawing

One design variation I am proud of developing on a scroll saw pattern has to do with portrait pieces. The scroll saw is capable of cutting so fine a line as to make it possible to take a photograph and reproduce it in wood.

The process is simple: scan your photo to make a printout. With your scroll saw, cut out dark areas of the photograph, such as shadows, dark hair, etc. By doing this you have successfully made the photo into a piece of wood. The type of wood used for this is usually ¼” plywood; the cut-out piece is placed over black felt and then framed. It is an interesting memento and conversation piece.

But it occurred to me: if instead of a thin piece of plywood, a piece of solid wood ½” thick were used, a two dimensional statue could be created. I tried it, and call them statuettes. In addition to following the same procedure used as described above, I further accentuate the piece by rounding over the edges and carving certain features, making them stand out more dramatically. I have done this with a picture of my son when he was two years old, and converted a pencil sketch of beautiful Cindy the same way. The result is a much more striking piece than when it is done the traditional way.  

One other variation I have made on the photo pattern is to take a silhouette, and instead of having it be cut from the ¼” plywood, I used ¾” solid wood. I wouldn’t just cut the outline of the face as is usually done with silhouettes. Most of the interior part of it would be cut out too, leaving the shape of the eyes and cheek bone, as well as hair line. Then I designed it to hang protruding out from the wall -- like a deer head, if you will. I know it may sound a bit gruesome when described this way, but the effect is actually quite striking! Take a look at this statuette and silhouette:

   

Noe

https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write

I found an art form I love

My artistic side took on a new outlet after I was surfing the net one day about nine years ago. I came across something that absolutely intrigued me. It was a clock that was cut out of wood... I don’t mean just the housing, I’m talking about the gears and everything. It was designed so that the gears are exposed and are moved by a pendulum. It is something to see, and to me it looks like a moving piece of artwork. I had to know how someone could make that.

I found out that they used a scroll saw. Not knowing what that was, that was my next search. For those of you who don’t know, think of a sewing machine using very thin blades instead of a needle. Like a sewing machine, the saw moves the blade up and down. There is a surface -- a tabletop -- and you push the wood through the blade following a pattern. Because the blades are so small, the designs can be quite intricate.

After doing a bit of research, I bought a saw for about two hundred dollars. This was a nice saw, but the really good ones cost a few more hundred dollars, and I wasn’t ready to invest that much, not knowing any more than I did. My son, who was seventeen or so at the time, immediately took to scroll sawing with amazing aptitude. He could cut out some of the most intricate designs with speed and dexterity. Without exaggeration, he could rival anyone that had been working for years on the scroll saw. I can honestly say this (because so many scrollers put their work online and we also subscribed to scroll saw magazines); it’s not just fatherly pride talking.

When I saw how good he was and the potential for him to make some income from it, I purchased a much better saw. Sad to say, because of our lack of marketing know-how, he had to give up the idea of sawing for income. I guess also we just didn’t get his work in front of the right people, because he got a lot of praise on his work, but didn’t sell much.

It did permit me to make some interesting design patterns, which have taken on a whole different life in the wood than they had on the paper. In a future article, I will share some of the designs I have made.
Noe

https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write