RA Pocket Shrine 165/? – Barkley’s

/ August 13, 2018

Apart from jokey fake press releases, I have never given you any insights into the shrine-making process. Ideally, I should make a process video at some stage, so you can see a RAPS from conception to finished product, but I thought I’d provide a little look behind the scenes today, garnished with a few pictures.

Sketch for RAPS 157 – “Succulent”

From the idea to the finalised shrine it usually takes about half a day. I keep constant track of ideas for shrines in my notebook. Sometimes I add a little sketch, and I brainstorm possible scenarios and the imagery I might want to use, just so I won’t forget them until I finally get to making the shrine. (see image right) Inspiration comes from scenes in RA’s work, suggestions from fellow shrine appreciators, images, jokes, mint tins I am given or buying, stickers and bits and pieces I am collecting.

Creating the shrine takes about half a day from start to finish, and the most time-consuming part of the process is actually finding suitable images. Choosing the ones that work best, resizing them to fit into the shrine, and printing them is a lengthy procedure, not least because I *always* get side-tracked into looking at pretty pictures and find it hard to make a decision. They all look great *hmph*. Sometimes I’ll go back to the source material, search for a particular scene, and take a screenshot of *exactly* the scenario that I need.

Two-in-one – print sheet for numbers 158 Macduff and 159 Claude Becker

Since I am stingy, I always try to use as little of my precious photo paper and ink-jet ink as possible. It works out as more economical to actually fill a whole 5×7″ sheet of photo paper with images – even if I only need three particular images for a particular shrine. That is because my printer doesn’t like printing on paper that has been cut small. A lot of empty printer paper gets left over that way, and so I have gotten into the habit of printing extra images for future shrining purposes – you can see an example on the left.

Once the imagery is printed, I start cutting out the bits for the diorama part of the shrine. That can get very fiddly, depending on the size of the tin, and requires time and concentration. Assembling the RAPS, I usually start with the disco ball. I have to attach the disco ball beads to wire, which I then stick onto the side of the tin. Then I cover over the wire with tape or a piece of the background image. The actual scene of the shrine often changes while I am assembling it – when I come across little embellishments in my stash, or when a new idea crosses my mind. While the glue dries, I start on the bottom part of the shrine. If the outside of the lid is plain and has no printed decoration, I punch a couple of holes into it for the candle holders. Then I glue in the 2D picture and finish off with a few sparkly hearts on RA.

The last (and majorly enjoyable) part of the process is photographing the shrines. I usually just wing it with my set-up, but I have become increasingly annoyed with the results because more often than not, the images are blurry or grainy because I have to hand-hold the shot or shoot at high ISO. My plan is to actually create a proper light box that I can leave in situ, with the camera on a tripod so that I can shoot at 100 ISO without having to resort to large apertures (which leave parts of the object blurry).

Ok, long intro to say that today’s shrine was a quick one – because I had already printed the images recently when I was working on a previous shrine *hooray*. The inspiration came from two sources – the suggestion of a fellow fan, *and* the actual mint tin. (I think the tin was given to me by CraMERRY a couple of years ago… yep, about time that I used it…).

So, yeah, how do you put a Barkleys tin in context? There’s only one way:

Right, it’s perfect for a barking hot man…

Woof, indeed…

This might appeal to the dog lovers among you out there. I’ll throw it in the auctions next week.

RA fureva!

Hope you like.

And before I go, just to say that there have been more donations for the auctions. More information about the fundraiser – including some teasers about the objects on offer – coming up soon!

 

 

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66 thoughts on “RA Pocket Shrine 165/? – Barkley’s”

  2. RA fureva indeed! How precious and as a ardent doggie lover I am soo glad you are including this one in the auction. I love the “succulent” sketch just enticing on so many levels…I couldn’t make out what the blurbs said on the left side on your leftover pics though. By the way I second the thank you for your time in describing your shrine making process esp your thoughts going into it.

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    • The blurbs went into the recent Macduff shrine – the left one says “Oh gentle lady, ’tis not for you to hear what I can speak”, a line from Macbeth.
      I really have to film the process at some point, or do a time-lapse clip.

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      • Thank you for explaining the blurb lines. MacBeth is my fav Shakespeare play so hooray!!! Your attention to detail is magnificent and I forgot to add that the pic w/Richard holding the pup is just too precious for words, my heart was just melting w/ ahahahahaha.

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          • Actually I think Richard would be awesome working with children (ie Max in BS1 and Hannah BS2) and dogs of course although the lad and the female in O8 were gorgeous dogs for the split second he was filmed with them. The Woof pic is 100% better than any selfie he has taken. The comments about it are just amusing and so sweet. What a love bug he is!!

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    • I always love the photos of you sitting at your work bench while creating your beautiful jewelry pieces. I think most appreciators of crafts actually enjoy seeing and understanding how the object in question is made.
      And yes, a dog what be lovely for RA, considering that he seems quite taken with Michelle Forbes’ dog. A companion, someone to soothe and to give unqestioning love. But yeah, I think it would be unfair to own a dog when one has a job that requires a lot of long absences. Forbes seems to cope well with her dog – but I guess bringing the dog along only works when she has roles that require her to be settle somewhere else for a longish period…

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  4. *giggles* What a delightful way to highlight a certain tall dark man’s love of dogs. You always find the subtle bits to tell in your shrines.

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  5. A lot of RA photos out there in RL. my favorite that always makes me smile is Woof. he so dishelved and looks hung over or crawling out of bed.Gotta smile at that..This shrine is one of my many favorites of yours. got to have, got to have..Love it ..

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    • You are so right, that pic is adorable and he looks like he needs a caffeine boost and maybe a shower too! The last IG pic he posted looks a bit like he is hung over too! Maybe a bit too much wrap up partying in Budapest?!

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      • Guylty, the piece is sweet and a bit steamy. It would actually resemble my kind of dream: Richard: “Stay here don’t get up” Me: “Richard I have to go to work “ Richard (whispering in my right ear): “ Let me show you why you need to stay in bed w me…” Me: “Um oh don’t do that …” sigh sigh 💗💗😉

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          • Oooh….. I didn’t know about this fan fic stuff. That was…that was…wonderful. Good luck to me trying to concentrate on work now.

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            • LL, I really enjoyed it too. I’m currently reading Zee’s Manna from Heaven which is wonderfully written and pretty steamy as well.

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              • I kept thinking at the end of her story that Alison would be prego w/ John’s baby like that was the sweet ending, I kept waiting for it but I liked that she made John very much like the Armitage John except bringing out his personality more with Alison. I did learn a few things about British weather history bec I googled the two years she kept mentioning in the story. I also liked her tie back to New Zealand. Thank you !

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                • After your message yesterday, I had to read “Bleak Midwinter” again – such a great story. I am glad there was no tie-up with a pregnancy, actually – somehow that would’ve been too text-book ;-). But again I marvelled at how well khandy wrote Standring.

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                  • Yes I agree with you about that being too textbook but I can be daft sometimes and I thought when Alison ran to the bathroom to throw up after Rob was arrested and when John put his arms around her waist at the end those were signals of impending baby. I really liked khandy’s visuals of the Sparkhouse farm and her use of imagery to describe the surrounding village and countryside like she had lived there all her life. It made the story so much more appealing to me as a non Brit, for me as a reader to see it even had I not watched Sparkhouse 4 times now!!

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  6. OHHHH! I LOVE it! Of course I love all your RAPS but as mama to 2 fur babies currently, I’m thrilled with this display. I hate seeing memes of cats manipulated into photos with Mr. A. He’s already said he’s a dog person.
    This brought a smile to my face this horrid morning. I’ve been in Philadelphia the last week for the All Souls Con, fangirling over the author of A Discovery of Witches and many panel presenters. It was great but on the way to the airport, I got a notice that my flight, and many others, had been cancelled due to weather. So I’ve checked into the Renaissance Airport Hotel for one more night.
    Good thing I packed extra underwear.

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    • Yeah, RA doesn’t really strike me as a cat person. His whole focus on empathy etc. really makes him much more of a dog guy.
      Glad to hear that this appeals to you as a dog lover! Great validation for my design 😉
      And oh, hope you are getting home soon. Enjoy your extended stay – hope it’s not too bleak there in an airport hotel.

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    • Yep, it’s easier to attach the disco ball before I start working on the actual diorama scene – mainly because it’s hard to attach the disco ball when there are already some 3D bits in the shrine. But I usually know where to put the disco ball because I have a general idea of the scenario for the shrine.

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  9. Thank you for the behind-the-scenes peek Guylty 🎀 Nothing worth having comes easy. I always suspected it was more work than I could imagine for you to create these mini works of art. I’m sure I still don’t realize how much effort it takes. 🌹

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    • I agree, Mimi. No wonder Guylty’s shrines are amazing. So much thought and work go into them. Little masterpieces of RA in so many versions, the mind boggles. 🙂

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      • Sorry it takes me so long to read, comment, reply, etc. Popping in when I can when I get a free minute at work. Really there are no free minutes, I take them when I need to break away and the last few weeks I’ve needed the fun found amongst liked minded admirers of . . .well you know 💕

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          • No worries at all about that. I was just thrilled to entice another girlfriend into the RA Admiration Society and even more so to discover that her long time girlfriend she introduces me to has Major Lady-wood for RA since his Robin Hood days, at least. Three grown women giggling like 13yr olds in San Diego. If Kathy Jones had had more time, it would have been four of us! Send whenever you can, I seriously doubt any of us are gonna drop out of the admiration society soon. 💕

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  10. This shrine is so “doggone” cute (sorry I had to) 😆 Getting a peek at your creative process I appreciate even more the loving care you put into your RAPS. This one is sweet and bound to tempt bids. Woof indeed! 🐾❤️

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    • Hehe, I had to look up “doggone” 😉. Glad you like the shrine. It’s always fun for me to think up new scenarios, and the dog theme was really over-due.

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      • And I would like to know what “barking hot” means, please. I mean, I know “hot” (hawt, hawt, hawt) means sexy and desirable, of course, but why with “barking?” I Googled it but it keeps adding dog, as in “barking hot dog.” Which has its own set of weird explanations (most centering around “hot dog” being American for sausage.” Wow, explaining a joke really does kill it, doesn’t it? But…can someone help me? Please? Am I not getting it because I dislike dogs (she admits out loud, as she ducks incoming thrown objects)?

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  11. This is kind of what I had in mind when I requested a “Claude w/dogs” tin a few months back. Did you forget about me?

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  12. Love the insight into your process! Thank you so much for letting us get a glimpse of your methods. A video of you working would be fab if you ever have the time. This is an utterly endearing shrine.

    But as the guardian of two elderly felines who have been my precious companions for 16 years, and as a lifelong catmama, ahem! Why would someone who is empathetic automatically prefer dogs to cats? Granted, I have spent a lot of time with cats over the years, but one of the reasons why I’m a cat person is because most cats don’t always give their affection to any human within reach like most dogs do. A cat has to get to know you first, and they rarely show their true selves to anyone other than their chosen person. One has to earn a cat’s love, which makes it all the more precious, at least to me. My little furgirls are completely devoted to me and are always right by my side when I’m poorly or upset. I don’t know what I’d do without them.

    That said, over the past 10 or so years I’ve discovered that I’m a bit of a dog whisperer. I do like dogs a lot and have two “time-share dogs” that belong to my best friend. I took care of the older one every day for over a year while my friend was going through chemo and Nikki is just as much my furbaby as hers. My neighbor across the hall is constantly amazed that his incredibly neurotic min-pin comes running to me for kisses and cuddles when usually he bites every single stranger. Seriously, this guy takes photos of me with his dog to prove it to family and friends.

    Ah well, cats vs. dogs is an age-old conundrum for a reason, isn’t it? I do love the pics/videos of RA with Henry. He really does seem smitten with him. And no surprise that Henry is smitten with “Uncle Rich!”

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    • Glad you like the shrine – and my self-referential waffle ;-). Not sure what was riding me when I thought that you all needed to know how I work.
      Yeah, I think I was actually a bit harsh in implying that dogs = empathy. Your description of cats rings very true – they are more discerning, with clear expectations of their humans, have a strong will of their own. Maybe they are even less domesticated than dogs – or more intelligent? I am a cat owner myself – although personality-wise I would describe myself much more as a dog person. I would prefer the unconditional love and devotion of a dog tbh, than the diva-esque demands of our cat *lol*. But essentially it is like you say – when they gift you with their presence and their affection, it feels quite special. Hehe, it’s a bit like dealing with a high-profile celebrity… and I am just a little fan 😉
      But yeah, cats vs. dogs. Tbh, I think there is no need for an either/or decision. Both animals have their advantages, and when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter whether you own a dog or a cat – just the fact that you are giving a home to a pet, is enriching.

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  13. I’m always fascinated by seeing how an artist of any kind develops their work, so this was an interesting read. Thanks for letting us into the secret of how the shrines are made. I’m mainly a cat person but I love the doggy one, ❤🐶 Woof indeed! Whoever gets it will be a lucky fan.

    One thing I’ve been wondering though. What kind of size are the tins you use? Just in case I might come across anything suitable sometime.

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      • Anything that is not lined or gridded. Occasionally I have just grabbed any notebook from the stash of promotional gifts that were lying around in my client’s office. Moleskine books are really good, and Leuchtturm1917 also make great notebooks.

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    • The notebooks are a mess – even though I try to make them look good .😂I recently tried the bullet journal approach (Upon recommendation by my daughter), but I just couldn’t stick it.
      I prefer to write on notebooks that have just blank pages (no lines, no grids). Dots are tolerable. The best ones I have ever used, are the Moleskine ones because their paper is thick and really smooth (which is great when I am writing with a fountain pen).

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