Vowl!

More precisely, a . . .

Striped Vowl. Pronounced 'Vow-el', or 'V-Owl'. Also known as a 'Vowlger' Or less commonly, a 'Vulger', the Striped Vowl is a creature resembling an Owl, Viper, and Tiger. Less common then the aptly named 'Common Vowl' but more common then the Spotted Vowl or the Vowra. The Striped Vowl, while it may look quite awkward, is known for its deadly speed and poison. Unlike some other forms of Vowl, the Striped Vowl cannot fly, nor turn its head completely around. The Striped Vowl is also known to have poorer eyesight then other Vowls, but keener hearing.

-Excerpt on the entry entitled 'Vowls', in the 1887 edition of 'Curious and Strangely Specific Oddities of Nature'

Interesting fun fact: Vowels are supposedly named after Vowls, different varieties are known to utter sounds similar to the vowels found in the english alphabet. Particularly mournful Vowls are said to utter 'Y!' sounds. But that part's just myth.

This little beauty is a gift for my boy. I'll change the title as soon as he's seen it. It's still a suprise. . .This is the Vowl 'E'. Every Vowl pain-stakingly crafted is another step closer to winning the war and proving once and for all I love him more. And better. So there.

Okay, so the real story behind my aiko here is different. I decided to make something out of sculpey (tm). I had two bars sitting on my desk. I grabbed one, and some wire. I had no idea what to make. I recently saw a pretty spiffy dragon lurking here on dA that was indeed made of sculpey. So I decided to make a dragon. Everything I thought of ended up looking like exactly what she had made. So I got frustrated. I wanted something original. What's more original then an inside joke with your amazingly hot Vowl-y boyfriend? Okay well there's prolly stuff. But Vowl sounded good. Hey, Vowl.

I then spent the next 10 hours of my life ignoring the fact I was supposed to be babysitting and instead making a 4 inch tall Vowl.

(Okay well it's only 10 hours if you don't count my 15 minute dinner break and the hour and a half it was in the oven and the 5 hours I spent sanding it and the extra 5 I spent touching it up after it had been sanded and sanding it again. And we are talking straight here, not like those 40 hour digital works done over the course of a month. 4 pm to 2:09 exact that thing went in the oven. I counted.)

I mean if anything I can play it off and give it to him as a gift 'cause I love him, right?

I tried a bunch of stuff I wasn't sure was going to work on this. Instead of buying different colours of sculpey, I used sharpies on a block of ivory. Which works, but it ups my cooking time as it downs the temp at which I can cook it before it burns. I'd previously only tried cooking this kind on my light upstairs, so using an oven was a first. He's also got wire in him, I wasn't sure what that was going to do to my aiko, I didn't know if it'd throw it off or screw up my cooking time or what. Also, his eyes are glass beads. I didn't know how they'd take to baking, and it turns out they took fine. There are a few things I'd like to do differently next time. . . But I'm VERY happy with the results. I have to fix that melting and burning thing. A full wire frame, more attention while in the oven. . .

The amount of detail on this critter is redic. I loving hand-crafted each internal organ with care. . .No, j/k. But seriously check out the wing shots. The feathers are all detailed top and bottom (or front and back? idk).I almost gave his little tiger paws pads, but decided against it as I wasn't sure what colour to make them, haha. I understand there are a number of ways I could have handled the stripes differently. . .I'm happy with the way I did it. He's really an absolute treat.

Can you suggest yourself for Daily Deviations? No, no, I suppose you can't. I'm so proud of him. Really.

Enjoy. I still am. Expect Vowls to show up frequently in my art from now on. I'm also SO working with sculpey more often. I'm addicted. Cheers!

Vowl, Common Vowl, Striped Vowl, Spotted Vowl and Vowra are all © ~moonstruckdragonlass (That's me) and her sexy sexy SEXY boyfriend. No stealing. Is mine.