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<DIV>Hey Tone!</DIV>
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<DIV>Really cool! Your wife did a fantastic job!! Maybe I missed it in your message, but how big is it? </DIV>
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<DIV>I guess we've all been kind of lurkers lately. I myself actually am in the middle of a little vacation and I am writing this from the rainy Oregon Coast! My daughter Claire is with us, having just finished her Jr. year in college, and my two sons will be joining us later in the week. It doesn't get any better. </DIV>
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<DIV>This makes up for the Groo-ish weekend we had last week. I'll write about it later, but it involves broken machinery and water where they should not be water.</DIV>
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<DIV>Take care all -Gary G. </DIV>
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<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR>From: "Tone" <Tone@moon-shine.net> <BR><BR>> Hey fellow Groopies! <BR>> I know it has been quite a while since I wrote to the Groop, but <BR>> other things have been taking precedence in my life... mainly concerns <BR>> about trying to buy our first house. It has just been taking a while! <BR>> I have admittedly been lurking and reading every post in the <BR>> Groop though, but I just have not been writing anything back. OK, so I <BR>> confess I also got sucked into the video game Halo 3. :) By the way, my <BR>> apologies to any fellow Groopie-Xboxers. I know a couple of you on this <BR>> list have sent me messages and invites on Xbox Live, but I did not <BR>> respond. I get focused on what I am doing in a game and sometimes have <BR>> that habit. For that I apologize, but it does not mean I will not be up
<BR>> for gaming in the future... just keep bugging me if you want me to play <BR>> with you and I promise I will never get annoyed. :) <BR>> <BR>> Anyway... all of this chit-chat is not what I am writing about <BR>> today. For a couple of weeks now I have been keeping my mouth shut even <BR>> though I have been witnessing something be created, which I know you <BR>> guys will love. I just did not want to tease everyone with it, but now <BR>> it is finished so I want to share it with you all. <BR>> About two months ago my wife got into a new crafting hobby <BR>> called "Felting." Basically it involves using an unusual multi-faceted <BR>> barbed sewing needle in a repeated poking motion against felt and/or <BR>> wool. Think of it like tattooing, but instead of ink a person drives <BR>> colored strands and fibers of felt or wool into/against sheets of fabric <BR>> or fabric forms. The result can be pretty cool, in that a person can <BR>> a
ctually "dense" together balls of felt or wool to create various 3-D <BR>> forms because felt and wool fibers are not smooth and they stick <BR>> together. The barbs on the felting needle just catch a few fibers at a <BR>> time and drive them into whatever other fabric a person happens to be <BR>> poking into. <BR>> Ever since my wife got into this hobby, she has made a number of <BR>> cutesy miniature soft-sculpture figures... like our pet bunny rabbits, a <BR>> garden gnome for her indoor planter, an albino squirrel holding a nut <BR>> (she only had white felt at the time), her childhood pet dog, and two <BR>> human figures that look suspiciously like my wife and I. <BR>> Having little fuzzy figurines is definitely not something I am <BR>> into, unless I was to get back into stop-motion animation or something. <BR>> However, when my wife kept bugging me to have her make a <BR>> felt-soft-sculpture I became rather annoyed with her until I cam
e up <BR>> with the perfect thought. That thought of course was Groo! Ironic isn't <BR>> it... a perfect thought actually being Groo for a change? <BR>> Anyway, I hope you guys do not get too jealous because without <BR>> further delay here are some direct photo-links I posted on my website: <BR>> http://www.moon-shine.net/groo/FeltGroo-Rside.jpg <BR>> http://www.moon-shine.net/groo/FeltGroo-Front.jpg <BR>> http://www.moon-shine.net/groo/FeltGroo-Lside.jpg <BR>> http://www.moon-shine.net/groo/FeltGroo-Back.jpg <BR>> <BR>> From the last photo (Back) you might notice Groo's swords <BR>> actually can be slid in and out of his sword sheaths! However the little <BR>> utility knife on Groo's belt is static. Still, I think it is all pretty <BR>> impressive. My wife borrowed several Groo comic doubles I had to get it <BR>> as accurate as possible. Notice, she even got the strap colors correct <BR>> on the handles of Groo swords. After so many ye
ars of reading Groo I had <BR>> actually never even noticed the handles on his swords differed. One <BR>> handle is black with yellow/gold wrapping while the other is gold with <BR>> black wrapping grip! <BR>> The Felt soft sculpture is completely made out of "densed" felt, <BR>> except the swords, Groo, and Rufferto do have some pipe-cleaners as a <BR>> very basic structural skeleton. Everything else is all felt though. On <BR>> top of the skeletal structure the major mass of the form is made up of <BR>> white felt forms, then on top of that is all the colored felt on the <BR>> surface. When "felting" the more you poke a ball of felt with the needle <BR>> the tighter or "denser" the ball of felt will become, so people can get <BR>> some really detailed forms. <BR>> <BR>> By the way, I think I have mentioned I might be selling just a <BR>> few pieces of my Groo collection once I finally get a house and can move <BR>> my entire collection
into it from New York, but for those of you <BR>> actually thinking of making an offer on my wife's felt Groo sculpture... <BR>> don't! :) <BR>> As a joke I asked her what she would be willing to let me sell <BR>> it for, and she said $2000! Then she actually said she would just make <BR>> another set for me because she wants me to have a Groo from her, but she <BR>> is not stupid about turning down two grand! After all she has not been <BR>> as mentally damaged from all the years of reading Groo like us Groopies <BR>> have. :) <BR>> Either way, I would never consider selling my wife's Groo <BR>> sculpture unless Sergio/Mark authorized it and they got their rightful <BR>> share. I kind of doubt my wife would actually want Sergio or Mark to <BR>> hash out a deal with her to sell them... it takes her a LONG time to <BR>> make these things and she inevitably ends up poking herself with the <BR>> needle several times. Heck, I even poked myself
with the needle when I <BR>> was simply picking up the sculpture! :) <BR>> <BR>> Well, sorry this e-mail has been long, but it has been a while <BR>> since I posted anything and I consider this big news. :) I suppose I <BR>> could have broken up this message into a butt-load of teaser e-mails and <BR>> separated the image links in multiple messages. Maybe that would have <BR>> made up for my drop in the post-count competition. :) <BR>> Speaking of "butt-loads" my wife even made Groo fairly <BR>> anatomically correct by referencing some comics were his big rump was <BR>> exposed. The felt-Groo looks pretty amusing without the orange tunic on. <BR>> :) I do not think you guys will get to see he underside of his tunic <BR>> though... this is a PG oriented Groop after all. ;) <BR>> Take care everyone! And again, for all those on Xbox Live please <BR>> do not hesitate to message me or whatever (Tone 8). Lately I have been <BR>> playing Halo
3 mostly, but yesterday I actually bought Call of Duty & <BR>> GTA 4. I have yet to even put the discs into my 360! :) I just really <BR>> wanted to finally share the news about this Groo sculpture I have been <BR>> keeping under wraps. :) <BR>> _TONE_ <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________ <BR>> Groop mailing list <BR>> Groop@groo.com <BR>> http://mailman.newdream.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/groop </BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>