Pirates for May

Here is "Pirate Crew" which I painted/created in 1997. The blanks were made in China and they are a smaller set than last month's Gypsy Family.... both in size (the Captain is only 6 inches tall to the top of his feather) and in number. The Captain's hat and feather are paper mache' and he has some additional modelling on his lustrous locks. I used metallic gold acrylic for any coins and for the shoe buckles.  The Captain. of course, has a parrot and also the chest of gold and a nice sword. All the crew have swords or daggers and different head scarves. Again, they were gessoed, painted in acrylics and finished with acrylic gloss varnish. This set fits nicely and comes apart nicely - with beeswax on the joints. I'm working on another set that was Russian made but has flaws - I had to use plastic wood filler on a couple of bad spots on the outside one. Currently, it is slow going - but I won't put any nesting dolls in the window over the warmer weather anyway. They are of a more recent vintage than the pirates- but a bit back in time. The pirates were just a fun fantasy. A bit of fun to see the full crew out - usually they are nested in a cabinet.