When I Was Young

When I was Young I fell in love with a moth. He was a caterpillar then, all furry and beautiful. I kept him in a matchbox and sneaked lettuce up to him. He died. I think I've been trying to say sorry ever since, and am always kind to moths and butterflies. Who would hurt a butterfly? But to love something before it metapmorphoses, to me, says a lot about me. And killing it.
This week I fell in love with satin stitch and embellishments. I have had a needle in my hand for most of it. Almost as messy as paper cutting and just as satisfying. I love the absorption of it. I love the old maidish connotation and the pretty silks.

How To Make A Doll At Home Tutorial

I started a project back in February at college but swiftly got distracted by something shiny and abandoned the endeavour. It was a romantic notion of a slain WW1 soldier held aloft and out of further harm by an angel. Having made precisely zero dolls, the realisation that the piece called for the making of 2 was the death knell for that. Now having not much to do apart from really important stuff, I procrastinated with the aid of some string, an old tshirt, cotton wool, wire, curtain lining and sequins. Enjoy the making of Gin Bloom. He's a rotter

Make your frame with wire and cotton wool and string. Glue or stitch in place

Stretch an old tshirt over the head stump. Make strategic stitches to create a nose and then embroider the face.

I made him look drunk, with rosy cheeks and a wistful stare

He's legless...hahaha But coming alive now

I had hoped to escape the dreaded pattern making, because I'm lazy. There was to be no escape. But I did it

Add a ruffle, a tiny hankie and details as you wish

The hands were the worst part. I tried to make them the correct way, making little gloves to stuff but they were just too small to be useful. Wrap string with thread and sew together

Now we can have fun. I made a breadbin lightbox and staged Gin Bloom. Here he is telling tall tales of derring do

See him about to raid that drinks cabinet ( decorated by me)

See him bore the pants (he wishes) off this young wench..Bad Gin Bloom

Paper Clay Pendants

Once I'd started I couldn't stop. So I made a collection of odd beasts. Love.

If You Go Down To The Woods Today

You might find these wee beasties. Inspired my own sketches I made these chunky pendants with EOY
show in mind. Impulse purchases at around £12 each to hang off some rustic looking frames Jim the tech found me. Helps to have friends in techy places. Moral kids..always be nice to the tech guys

Lightbulb Moment

beautiful for a rustic wedding 

Modelled by Josh, thank you Josh

 I've been playing around with this idea for a while. Light bulbs are so ugly now that the old earth killing ones are becoming things of beauty. Its not easy, I will admit. Prepare for mess, splinters of glass and fiddly bits but if you accept the fact that the first one will be a write off and you were only going to throw it out anyway, it's full of feel good factor when its all done

Pointy nosed pliers

Screwdriver

Cloth

Courage

Step 1) Boil the kettle and pop the bulb in a tupperware pot with a lid. This keeps the water hot so the glue holding it all together will melt

Step 2) When the water has cooled use the cloth to pick up the bulb and twist the base very very firmly to break all the connecting bits. If it doesn't give, repeat the process until it does

Step 3) Use the pliers to break any wires and thin glass connecting parts inside the bulb. This bit is messy and please be careful of tiny glass splinters. I used the cloth as a shield, and if you have goggles wear them

Step 4) By now you should have a base and an empty glass bulb. Clean both. There may be unsightly glue inside the silver base to clear out. Fill as you wish

Step 5) Re-attach the silver base to the glass with hot glue or epoxy. There might be cracks which you can cover by winding twine around it as I did and make sure to make or attach a hanging loop

MLP My Latest Project

Following on from CAF and thinking of personalization and kits, I've been merrily drawing and cutting odd little 'tokens' along a theme this week. I had my Grandads photo in mind. I hate to see tomes of buried photos in dusty books, I think if its good enough to keep, its good enough to display. I am ruthless when it comes to pictures.

I love the aesthetic of the ready made or die cut layout embellishments, but the fact that they are so lovely and commercially attractive means their uniqueness is gone. One day I will convert these little guys to downloadable templates so customers can print out and cut them and colour them themselves. 

One day soon.