The Gang

A rabbit and his boy.....
...a cute cat...
...The Gang!

More from the cute Japanese felt book-the name of which I can't tell you as it is in Japanese!

It is from ebay-and if you google needle felting books it will appear-along with lots of other really tempting Japanese craft books.

A Bunny's Work is Never Done

It is very, very, hard work being the bunny who gathers the pumpkins. So, I need to relax afterwards, with a cup of tea.
In my little kitchen.
I wonder what other jobs are lined up for me later?

Poor Bunny maid, I should make her a little feather bed to rest in. She is based on these bunny maids in the cutest ever felting book. It is Japanese so the instructions are unreadable to me, but the pictures are good enough. Normally I do not want to exactly copy things from books, but in this one everything is just so adorably cute that I must! Though mine don't come out quite the same as theirs. Name of the book next time with more creatures. The little kitchen and teacup were yet more bargains from the market yesterday. Things like this are ok to bring into our already cluttered house, as they fit inside something else-the dolls houses-which are microcosms of the clutter in the big house. (My self-justification process!)

Felt Head Three, Mohican Man

Please ignore the neglected and messy section of garden in which the felty head is posing. He said he doesn't mind too much about it, as long as I get it sorted out soon. I have listened carefully to him and will do so. This head took a long time. I have lost count of how many evenings I have spent making him, but I am pleased with the result. It is weird, but I never know how they will turn out, and this one has turned out looking like a sensitive poet to me. The mohican hair idea only came to me near the end, I wanted something colourful but simple. He is probably a good listener, as much as a felty head can be, because he has such enormous ears!

The whole thing is 45cm high, including base and hair. I have never made a felt thing so big before. Most satisfying. The next one is going to be slightly smaller, and animal related I think.

The Stone Witch

This head is called The Stone Witch. I wanted to make a witch, and I wanted to use this lovely Gotland sheep wool for her hair. Other than that I didn't know how she would be. I wanted to use the big eyes-one of 10 pairs I bought recently which are huge. So the Stone Witch has turned out quite big-about 10 inches high. Her name popped into my head before I started her-I was drawing how she might be and there it was. I am not sure why, but I like it. She sounds hard but I think she is actually quite ethereal and dreamy-at the same time as looking slightly like Oscar Wilde!
Pondering...

Posing.

The page on the left is a picture from the latest TOAST catalogue(I have just had a look and it is full of beautiful pictures set in the countryside and including some really lovely weathered and rusty buildings) -and the woman in it has the Stone Witch's hair! I didn't see this picture until halfway through making her, and I just don't know how the people at TOAST knew! My hair is grey under all this dye, and if it looked like hers I would let it remain so.

The witch likes to fade in and out at times......

She is thinking about Halloween-and wants to be shown my squashes in the garden, in case they would be useful as pumpkins. (It doesn't make total sense I know, but I think it is best to humour a witch)

The Head

The Head doesn't have a name. He is a little snooty so maybe it is just that he won't tell me. I made him by following this tutorial for a fairy head in clay. I still find heads so hard to do but I suppose the more I do them the easier it will get. I made the plinth to stand him on as he seemed to need something like that. It takes a lot of wool to make a plinth-most satisfying when it is done.

He has one blue and one red eye. This has no great significance-it is just that is all I had left! I have ordered some more eyes now as it is good to have them when the mood takes me!

I used one of Kim Klassen's lovely textures on the photos.

I hope if you are in the path of Irene that you are safe and secure and it doesn't turn out to be as bad as predicted. It looks pretty scary but at least precautions are being taken.

A Presence

Little felty legs...
A magically smooth stone from the fairy filled island of Skye...
A glowing candle...
Who can it be?

I am priviledged by a visit from a member of the Daoine Sidhe, who are trooping fairies-hence the long legs. Nata is her name, which means 'dancer'. She has a strange sense of rhythm which is not quite like mine-but maybe she thinks the same thing!

She has a wire frame, which makes her very springy somehow. She was started on Skye, and finished in London, so she is able to live in either environment.

Fairy lights and stars appear magically whenever she is around. She is confident in her magical skills.

She has danced off now. Tomorrow I will introduce her friend 'The Head', who is on the shelf at the moment contemplating life and being quiet. He is the complete opposite of Nata really!

Lily, Cassie and Tiger cuddle up.

'While London Riots' is the title for this picture that keeps coming into my head! It was the night before last and they were all peaceful together on the bed, which was so sweet! Thanks for the lovely comments yesterday. London was quieter last night but Manchester and Birmingham were not. I have just seen a report on one of the clean ups organised yesterday through Twitter which was really lovely and, as one of the people said 'strangely uplifting'.
This is a felt snail that I made the other day. I have been thinking about making one for ages since I got the empty shell. It was nice doing felting again so I have also made a worm and am having a go at the fox.

Woolly Menagerie

Craft day number four with Clare and Cleo produced some animals. Clare also made a Valentine's card and did some drawing-she works fast! I made this sheep-it does look kind of sheepish and a bit cowlike. I like its smiling face.

Clare made the little sheep-it was her first go at needle felting and she didn't enjoy it much. She also didn't like the sheep, so he now lives here with the bigger one! I

think he is quite cute. Cleo made the lion-posed with a robin she made earlier. I like his yellow mane-he looks as if he is from the seventies to me.

Snow Day

Today's advent picture is a felty angel I made for a swap on ADO.

I sent her off to Denmark last week but have not heard anything yet.

We had lots more snow last night, so school was closed. I won't pretend to be at all upset about this, or that I did any work. Instead I went to Lewisham to get some wadding for my patchwork-not the new patchwork but the really old one I started and never finished (a cushion inspired by a vintage one I bought)-I have been working on it this week. I am quite excited about the quilting part and am nearly ready to start. I got a lovely grey velvet to do the back of the cushion with. The old cushion that inspired this one has a lovely faded and soft red velvet back.

I have also made my Christmas tree-well-improvised. More on that another day!

We had an inset day tomorrow anyway, and have received a message that we are to work from home. I should get quite a lot done hopefully, but still have time for a little walk.

Below are a few pictures from today's walk. There were buses and I did catch a couple, but they were not ones that went quite where I wanted them to so I did walk quite a bit. I get far more exercise when it snows!

Cassie by the snow lit window just before my walk!

Miniature Worlds

Little felt lady waiting for the lift.

She is off to the market with her big shopping basket on wheels.

She got a bit lost in Bonsai Park.

Yesterday I bought a book called 'The Art of the Miniature', by Jane Freeman.

I just loved all the pictures in it, and thought it was about dolls houses.

It is not dolls houses as such, though obviously linked to that whole obsession. It is more about creating miniature worlds as art. I love so many of the scenes created in the book, by the author and a selection of other artists. Above and below are two of my favourites. Frida Kahlo's room-with exaggeratedly bright colours and so much detail. The one above is an artist's garret created in a clock case. I love the way the clock face becomes a stunning window, and would love to live somewhere with a window like that.

In an aside, I was looking at Ill Seen Ill Said tonight, and there was a link to Greige-where there is a picture of a room with a huge clock face which made me think of this one. Then I went to look at the actual source of the pictures and found the amazing Alex MacArthur Antiques and Interiors for Decadent Living site. So many beautiful things! On there is a little film which I really liked and which appears at the bottom of the post. I love these meandering journeys around the internet!

My other recent miniature enjoyment has come from Slinkachu. He creates little scenes in the city and photographs them close up and from a little distance-which shows the tiny scale. They are fantastic. Linda Sue sent me a link shortly after I bought the book, and this site has lots of photos on.