Pet sale!

This trio were designed for the sadly now discontinued 'Craftseller', and were featured in April 2015. They were made specifically to a tight design brief, which is why they are a little different to my usual work. Anyway, the time has come to clear out some of my old designs and raise some funds, so I am offering them up for sale. They can be found in my  Etsy shop here, at low prices as I am clearing the decks.

 

 'Toby' is  4 x 4½ inches (9.5 x 8cm). He was my favourite.

'Bunty' was named after my favourite magazine when I was a little girl (which puts me at a certain age). She measures 4 x 3 inches (9.5 x 7.5cm).

And 'Daisy'. Just 'Daisy'. She measures 3½ x 3 inches (9 x 8cmm). I'll be adding more discontinued designs to my sale in the coming weeks.

Needle felt tinies and new workshops

Tiny Polar Bear (sold)

I  recently updated my website and for the first time (ever) catalogued all my designs by year and month. Nine years of almost non-stop needle felting.  It took many days of hunting on various camera cards and through this blog and Flickr, but eventually I got there.

 Tiny Squirrel doll for sale on Etsy

Looking through it was a bit of a wake up call and I was able to look at my work and realise not only that I've done a phenomenal amount of work, but also that I've not really moved on, stylistically. Although, to be fair, the last few years haven't exactly been the time for creative navel gazing.

Tiny Crow girl for sale on Etsy 

I think it has a lot to do with the last few years of creating commercial patterns, which have to be easy to make, and doing so many workshops, ditto. So I've not really stretched myself. 

 

Little King for sale on Etsy

 

I think making myriad cute toys has almost run it's course for me, after all, I've been doing them for nine years. So I've been finishing off several bits and pieces, including this set of tiny animals and bird dolls, which despite being small, take around six hours plus to make

Little Horse Girl for sale on Etsy

As usual, I've bunged them on dear old Etsy. I'll be starting a shiny new website soon, for my new work. 

 Petite Maison for sale on Etsy

I started a new and very 'grown up' line of work this summer, but it is under wraps until I have several pieces. Suffice to say, I am stretching myself at last. 

Olga the Russian dog for sale on Etsy

While I'm cheerfully shoving things for sale under your noses, I may as well add that I've got some fabulous new workshops in the UK, for later in the year. I have two winter workshops in Hampstead, London at the Village Haberdashery - my first time in London! It's going to be the red eye train at crack of dawn for those two.

I am also going to be in Witney, Oxfordshire at the Witney Sewing and Knitting Centre. And in Birmingham, at the lovely shop of Lauren Guthrie, who was a British Sewing Been finalist in 2013, at Guthrie and Ghani. 

All of these courses, with links to the relevant booking pages, can be found on my website, on the Needle felt workshops page.

In other news, I've finally started painting properly again. But I'll spare you that for the time being.

Violets and Camellias

Back to some kind of normality at last and a final deadline to clear; this year's order for Teddy Bears of Witney. Sadly, due to the silly amount of work I had on, I was unable to do as many editions as I did last year and only just managed to get these two sets ready in time for the 2011 catalogue.

Rather stupidly I didn't order in a large batch of pink wool when I made the first Camellia and when I re-ordered from the same stockist the dye batch had changed. Only slightly, but enough to make me grind my perfectionist teeth with frustration. See how the righthand merino is slightly bluer than the lefthand one?

Thankfully I spotted what looked to be a better match on the Tigerlily Makes blog and after a few emails, a sample was winging it's way to me in the post. It was, happily, almost identical to the original pink and I was able to order enough to finish the two remaining models - thank you Lisa for such super service and good luck with your new online felt making boutique.

And a finished trio of 'Sweet Violets'. Despite the simplicity of the design, these actually take far longer to perfect than my other creatures.

Naturally, this being me, I was somewhat late in making the remaining models and spent seven days needle felting like fury. But in the end, we were all ready for delivery.

Boxed up and raring to go.

It is always such a pleasure to visit the shop and see what new bearish treasures are in stock. My little girls are going to be in distinguished company.

And they have their own slot in the beautiful catalogue. As far as I know, they have not sold out yet - but this is the only shop I am able to supply and at present I am so busy catching up with back orders that they are all that is available at present, so if you do want one of my creations now, then they are the people to contact.

I quite forgot to tell them - and you, lovely readers - my other snippet of news, that a couple of months ago I was accepted into the British Toymakers Guild after submitting an application which was judged acceptable by the committee. Which is nice.

Another trip to the bear shop

Seems to be one of those times of year when things are tidied up, finished off and others started. The cottage has been autumn cleaned and yet more space cleared. I am anxiously waiting for news of a job that has been in the pipeline for months, and have begun work on a design brief.

Today I popped to town to deliver the rest of my toys to Teddy Bears of Witney. I don't know why it is that every time I visit these lovely people I am in some state of scatterbrained-ness or (as with this morning) completely exhausted. I was actually babbling when I was ushered to a chair. Lovely coffee in a little mug and a buttery teddy bear biscuit were brought to me, which helped.

What I hadn't realised was that I was to be given the honour of drawing the names out of the hat, to decide who would get my creations; some of them had multiple applications, and there are only three of each design, so they like to keep things fair by holding a ballot. In a top hat. They know how to do things properly here.

My name announcements were accompanied by delighted gasps, as the staff know so many of their customers and were happy that they had got what they wanted. Afterwards I happily pottered about looking at new displays and taking snaps. I love these skinny bears, 'Lucy Havahart' and 'Duke Havahart', created by Deb Beardsley, a Wisconsin bear maker.

I saw this chap and dropped to my knees to admire him; I adore spotty old horses on wheels. It's the kind of shop where they totally understand if you start crawling about the props. Or maybe they are just extra indulgent with me.

Bears, bears everywhere.

Although there are many many unique artist bears, they are also a major supplier of Steiff collectibles.

Oh look - down there on the bottom shelf; it's one of my favourite new models - Dulcie. She has been specially commissioned as a reproduction from an original old bear owned by one of the staff.

And round a corner, in a big, mirrored display cabinet, are some familiar faces. Not teddy bears at all, but looking quite at ease with their furry brothers and sisters.

Soon they will be on their journeys to the corners of the world, to start their new jobs. And I am going to take a day off to rest and try to get myself back together, starting with a long, hot bath.

Menagerie

SOLD

Do I still needle felt? Of course I do. It's my job; without it I have no money. I have tried a little experiment of making several things over a month and re-stocking my shop all at once. But I think I'll be going back to just popping things up for sale as I do them: I really missed what we used to call the 'retail buzz' when I worked in a Real Life shop. And my blog starts reading like a domestic bliss magazine.

I didn't get as much made as I hoped, it's taken me a while to get back in the swing of things after my mammoth trade order but I'm back in the zone at last and even started making inroads into my commission list. The shop which I am supplying wants more one-offs; they anticipate selling out of the ones they have as soon as their catalogue is published (which is flattering). So I need to clear my commitments.

SOLD

I've started making everyday little clips and ornaments which 'only' take a day or so to make and that I can price affordably; I had to raise my prices on my larger animals, just so that I wasn't working for myself for sweatshop rates.

SOLD

My geese take at least 3-4 days to make. It's hard to explain why unless you know how needle felting works. There is a lot of putting on and taking away. The final smoothness that I like takes hours of minuscule poking and trimming. I am often asked *how* I get the finish that I do (merino wool is very hairy and fly-away). There is no magic answer; just patience. It is, after all, a craft; I think sometimes the word has lost a little of its meaning nowadays.

SOLD

I've also been using my new-ish (Christmas present) wire twisters; oh how I love them! They came without instructions, so I had to trial and error, until I found a You Tube video demo. But the possibilities are endless, and they are so very pleasing to use.

SOLD

Thankfully, things are shifting steadily. My dwindling store cupboard breathes a sigh of relief; I can go shopping again.

Hurrah for the Circus!

I have a quiet passion for anything circus. I've never been to one, and I'm not sure if I'd like the real thing, especially not performing animals. Of course, to see Cirque du Soleil would be marvellous, but we'd have to take out a small loan or sell our body parts to afford the tickets. So I content myself with browsing my collection of what I might grandly call, my resource material. Look...





One of my best 10p finds, from a village fete bookstall. A moment when your heart beats a little faster and you look round quickly to see if anyone else has spotted your treasure.





Battered, torn and broken in places, yet Humberto's little circus is beautiful to me.




Not so fragile - my Christmas present from Andy (very *subtly* suggested by me). It weighs as much as a baby elephant itself, and is a whopping 45cm tall (17 & 3/4") 29cm wide (11") and nearly 8cm thick (3").




It is stuffed with a smorgasbord of everything circus, hundreds of pages of pictorial gorgeousness. I could happily drown in it and frequently do.





On a (much) smaller scale, this sweetie, an open the flap booklet. Front -




Inside...



Turn the flap...



Turn the flap...



Turn the flap...




Back cover.



Not everything is on my bookshelf though. The other day I came across this, via Fern Animals and almost cried with sheer delight.







Tomorrow I take the first batch of this menagerie to the shop, which in itself is worthy of a little Grand Parade. It's been a long old seven weeks.

A BIG PS - I do not like performing animals either, unless they are firmly between the pages of books!