Showing posts with label needle felt cupcakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label needle felt cupcakes. Show all posts

7.1.12

Double cupcakes




My last order before that thing called Christmas was for a set of the cupcakes which appear in 'Mrs Mouse's Cupcakes' - and are of course, my blog header. The new set is of course, a little different to the original, because it is almost impossible to re-sculpt a design 100% perfectly.


Cupcakes mark one


Cupcakes mark two

They all have my logo ribbons underneath.



And signed tags.



Although my order list for larger toys is going to keep me busy until April/May (depending on anything else which may happen inbetween), I am trying to make smaller, 'budget treasures' -such as Santa - on the side. To save costs, these will be offered on my Facebook page first (or you can contact me directly if you hate Facebook) and will be around £65/70 ($100/110 US) plus postage. It's going to be first come, first served, and I hope to have four little things nearer the end of the month. I'm also storing needle felt archive pictures there, and work in progress, so if you want more needle felt bumph or the chance to get a little toy, please *like* my Facebook page.


8.4.11

Cobbling it together





When I was much younger and thought the publishing world would fall at my feet on my graduation day, (1993) I dreamed of important brainstorming meetings, full of ideas whizzing around, ending with a nice lunch at *some little place*. It has taken eighteen long years for it to happen but I am happy to report that the reality is even better than the dream. Planning the world of Puddletown with Templar meant a few visits to the offices, where a few hours would be spent thrashing out the storylines and the basic design of every layer of each spread.



When I arrive at the Templar premises, I'm usually taken to this nice meeting room and offered coffee; much needed as to get here has meant getting up at 6am, to catch the early commuter bus to a train station, finally arriving at about 10.30. My eyes are like slits by now. This particular meeting was to deliver the felt toys for 'Mrs Mouse's Cupcakes' and to go through the next book. To celebrate, cupcakes had been bought in.



I get first pick, choosing the lemon one. This is a cover proposal for the next book, made up by Janie, the designer. Just a dummy. So many mock ups have been made as the formats have gradually evolved. The post-it note is querying the exact shade of blue for the outer frame, such is the level of detail invested in the production. Notice her thick pile of notes beneath.




The big moment, the unveiling of the toys! Although I have emailed jpegs of them to Janie, (who makes my work look beautiful in the books) neither she nor Hannah, the editor, on the right, have seen the real things. I am so lucky to be working with these ladies, who are on the same wave length as I am, which means that planning my books has been such fun. It's almost as if they've been to Puddletown themselves...





Janie, like myself, hates having her photo taken. Hannah has a gorgeous smile! She is the clever hand behind the stories; once we've made ourselves slightly sick on cupcakes, we spend a couple of hours going through the next story, 'Peggy's Lost Pennies'. Hannah takes my ideas, they are thrown into the pot and thrashed out almost word for word (do we use *grinning* or *beaming*? I decide beaming, more in tune with the character). Later she writes up the final story, far better than I could. Janie too puts in ideas for how the storyline develops, so by the end we have all stirred the pot, like three benign witches.






You would not believe how much work goes into producing a simple five page story book. By lunchtime, after an intense morning, with much scribbling, note taking and discussion, we have basically sorted out 'Peggy's Lost Pennies' and are ready for lunch. At *some little place*, just as I used to dream of. Lots of gossip and chat, because although Janie and Hannah are work colleagues, we all get on very well. And, because it is my big day out, I am treated to ice cream. Days like this are very special indeed.



A plea for help
I believe that the Puddletown books were offered in an Easter giveaway in a magazine called the Sunday Post Extra - I think I've missed the boat in finding a copy, so if anyone has the page (45) and is willing to send it to me, I'd willingly swap it for a pack of postcards like these.

18.2.11

A secret revealed




At last I can let out my breath; I have finally received my advance copies of the most exciting job I have ever worked on. And work it certainly was. Blog followers who've had the patience to stick around this quiet place might remember that I spent the first half of last year working on *stuff* which
rendered me an exhausted hermit. And here is the first fruit.




Yes. My needle felt toys now have their own little world, 'Puddletown Tales', published by
Templar UK. It has been over two years in the making; one year of waiting to hear if the books were going ahead, six months of creating them and then a long, slow wait for the first copies to arrive this week. Regular readers may recognise the mouse on the front, a bit altered from the original.



Dear Andy has looked after me for nearly twenty years. We aren't married, but we have stuck to each other like glue and he has been there for me all the time, solid as a tall oak tree. It hasn't always been easy, especially during the ten years when it seemed as if I would never get a break. Without his support, this book may not have happened. So this first *all me* book is dedicated to him. There is also a beautiful introduction composed by Hannah Wilson the editor.




Friends will know I adore silhouettes. They aren't terribly commercial, but Janie the designer (who shares my love) squeezed one in as the Puddletown logo - naturally, a goose. Although this first book has no geese in, long time readers will know that I have a 'thing' about needle felt geese and they star in the
next title.




The first spread is flat. Every penny counts in book production and we had to choose between having the multi-layered cover (expensive) or five pop up spreads. So one pop-up scene was sacrificed to pay for the simply gorgeously produced cover.



Quite often I unconsciously drew on familiar home surroundings to create Mrs Mouse's little home.




The actual book design was put together by my friend and designer Janie. All the artworks were done as spots or separate layers and the needle felt characters photographed in-house at Templar by William Steele. I did enjoy making the cupcakes!




Thankfully in these days of Photoshop and digital magic, single items can be manipulated and reproduced, saving a lot of work.




I was allowed to more or less indulge myself to my heart's content, which (as my fellow professional illustrators will know) is quite a rare and wonderful thing. The cake which Kitty Blue is pulling is just one example.




And of course, there had to be toadstools of some kind, illustrated and needle felted. ( am a very
keen mushroom spotter and sometime gatherer).




There are a few little 'in-jokes' in the final spread.




For instance, this little picture of trees by moonlight...






...is *rather* similar to one we have hanging on a beam in our own tiny cottage.




It's a photo of a mixed media/textile illustration I made an awfully long time ago at college in 1993.





On this side you can see a grandfather clock which has a tiny wooden mouse on one side, referencing one of my favourite furniture makers,
Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson.




And to end with (you will be relieved to hear) a cheeky nod to my own Red Flannel Elephant Designs logo, which anyone who has bought my cards or toys will recognise.





Thirty one years ago, a sad, angry and very alone twelve year old orphan stood under a favourite tree. Her parents had died, one after the other, in the space of a few months - her mother had passed away at Christmas. Now she was off to a strange new foster home - God help her, she didn't know then that it was to be as unkind as it was.

She stood under that tree, looked at the sky and whispered 'I will become an artist for you Dad and a writer for you Mum'. She swallowed the many tears that she couldn't bring herself to shed and walked off to her new - and very uncertain - future. Well Mum, Dad - it took three decades, but I finally got there. For you. With cupcakes.