Printing little hare

I have been trying to organise my working days so that I don't spend it needle felting all day, every day. Love it though I do, I have many other things I want to produce. So I have been trying to take at least one day off per week to do something else. Time to unearth the old proof press, which has become swamped by books and magazines.

Time to find the little lino block of a hare I cut sometime in the winter and the block inks which I bought a few years ago and have barely used. Still in perfect condition.

A patchy first pull, but remembering that it takes a few inkings for the block to saturate with ink I do some more on test paper. The quality improves.

And with a bit of sweat and swearing, progress is made. Nice thick paper which has been saved for such an occasion is finally utilised. The eagle eyed long-term readers of this blog may spot the fabric hanging on the other side of the beam - yes, it is still there, my fabric stamping efforts from - goodness me, March! What happened to the time?

Some of the prints even come out moderately well. (Considering it's been a very long time indeed since I last did this).

At the end of the afternoon, everything is mopped down and replaced. It is as if the flying print-room had never existed. Except of course, for the long washing line of drying hares.

Later, a few of the best ones are popped into my Etsy shop, at pocket money prices. Just to see if it's worth carrying on with.

Wanda the White

Although I have an ever growing toy order list, I try to sneak in a new design every so often and have been meaning to make a white mole ever since Milly appeared, who was bought by my friend Janet of 'The Empty Nest'.

Wanda too made her Etsy debut, but was only on stage for about a minute before being snapped up.

So she set off on the long journey to America, where so many of my little people end up, to join Milly.

And here they are, photo kindly nabbed from Janet's blogpost, having tea in a most civilised manner. It's delightful to see them brought to life, though I do rather envy them, as I would love to sit down with a cup of tea and chat to Janet.

Seven snippets

I take hundreds of photos a year. Literally hundreds. I know I'm not alone in this; my digital camera has turned into the most efficient sketch book of all. I carry one of those around too, but for instant recording, my camera is my third eye. Quite often I intend to blog something or just post a photo to Flickr, and more often than not I don't, as there is no time. So with some difficulty, I've trawled this year's archives for just seven favourites, starting at the top with a huge Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar - about 3 inches long and a bit cross at being caught by one of the cats. (Also comes in pink and green)

Andy at a very isolated but lovely pub in Shropshire, the Bottle and Glass pub complete with friendly collie dog, real fire, excellent beer and local sausages on the menu.

Musician from Eynsham Morris, playing at one of our last cricket matches and beer festivals a few weeks ago.

Divine fragments of Medieval stained glass in St Laurence's Church, Ludlow. Do click on this for a larger look, they are rare and exquisite; can you find the owl head?

One of the 'golf balls' (actually a radar dome) at Clee Hill, Shropshire - they look so lonely and alien, and when the wind whistles through the wires, it is as if they are singing to each other.

Some of the wonderful topiary at the churchyard of St Mary's church Painswick; the entire grounds are crammed with these shaped yew trees, some made into covering for the paths, others just standing alone or in pairs.

Less ostentatious but possibly my favourite snippet of these seven; a newly shed robin's egg found on a walk in mid-summer when the earth was dry and cracked.

The last fete

Well, not the last fete ever, but the last one of this summer. Not the most spectacular of events, but something to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Bric-a-brac stall

Pug dog


Comfortable

Who are you?

The book stall

English Setters and fan club

Noble nose

Weimaraner

Three generations

A fine moustache

Old boys


Vintage car

Gentle giant

The car of my dreams!

Little Hare

Several weeks ago one of my collectors asked if I would consider a hare commision. Oh dear. I have been trying to design a hare ever since I took up needle felting over three years ago and have failed.

As shy and hard to catch as the real creature itself, I have been unable to visualise a satisfactory toy version, despite it being one of my favourite animals.

But I've broken the hare curse at last! Maybe it was because someone actually requested one, but I finally saw how it would be done. He has glass eyes, a waxed cotton nose and thread jointed arms -

Even underneath, where it won't be seen, attention to detail is paramount.

At my client's request, he was named Harris. Of course, now I've cracked the hare code, I have all manner of similar characters in mind, but they will have to wait until my present orders are fulfilled.

I get many enquiries about when I am going to update my Etsy shop with more needle felt things; I seem to work mostly to order now, but I have two little toadstools looking for homes and who knows when I'll have time to make more...

I am having another 'Puddletown Tales' book signing, this time in central Oxford, at Waterstones bookstore on the corner of Broad Street - very soon! In fact, this Saturday the 27th of August, 1.30 - 4.30. If it's possible for you to make it (and help me break the last record of one book sale) I'd love to see you there and put names to faces.

Raggy rainbows

One of those little chores which gets side-lined for months - washing the stiffness out of new fabrics. I am not one for bright, busy, decorative patterns; exquisitely simple prints are joyful to me.

This one is my very favourite - I bought a whole metre of it and almost bankrupted myself, just in case I never found it again. It's style number 31944-4 in the 'Cat in the Manor' range from Windham Fabrics.

But they all looked lovely once they were hung out to dry.

Raggy rainbows.





While I was playing Mrs Tiggywinkle, I tea stained a length of poplin too.

Spot the cat - not in the manor, but in the strawberry patch.

This blogger has an awesome amount of gorgeous fabrics - makes my stash look like a drop in a puddle.

Little Flourishes

A few years ago I was able to rescue a small letterpress studio - which caused a little bit of a problem with where to put it in our tiny cottage. The type cases ended up stacked up various walls and the printers are safely wrapped and stashed in my kind neighbour's stone shed, all waiting for the day when we move somewhere bigger and I have more space.

Anyhow, I was cleaning the spider webs from our front bay window and was idly looking through some type chests when I found an undiscovered stash of decorative flourishes.

Aren't they lovely? And I didn't even know I had them!