..Sea Treasures.....

My mailman was leaving just as I rounded the corner from my speed walking.... he shouted that I had a parcel..... ooooohh !! ..... ....I picked up the pace even if my little legs were already going about as fast a trotting Corgi....

Recognized the address right away..... my long time blog buddy Darly.... whose parcel I have been anticipating for ... well, let's just say I've been on high alert for a while now...hahha... it has become a private joke. Sorry Darly, had to get it in somewhere, didn't I? but, now.... ....












... the highly anticipated surprise .... my little mermaid spied that shell etui right away.











...she was trying to lay claim to it before I even got to look inside.











Then, she managed to open it.... aahhhhhh ..... the colours! and there inside...another tiny mermaid in her beautiful world of aquas and greens...seaweed and shells and pearls... pearls?














Hey! I got a pearl!











there's a real pearl in there!

.... another mermaid... swimming with fish and a friendly octopus....










and...... a beautiful earring set. Sea Glass! Sometimes called Mermaid's Tears ... somebody remembered my fascination with sea treasures.....











I'm a very lucky girl..... thank you so much Darly.... you are a pearl too.....

Arora ??

I think my mermaid mentor was beginning to wonder if I may go off on some wild sea glass expedition. Tempting.....but... think I'll wait for warmer weather. And, of course.... it would be far from my turf...as all I have here is turf. No lovely ocean within hiking distance anywhere around here.

Today it was time to get busy with trims, glue and fur.... pffff... man.... that stuff is everywhere now!










She finally chose the beautiful, soft, fly-away, Arctic Fox fur. It came all the way from Alaska, sent by Judi Wellnitz, who also just happens to be the designer of this great pattern. I'll probably add a bit more at the throat... but wanted to get some pics before the light totally faded.
I haven't named her yet...but am contemplating "Arora".

a fish story .....

My fur arrived yesterday....well, not mine, but for my mermaid... one of the beautiful pieces will be parka hood, sleeve and hip trim. Thanks Judi

As soon as I unwrapped it, there she was.... ready to dive right on it ... roll around ...... trying to decide which suited her fancy. She is a woman, and therefore ... has not yet made up her mind.










So, ............on with some stuffing while we wait for the decision.

As many bears and dolls as I have made.. (although in reality it is not that many) ... I still can't get over how much stuffing goes into even the smallest one before it begins to take shape. And..how sore my hands get.. I use hemostats to stuff and my thumb feels totally bruised after awhile... I really need to figure out something different. A stuffing stick or something. We are such silly creatures of habit sometimes. The first thing you try works..so you stick with it. Regardless of how painful. @#$%










Trying to keep the wire inside the body straight was a bit tricky. It kept turning over in my hand as I was stuffing and attempting to keep it centered....twisting her body.. then she really did look like a fish. .. a bit sideways... but.. finally I got it.

-35C tonight !!!!

Oh, help ! Who ordered that? plus wind... seems the windchill will be -50C ... my brother the mountain man is even sending e-mail saying he is worried about me. Hahahha.... okay..I won't go outside. But... oh, yes...just remembered...silly me volunteered to shovel for the little old lady across the street for the next 6 weeks while her son in law is on holiday in sunny Vegas. The clever old weatherman is also saying there is big probably of snow as well. Great. Get out the balaclava, the long down coat, the Sorels, and ..oh, yeh..scarves, toques and earmuffs all at the same time. Nobody cares if you waddle around looking like a Stay Puffed marshmallow in this weather.
















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Did manage to get in a bit of sewing today... the FME took me much longer than I though it should...and I was actually sweating by the time I finished her tail. How silly is that? It is not as expertly done as Judi's...but for my first go round...I am pretty happy with it. I practiced for a bit and then figured I was wasting thread.. better just get on it. So I did. It seemed to be going along just fine 'til almost the last 4 rows of scales; then the thread really was causing problems. I did buy something called Sewer's Aid and had put a few drops onto the spool of metallic thread as suggested on the package ...and also a special needle... perhaps it helped. Near the end perhaps I should have applied some more... but just wanted to see it finished. I clipped off some of the bundled thread of the last tiny row...if it loosens I will just redo them..if not... good.










Also got sleeves and the parka hood done.. ... am awaiting some lovely fur from Alaska .... but in the meantime .. I still have to place some wire, then do a bit of stuffing...attach her head... and, oh, yes...hair..so plenty to occupy me for a bit yet.

Northern Mermaid

I am not getting very far very quickly with my mermaid from Judi's pattern....but here is what I have so far. Her hands are pretty small...so I began with them just to make sure I was able to stitch and turn them. I used some fairly lightweight black fabric... it was easy enough. Chenille stems actually still fit into each finger even if they are tiny... just crimped them pretty firmly with my needle nose pliers and slid them in gently with the help of hemostats.










Usually I begin with a head.... I figure if I can get a head and face I am happy with, I can always manage a body to follow. But, this time I just had to try the hands first.










Here are the basics of her face... beside Judi's "covergirl"... lovely lady of the cold northern waters. She includes needle sculpting instructions with the pattern. So far in my doll making I haven't done much with needle sculpting; preferring a flat face and the painting to give it the 3 dimensional look. Or sculpting a face of clay and overlaying fabric to paint the face on. But... this is perfect to give her some nice definition.. .. I wish I had managed to get her eyes a bit closer together....not with the sculpting, but in the drawing stage. I think in my mind's eye that was the problem...I was thinking that when I did the needle sculpting the eyes would move closer to each other .... but, in reality, with it only being enough to slightly indent the corners... they did not. Live and learn...that is what this doll and bear making is all about. I still love her little face. Perhaps I will try a second mermaid another time just to see if I can manage to make myself draw them closer together..... .










Because I have given her green eyes, I'm going to use lighter hair ....this is cushion fringe..... .... so far so good..... onward! Parka material.....










... and in the same breath..... get my own parka and get out there to shovel some snow. Yep... had about 2 inches overnight.... must be winter.

Pretty papers ......

Hey, what day is it? I am still in sparkly stuff mode! Ahhhh...who cares? I am not putting it all away yet anyway. Nope...not me. I am playing with papers, cards... walnuts and hazelnuts... all the little fun things I like to do for a few days prior to boxing it all up for another year.

While everybody is making their New year promises...I am just enjoying some gifts of perfect paper from a neighbour...and a bunch of new cards to sort through. Wheeeeee!










Oh, look... chocolate box wrappers.... all foil-y and shiny and so perfect.

I bought my first little origami ornament several years ago.










Actually, I bought 3 because I didn't know if I would ruin them all trying to figure out how they were constructed. I still have all 3. That number must mean something... because they are made with 3 pieces of 3 inch square paper. I took one apart and it took me 3 days to figure out how to put it back together again. Each year when I try to make another...it takes me 3 tries to get it right. I don't know if I could explain in less than about 33 pictures and plenty of uhm-ing... how to do it. And, I have searched for a tutorial on it...but have not been successful. Have never seen a picture of one quite like it. Anybody know what it is called?










Look at all the beautiful colours I've made... hahah...then I got really silly...and made some half the size ...ohhh, was that fiddly!
(update Jan 6, 2008) Hey..I just saw that tiny ones can be used for earrings!














This is my favourite that I have made so far. A beautiful patterned tissue paper combined with chocolate box foils. String a golden thread, add a bead or two and look how beautiful they are. They are such fun to make.














...... and, this.... this will be my first doll of the new year. A beautiful Northern Star Mermaid by Judi Wellnitz and cover girl for December issue of Doll Crafter and Costuming.

She is a tiny thing .. and I began by sewing up the hands just to see how tricky they would be to turn ... ..not bad. So, then on with the face.. I always like to do the head first.. then the body. I am in the process of drawing and colouring her face now, but as we all know.. real life seems to interfere with fun stuff. Plumbing fiasco yesterday.