These are the two of the qualities I wanted my mushrooms to have – a sense of sponginess and sometimes a little oddness in the shapes.
I also very much wanted a concave underside for the cap – that has been the biggest struggle in creating the patterns and process . I didn’t want to make something realistic or botanical, not this time anyway, but I did want a great deal of mushroom-ness. Mushroom strangeness. Also contributing to mushroom-ness, I hope, are the curvy stems and tilted caps – impossible balance but for stem bottoms weighted with glass bead fill thanks to a tip from abby glassenberg.
It’s marvelous stuff. It is also magical stuff- pretty and sparkly and there is some delight and ceremony in taking out the wooden box I keep it in and spooning a bit into the stem.
There are new Fortuny toad stools too- I’ll show you those and more new things from that collection tomorrow.
A little fleet of custom color boats that shipped off today. And thanks so much to everyone who waited so patiently for them.
Each boat has flying colors and a merry wobbler pilot.
Happy Thanksgiving
Not exactly suddenly – my ideal mushroom shape has been eluding me for years. And this shape is still a work in progress – as the scale changes the pattern and technique have to be adjusted – but I’m very happy with the last few trys. I wish I had time to make more right now but there are lots of other projects that are more urgent this week.
Above – another, larger and made from vintage and antique garments in shades of black. And below a new little arrangement of things on my wall that’s making me happy right now – including a new sort of mini owl- more on those soon.
Happy Columbus Day where applicable and one more photo – some new, dark gimlet eyed owls in progress:
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Inspired by this antique gown – josephine’s gown is made from the white tulle:
The little glass feet it floats on is my favorite part.
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Mr. Knickers is made from this pair of wonderful dark and tweedy woolen knickers:
The wool has tiny flecks of purple and green and I used my antique swim bloomers as well as bits of lace and antique glass buttons for eyes. The Mr. N pictured above is the first of a very small numbered edition – 1 and 2 are available now and more soon – as many as the knickers allow – I’m hoping for at least two more.
A couple previews of tomorrows shop update – I’ll post more here if time permits tomorrow morning ( there are 3 new owls too).
The hull is made from an antuique quilt top, the sail is antique ticking and the owl captain is made from a vintage feed sack.
And another made from mostly Japanese textiles (courtesy of Sri Threads) – in moody lavender grey tones.
seashell folk, off to celebrate
Thanks to everybody who showed up for the shop update yesterday – I’ll be packing everything up this weekend and getting things on their way right after the holiday. I’m working on things for Tuesday’s owl and ship update ( there will be one more songbird too) – here are some things in progress:
This is the bodice it’s made from- I bought it years ago and have been using bits of it ever since.
A grey owl – fabrics courtesy of Sri Threads.
And a pair of turn of the century wool swim bloomers I’m about to turn into an owl.
I got them for next to nothing – the seat is terribly moth eaten. The fabric is wonderful- weight, shade, fading , texture – everything ideal. Also, in the unlikely category, technically, I’ve just posted a picture of myself on the internet in a bathing suit.
These songbirds ( and probably one more) all made from vinatge and antique garments, as well as forest flower ballerinas will be available in my shop tomorrow at 11 AM ( new york time) . Also, I have a new and much speedier checkout – you no longer need to create an account if you prefer not to – just enter shipping and email and you’re done. Existing customers can still log in as usual.
The teal songbird is made from this antique jacket.
And this black songbird is made form this antique bodice.
There will be an owl and ship update on Tuesday Septmber 4th at 1 PM ( new york time) and you can check back here on Monday for previews.
Earlier this summer, on another trip to the Adirondack park, I made and photographed ( in front of my favorite mossy stump) a little troupe of forest fairy ballerinas.
The ballerinas:
miss daffodil
miss fern
miss rose
The ballerinas will be available in my shop on Thursday at 11 am ( New York time). Lately I moved ann wood handmade to a new server and this is long overdue -my old one could not handle the spikes in traffic that come with shop updates so I have been unable to share the date and time of updates to try to keep it manageable. I have felt unsure about how to test my new server in any significant way but I thought of a plan while I was away last week : it’s a particularly quiet end of summer week and a holiday weekend ( in the US anyway) so I’m going to have a couple small shop updates and share the date and time – here , and with my mailing list and facebook – I’ll share the whole schedule and another preview (songbirds) tomorrow.
I spent last week in the Adirondack forest, by a lake. The house is called Road’s End and it is among other things, a former turn of the century cure cottage.
There are lots of sleeping porches ( to facilitate the cure) and I used this one for my work room.
It was glorious and I sewed a ton. And when I wasn’t sewing or sleeping or swimming or reading I hiked up things. The views were spectacular.
The view from Whiteface Mountain – a frightening 3,676 ft.
And I collected twigs and whittled some beaks.
The beaks were for two songbirds I finished and photographed there – here’s a peek at those:
It turns out vacations really are good for people. I don’t take vacations. I barely take breaks or days off- partly because it needs to be that way (so far anyway) and partly because I like to work and partly because I’m pretty compulsive. I did make things and sew my ass off but there were breaks and activities outside that and there was almost no internet – that may have been what was really vacationy. What a relief. A discomfort too – but less so after a couple days.
I came home with an organized and clear head; motivated and with something that was puzzling me figured out – I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.
Introducing : The Shelleys! (mary and percy).
I never planned to make another cake topper, the birds ended up in the nuptials biz by accident. Earlier in the summer I discovered a vintage souvenir seashell doll at a barn sale. I love vintage souvenirs and this one hit all the right notes for me: a small and perfect memento of a special day , a time and place, a remembrance, sweet, a little bit sad and deeply nostalgic. It inspired these little figures and I tried hard to create that kind of sentiment – a memento of a happy day.
