I’m trying to do too many things at once and I’m fully freaked out and panicked. I’m happiest and most productive when I can focus on one thing at a time. If I owe you email sorry, I’ll be on a more even keel thursdayish. I worked all weekend making white cranberries (which are out of season) for an ad. They were fun to make, even in my freaked out state I had a ball making them. The first 50 anyway. The next 150 got a little tedious but the first 50 were a full on party.
For Accessory Month at whiplash I made these little wool felt tassel birds ( design category I guess). They’re an accessory for a doorknob or hook or peg or bedpost or lamp or branch etc., etc. I was gonna take a few pictures of them accessorizing various things around here but I ran out of steam and out of light. Just like the acorn, I’m giving them away. If you’d like to have one just leave a comment to this post with your color preference. I’ll pick three names next Friday, 10/20, first name picked will get their color choice.
I found this doll the last time I went home. I made her when I was 10 and loved everything victorian, dolls in particular. I desperately wanted a REAL china [tag]doll[/tag] and this was my [tag]DIY[/tag] attempt. Her expression cracks me up. She’s lying on a little collection of bits and pieces I’m getting together for a couple more [tag]ships[/tag] similar to The Meriwether – very pale, tattered, translucent and fragile. I love that old rose fabric and I’ll be sad when it’s all gone.
I finished the [tag]paper mache[/tag] hull tonight on yet to be named ship number 6 and I’ll start to think about sails tomorrow.
Something for work in progress.
It was fraught with peril but ultimately accomplished, sort of, the shop is finally updated. There were frustrations at every turn. I can’t believe how long it takes me to create my crappy, clunky little shopping experience. I need professional help.
Some paper mache ships and a few birds are available, if you happen to be in NYC the ships are still hanging in the window at Johnson .
If you were on Union St. in Brooklyn around rush hour this afternoon you might have seen a crazy person out on a window ledge taking pictures of a little stuffed bird. It was me. The bird was William. He’ll be in the shop on Monday around noon with a few other birds and at least a couple ships.
This is my friend Judah
Judah is three and he’s smart and funny and already good at paper mache. He’s fun to make things with and for; this was for him and so was this. Next I’m going to make him some version of a beanbag toss game I found in a McCall’s Needlework and Crafts magazine from 1970. You lay it on the floor and try to toss the frog to the lillipad, fish in the water, the bird in the nest and the ladybug on the leaves.
I’ve posted the pattern and instructions here .
These were the last two birds to leave the shop, Ada and Margarita.
I’m working on new birds right now and they’ll be in the shop by next Monday, 10/2. There will also finally be ships for sale. I intended to put them up last week but work interfered, so sorry to anybody who inquired last week, it’s next Monday the second for sure. I’m working on some new ones and the others are hanging in the window at JOHNSON on Orchard St. this week to help celebrate the fifth anniversary of the shop. Mrs. Johnson and I hung them today. Here she is checkin it out.
I started, I finished and it was harder and way more work than I expected. It was frequently inconvenient, but no matter how much I sometimes didn’t feel like making one, it got my hands and brain moving in some sort of creative way, and for me, like a lot of people who work for and mostly by themselves that can be half the battle. So I’m glad I did it, I’d do it again, and I’m glad it’s finished. 100 is enough cardboard horses. I’m still not sure exactly what to do with them, but I’ll figure it out in the next week or so. In a couple weeks I’ll get myself on a new self inflicted program of some sort.
And here’s the whole group, in sections unfortunately, due to the hugeness, but you can click on the images for a larger view.
