* Update: sinclair and a couple other owls and spiders are available in the shop.
Sinclair is made mostly from this midnight blue antique wool and velvet jacket.
I had hoped to make two or three owls from this jacket but it was too fragile – sinclair was kind of impossible and he will be the only one.
“He looked and smelt like Autumn’s very brother”
Giles, 2 other owls and some new spiders are in the shop now.
He is made from vintage feed sacks and ticking using my new owl pattern. I intended to use these round little owls only as passengers in paper mache ships and boats but he was such fun to make I think I might make a couple stand alone fellows.
I’ve been saving the buttons for his eyes ( I only have 2) for 3 years. I started putting fabric aside for him about a year ago – bits of quilts and blankets, a tiny piece of threadbare russet velvet from a crazy quilt and linings from several garments. And just lately I found the last thing I needed, the heavy dark brown cotton his body is made from, lining an antique walking skirt. I’m hoping to finish him today.
There are spiders and lots of new things in the shop.
Estella (bride of pip) is made from the edwardian ball gown. And Melchior has fancy lining in his feathers.
Happy Halloween!
She is silvery. I feel like there should be a rule that if I get a little fabric bird to balance on her glittery toes I should be able to take the rest of the day off. But it doesn’t work that way. Today will be long and I’m making a big mess ( you can see a bit of it here) getting things finished and photographed for the shop. You can join the mailing list or check back here if you’d like to know when new things are available.
Some owls in progress with their horns in curlers; I’ll finish and name them over the weekend. And a havisham spider, the first thing made from the ghostly ballgown .
Have a lovely weekend and if you are in NYC checkout Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield – it’s wonderful and this is the last weekend.
I’m working on several new owls including one made from an edwardian skirt (on the left above), a large black owl made from a victorian jacket and a little grey owl with green velvet horns and shoe button eyes.
I’m still going through my little scraps and making one of a kind birds, I’ve just added the first two bundled up birds of the season to the the shop and will be adding more regularly.
I had a conversation with Suzie Monday ( thanks very much Suzie) over the summer and you can find the resulting article in the September October issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.
And progress on a grey fellow.
I’ve just added some corsage girls, pirates, and a new sweetheart set to the shop.
chums!
And birds and spiders too.
*This week will be the last opportunity to order sweethearts for a while – I won’t be able to take new orders for the next few weeks (I will still be adding ready made sweethearts occasionally). I will stop taking sweetheart orders on August 20th.
I replaced my giant wooden work table with a much smaller iron table with a glass top. It feels light and kind of unobtrusive in this little place. Working on the glass top is sort of an odd sensation but so far I like it, if it starts to drive me mad I can replace the glass or cover it with homasote or something.
I’ve just put Barnabas in the shop and there are also some new spiders –
and new pirates, campers and corsage girls.
miss bird says hello
