At the opening

Reputation's changeable, situation's tolerable

Okay, it wasn't so bad. Most of the mini pods that hadn't felted too well just needed a little more coaxing. I'll need to have another go at blocking them though - at this size they need careful coaxing to sit on a flat bottom and look balanced, not wonky. A little bit of hand-made charm at the usual size can translate to something pretty shoddy at miniature size.

While chopping wood I moved my legs and I started dancing while I gathered eggs

This pair of pods was commissioned by my sister as a gift for a family member.

My nephew (the hand model above) came up with "another way to do it".

This is his drumkit, which he has assembled himself. The microphone stand is the newest addition, improvised by his dad.

Playing drums is one of his favourite things. He practices, totally self-taught and self-motivated, every day. His dad is a musician but he hasn't really tried to teach my nephew yet. Of course he is motivated by wanting to be like Dad. Not so much Mum - my sister notes that he has no interest in craft activities at all, even at playgroup. He definitely knows what he likes. He loves to watch live rock music DVDs (his dad's favourite bands). He concentrates hard on these, studying the musicians and he knows all their names and what they play. His focus is impressive (and also a little bit hilarious sometimes).

The fascination with drumming has been building over a period of several months, probably since around or not long after his 3rd birthday. The photo below is from July; the kit has developed a bit since then. You can't see it in the photos but I've seen him using a box at his feet for a foot pedal, too. He's had a couple of goes on real drum kits and a recent outing to the music shop where he got to play on an electronic kit. If he keeps it up he's sure to aquire a real kit sooner or later.

Exposed

Earlier this week a little birdie suggested I have a closer look at the Floriade program, and I was thrilled to find my pears featured in a print ad for the Craft ACT Shop. Until now I've only seen these ads in their own emails to members.

Hot on the heels of that discovery, a different one turned up in 'see Canberra' magazine (a glossy insert from the Canberra Times) with a picture of my pods/bowls.

We're gonna need a bigger bowl

That first felted sugar bowl really was too tiny so I had another go at it.



The size is better (could be taller, but it was never going to be an exact replica) but this side view bothers me. In trying not to space the spots around too evenly, I put a couple of them much too close together.



I went back to the cafe today for a subtle photo shoot and a proper look at the inspiration bowl. Before, I had only looked at it from the other side of the room and made a quick sketch of the shape. I'm not always the most observant person when it comes to details - this was just an impression that was enough to spark the idea for the felted version.



I was surprised to find that it is not ceramic but glass. And the spots are formed in a most intriguing way. It's made of two layers of glass fused together, and the red spots are holes in the white layer allowing the red to show through.

I guess I thought this second bowl would be the end of my polka-dotted sugar bowl quest. But as I was walking back to work, I started to wonder if there was a way to replicate the double layer structure of the glass bowl, in felt. Some of my earliest felted bowls were made with two layers sewn together. I'll just need some well-placed holes.

Daily grind

It's a drab, cold week and during the day I am wishing I was at home making things instead of at work. I keep a few reminders around me. Sometimes there are some pears around my workstation too.

Almost two years ago I sent Donna Lee a felted pot and she's since said that she keeps it on her desk at work, which I think is where I got the idea.

Two of these could perhaps be called 'seconds' - the blue tray is not firmly felted (one of the strands of yarn was not very willing) and the beigy one was a bit bland on its own. It was part of this set - I made four in order to pick the three that worked best, and this was the one that didn't make it.

Mini sugar bowl

In a favourite cafe a few weeks ago I saw a delightful white ceramic sugar bowl with red spots. I wanted to make it in felt. This one is too tiny to really capture the original (cute wasn't really what I was going for). However, it was a very useful experiment: though I've done tiny bits of pre-felting embroidery before, this was a test of adding larger spots of colour. I just did satin stitch on the knitted fabric. I suppose I could have tried harder to make all the spots the same size, but I quite like them that way.

Familiar ground....

But still a little bit different each time. I never get sick of it.


Though it does sometimes it takes me a few evenings to get the felting done, cause I optimistically make a start and quickly run out of energy for the plunging & agitating. It doesn't hurt them to sit half-done in the bucket til I next get around to it.

If I were you I'd end my days in a field of stupid sheep just grazing the grass, so succulent and sweet

Before Christmas I had some felted pears and bowls in Craft Act's 'Exquisite' members show. Along with some sales - still a new enough experience to be a thrill - this lead to a commission as well. Based on the work that was in the show, I was asked if I could make a different shape, a beaker, to fit in with a specific collection.

I was given some photos and suggested dimensions. I made a few as it was a new design, and to provide some choice of colour and shape - some are tapered and others are straight-sided. Luckily 'slightly skewed' was explicitly ok - felting is an imprecise science.





And two of them now live in this lovely collection.

Just look away now if you've seen enough pears

This makes me happy: two friends who are both artists bought a cool dozen pears from me, to give as Christmas presents.

Mostly, they chose from a bundle I had already made. But they did also ask me if I could make a couple more, including a container pear.
Quite a few people have been drawn to the container version when they see my Minicard with that photo. That big one was my very first pear attempt, and my first lidded container attempt too. Until now I've just thought of it as an imperfect prototype (which my sister loves), and I'd put off trying to make another one.

But I realised that I have made a couple of lidded containers now, and although the first one (pink, above) had a lid that didn't fit perfectly, the next one (pale, below) worked better.


So I was ready to try again.

It's made from Sean Sheep Armytage in Key Lime. I'm almost out of my beloved Armytage, so if you see anyone destashing that lovely stuff, in any colours, please let me know, ok?

I'm pretty pleased with it, although I think it's a bit tall. I think it looks like a small pear sitting on top of a bowl.

And yes the upper part is hollow too.

It's the end of the weekend, again

Exquisite is now open at Craft Act and goes until 20 December; above is the lot I have put in the exhibition. A couple of items sold during the opening, which is very encouraging. It really is a lovely and varied show with a lot of affordable pieces for Christmas shopping.

And these special-order bright pears were my best attempt at, as requested, a shifting series of colours and as bright as possible. They are intended for someone who is mostly blind but can sometimes see bright colours on a good day. Of course, they're a tactile pleasure (if you like felt) even in the dark.

Bon anniversaire, Maman!