boats

paper mache boats

 paper mache boats

The ship and 2 sailboats above will be in the shop early next week – I’m photographing them and a lot of other things (owls, spiders, birds, ballerinas and maybe another bat) over the weekend. And I might have one more ship  too – I’m working on it now.  If you are on the mailing list I’ll  let you know when they are available.

gentleman sailor

sailing owl

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.

autumnal owl

hand stitched owl

Find the pattern to make your own dastardly owl here.

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.

 

fortuny

 spider

I visited the Fortuny showroom earlier this week to talk with Mickey Riad ( creative director) about creating some of my  creatures with Fortuny fabrics. I think it ‘s a fabulous idea and I’m looking forward to experimenting. We talked about bats and spiders and owls  and maybe some new things inspired by the exquisite patterns and colors as well as the history.

Like the fabrics, the  new showroom in the D and D building is almost overwhelmingly beautiful.  I took a couple photos but they don’t do it justice – you can see much more here and on the Fortuny blog.

fortuny2_sm

fortunymoth_sm

I’m excited about the possibilities and I’ll share progress photos with you when  I get started.

P.S. –  You’ll find the green bustled spider  crawling among the bolts of glorious fabric  in the first photo here.

beginnings

ballerina work

Most things start with a pile – the two little piles above are going to be ballerinas.

And patterns usually start with a drawing.

owl drawing

A hopeful sort of drawing followed by lots and lots of experimenting – making  and taking apart, adjusting – over and over and over again. If nothing else I am persistent. Relentless might be a better word.

owl draft

My plan is to end up with a little perching owl who might like to be  a passenger in a paper mache ship.

Filed under WIP

a humpback whale and a starfish

starfishwhale

I made halloween costumes for  a couple of my smaller friends this weekend, a humpback whale and a starfish. It was a sewing marathon,  seat of the pants sort of effort  – fast – no do-overs,  no obsessing ( a little obsessing ),  good spontaneous fun for my typically compulsive  and  too tightly  wound  self.

And the fabulous little fellows who wore them brought them to life in ways I could never  have imagine.

starfish

whale

( there is a video of the humpback whale on the move here)

a beast and a ballerina

beast

silver ballerina

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.