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.
( there is a video of the humpback whale on the move here)
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.
They are mostly harmless though and just curious about you.
This girl is quite timid and you mustn’t startle her.
Or she’ll run off and disappear into a dark corner. That’s when you have to worry, when you can’t see them……..
There has been huge improvement lately in the spider making process and I’m making a lot of them. They are still pretty labor intensive but not nearly as much as before.
The friendly spiders ( most of them are friendly) will be in the shop next week with a lot of other things I’m working on now, if you are on my mailing list I will let you know when the new things are available.
This summer, at Echo Lake, a troupe of birds attempted a theatrical presentation: the cautionary tale of a little bird in a red cloak and a bad wolf. Selected scenes:
And everyone lived happily ever after.
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.
This edwardian ballgown arrived recently – it’s incredibly fragile and delicate – much of it disintegrates when I touch it but there is still tons of usable and inspiring stuff. I spent the better part of a day photographing and examining it and then taking it apart. I found a label in the sleeve that says B. Altman & Co. NEW YORK; it is one of my all time favorite garments and reminds me of the very first antique gown, or really pieces of a gown, that inspired my very first birds. I didn’t photograph the gown, I so wish I had, but I still have two of the birds and I’ll show them to you soon.
I’m making a havisham spider from it today, if I finish it before the light goes I’ll post another picture.
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.
I picked up a piece of an old fountain glass on dead horse beach earlier this summer ( I have lots of other treasures to show you soon) , it’s edges are soft and the surface is frosted – all seaglassed out. I think the shape is interesting, it’s lovely in general and makes an ideal toothpick dispenser – I use a ton of tooth picks for various tiny paint and glue situations.
The little tornado we had last week knocked out my internet and I’m using my neighbor’s wifi ( I asked). The signal comes and goes, everything interweb related is taking me forever but it is a perfect opportunity to sew bats ( which also takes forever) while I wait for shipping labels and other stuff to load, it (almost) completely eliminates the frustration.
And progress on a grey fellow.
I’ve just added some corsage girls, pirates, and a new sweetheart set to the shop.
chums!
I’ve been making some birds from my littlest scraps, stuff I’m at the end of or favorite little pieces I’ve been saving forever.
I’ve just added these two to the shop and will continue to add one or two little birds everyday.
There will be a larger update (birds and sweethearts) later in the week and if you’d like to be notified when the new things are available please join the mailing list.
And something new in progress.
I’m working on new ships, bats, boats, ballerinas, owls and lots of other things – more photos tomorrow.
