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.
THE END
red riding hood – selected scenes
curly horns
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.
ghostly ballgown
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.
owl work
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.
toothpicks
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.
new birds in the shop
And progress on a grey fellow.
I’ve just added some corsage girls, pirates, and a new sweetheart set to the shop.
chums!
scraps
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.
fort tilden
I spent a pretty ideal day out at Fort Tilden on Sunday. I’ve lived in New York for 15 years but just discovered it has a beautiful, swim-able beach this year. Straight up Flatbush Ave. Twenty minutes from my place (by car); it’s like opening a door that you always thought was a closet and finding a fabulous atrium or something.
One of last natural dune systems in the city.
We built a little shelter – I would like to live in it.
And I sewed some little birds.
But mostly swam.
new owls in the shop
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.
they float
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.
change
I’m in the midst of a major getting rid of. I’ve been wanting to make changes here for a while but couldn’t see new possibilities until I started to clear stuff out. It’s taking much longer than I thought it would -I’m still very much in the purge stage – have been for weeks – it’s kind of wonderful and kind of painful, no regrets though. I’ll post more as the situation evolves.
And a peek behind the curtain:
More coming soon, also, there will be new things in the shop next week – please join the mailing list if you would like to be notified when they are available.
*Update: I’m not going to update the shop until next week, the first week in August, but I’ve just added a couple campers.
