The three felt bird winners are: Laurie, Sharon and Bubamaca. Congratulations!
Please email your address and I’ll send you your little felt bird next week.
I’m busy with Halloweenie stuff, here’s a work in progress shot of an owl. More on him and some other creepy stuff this weekend.
I know this is way too many pictures of one little ship, The Meriwether, but I can’t help it. I get ridiculously excited about things the day they get finished, so in a day or two I’m gonna finish another ship and I’ll probably post too many pictures of that one too. I managed to restrain myself from posting a ton of pictures of that little bird in just about every setting you could imagine a little fabric bird in.
And a little bird. This is my whiplash intro post so I had to include a bird.
For the final whiplash I made a little ship. She’s fully underway with colors flying. It features the colors that have been on my mind most lately- teal and green.
There have been a couple questions on the particulars of yarn/glue acorn making so here are a couple of tips based on my recent experience. First I wrapped the balloon entirely with one layer of yarn. For the first layer I thinned the Elmer’s with a little
water and painted it onto the balloon, and then the yarn, soaking it completely through. I let that dry over night ( this is by far the hardest part for me). For the second layer, balloon still in tact, I used the glue full strength, painting it on in small sections and pressing the yarn in so the surface stayed glue free an pretty. The second layer took most of the day to dry (agony, again, for me) then I popped the balloon, separated the sections with an exacto knife, and though it was sturdier than expected I reinforced the inside bottom, top and hinge point with a little wool felt. For kids I recommend thicker yarn than I used for the base.
Here’s the second layer in progress. It’s important that the balloon is still inside because the first layer softens again.
For this week’s whiplash “yarn” I used the old yarn and Elmer’s glue on a balloon technique. The last time I did this was at Camp Nyati in 1975. I had fun making it, popping the balloon inside the hardened yarn was entirely satisfying, it made a dramatic, unexpected noise and everything. I had originally not intended to make an acorn but as soon as I started to wrap the randomly chosen green balloon it declared itself.
For some added whiplash fun, If someone would like to have this little acorn box for their treasures I’m offering it as a gift. Just leave a comment if you’d like to have it; if more than one person wants it I’ll draw a name on Friday.
*clarification* The acorn box is still up for grabs. If you want your name in the hat just say so in your comment and I’ll pull a name on Friday.
