Little Fishy...

 I've had this necklace in mind for a long time, but wasn't quite sure how to execute it.  I finbally got my hands on some tiny glass 'bowls' and set about knitting a very small fish - the bowl is 2 cm wide, so the fish had to be similar.

 This is a prototype - either the fish has to be smaller or the bowl slightly bigger.  I'm quite pleased with it but it needs tweaking.

However, if you fall in love with it as it is, do get in touch as it is for sale.

I've also made a few of these - one is listed on my Etsy shop.

Back To Work...

 Well, it took a few days to get the holiday washing done and the outstanding jobs out of the way, but we're back into the old routine now. I've had a few hours to devote to the chickens - I have to admit I spent far too long on the pearls as firstly we were experiencing a heatwave and inside the house was hot, sticky & uncomfortable and secondly, I just could not get them right.  Sorted now I think and I am working on the irridescent plumage of the black chicken now, much more fun.

 I've been experimenting with making little pendants full of the seaside - still in the prototype stage.

 After a false start with a super-glue incident turning the inside of the bulb milky white, I;ve got the look I want.  Now I have to wear the pendant for a few days to see if it will stand up to it and also to check nothing untoward happens.  I've already had one of them where the water has gone a but yellow for some reason, perhaps the cork?  Any suggestions welcome.

I'm hoping this works, as they are so pretty and a great reminder of our holiday.

Sewing, Socks & Shells...amongst other things!

I've spent the past week doing a lot of sewing of scenery - above is just a snippet, the rest has to remain under wraps for now.  Not much more left to do on my part, then the animation will begin in earnest.

I've also completed a pair or socks - quite an accomplishment for me, I hate knitting socks.  I do like wearing hand knitted socks, so occasionally have to knuckle down and get some done.  These are little ankle socks - chosen not only for the design but also for the minimum amount of work...

I made a couple of these - the first one for a gift, the next to use up all the shells I drilled holes in!  These are winkles gathered last year in Alderney, such pretty colours.  I have an identical bracelet from a few years ago and wear it a lot.  This one is currently for sale in my Etsy shop.

The gift was for an internet pal of mine (Hi T!) from Arizona that I met for the first time at the weekend briefly as she was on stopover at Heathrow.  I was given a surprise box of treats and souvenirs from Arizona - they must be the most travelled bits an pieces around, having been from the USA to Jersey and then back here.  I'm trying not to shovel all the sweets in at once...

Finally the portrait commissions are coming in again after a worrying lull since Christmas.  This a drawing of Clovis's best friend, a gorgeous little saluki cross.  After this, I have a cat portrait to do.

At the end of the week is the local art society's exhibition - really ought to frame those pictures that are going in...

The Week Gone By...

It's been a busy week - Sunday I got out the Dremel and drilled some holes in all the scallop shells I have been accumulating.  Stacie and I like to eat scallops!  I wanted a length of shell bunting in my new work room, so after drilling them, I just strung them up on some hairy twine.  By the way, drilling scallops absolutely stinks!

We've had a fair bit of this throughout the week.  This was Tuesday, when it settled but only stayed until lunchtime.

Some of us were happier about it than others!

The new work room has been put to good use.  Not only is it fantastic to have everything I need to hand, it's also the warmest room in the house!  I just love that I can leave things out, mid-project, and come back to work on them the next day without losing my train of thought.  It's been a week of sewing ridiculously small things for a new animation. 

Being able to work on the paid jobs throughout the day leaves me free to knit my own stuff in the evenings if I want to.  I knitted this super soft cowl in two days - it's gorgeous and for sale in my Etsy shop now.

We've also had a lot of noise from the builders next door - it's been nearly a year with no let up.  If you see in the papers a story about some woman beating the operator of an angle grinder round the head with a baseball bat, it might well be me...

We're Still Here...

Did you ever wish you hadn't started something?  There is an element of that feeling to all my projects today!
This shell bouquet was very problematic - first there was the glue incident, then I had no idea how to attach all the shells and beads plus wires together.  Then there was more glue play - I'm not good with glue at the best of times.  Finally there was the addition of ribbons and finding the tiniest pieces of feather to insert (with more glue!)  It took me a week, on and off, but I am pleased with the result.  Next problem, how to post it without it getting damaged...

Then there was the aspidistra....I nearly flung this across the room in despair yesterday as I realised I should have inserted wires into the leaves before using fabric stiffener. However, after much thought, I found a solution to the assemby problem with a piece of trimmed polystyrene, into which I sewed the base of each leaf, through the knitted 'earth'.  Then the whole thing could then be jammed into the pot securely.  There are a few pieces of wool at the back holding it all in place which will hopefully never be seen!

This was the scene in my kitchen this morning - I decided it was time to sort out my stash as it had reached the point where I was buying new wool rather than search to see if I had the colour I  needed.  I had to move it all in a hurry a few weeks ago when my partner returned home after 5 years working abroad and hadn't the time to organise it.  Consequently, there were areas that looked like this...

However, now it is all bagged by colour, with all the 'good' yarn in a box away from the everyday DK.  The theory is that I will be able to lay my hands on what I want now with the minimum of fuss. Any bets on how long that will last?

With regard to the 'hurricane' last night, we are still here.  Several trees down in the neighbourhood but no major damage.  Lots of leaves to be cleared up, but that's about it.  Let's face it, it was just some quite bad weather...

WIP's (Weeping In Process...)

I knew this teeny tiny shell bouquet would be problematic, but didn't expect it to take this long.  I spent a while yesterday trying to arrange all the shells I had glued to wires into some semblance of a bouquet.  the wires kept whizzing around in my fingers and changing the positioning before the glue could take effect.  I solved this (eventually) by poking all the wires through a chunky bead until they were tightly jammed and I could then apply the glue.  No sticking mishaps this time!  Then I managed to bind them in place with another piece of wires.  Next is the ribbon and lace bit....sigh...

I've been knitting a Clanger - for those of you too young or not familiar with '70's British children's TV, the Clangers were pink aliens that lived on a planet and communicated through toots and whistles.....yeah... They were my favourite programme and I was so happy to hear they are re-vamping it for today's children.  I hope they don't ruin it! I found the original knitting pattern online - I am hoping that once it is stuffed it will look more like it is supposed to because at the moment I am concerned...

Another time-consuming project - an aspidistra!  I have knitted the leaves, ironed them, and now have to wait for the fabric stiffener to dry before arranging them into shape.  Not difficult, just a long-winded process.

I had to replicate an antique style pot for it too - again, not difficult but very fiddly.

One thing that is going well is the current dog portrait - I was worried that it might be very tricky as the photos I have to work from are fuzzy and small, but with the help of a magnifying glass and (hopefully) a good working knowledge of dogs, it has got off to a good start.

None of this will be touched today - working all day with children and later a glass of wine or two awaits... Half term next week, so there should be plenty of time to get these projects finished.

Cockle Shells & Silver Bells....

No silver bells but plenty of shells in these garden wind chimes.  I've had the shells for a very long time but never got around to using them, so finally a couple of weeks ago (when I retrieved my drill from the porch debacle!) I drilled holes in them, found some wonderful curly pieces of wood in the bargain bucket at our local garden centre, and strung them up.  This one is my favourite, with the wood used vertically.

But this one is nice too!  I made them for sale at the summer fair I attended yesterday - once again sales were very low and I returned with most of my stock intact, which was disheartening.  I considered putting these for sale on Etsy but worry that postage would cost far too much because of the weight.  If you would like one of these and would be willing to pay the postage, do get in touch.  In the meantime, they will adorn my house instead - something I have no problem with whatsoever!

In the garden, I actually have a couple of very small tomatoes.  Despite the fact the tomato plants have been battered by wind, suffered torrential rains, and had to deal with unseasonally cold temperatures, they are now flowering so I am hopeful we might get a better crop this year than the past couple of 'summers'.  Early days yet - last year the weather deteriorated from the end of June onwards, so I could still lose them.  As far as the competition with Soggibottom, I think I have lost that already!

Bizarrely, despite the horrendous weather over the past 10 months, we have a bumper lot of figs on our tiny tree this year.  No idea why that should be, I just hope we get to eat them.

On the needles this week....car wheels.  Tedious but necessary, four down, one to go.

Seashell Tealights - Tutorial

Here is another of my occasional tutorials, as usual by trial and error!  This one is how to make pretty seashells into garden tealights - I got the idea from a magazine I read recently.  Above are the materials you will need:  empty and cleaned shells, old candle ends, wicks, double sided tape, an old saucepan.  You need to test the shells beforehand by filling them with water to see if they are level and deep enough to hold a decent amount of wax.

Put your old candle ends into the saucepan and on the lowest heat.  I did consider cutting them up to make melting quicker but that would have meant small bits of wick floating about.  This way I just had the main wicks left at the bottom which were easier to avoid when pouring the wax.

While the candles are melting, put a small piece of double sided tape onto the base of each wick.

Place a wick in the lowest central part of the shell.

If you are impatient like me, you can start pouring wax as soon as there is a decent quantity melted in the bottom of the pan.  Take it very slowly, keeping an eye on where the wax runs to.  It must not run over the edge of the shell as this will mean when the tealight is lit there is the possibility of the wax running out.

I did have a couple of instances where the wax ran over the side of the shell - make sure the level of the wax reaches just below the edge of the shell when the shell is standing on a flat surface.  The wicks will fold over when they come into contact with the hot wax - you may have to prop them up with something until the surface of the wax forms a skin.  I used souvlaki sticks.  The kitchen paper was to prop up a shell that had a particularly bad spillage!

I had more wax than I needed for the four scallop shells I had planned for - I used this in a couple of oysters and a clam.

Leave the tealights to cool down - I was a bit worried about the bumpy surface caused by adding the wax in increments, but as they cooled, the surface evened out.  Tip the excess wax into a disposable container (not into screwed up kitchen paper like I did because then it runs all over your work surface and makes a big mess....) and leave to cool - then you can either re-use it or throw it away.  Pour boiling water into the pan and leave to cool - any wax left in the pan will rise to the top and form a crust which can then be thrown away.  The pan can then be thoroughly washed.  When the wax in the shells is completely cool and solid, trim the wicks to about half an inch - you will probably have a couple of inches of wick left over from each candle - don't throw these away, they could be used for other small candles.

Due to the wobbly nature of shells and the danger of melted wax and an open flame, I would recommend that these tealights are only used outside in the garden and definitely not on your best tablecloth!  I haven't tried these yet - if I find out any other potential problems, I will let you know!

* I tried out the smallest of these candles yesterday and was very pleased to discover they burn for about 3 hours, the wax only dribbles a tiny bit - would still recommend they are only used outside. Pretty!

Shells & Snow

As planned, this painting was completed yesterday - when it reaches the point that you are going over the same things again and again, it's time to stop!  I'm quite pleased with this - it doesn't have exactly the misty feel of the reference photographs, but I do feel I have captured that pink morning light through the trees which was the intention.  This was painted in acrylic on canvas board which was first treated with gesso as I hate the texture of canvas! 

The painting will be on sale in my Etsy shop shortly.

A long time ago, over 2 years I think, I got a commission to crochet seaweed...yards and yards of it with shells and various pieces of flotsam and jetsam woven into it.  This was to be used as part of a frame for a mirror.  This week I was kindly sent photos of the completed mirror by the lady who commissioned me, somewhere in the depths of Texas. I think you'll agree it has turned out to be jaw-droppingly beautiful!  She commissioned another artist to make the shell-encrusted frame - a very clever lady!  I wonder how she did it...I'd like one of these in my home too!

Please continue to leave your comments on the previous post if you would like to be entered into the draw for some free watercolour pencils.

Birthday Blue

It was my sister's birthday yesterday - we won't go into how old she is, but she's older than me...
She's had a tough time of it lately; living in Greece has not been a bundle of laughs over the past year with ever decreasing finances and ever increasing taxes, social unrest and general chaos.  To add to the misery, she had her house burgled a few weeks ago and anything that wasn't nailed down was taken, including her jewellery.

I thought it might be nice to have something made especially for her to kick-start a new collection, so commissioned a gorgeous focal bead from the talented Kaz at Cheeky Cherub Designs.  I wracked my brain for days thinking how to show it off to it's best advantage without detracting from the bead itself - I'm out of practise when it comes to jewellery-making these days.  I hope I have achieved it!

Did I Really Crochet All That?

This is about 9 feet of crochet wire spirals, threaded with shells, pebbles, seaglass, beads, various flotsam and jetsam.  Happily it is in 6 pieces so was not to hard to handle while making.  It's going off to America to embellish a large framed mirror - hopefully I will eventually have photos of the finished piece to see where all my hard work went!

Slowly Getting My Life Back........

The Christmas break seemed to go on for an eternity this year and whilst it was fun at the time, I'm very glad to see the back of it.  What with one thing and another, there has been very little time for crafting and even less for painting and I am starting to get severe withdrawal symptoms.

I have been working with wire, beads and shells for the first time in ages though.  I have an interesting commission to make about 8 feet all together of this........

...to be used decoratively on a large mirror.  So I am crocheting 18 inch strands...one down, five to go! 

Mr. Bulldog (or whatever he is) now has a comfy bed and a little knit jumper....I think he might get a toy and a bowl too before being put up for adoption! 

Now that Christmas has been cleared out of my house, all visitors gone and sanity restored, perhaps this weekend I can get the paints out as well - keep your fingers crossed for me!

Found.....

Inbetween painting horses I have been having some fun with a little drawing exercise. Using very sharp pencils and working true to life with the objects blu-tacked to my drawing board, I have been trying to make some highly detailed drawings of found objects. The feather was good, the shell was quick, and the sea-urchin? The phrase 'never again' comes to mind although I am glad to have attempted it. It's always useful to challenge yourself with your drawing once in a while, keeps it all fresh and makes you glad to get back to what you are comfortable with!

- 0 -

This was in today's paper......

.... a quiz to find out if your dog is an optimist or a pessimist. I had to do it for him as he can't hold a pencil...or read (to my knowledge!)


Despite appearances, he is an optimist...........yeah, OK.....