Shop

Just got meself an online shop. Look at the right of the page :)

Loot

The most precious things I brought back from my European wanderings were these 2 books. I bought them both not so much because I needed them, but because I wanted them to remind me of where I was at the time and how I felt. This one I can't even read, as it's in Dutch (I am so very practically-minded!), but it has techniques for drawing elves, fairies and their environments, and I got a lot of ideas from it. Not to mention it's so pretty I picked it up and looked through it every day since I got home.

And this one has a lot of patterns of character dolls. The faces are horrid, but the costume patterns will be very useful for my future projects.

Almost a tragedy

I think I have a bad habit I might have to change: I only start doing a doll's face after everything else is finished. And the faces are the trickiest and most unpredictable part. But this time it was beyond unpredictable, it was almost tragic! Here I am, spending a couple of days making a dress that just wouldn't sit the way I wanted it to, then going through with my marvelous idea (never again!) of giving her a pair of boots, then I sit down to paint her a nice face.

I put too much water on the brush and the black paint just starts spreading and spreading under my helpless eyes, looking something like this:

I tried bleach, which is my usual emergency solution, but it did nothing (doesn't seem to affect acrylics much). Instead I managed to add a yellowish stain to the existing ones. After half a day spent wondering what the hell to do, I adopted the only logical solution (so logical, in fact, that I deserved a slap on the forehead and a "DUH!") - make-up!

So here is Sylvia, the mean goth girl :)

How I became a faithful church-goer

There's a Sunday morning ritual that's beginning to take shape for me and a couple of friends: we go to church. Church being the flea market, and bearing this name due to one of said friends once stopping in the middle of the crowd to declaim: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts" (reference to this song). And indeed, retail therapy in sparkly malls is nothing compared to the colourful mob, animated bartering, pretty, weird or downright creepy finds, food smells and the general noise that reminds me of a medieval market. For me, the highlight of the market are "The Swedes". They are just usual gipsies, in wide-brimmed hats, bushy moustaches and incredibly loud mouths, but who bring very very pretty fabrics from Sweden. They are my best friends and my worst enemies. Both for the same reason: look, just look at all the pretty, colourful, tempting fabrics! I'm hopelessly and invariably attracted towards their spot in the middle of the market. And I buy a lot of stuff. Stuff I will need about 20 years to use entirely, but which I keep adding to. Every Sunday. It heals my hurts.
At least I used one of the latest fabric finds in its entirety, as a backing for this throw/blanket thingy. Some of you NZ-ers will recognize this instantly: yup, Warwick fabric samples, hihi. A very nice addition to the colour scheme in my room.

It's big enough and warm enough to snuggle under while watching movies. It seems I didn't take a pic of the backing, but it's fluffy, warm and burgundy, something between polar fleece and velour.






In other news today... some people pimp their rides, I pimp my sewing machine. And the sexy beast deserves it, as that's exactly what she does: she rulez!

Phonetically challenged doll

This is a doll I finished at 2am last night. It was a special order for a friend's boss: she had to have big blue eyes and blonde hair. Her colourful attire goes against my usual style, but she is for a little girl after all.

I'm a bit annoyed at my own linguistic ineptitude in embroidering the name on the little heart. I knew the girl was Hungarian, I should have known to put an accent on the first a. But not much harm done, the lady wasn't too bothered by it.

And after this colour overload, back to my usual creepy friends, I have so many plans!

Spooky and sweet? Swooky!

Say hi to Portia. She is...well, how should I put this...dead. But ghosts have their basic (sort-of)human rights too, so she leads a cozy existence in a dusty old attic together with her pet. Now I havent decided whether that pet should be a blind mouse or a manky old teddy bear, but I'll keep you posted :) She may look all innocent but she loves making (living) people jump out of their beds at night in various skillful ways. I do love her :>

Xmas presents

Let me brag with some of the stuff I made for my friends for Christmas. Above, you have a couple of necklaces and a pair of earrings made of fabric that was recycled, re-stuck together, embroidered, cut into shapes and then embroidered some more.

And below, this little naughty girl with fluorescent freckles; it was love at first sight between her and her equally freckled new owner :>