Spotlight

Would you like to meet some of the soft sculpture characters in the display cases here at the Flying Leap?  

Our landing on the second floor provides a great location for a little display area, and here's where the Scratching at the Window
creatures who are looking for new homes await adoption.  All were handmade by me from my own original designs.

Of course, it's hard not to be up-staged by a dragon with a 6-foot wingspan!  Fawn impressively oversees the landing as you climb up the stairs.  She took 2 1/2 years to construct and is not looking for a new home.




In the display case await the lady bears, with Lorelei the Merbear on the top shelf,  Emralda and Annette on the middle and Venus, Caviara and Seian on the third.

 Venus, Annette and Emralda are all about 14 inches tall, made of European mohair and built over a wire frame so they're very poseable.  They have glass eyes and doll wigs, and handmade costumes that were a lot of fun to create! 

Here's Seian as a bellydancer.  She also is not looking for a home.

 On the wooden shelf, we have 

Cere and Bella, two ratty brothers

Devina, a lady rat in her Hallowe'en best

Squirt and his mom Pearl

and my Titanic bear, with the commemorative 100th anniversary postage stamp.

If your keen to know more about these critters, please visit my Scratching at the Window website.  As you'll probably notice, some of the girls are not there yet so just contact me and I'll send you the adoption details.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I just, finally, updated my website (better late than never!) and added a few images to my flickr page (you can see it here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/scratchingatthewindow/ ).

(That's Cere and Bella, they're still looking for their forever homes.  If at all possible, they'd like to be adopted as a pair.  Yes, Bella will eat ANYTHING.) 

Happy Spring!

Dear Readers,
     Happy Spring to you!  Here are the rats Cere and Bella, the "little brains" enjoying the tastes of Spring!  May you enjoy a wonder-filled long weekend! 
                                               Karen

To commemorate the sinking of the Titanic, I'm proud to offer two pieces on the eve of the 100th anniversary.

Here's a sweet bear, inspired by the mourning bears offered by Steiff very shortly after the ship sank. My Mom made the life-ring, using authentic materials: cork and cloth. You can see more images by clicking here. He's $170.00US.

And here's a piece called: "Final Moments: the Titanic Ship Rats". Survivalists that they are, these rats are determined to make it to shore, one way or another! More images are here. The set goes for $530.00US.

If you have any questions, please ask!

All the better to scratch with!

I made Cere and Bella's claws last Monday, they're now ready to be sewn into the paws. Each rat gets 20 claws, but I made a few extra just in case. As you can see, they're like little pearls, the hole allowing them to be fastened securely to the inside of the paw. While fragile, the Fimo is more durable than you'd think!

And, old dogs do learn new tricks: I discovered making these wee things is a lot easier if you cut the clay into small slivers first rather then tearing off pieces from the larger lump.

Bite me!

We have a head! Cere has a head! And while it still needs a bit of clipping, the incisors worked! YIPPY!

It was quite a fiddly job to get them to stay put, and he'll never be able to close his mouth completely, but he has proper ratty incisors!

Straw into gold

Where did the weekend go? It was full of ups and a huge, painful upset... that's life, I guess. Suffice it to say, Sarah Forrest will not be attending the Philly show. Anyway, them poor rats are now behind schedule...
Here are the fabrics I picked out today for their tails, ears, inner mouths and paws, upper and lower.


And I did find renewed inspiration! I will try real rat incisors (instead of my usual fangs) because of an incredible piece I purchased from B.C. artists Michael and Dianne of Moon Raven Designs. This is a bronze rat skull made from a mold of a real skull! Just magical! Look at those teeth! I've invited these talented arts to take part in my Online Hallowe'en Trick or Treat, I hope they say yes!!

And also inspirational was a horoscope shared by a colleague at work:

"Aquarius (Jan.20-Feb18) Horoscope for week of March 10, 2011

In the old fairy tale, the character known as Rumpelstiltskin had the power to spin straw into gold. That skill has a metaphorical resemblance to the wizardry you could pull off in the coming weeks: transforming seemingly ordinary or worthless stuff into a valuable asset. Although your work might seem a bit miraculous and make some people wonder if you've used hocus-pocus, the fact is that it may at times feel tedious or extremely demanding to you. Be gutsy in your mastery of the intricate details, Aquarius. I'll be thinking of you as the Gritty Magician."

Miraculous? Maybe not, but otherwise I thought it was pretty dead on, seeing the plans I have before me! On to the rats, who have taken names: Cere and Bella (from cerebella, "little brains")!