reaching Port

I finished the mini Emily Farmer bear!  After about 15 years, "Port" was finally born! 

He doesn't look so much like Emily's version but he sure is cute.  I'm pretty sure the bear in the photo has longer fur for starters and try as I might my bear insisted on being unique...

I also added a tail with scraps of left-over fabric.  Finally, my Port is jointed on all 5 points, I just couldn't make him in a fixed position or use ordinary string jointing so I used washers and strong plastic beads to devise a very sturdy and more mobile string joint in his arms and neck.  The legs got full screw-and-nut-joints.

 

He's named Port because I was listening to The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf while making him.  Boy, did it ever make the hours pass quickly!  An incredibly well-read book with multiple readers, this new version of the Titanic's only voyage is told by about 17 characters in the first person, very personal and touching.  The author was as historically accurate as possible, keeping to the facts while fleshing out the lives of his chosen voices.  The most unusual character is one of the ship's rats and the most beautifully and imaginatively wrought is the iceberg!  Yes, the ice is given a voice and it's incredible the beauty and calm relentless poetry it weaves with its words.  The entire book is like a poem but the ice is perfection!  I highly recommend this book on CD. 

 So Port is named so because finally the survivors reach their port in New York, their journey is completed.  And so is Port! 

Not so shabby Shaggy Bear

So here we are: this is Shaggy a little while ago, an Emily Farmer kit gifted to me and started about 15 years ago... I think his name should be Patience!!!

I don't remember why I stopped, probably because of eye-strain! These little bears are very hard on the eyes.  I have more and more respect for all the incredible artists who work in miniature!  By the way, the kit is really nice and if you want to try one visit Emily here.
And here we are last Monday:  ted now has completed arms and legs and the head is coming along very nicely, quite a sweet fellow!  One ear is done... and then I ran out of time, light and eye-ball power!  So, as we stand on the starting line of a new weekend I hope to give birth! 
  Even though this little one is not my own design, it's been wonderful to work on a furry critter again and remind myself how much I enjoy it, and successfully do a face which I always approach with a lump of dread in my throat. 
  Have a great weekend and I hope you get to do something creative and fun too!!!

Waking up

 So my "exile" is over, I am once again fully connected to the web but our relationship will be better, much more balanced.  As I said, I achieved a lot of things while off-line, tidying, tossing out and cleaning up and am so glad I finally got around to these lingering messes... tossing papers from 2005, for example!!! 
  I also re-started two projects that have lingered a LLOONNGG time:  years ago (maybe 15?) I received an Emily Farmer miniature Teddy Bear kit which I started and then put aside.  That poor bear... well, I once again have him out and on my studio table and his legs are already finished!
  Dearer to my heart, I have blown the dust off my novella.  Wow, it's been 10 years since I last really looked at it and last night I went to a "Getting Your Book Published" panel discussion with my novella in mind.  Years ago, we had travelled so far as to actually have the attention of a small press, only to have that small press radically change its mission and decide it would only publish poetry.  So we lost our publisher, and I have to admit after a pile of rejection letters I was rather disheartened.  Well, time has passed and the whole publishing thing is SO different now:  I can self publish and hearing the authors on this panel speak, R. J. Anderson, Terry Griggs, Ruth Barrett and moderator Deborah Cooke (a.k.a. Claire Delacroix) was inspiring!  (Check out http://stratfordauthors.ca for more about this growing group).
  Of course, at this time, blogger is having issues with uploading photos... gesh ("Chrome" works though, if you have it.)  Couldn't have happened while I was off-line, of course.  ;}