Meet the new litter!

The mini hedgies are born! Mist, Flint, Sunny, Dune and Sky are ready for the September 11th Maple Leaf Doll Club show in Cambridge!

As you can see, Mist and Flint are a happy couple. These two would make an excellent wedding or anniversary gift if presented in a basket or so. They're only about 2 inches long in "Mecki" mohair and synthetic.

And these sweeties? Made in a shorter "Mecki" mohair and various mohairs for their faces and tummies, it's amazing how different they all are!

Warm and gooey

It is not even close to being cool enough to enjoy this dish, but I wanted to share and tease you with a wonderful potential Hallowe'en treat. If served at a ghoulish gathering, what would you call it? Puree of spider guts? Lizard brains? Snail ooze? Ghoul poop?

Vacationing with the faeries

What a magical sunset! We spent a week in a rented apartment right on the beach in Port Elgin, Ontario, and this view was maybe 30 paces from our deck. It was truly a lucky find, as this was Willow's vacation and it's really hard to find a dog-friendly rental! (No AC, though!)

The main reason why we picked the long weekend was to be able to take part in the 9th annual Lantern Festival on July 31st at dusk around Fairy Lake. It was a very warm and sticky night and we were completely exhausted by our wanderings that day in the heat... believe it or not, we sat in the air conditioned car to refresh ourselves! How desperate is that!

Luckily by the time we reached Southampton (a 8-10 minute drive) we were revived enough to take part in the magical event.






Look at all the people who came out! In this photo children of all ages prepared their lanterns for the parade.

This "Wishing Wall" let you write a wish on an origami crane for the faeries to read, and perhaps grant!

Here's the path, lit with strings of lights, to guide the lantern bearers along...



It was truly wonderful, we were all very happy to take part, although poor Willow was dragging her feet as we paraded around the lake.

Here's a cool tidbit: Fairy Lake is a natural lake and one that has always been a source of danger. Parents keep their children away for although the water is only 1.5 m deep, the muck is 3.5 m deep! A natural location, obviously, for faeries and other water folk, like kelpies who'd love to drag you under...

While enjoying our deck and hiding from the sun, I worked on 5 mini hedgehogs, who will all find themselves beachy names, I think.

The only down-side, besides the heat, was that both Port Elgin and Southampton are very dog un-friendly: no dogs on the beach, or even on the boardwalk in Southampton! The trail to Gobles Grove at least let us discover a beach that we used discreetly in the early mornings so Willow could enjoy playing fetch in the water and rolling in the wet sand.

And on our last evening, this incredible sunset featuring a flying horse or dragon filled the sky!

Meet Baskin and Robbins!

Tammi and I got together this past Saturday and started our papier maché pumpkins, in my kitchen because it was just too disgustingly hot outside. And here they are, the first steps: selecting a paper bag of the right size (Baskin and Robbins bags!), stuffing the bag with crumpled newspaper and using twine to create the grooves all around the body. With the basic shape now created, it was time to start with the glue and newspaper strips! More pictures later!
Tammi (an excellent teacher!) pointed out that, although many tutorials tell you a plastic bag base is good, paper is much better as the first layer of maché will slip around on the plastic and be frustrating as heck!

Ratty intermission

I just wanted to share this adorable picture and tell you about
http://www.anyratrescue.org/. Any Rat Rescue is not a shelter, but rather a network of caring foster homes extending from Metro Phoenix to Tucson! For rats! I think that's just so wonderful!
Also I wanted to share this good news about medical testing and research on animals:
(From "Best Friends" magazine, http://www.bestfriends.org)

Goop!

While straying from fabric, Tammi and I are planning to get together this weekend to make some papier maché Hallowe'en creations! We're inspired by Dan Reeder and Scott Stoll and their AMAZING bodies of work (including bodies) and hope to learn a lot as we go along! Tammi is an amazing paper artist and I'm looking forward to seeing her in action, and of course we're going to have a lot of fun, eat some amazing food and, if worst comes to worst, drown our exasperation in ice cream!

Hotwheels!

And what else have I been up to? Well, the demon is on hold as I realized I'm doing 2 shows this fall and have nothing small/inexpensive to sell. So I cut out 5 mini hedgehogs, all in different colors, to work on whenever the mood strikes.

Also, while I could still remember what I did, I created a copy of the bodice I made (as seen on the Avril look-a-like, in the June 12th entry) and drew out the pattern so I can replicate it with ease. This time I did it in a faux leather and while not perfect it turned out well. Again, Seian was my pin-cushion and modelled the piece when completed... and for a totally different look she sported a mohawk. Yup, the piece of fabric was just laying there and I thought "why not?" It's so hot here I'm thinking of chopping my hair too. So, if you want to commission a mohawk hair-do bear of your own, I'm game!