Gone a bit "pottie"

Sometimes coming up with a way to do something without spending any money is as challenging and fun and the end results of the project!

If you've been reading along with the flower cart project, you might remember that I wanted to dip the pots in glaze, just like you might with real pottery -- and I didn't want to put my fingers in the stuff.

Here is my solution!

I took Tinkertoys and built a frame. Then I cut little pieces off of a bamboo skewer, tied thread around them and threaded it through the holes in the bottoms of the pots with the skewer piece inside the pot. Next I tied the other end of the thread to the top beam of the Tinkertoy frame. Dip each pot in the can of glaze/sealer --- and there ya go!

Here are the first batch of pots drying over a few sheets of newspaper. Makes the whole thing look like a little swing set sitting there on the table.


This picture should give you an idea of why this little bear is the "chosen one" to go with the flower cart.

After all, the bear is fairly small, so it doesn't over power the cart.






This picture of just the bear helps show why I will be doing some serious reworking on the bear before this project is over.

Here is my list of "faults" for this critter: 1) one leg is longer than the other; 2) the eyes are uneven; 3) the nose and mouth are crooked and 4)there are no ears!

This bear was part of an edition in progress back in the days (oh, about 10 years ago) when I did editions of bears, and has been sitting in a plastic storage container (along with several other bears) for a long time. (Last year I actually scrapped out a number of these "in progress" bears and recycled the materials into other projects.)

So, the plan is to fix the problems, and use needlefelting to change the face (and probably add ears). This fabric is one of the few pieces of wool pile I've ever used, so felting to it should be easy.

Let the make over begin!



It's Spring!

See the tulip?

This is the first of three that are planned to go with the gray rabbit. They are deliberately oversized, because I like the sort of comedic contrast that gives.

I'm planning to do a yellow one and a sort of purple-y one.

And while I was fiddling with the needle felting, I did the core of the bird that I'm planning for the next birdhouse --- this one will be a robin, so it is a slightly different shape (and I forgot to take a picture before I put it away last night) Pictures soon, I promise!