Some of these people actually started by felting their own materials...

We took a field trip today, my sweetheart and I, to the Center for Puppetry Arts downtown. They added the Jim Henson special exhibit since my last visit (I SAW THE REAL SWEDISH CHEF HELLO!) and if ever there was a museum for crafty folk this has got to be it.

Papercraft puppets, wooden puppets, fabric puppets, puppets from hundred of years ago and of course, the detailed craft work that went into all the Henson stuff...I mean you could see how some of the stuff was stitched together. Also interesting was to see some Muppet characters from the films - as was pointed out to me, it's obvious that Henson was aware that you could capture much finer detail on film. Fishface from Labyrinth and the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal were both great examples of this:
I don't know how much you can see from this detail, but the costume alone is an intricate work. It is delicate layers of aged, torn, once highly intricate laces and velvets. The kind of fabrics that manage to suggest long-faded nobility. Not that you could see the detail in the movie, but the overall effect is something you would respond to subliminally.

What defines a "master" craftsman? Well, thereyougo.

I've been working! I have proof!

Okay, so I recognize that I've been woefully neglectful of this blog of late, but I have actually been working. In fact, I would have posted sooner, but I just kept forgetting to have my camera & a computer occupying the same space at the same time. Without further ado, here are some shots of the costume I've been working on. You might remember me mentioning that I was going to make a little fairy costume for my daughter and her very Elven ears. I'm still working on it, but it's nearly complete. I have a few layers of leaves left to put on & I'd still like to do a little headpiece.

Now, some explanation for why this costume has taken me so painfully long. I was under the delusion that if I sewed the flowers onto the bodice that they would be less likely to fall off, and it would generally look nicer. After about 3 weeks of getting 3 or 4 flowers sewn a night, I said "Screw this" and took out my hot glue gun. Can I just tell you - I LOVE my hot glue gun. It is an absolute boon for projects such as these.

Here's where I was a couple of weeks ago(pre-glue gun):

And here is where I am now. I thought it would be best to try it on her to make sure that it would still fit (thank goodness it does - albeit it's a little short when she stands up or crawls, so I'll be buying a pair of green tights for her to wear...maybe I'll tack a few blossoms or leaves onto them just for fun if I get the boy's costume done in time!)

Here she is modeling it:

Once this is done, I have to move on to Dallan's costume. He is going as Diego from "Go, Diego, Go!" I chose this for several reasons: 1) He is still too little to really "get" the Halloween concept, so I can still choose for him. Next year I won't be so lucky. 2) This is what Diego looks like:



Easiest. Costume. Ever. I have purchased a Diego lunch bag that has the little badge that's on the vest, which I can then cut off, and, you guessed it, HOT GLUE to the vest. I bought the vest from LLBean & we have cargo shorts & hiking boots already. All I have to sew is the Rescue Pack. Hopefully that will only take me a couple of hours. (Famous last words)

Craft Store Confessional

It was a little thing really. I successfully purged two whole bags of old clothes from my closet and wanted to find some weekend project to celebrate my liberation. So, I went to the craft store.

OK, I live in a world where I barely know what day of the week it is, the actual date retains an elusive mystery. So I found myself at the craft store on 1. Saturday 2. Of a three day weekend 3. before a major decorative holiday season.

I realized I hate the craft store.

First off, since I have the dreaded Allergy to Acrylic there is a certain amount of frustration inevitable. Oh look, this yarn is nice!... oh. And hey this looks like fun!....um. Nifty, and I'm not going to even touch the package. Right. Add to that the hordes of people prepping for the Great Octoberal House Makeover and yeah, I bought $3 worth of fabric to recover a pillow and then spent a long, long time trying to get out of that place.

I find it hard, sometimes, to reconcile my crafty streak with the projects in the big craft stores. Most of them look dated, lifeless and dare I say it, tacky? Thankfully the internet gives me hope. I see people using the same techniques to do things creative, stylish, inspiring.

Now if I just had more time...

Also, making monsters is sooo much more fun than making these booties I'm working on. Which is probably part of the reason they aren't done yet.

do NOT mess with this computer, man

i will totally cut you.

this is so a monster waiting to happen....

hooray for the discount rack having something non-acrylic! And now I just need to make it...

I've heard of Tipsy Cakes...

... but Surly Cake is a new one on me.

It makes me very, very happy, though. Surly Cake is adapted from this pattern. I'm very tempted now to go to various restaurants with Surly Cake and snap pictures of him with their dessert plates. Because I'm just that way.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. P.S. Rach, how do you bake a card? :)

Imagine

Imagine me quilting, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking or baking a great big, homemade card for Kathy saying
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!