Tuesday 28 August 2007

collaboration ...sneaky peek ...


this is art bear he looks super and is made by wendy-matilda
... although he is not finnished as he needs a little more input from 'me', and now the seafest is done and dusted (apart from the matter of a large cheque), i can work on cute again, yippeeee!

art is pictured with the charming 'figgaro mouse' made by me and adopted by wendy... and i love this image she sent me as they look so great together ...

so lets shrink the world :-) one bear at a time ....

Saturday 25 August 2007

velvet ginger and a mohair friend ...

just listed on bd for bears last night .. -here- ...and yipppeee - a bid !
little white mouse is going to go to canada next week ...

Thursday 23 August 2007

about time i made something small and cute again ...


wendy-matilda send me some fabrics to recycle, one oft hem was this stunning vintage velvet...

Monday 20 August 2007

Friendliest lobster man, ever!


friendliest lobster man, ever!, originally uploaded by RaggyRat.

shane made a great lobster, and i managed to snap a few pics at the fetival tho it was a bit wet for cameras. i had been worried about shoving someone into a ton of costume on a sunny day, but our lobster was quite happy and warm and he made a great greeter, and smiled all morning.

i was very proud. louise is holding a competition goodie bag. she came away with quite a few bits and bobs...

Friday 17 August 2007

Finished!



Its been a busy week !
too busy to let you peep at my work - ie take pics and upload.
i made my deadline and i made steve, louise and jo from IVY smile ...
as you can see - jo makes a good lobster :-D

yippeeeee
finished !

tired ....

Monday 13 August 2007

Catching up - some recent pictures ...

louise and tompot blenny in the dorset echo last friday night...they didn't mention her name, nor the maker of the puppets. boooh!lobster trousers hanging up in my workroom ...
scarey lobster lady emerges into sunshine ...
saying goodbye to the blenny, matty and daisy give him a few pokes before i have to take him and the cuttlefish along to the marine week launch on chesil beach...
matty has a good look at the cuttlefish - she must be really impressed with the piecing used to create his head ...
sea creatures can die in hot cars ....a yummy jellyfish cake for eating after the mayor of portland has finnished speaking ...
some of the wonderful junk found on the beach ready to be used for sculpting, along with a propper artist.
the echo shelter providing good sunshade and shelter from portland type winds. my car was fitted with a lovely handmade staff parking sign just for the event...
hilda from the echo makes notes while mums, dads and children make some art from the flotsam and jetsam. finbar webster was there to take pics for the paper, and he recognised me. there was i with my hands up 2 sea creatures but did he take a pic? nope. booooh!
i didnt take any more pics after this point as my hands were buried in my puppet creations, and then i had some cake. i will probably take some more next week when i come back with louise and the lobster costume.

Sunday 12 August 2007

LOBSTER


LOBSTER 01251A, originally uploaded by Nihihiro & Shihiro.

inspiration found on flickr ... thankyou :-)

Friday 10 August 2007

WIP lobster claws coming along ....


this is the lobster left 'crusher' claw, needing the stuffing sorting out and the end hemming. i slipped it on last night and reminded myself of old Kenny Everet shows, haha - the big handed preacher sketch.

not much time left now. the launch on marine week is saturday and i will be there introducing the puppets hopefully for the echo this time? the lobster will make his debut the following weekend. indeed.

Thursday 9 August 2007

a peep at the lobster ....

sorry the night time pic is so yuck - i promise the flash fired but my camera isnt happy at low light, lightbulbs or large lobster parts - probably...

here is the start of pattern cutting, the lobster trousers, to tranform human legs into exoskeleton pins ....



and here are some pieces to pattern cut from, spare legs and the heavyest claw, i didnt know that lobsters are asymetrical before this project. well i never have seen one up close ... one claw from crushing and one for tearing, its very own swiss army body parts always to hand!

Wednesday 8 August 2007

Photo shoot on chesil Beach to Promote Seafest :-)

Louise, Cathy, Tompot Blenny and some new fans ...
Taken by Jo Morland at the Chesil Beach Centre and Reserve ...lovely day for it ...

why do people always have to put heir hands in a puppet's mouth?

Tuesday 7 August 2007

louise's new lampshade


louise's new lampshade, originally uploaded by RaggyRat.

sometimes you can't do the big jobs, and there are some things you cant do while sitting with the children, but fiddly winding and hand sewing are easy to tote round ... louise chose some of the colours for the fluted edge bit ...

i raided my MIL's collection of old lampshades and stole 2, one for the babies' room and this one for louise. i got the idea looking at a trendy wire one over at my friend sarah's house and finally got around to making it! just tear off the dusty fabric and pick off the glue and away you go. it looks great with the light on but not shot with daylight camera's though.

materials - old lamp shade, scoubie-doo thingies
method - tie on forst scoobie and get winding - tie on scoubies as you go, the knots look like beads - honest !
then tie off the last one .... TA DAAAH !

Saturday 4 August 2007

Cuttlefish puppet lives !


Cuttlefish puppet lives !, originally uploaded by RaggyRat.

yippeee - i have finnished my most unusual puppet/creation yet, the pettern making for the head makes me feel i could tackle anything now! See the wallpaper shapes i made, to create his head.

Steve is modelling the puppet for me here, it only got its eyes today and before that steve was calling it my baseball mitt... after these pictures i showed it to my neighbours and one asked if it was a squid. well, same family - sort of, so im not worried.

so, back to lobsters me thinks ... if i have time today, between minding the twins while steve hoovers house, taking louise for a bike ride, bathing the ferret and other assorted mummy jobs!

have fun - its a sunny day!


Friday 3 August 2007

busy busy .... and waiting for a cool photo ...

cuttlefish pattern pieces, the fish himself looking rather unstuffed - which is correct - and some sketches of eyes. i found looking on youtube quite useful in helping form a 3D sence of the animal.

also - some mug desgns by louise who was working alongside me...




Thursday 2 August 2007

who needs a spoon anyway?



who needs a spoon anyway?
Originally uploaded by RaggyRat
time for some more proud mummy pics of my ever busy twin girls ... that dinner includes some beetroot!

i have to go off on a photo-shoot today so will take louise to chesil beach ... the tompot blenny needs to star in the paper to help promote the seafest events. louise to play part of interested child ...