A 1974 flavoured Cat!

In october of 1974 when these newspapers were printed i was three years old, and my baby sister a chip-gulling 4-month-old ... the paper is a much better quality than modern days ones ...



Ruth Meech of the Dorset Echo took these pics, and has borrowed the papers for a giggle and a spot of social history ... and what about my dress, you do like it?



It came form the same stash as these papers, some awesome vintage fabrics and even some toys and books, thanks very much to Chris Slade, my other Dad :-) My mum saw it via my web cam, and was very taken with it, and remembered a Richards Shops being in Southport ...

Artwey 2010 opens today!

altho i wont be a lobster today, i will be manning my Artwey 2010 open studio event ...


perhaps you already have your Artwey map, and saw last weeks Dorset Echo magazine? That lobster stunt seems to have worked out well for advertising!



Here is the bit on the Artwey map showing dear Molly owl, and my venue ...



you can grab a PDF file of the 2-sided map from artwey.co.uk ...



and i have some new pieces on display at the Brewers Quay, one of these little chaps sold at the private view last night!



and if you visit me at 10.30 today you are up for a rare treat, as Ed Hintze opens my porch to the general public and fans of the Raggy rat!

Plus - listen out for my radio interview on WESSEX FM news!

feedback ... written by the choir blogger for the dorset echo ...

Dorset for Singing’s big Christmas Concert, number two
Review by Cat Coombes, AKA the choir blogger …

Weymouth’s biggest community choir does exactly what is says on the tin. The choir gives its members the opportunity to perform, and if any want to, to stand up there and sing alone. And last night again we brought good people of Weymouth and further affield together for an evening of song, and as more than one person said to me afterwards, there was something for everyone, in our audience of 180 people!

If you enjoy singing all kinds of songs, then this is the choir for you, and the concert is an option of course, but to make sure everyone is welcome we have our words on a screen at the back, and often some seating. We even have a naughty corner, but this year they redeemed themselves just in time for Santa’s visit by handing out refreshments in the interval! Having the words on a screen can be interesting when they are half hidden by the All Saints school hall Christmas tree, but members of the audience laughed along with Director Ed Hintze when he pointed out some mistakes, and some said they loved how friendly and informal the evening was.

We sang a bit of everything, from Abba to snow patrol, show tunes, and old favourites, with a handful of Christmas ditties this year too! There were solos from familiar faces and a new choir member too, some of them beautifully and spontaneously backed by the rest of choir seated on stage. When I joined Dorset for Singing I had no idea it would take me to centre stage for solos, but what a great opportunity that is, all ears upon you, bright lights and your own pianist, nerves and wobbly notes, and all! And the applause! Oh yes, and the mince pies at half time.

Of course we also worked together to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, voted as this years charity to benefit from our termly concerts, and Malcolm Cumber from the south Dorset branch, came on stage to talk to us about ‘singing for the brain’, therapy for people suffering from Alzheimer’s. The concert raised a fantastic £462.83! Go Dorset for Singing! To find out more about our lovely choir, and catch up with the choir’s blog, go to www.dorsetforsinging.co.uk, and have a lovely Christmas, from all of us!

some news clippings to pootle through ...

a bit about kim's new shop, and a mention of thhe artwey events-to-come ...



and artwey articles run during the event - we had someting in the paper nearly every week ...




wow, here's a pic of steve in the paper!



inbetween lives, i was an adult ed tutor for a while, and did some photo album/scrapbooking workshops ... this is a fun picture ...



the first costumes i made were scooper sonic and scooper woman, used by weymouth and portland bc to remind people to clean up after their dogs ...




first i made the dog costume, and here was his launch ...

Artwey - launched at pilgrim house, Spirit of the Sea Maritime Festival ...

i spoke to ruth meech about Artwey and she agreed it would make good reading and we will eventually be featured in the dorset echo magazine ... she put an article for us in the echo newspaper, and featured my Shimmery Fish plus a picture of andrea from the files.


remeeber when i started blogging? i was working on three big marine-themed projects, two puppets and a lobster costume. all came back to me to help promote artwey, and my work too.


the tompot blenny's top-knots have drooped a bit in the last two years! Thanks to Coastlink for the loan of puppets and costume.


and here is some of my work at Pilgrim House.
i shall have to show you my new goat sign properly, and the story behind it ...


nopt the plush team cards and the new Artwey postcards ...

snippings ....

i recently managed to slip myself into the dorset echo magazine - i thought that a 6 foot mouse made in a weymouth home would be a good story!



i like this picture tho, that didnt make it into the magazine, they seem to go for the super-uber-wide angle pictures in their layouts ... Ruch Meech makes a lovely mouse doesn't she?



and here's a peep at the second issue of rat and mouse magazine, where i show you how to make a finger puppet mouse step by step ... i took all the photos while making at the same time :-)



here i am with Dorset For Singing, on the front row making mental notes for choir-blogging and generally giving cheek to Ed ...



and the choir performing at Preston Garden Party, i am inthe middle with my mouth open ... no comments please!



now, who is coming to hear us tonight? i am going to do two solos and have given my father-in-law permission to bring his camcorder ... usually i tell him to put it away!

the best of dorset !

despite lack of sleep, and feeling full of cold still, i have steamed myself ready to take to the stage again today, the pavillion here in weymouth no less, as Dorset for singing are counted among the best of Dorset!

here is an advert i spotted in the Dorset Echo, and Ed Hinze our choir master is performing his own slot too. have you ever read my other blog? potter over to http://www.dorsetforsinging.co.uk and have a read. or maybe join us?

sorry the blog has been a bit quiet. as well as working towards thursdays choir concert i have also had a poorly baby at home, twin runny noses,and picked up some foth ebugs myself. poor mary has ended up on antibiotics, which she hates.

infamous ....

click thru to read the text .... i am afraid i appear abridged!

perch parrot puppet patterns...

perch parrot puppet patterns... , originally uploaded by RaggyRat.

i am indebted to the wonderful karen, at silver seams, whos dinky cute sun conure pattern i messed with and exploded to create the two perch puppets ....

http://www.silverseams.com/opensource/sun-conure-pattern.html

i printed her pattern on british A4 paper, after converting to black and white, then went over the lines black and started cutting the poor bird up... apart from the amazing feet, which i upped-size on the church photocopier, i sketched the rest of the pieces to facilitate the small changes i made and the speedy enlargement ...

i left off the lower bits of the underbelly behind the legs to enable insertion of hand, i lined perch with grey fleece, and i changed the angle his head would sit at, to make him a bit more upright as he is a hand and arm puppet .....

i forgot to add enough for the head gusset after i changed the angle of his head, and simply made a rectangle of fabric to instert quick ... !

here also are pics of me taking the parrots to meet local preschool age children, its fun to throw experiances at them!

squark ! a new puppet commission ....

yippeee i got the job pf making a parrot puppet for a cumbrian performance company, just thru word of mouth which is famtastic ... i have done some sketches and lots of fun research, and i hope to begin this week and get it done before 24th feb, as their deadline is 1st march ...
i also need to make a special raggyrat holding one of these camera cases ....
and containing one of these ... and talking of cameras, i forgot mine on friday when me and the fuzzy twins went to see seb green leaving on his round britain walk. We met flash, who i felt i knew really well after spending so long drawing him, but his barking made daisy cry. Matty eyed up the paramedic who was on hand, and i said hello to seb himself, who said he found my blog while 'googling' which was funny, i didnt even think of him finding me himself! i managed to wish seb good luck and shake his hand before it was time to go ...

Finnished!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raggyrat/2229717785/, originally uploaded by RaggyRat.

finnished, and donated to the support of seb and flash :-)

http://www.sebsodyssey.org.uk/

would you bid on this picture? or would you paste the image up on your blog to help spread the word? please let me know and i will mention your blog if you do, thanks xxx

WIP - stage 1 of the drawing of flash the border collie ....

WIP - Seb Green's dog Flash, to be auctioned in support of seb's odyssey, originally uploaded by RaggyRat.

here is the ground work of my drawing of flash, all framed out in black as i like to do it, altho i sometimes use dark sepia in this manner ... uploaded for information, and something the organisers of sebs support can see at a meeting tonight...

here is the updated web page, i will post again to update the links, and i do believe sebs coastal walk will have a blog too...

http://www.sebsodyssey.org.uk/

and here is some information to be found on one of the charity websites giving more of seb's story and an oppotunity to donate ...

http://www.starlight.org.uk/menu_pages/News_details.asp?id=104

it is lovely to get some drawing done again, i have even been able to do a bit while sitting with daisy and matty and they didnt poke or smudge it!

as i type, my kitchen is filled with noise and a new ceiling is going up, but it sounds like my girls are managing to nap thru it ....

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.