Fun With Ribbon

 

 

Ever since I received my books on ribbonwork I've had the idea of making a pin cushion from a cat food can.  So the other day I got started and am very happy with the result.  And I found a way to use the coral color rose which was the first ribbon rose I made.  The pin cushion has two different kinds of flowers, two kinds of leaves, and a bud.  The construction method for the bud (the medium pink thing between the coral and golden yellow roses) would make pretty blueberries - at least that's what I thought when I was making it.

 

After the pin cushion I wasn't quite ready to stop so went on to make the pin with the large pink rose.  I made the individual flowers and leaves then stitched them to a backing of silk stretched over a piece of cardboard.  I finished the pin by gluing a piece of ultrasuede to the back.  I cut holes in the ultrasuede to accomodate the ends of a pin back which was glued under the ultrasuede.  And I finished the edges by whip-stitching the edges of the ultrasuede to the edges of the silk.

 

Another thought I had for using this grouping was to glue it to a jar lid and then fill the jar with Hershey's kisses for a sweet Valentine's present.  I have several nice jars from the medium-size Yankee Candle candles.  They're very simple plain jars - straight up and down and about as wide as they are tall.  And the lids are flat so gluing the flowers to the lid should be a snap.

 

The little yellow rose is for a tiny hair clip.  I'm planning to add a few leaves and a tiny blue flower or two.

 

Ribbonwork is fun!

The Thistle Begins to Bloom

After looking through my fabrics I discovered that I had stuff I could use so I went ahead with the dress despite not having the lavendar dupioni silk I ordered.

So here it is so far.  After doing the pantaloons from purple silk I added wto ruffled layers of tulle, the first a medium purple and the top one lavendar.  I cut sharp points in the lower edges of each to better simulate the blossom of a thistle.

The next step was to begin the bodice.  I'm starting by layering folded points of satin ribbon.  I don't know how far I'll go with this or what I'll do with the sleeves.  Hopefully good ideas will come to me as I proceed.

As usual, I can't wait to get to the hair.  It's so tempting to do it now but if I do I'll make working on the clothes around the neck much harder, so I'll restrain myself! 

Beginning Thistle

I'm beginning a new project.  Though I seem to do better with animal characters than human ones, I keep trying the humans.  After all, it's only through practice that I will improve.

This one is Thistle.  Her hair will be thistle down and her dress will be like an upside-down thistle flower with the bodice the green part and the skirt the purple part.

As I was working on the armature and had her right leg and arm finished I noticed how the addition of the felt helps sculpt the cloth body where I bring the strips from the arms and legs up over the edge of the body.  I'm using Kunin brand felt which I find to be a very nice quality.

I'm quite eager to begin on the clothing but am still waiting on the arrival of a lovely piece of lavendar dupioni silk that I ordered from eBay.  Sure hope it comes tomorrow....

The Golden One

This piece, "The Golden One," is basically finished.  I say "basically" because I still have a few little things in mind, but I want to let my ideas settle for a while before I act on them.  One idea is to add antennae to the bear.  Another is to add wings to the girl.  I seem to have created a hybird elf/fairy here as I don't believe that elves have antennae.  Perhaps it's a "felf."  Well, it's all fantasy anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

As soon as I finished the girl's hair I added the butterfly on her forehead.  Now I wish I hadn't.  I think a white flower - like the ones around the bear's neck - would be better as it would unify the two characters more.

Meanwhile, my favorite part of this piece is (no surprise) the bear.  It was so fun making the little baskets and all the ribboh flowers.

Mopsy Voices Her Opinion

Mopsy thinks this whole thing is S-T-U-P-I-D!!!  Doing something special for CATS would be a much better use of my time!

But meanwhile, the bear is quite fascinated with the progress I'm making on constructing his back pack baskets.  I made one yesterday and will finish the second one today.  Then it's back to making the flowers that fill them.  I'm making the flowers from ribbon - "ribbonwork" - following instructions from a wonderful book by Christen Brown called "Ribbonwork Gardens."

In addition to the flowers, I still have wings to make!

It's Always Such a Relief to have HAIR!

Yes, even if it's green, it's a relief to finally have hair.

I made pretty good progress today.  "Fleshed out" the bear with more brown wool, felted the bear's saddle bags blanket and the fairy's capelet, and added her hair.  I also gave her antenna, a sweet gold butterfly on her forehead, and a little bracelet on her right wrist.

What remains are the saddle bags (baskets, probably) for the bear, all the flowers, her wings, and then any finishing touches.  And I need to name them.

I found it difficult to begin felting the bear's blanket and her capelet, but once I started it turned out to be easy.  The various wools - yarns, roving, and batting - in the Living Felt Specialty Designer Pack are nicely coordinated, so the only problem, really, was the design which magically fell into place.

Here's a photo of her face.

That Awkward Stage

There always seems to be a phase in every project where it just looks weird, and I'm definitely there with this one.  She's a real pin head, isn't she?  And so is the bear!

But I like the dress and the boots.  The boots are felted from a yummy colored piece of felting bat that came in one of Living Felt's Specialty Designer Packs (http://www.livingfelt.com).   I'm felting the bear with their products too.

I made the dress from scraps of a beautiful pure cotton quilting backing fabric that I have.  The scraps are leftovers from a quilt I made my daughter and son-in-law as a wedding present, so every time I use some of that fabric it evokes happy memories.  But the star of the dress is the vintage lace pieces that I embellished it with.  I got them all on Etsy from shops here in the US so I assume that they were originally made here.  The exception is the darker rosette at her waist.  I crocheted that one just for fun.  I used size 30 crochet thread, and I think the thread on many of the vintage pieces must be size 80 or 100 (much thinner!).  I marvel at the workmanship of these old pieces and am glad to find them a new home.  The large scalloped piece around the waist - the piece that forms a sort of overskirt - is delicate Irish crochet with its gorgeous 3D roses.

Speaking of old pieces, it give me pause to use them in this way.  But, as I say, I think I'm giving them new life.  None of them are in perfect condition and are probably not usable in any other way.  I hope I am honoring them - which is my intention.