Day Three Hundred Sixty-Two
Not much going on today...I have been working on-and-off on more spikes for the newest hand sewn guy. The pickings are getting kind of slim (as far as colors go) so I will just stick with the basic palette I started with. I originally thought I still had scads of fingers in all of the colors...but, nope.
nothing like what I had in mind
This is turning out to be not even close to what I had in mind, but I will stick with it for a few days and see where it goes. That is all.
and that's when my head exploded
A couple of days ago in an email my friend Juana asked if I was feeling stir crazy or kinda peaceful (due to my doctor's orders to "take it really easy" and follow previous instructions even more closely). And my answer was that I was feeling more frustrated being pretty much confined to my recliner because it really limits what I can do/make. When I stray a bit I pay for it. Wah, wah, waaah -- poor Took.
Anyway -- I was back at the combo-creature again today. And for part of the time I sat at the "danger" table -- the dining room table where I originally injured my knee -- but come on...I have to leave that damn chair sometimes! (But I did pace myself.)
Okay -- the inside of the back of the combo-creature. Clearly there is room for more spikes, but this is why it is difficult to work on more...
...even though the spikes can be pushed through new holes, I have no working room...when I try to hold the new spike to sew it in place, I end up grabbing onto several spikes through the fabric and things get jumbled a bit...still do-able, just more difficult now.
See? There are still fairly large gaps that need a spike.
I put some fresh stuffing into the body just to sort of test out how things are going and I think I like the simplicity of the front buttons/colors. I was thinking of adding some tiny beads in a "random" fashion (heh), but I think I am happy with things the way they are in this area. For now.
Fresh stuffing also helped me visualize the head of the combo-creature. NOT happy with this.
Okay -- so I tried to make a paper pattern for a new head shape.
This one didn't work.
Then I thought I'd try to go even more simple with the design.
I cut a distorted sort of Valentiney heart shape out of the paper and used tape to "sew" it shut.
Meh...not so much.
Then I was thinking how about if I cut out the spikes from the brown fabric head and insert it into a new one. Hmmm...
I have plenty of scraps from the t-shirts Sue gave me (that I already cut strips from).
If I turn them inside out to hide the wording and images maybe I can use the pre-sewn shapes.
This was suddenly looking like a head to me.
I used a small blue sleeve to practice on.
I cut a hole and laid the (now) cut spikes fabric inside of it. The problem was that it was still pretty much the same shape as the brown material was to begin with.
On to the "danger table" to spread out the materials and do some pinning.
Pinned into the sleeve I could stuff it now and see what's what.
I know there is a way to do this...I'm just not sure I can figure it out.
I tried lining up seams on the underneath part and the back of the new head...
I positioned it on the body and -- no -- not quite right.
Plus, I'd either have to sewn in a muzzle or squish the mouth down like Spikey and be back where I started out from.
Next...
Okay -- how about doubling the material over and pinning/stuffing/cutting as I go along?
Twink joined me...he was a rolling and flipping crazy guy!
Starting over...and pinning.
Hell...I have a lot of shirts...why not just cut the shape right now?
I tried to pin in the direction I would be sewing.
It is looking a little more like a head to me.
I like this size better.
Is a sort of a kind of an equine/bovine/rhino-y head shape emerging?
And maybe ears?
Hmmm...
I basted some stitches and lost some pins so I could stop getting poked and so that I could see where the fabric might need to be cut.
Okay...but how to get the spikes in/on there...do I want them up higher...down lower...where do I want to put the eyes?
I was starting to get an idea...
...but then I had to decide what kind of a triangle I wanted to use and which direction it should be going...with point at the top or the bottom.
And that's when my head exploded. I am done for tonight.
lots of photos...not all that much going on, really
Joan, Leann, and I finally got together today (late this afternoon) -- it seems like it has been a long, long time since we've had a Wednesday Morning at Joan's. Leann came and got me and we went to Tuscan Cafe and Joan joined us there...and then Joan dropped me back home afterwards. It was great to just sit and chat! AND Leann had handmade presents for Joan and me -- black and red birds -- they are SO cool. I knew exactly where I wanted to put them.
The birds are so wonderful!
I put them up as best I could tonight...reaching up as far as possible. I will need to get someone to help me place them a little better.
They look GREAT at the top of my studio door!
It's like they've always been there!
I love them -- thanks, Leann!
This is a close up of the bag that Joan's birds came in...I kinda confiscated/traded her my bag for hers.
I want to use these bears as inspiration for drawings/carvings and/or maybe a plaster cloth guy.
Earlier today Sue came over and we ran a couple of errands -- one of the errands was to FINALLY get me a humidifier. YAY!
I needed to move the cat furniture to put the humidifier in the best location. Then Bootsy wanted a photo session.
adorable cat
goofy cat
sweetie face cat
"I-need-to-TOUCH-things-with-my-paws" cat (looking at Twink).
"LOOK-at-how-tall-I-am" cat
Later on I was back at making a few more spikes for the combo-creature. These are three of the four I made for the head.
There are now 25 spikes on the head.
I got this brainy idea to make stripier striped spikes by cutting off the fingers and using the more colorful hand parts.
In my glove "collection" most of the fingers are solid colors and the hand parts have the design...although some of the stripey (and ALL of the variegated) have the design on the fingers...but mostly not.
It is a bit trickier than just making spikes from the fingers. The colorful parts are being taken from fingers with two open ends -- no side seams. These are from the "b" bin for making Tookies finger puppets. The "a" fingers have one seam and are easier to work with...I have a lot more "b" fingers that are not being used.
So -- you can see that the colorful part wants to curl up once you cut the fingers off.
I had to turn the top edge in and tack it down.
Then -- so the "material" doesn't totally unravel -- I rolled both edges in but I needed to used pins to hold the edges in place.
Regular spikes are not this labor intensive.
There...ready to stitch up.
These spikes are also a whole lot bulkier/thicker than the regular spikes.
These came from the same glove.
The thicker/bulkier spikes fill in the lower area around the tail pretty well. I was wondering how I was going to deal with that.
There are now 35 spikes on the back of the combo-creature.
It is easy to poke a hole in the fabric for a new spike, but it is getting more difficult to sew it into place on the reverse side -- I will show that tomorrow.
