Fixie's Shelf

Frozen Charlotte Dolls

Do you know what a frozen Charlotte doll is? Here are some:









I've seen these in artworks and wondered where you'd get them, but I had no idea they had a special name, and I've never seen them in any shops here in Australia. My friend Jenine introduced me to them recently, and once I had a name for them, I started googling them. Oh my!!! Talk about doll-lust. I felt I just HAD to have a frozen Charlotte of my own.

But like I said, I've never seen one in Australia, and when I tried to buy one, the shipping fees were just exhorbitant. Scrap that. So I pulled out my clay and sculpting tool and decided to see if I could make one. Honestly, I'm not a very confident sculptor, and all the time I was making the doll, a little negative voice was ripping into me, telling me what a hopeless job I was doing. I did my best to ignore it and sculpted on.

Not perfect, and definitely not as detailed as some of the lovely frozen Charlottes I've seen on the internet, but I hoped once I'd painted her, she'd come up okay. I made a mould of her, and since then, most mornings I hop up and press some new Fimo or plaster or clay into my mould. I've got a nice little line up of dolls now and once I painted and glazed them I fell in love!



What to do with my little collection of frozen Charlottes? I've been making plaster nichos, like tiny shrines, for them to live in.







Those two are sold, but I've got one left, which is in my Etsy shop:



What would you do with a frozen Charlotte? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Mail Art

I do my best not to buy too much stuff from the big corporations. If you want to know why, read this post here. Rather than buying premade packaging materials, I have been making my own froom scavenged/leftover materials. Envelopes from unwanted scrapbook paper. Parcels from old cardboard boxes. Last year, as I shipped off increasing amounts of artwork to you all, I ended up having to become more and more creative with my packaging, as the materials I had on hand dwindled. 



Paula would gaffer-tape together a cardboard package for me, and I'd look at it and think how utterly scrappy it looked, and cast around for leftover bits of art to tape over it. I ended up making a box of leftover paper from books, failed printouts, unused photocopies, old wrapping paper and whatever else was lying around the house, and then I used them to cover the highly unattractive boxes. This turned out to be one of the nicest parts of my day, as I'd lose myself in cutting and pasting. It wasn't high art. It was just something to make the package look a bit more presentable, and to hopefully result in a happy surprise in the letterbox the day it arrived. Me, when I get something nice in the mail, I often stick the packaging or stamps in my journal. I tried to make my packages somewhat journal-worthy.



It wasn't until I found a book in the library about mail art that I realised that was what I was doing. Mail art! I LOVE mail art! Simply by giving a name to what I've been doing all year, the book has inspired me to take it to a whole new level. Actually I was also inspired by a few recipients who said they were framing my packaging. Gulp! I thought I'd better lift my game. Though really, the joy of the packages is that there's no pressure. They are just fun with paper and scissors and rubber stamps and pretty tape.



As a part of my mission to get prepared earlier for sales in 2015, I spent some of my holidays making pretty envelopes. The volume of stuff I send now has surpassed my ability to make indiviidual envelopes for each order, but at least I can take those boring envelopes from the post office and make them look interesting. Some of them get a quick spray with a stencil. Some get a rubber stamp. And some of them, my very favourites, I really went to town with.



And here’s the backs of them:



These ones I'm happy to frame. And I think they'll look really lovely once postage stamps, postmarks and an address have been added. Rough them up a bit with some postal handling, and they'll be positively divine. I've got a nice little pile of these extra-gorgeous envelopes on my desk, and I'm ready to send them to you, with your name and address written on the front in my very best handwriting.

If you'd like to get one of these, here's what to do. Go to my Etsy shop and buy a piece of jewelllery, a zine or a colouring book, and with your order, ask me really nicely for one of my frameable art envelopes. It's just until they run out so you'll need to be quick. You could even be really nice and tell me why you love my art...

Free Bunny & Cat Doll Pattern

Kimberly asked me if I could share the pattern I made up for this sweet bunny I sewed for Ruby Grace. I used the same pattern to make this cat for Marlow, and happily it's nice and simple - the cat only took me an hour.

I've never published a pattern before so excuse me if this is a bit rough. Here's what you do.  Save the image below in your computer and print it out so that it fills an A4 sheet of paper.

Now's the time to prepare your ears. For a cat, just draw the shape of the ears onto the figure. For the bunny I made separate ears out of two teardrop pieces of fabric sewn together, and folded in half lengthwise.

Once you've got the ears sorted, cut around the outline of the paper figure so the shaded area is gone (but don't cut off the ears if you are making a cat).

Now prepare your fabric. I sewed rectangles of pretty remnants together for both the dolls I made. Then I folded the resulting rectangle in half, right sides together, and laid the paper pattern on top, lining up the top of the legs with the seam I'd made. Pin the fabric together in the corners.

Using dressmaker's chalk or a biro, trace around the edge of the figure, then set aside the pattern. If you have separate ears, like the bunny, insert them now.  You'll need to place them between the two layers of fabric, with the ears pointing in towards the middle of the face, and the seams at the base of the ears placed one centimetre outside the line you've drawn for the head.  Pin them into place.

Now you can sew along the line you've drawn. I start at the top of one leg, stitch around both legs, up around the arm then the head, and back down around the other arm, stopping in the armpit so there's an opening. Snip your seams then turn it through and fill with polyester stuffing. I like them lightly stuffed so they're all soft and cuddly, but if they wrinkle too much and this looks bad, you can stuff them tightly - if you pack in the stuffing hard enough, eventually the wrinkles should disappear. Handstitch the opening closed.

Now you're ready to do the face. First draw your face with a pencil onto the paper pattern, with an eraser handy so you can move around the eyes, nose and mouth till they look good. When you're happy, sketch it lightly onto the face of your doll. Thread a needle and tie a single knot at the end - you should be able to enter from the back of the head, pull it hard, and the knot will pop through so you can't see it. Stitch the face according to your drawings. If you want more face ideas check out the things I've made to see other doll faces.

And now, before you give it to your favourite kiddies to play with, snap a pic and send it to me - I'll publish it on my blog. Happy sewing everyone, I can't wait to see what you make.

Flax Basket

Yesterday I took advantage of being in Nelson, NZ, to meet with an amazing artist, Deb Price, who lives nearby.  I found her work on the internet and emailed to ask if she'd meet and share her skills.  Luckily  for me, she agreed.  Not only is she utterly lovely, but she was generous enough to give me a whole day of her time, and bring with her a huge bundle of NZ flax leaves.  

And this is what I made!  I am IN LOVE with this basket!  Deb has such an incredible aesthetic and it's thanks to her and all her inspiration and tips that I was able to make this.  I can't believe it was formed by my own hands.  But it was and I've got lots of cuts and scratches today to prove it!  It's still green but it'll turn brown as it dries out.

Another thing I really love about this basket is it was made entirely from flax leaves, with only a couple of very simple tools.  Very medieval peasant woman, very sustainable, very simple and natural...

I'm going to hang it in my bathroom and use it to store my toilet cloths.  When I get home I hope to make another one for Paula's cloths.  And then I can see some fruit bowls, an onion bowl, and all sorts of home storage ideas.. eek - I'd better stop or I'll have no time left for everything else I want to do!

Here's another photo so you can see some of the detail on the side.  I added the loop so I'll have somewhere to hang it from.

Weaving

Last week, while I was in Northern NSW, I got to spend heaps of time with my dear friend Jenine, and she taught me to weave! I'm so excited by this. The scarft I made was hardly a design-feat - I simply experimented with everything you can do on a 4-shaft loom, and discovered how much I enjoy it. Now, of course, I want a loom! But it's such a big and expensive piece of equipment, I find it hard to justify... anyway, we'll see. In the meantime, the secrets of woven cloth have been unlocked and now I understand how it all works! I am in love with textiles...

Rabbit Hot Water Bottle Cover

I made this hot water bottle cover from an old French sheet I found in an op shop (I love that dusty floral pattern), a a piece of old cushion cover, and some of my very last scraps of the beautiful text fabric from memidesigns. It's lined with my old hot water bottle cover, which was simply a double layer of flannelette from an old sheet.

What I'm most pleased with about this project, is that every stitch was made in five stolen minutes here and there. I did a few stitches at a tram stop, a few more on the tram, a few while waiting for Jesse, a few in the minutes that Paula packed her bag. There was no chunk of time to work on this, in a madly busy week of packing to go on tour. But I did it anyway, and finished it just in time to test it out the night before we left. It's gorgous!

I really love the bunny - I drew so many drafts of her before I was happy with her posture and expression. I have a feeling I'll be making more bunnies from that pattern.

Another house cushion

After I made the house cushion cover in my last post, I realised that when I wash the cover, my cushion will be bare. I hate being without it in bed, so I decided to quickly whip up a spare cover out of a piece of old sheet I had in my cupboard. I tested out the freehand sewing feature of my sewing machine and wow - I love the way the writing turned out! A nice little touch for a spare cover. Actually.. maybe I like it better than the main cover! Pity I didn't look carefully at the sheet before I cut out the pillow - there seems to be a stain centre front. Bummer.

 

 

House Cushion

I made this house cushion to go on my bed. My much loved reading cushion had worn out completely. I replaced it with this little house, made entirely from things I already had on hand. I think it's gorgeous.

 
 

Matroshka Doll Wheat Bag

I love Matroshka Dolls. I love the simplicity of their shape and the beautiful hoods they have. I stitched this one from some of my favourite fabrics, filled it with wheat and lavender, and now it's a little wheat bag. Back when we had a cold spurt, I'd heat her up and Jesse would fall asleep cuddling her. She also works as an eye cover for day-time meditation and naps - lovely. Most of all, she looks good on my bed!

Bertha Make Over

Bertha's Dining Area, After Makeover:

And how it looked Before:

Finally I have taken some photos of Bertha, our lovely campervan, so you can see the results of my make over. You can see the external make over here. It's been a slow process, over the past two years, that I've been shifting her away from that hideous beige seventies decor and into something a bit more my taste. Happily it hasn't cost a lot of money, as it was mostly sewing and painting which Paula and I did ourselves. I'm so pleased with how she looks. For me, interior decor seems to do absolutely everything to enhance my mood. When I stay in a place that delights me, I get joy from looking at and being in my surroundings every day. When I don't like the aesthetic I find it really hard not to let it seep into my pores - it definitely influences my spirit. Happily Bertha is now a space I like to be in just to enjoy the aesthetic and find inspiration. By the way I would have liked to paint all the exposed fake wood laminate white, but for some reason Paula is resisting. Maybe one day...

The Kitchen Before:

And After:

Our Bed Before:

And After:

Our Bedside table before:

And After:

And a view of the door, from the dining area:

And after: