Monday 26 November 2012

Chemical catastrophes

I'm a bad news first kinda gal, so let's get this out of the way: whilst I was taking off some particularly stubborn glitter nail varnish last week, with some nail varnish remover of origins and sell by date unknown, I appear to have self inflicted some kind of severe chemical burns and my whole right thumb is now a Blister with a Capital B. As a result, this week has mainly been spent on thumb-friendly admin, including a spreadsheet to compare supplier costs (you can take the girl out of the corporation...) Spreadsheets don't make for very interesting photos though, so I'll get down to some more creative updates that I got in before The Incident...

For flock's sake
After the success of the 'Three for a Wedding' magpies, I've been molding rather more exotic species to adorn this Bird Cage design, inspired in part by my ongoing avian affair (ILOVELOVELOVEBIRDS) and in part by this amazing chandelier from Graham&Greene (although sadly Father Christmas, I think this is even beyond your elves' collective budget...)

Birds of a feather: Spherical wire cage with cotton and feather birds

They might look like slugs on E numbers at the moment, but given another coat and some sculpted feather wings, I think I'm on to a winner...

I've also started some (soon to look rather more delectible) liquorice all sorts for this black felt hat design... I made these early last week, put them in the airing cupboard to dry out and forgot all about them until this morning!

Liquorice all sorts in progress: to adorn the high backed percher below.

Wirey wonderings
After receiving an awesome crocheted silver bracelet when I was a bridesmaid for my seriously stylish best friend last year, I've been dying to try some wire creations myself. This wire is too thick for crocheting I think (mine didn't work anyway!!) but it lends itself very well to knitting, which lends itself very well to abstract sculptural hats! Result! As always when I discover something new, one just wasn't enough, but wire knitting doesn't agree (at all!) with poorly thumbs so I'll be back on the case as soon as they're up to it!

Organised chaos: And it goes a little something like this...
 


Handmade Monday
After such an unusually brief post, you're bound not to have got your creative blog fix today, so fill your boots here. Top tips for this week's shares are the wicked stag cushion from Free Spirit Designs; the cute crocheted Chaffy from Ginx Crafts; Amigurumi Barmy's rather doleful but delightful bunny, Jean; and Planet Penny's amazing Christmas jumpers (espcially the egg cosies!)

Enjoy, and see you next week, thumbs willing!

10 comments:

  1. Hope your thumb gets better soon. I really can't wait to see all of your gorgeous sounding hats when they are complete - especially looking forward to the bird cage one. x

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  2. Your thumb sounds horrible - hope it mends very soon. I don't know the gauge of your wire but I crochet with 0.75mm which looks as if it is a lot thicker than yours so maybe you should give it another go? (It is a shame the all sorts aren't edible :))

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    1. It's definitely on the mend - the blister popped today - ick!

      You're right - m's 0.5mm according to the packet (but to be honest I really chose them for the colours!) so I'll try agin - thanks for the tip! Would love to see what you've wire crocheted - are there pics on your blog?

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  3. awww your poor thumb! Well done for getting on with the boring stuff though... every cloud has a silver lining i suppose!

    I'm very intrigued by your knitted wire abstract hat designs... what fun! And your liquorish all sorts look amazing already, i can't wait to see them in their full glory!

    Thank you very much for the mention, i'm really chuffed you like my cushion :) x

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  4. Loving the idea of a liquorice allsort Hat! I hope your thumb mends soon, sounds awful.
    Thanks for the recommendation!

    Penny x

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    1. Thanks Penny, and you're more than welcome, your stuff's v cool! x

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  5. Oh your poor thumb. Hope it's better soon. You can only spend so long on spreadsheets before boredom sets in (well, that's my excuse...)

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    1. Totally agree Wendy! ;) Congrats on your ongoing mag commissions too - v exciting! :)

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  6. Hope your thumb gets better soon, so you can do some more creating. Looking forward to updates on your lovebirds!
    Wendy

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