Most Unusual - Most Fun

I've had many unique requests for custom ornaments over the years, as you may have noted from earlier posts. I never dreamed I'd receive a request to make an ornament of the human cell. How creative to imagine such a personal gift. What made this ornament the most fun for me to make, aside from the wide array of vibrant colors, was that the recipient is a biology teacher whose passion on teaching the human cell inspired a young lady to become a nurse. Awesome!

Monkey Business

If anyone asks me what I've been doing this week, I can literally say I've been monkeying around. That fits well with my personality. I've always had rather large ears, short brown hair and brown eyes, and extra long arms and legs. Some of my nieces called me Aunt Mary Monkey when they were growing up. I rather liked that, not so much because of how I look but more that it allowed me to be goofy enough to live up to the name.

I've been busy making 30 organ grinder monkeys, which will eventually become attached to organ grinders for a custom order. If you like beautifully illustrated books with heart-warming lessons for children, you must see Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. The inspiration for the organ grinder ornaments comes from this book, but my artistry doesn't begin to compare to Mr. Ibatoulline's!

Just had a thought - How cool would it be to find a little recording of organ grinder music to add to the ornament? You'll find me monkeying around on Google now . . .

Boutique to Benefit March of Dimes

This coming Saturday (October 17), I will be displaying my Dough Ditties at the Hoosier Artisan Holiday Boutique at The Mansion in Carmel, Indiana from 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Fine arts and crafts will be on display from 50 Hoosier artisans (who are also members of the Etsy Indiana Street Team - Incrowdteam). I'll be donating baby-related items to the raffle: an acorn baby, an oak leaf woodland angel with baby (both of salt dough), and a clothespin doll with head, hands and her baby shaped from air-dry dough.

I'm looking forward to meeting other Etsy artists and to having an opportunity to support the March of Dimes. Please stop by and say "hi" if you're in the area!

Highland Wedding Cake Topper

How neat to get a request for a wedding cake topper personalized to the bride and groom! When they met, she was a highland dancer and he a drummer. This made my day since, as you may have guessed by now, I love to make celtic ornaments, especially custom ornaments that match the individuals' tartans.

I had a challenge with this, however . In the past, I've made the bride and groom as one ornament and epoxied them to a base. Since the bride is in a dance pose (and standing on one leg), it seemed best to keep her separate from the groom. Once the ornaments were complete, it didn't look right to just stick them on the wood base, so I used an air dry sculpting putty to make a grassy knoll for them to stand on.

Imagine a wedding with bagpipes, drums and highland dancing. Not sure that was part of the wedding plans, but it's fun to imagine nonetheless.

Buchanan Tartan

This is the first time I've painted the Buchanan tartan on custom piper ornaments. I really like the bright colors and especially the yellow. Lively tartan.

Policeman Piper

Just a quick post of a custom order I did of a bagpiper with the Chicago Police Pipe & Drum Band. The quality of the photo is abysmal, but the cuffs of his socks are called "popcorn" which I made by adding tiny balls of dough. It's so much fun to add the details!

Old Treadle

I mentioned in the previous post that there are 5 times as many words in the English language today as there were in Shakespeare's time. I'm sure the word "treadle" was in Shakespeare's vocabulary, but is it possible it can soon become archaic?

A few years ago I obtained an electric sewing machine from Freecycle to replace the old "treadle" machine Stan and I found in his grandparent's attic and which I used for all my sewing for over 30 years.

Why did I ever replace the treadle? Oh, I figured I could do so much more with electric. I also thought I'd eventually run out of places to find the leather belts used to operate the treadle and I thought it was such a hassle to put the belt on and then to shorten it every now and then when it got stretched out.

What to do with the old treadle machine? I didn't have the heart to sell it or give it away. It had helped me sew quilts, curtains, doll clothes, little boy clothes, and even underwear over the course of our marriage.

Today, for some odd reason, I pulled the electric machine away from the wall and replaced it with the treadle machine. I oiled up the old machine, found a fabric scrap, and began to treadle away - delighted to no end that the stitches were just as even and perfect as could be!

Out with the new and in with the old! Just look at that beautiful machine - 1920s vintage. Can you believe the attachments it has? Fancy stitching and buttonholer. And I have the original operating manual too.

As I treadle, listening to the low whirring of the moving parts, I have to wonder . . . what ever possessed me to replace this fine piece of workmanship?