spring miscellany

Reuben is getting a little unpredictable with his sleeping, and it's showing in the SLOW pace of some of my projects (reconstituting glazes & Easter dress sewing, most notably), but a good dose of Spring Crafting has been going on nonetheless. I'm really loving this little mouse doll (felted sweater!), and have plans for fox & raccoon companions soon. Nathan suggested a nice Max in his wolf suit (okay, so he thought this was a wolf, but then our conversation continued), so our own Wilde thing (despite his complete disinterest; I tried to get him to pose with this and he tossed it to the floor--5 times--before I could get even a blurry shot) will get one of those. He is definitely getting a full-size suit for Halloween this year, too, by the way.

I took lots of process shots and will be posting a full tutorial for Waldorf-style hand dolls soon. I certainly didn't invent them, but had a hard time finding a thorough tutorial myself when I first started making dolls, and the head technique is rather brilliant; you really need to learn how.

*And more headbands. I cannot seem to quite put away this project; they keep seeming so useful for birthday gifts, the school silent auction, a thank-you to the mom who patiently drives Marian to dance...*Pseudo-psyanky. I plan bi-monthly activities for the 8-11 year old girls at my church, and wanted to do a little pysanky introduction. The night before our activity, I had the girls and a friend experiment with just dropping beeswax off a candle onto the eggs, thinking that this might be easier/safer than using the kistkas. Closely supervised, the girls did well with it, and it was a fun variation, but what was I thinking? Holding a flame in your hand is safer than holding a little funnel over it at arms' length? The next night, I had my activity girls split into 2 groups. Half colored pysanky sheets (I did a page compilation of these images, with a short summary of color symbolism), while the other dyed eggs. The girls did mostly crayon- and sticker-resist dyeing, while I led one girl at a time in trying their hand with a machined kistka.

*A friend with a difficult pregnancy was bemoaning how life on bedrest, with a toddler, was making her crafting desires difficult, so I dropped by a wee spring craft kit with a loaf of bread. I love making these bitty wool felt birds (you may see a finished one here. If you want to make your own, use the bottom photo as a pattern. Mine are about 7/8" long).