Gourd Creature Class

My niece and nephew Paige and Brody arrived to spend the day with Grandma. My mom and I live in the same apartment building so it's natural that I get to spend some time with them as well. After a trip to the Dollar Store and Harvey's for the world's best hamburger (IMHO, ketchup, mayo, onion, hot peppers and extra pickle thank you very much!!) and a trip to the Dairy Queen we started a craft project.


This time out it was critters made with gourds. I explained about different kinds of gourds and let them see and hold them, I talked about how gourds grow, what's inside, how they dry and grow into different shapes. If I get a chance I'll take them out to the Gourd Farm I go to. Northern Dipper out nears Cookstown (Barrie) ON. I took a class out there in April and had a blast! If you're in the area look them up. Their class schedule is posted on their website.

Paige and Brody had a look through my Gourd book, (Making Gourds and Spirit Dolls by Ginger Summitt and Jim Widess, published by SterlingPublishing) and looked at some other gourds I had in different styles and then decided what they wanted to do. I gave them each some paper to draw what they kind of wanted it to look like. The Gourds we used were small egg shaped gourds. Small gourds like these and the Banana gourd are thin shelled and easy to drill and great for craft projects.

We then talked about the pose, and accessories... Brody wanted his to have a Lacrosse stick and baseball hat,

Paige's fish needed fins and big lips... so we worked out how we needed to do that.

I decided to do a Humpty Dumpty.

I had them drill holes into their gourds for wire limbs to be added. We taped them in place and started adding apoxie sculpt. I talked about how the apoxie was a chemical reaction that started when you mixed the two part together. We talked about how it changed the way it reacted as it got older and how long we had to work with it.

Once we let them dry we went back to paint and varnish them. I think they did a great job don't you?

Another Long Weekend at the Cottage

I decided on the last minute to head up to the cottage once again for the long weekend. For those of you reading from other spots on our globe, the first Monday of August is a Civic Holiday for those of us in Ontario Canada.

I must say I didn't do too much except read, try to knit a hat... I say try because just as I got about half way done I realized I was using the wrong size needles, my hat might have fit a gorilla... and it would really have to be a big gorilla at that!

I also tried to learn crocheting again... kind of a crazy scarf it's just single crochet and about 266 stitches (hey I lost count - and what does it matter anyways... it's a scarf!) It's also about 7 colours. I just have to have something to do with my hands what can I say!

I took a great picture of a Cicada, which if it would have been moving I would have been moving the other direction... seriously BIG BUG!



Once I cleaned the kayak out - more seriously creepy crawlies in there too - I went out for a paddle too. I hate bugs that crawl more than bugs that fly... I don't know why but it's gotten progressively worse over the years... maybe because I move slower than I used too! LOL

WIP x 2

I've been really bad neglecting my blog like this... sorry, I have been busy working with the folks at etsy who are trying to get a dolls and miniatures team and category together. Blogging a little for them and creatings banners and avatars for the members.

I went to the cottage for a long weekend last weekend and this weekend am staying home to get something done around here. Not that here is such hard work, I live in an apartment so no lawn or garden to take care of. I don't even have to remember to put the garbage bins to the street on Monday morning. lol I just need to do laundry and dust and maybe clean my fridge... the only thing about buying fresh vegetables is remember to through said vegetables away every two weeks or so.... lol

I haven't forgotten my wip, she's still sitting here faceless. I think I'm afraid of wrecking her. I promise myself to "get 'er done" this weekend!

I did list a new puppet on etsy today though. He's a sweetie...
Meet Se' Emor. He is an other world Hand Puppet.

Often found staring off into the yonders of our world searching for his own, he has a limited vocabulary, filled with a lot of astonishment mostly. "Ah..... ssseeeee...."'s and such.

My puppets are all one of a kind made with fleece, felt, foam and other miscellanea....

Warm hand required for operation.

Have fun!