Tutorial Tuesday - Clay Birds with character

Yet another bird came to town, this time in the form of 'Hortense'.  I think that she is a duck, well my Grandson stated quite clearly that he thought it was a duck - who am I to disagree!  

Doing something different with the clay

She is not the final bird I will be making but I thought it would be a good idea to get on the road to finishing the many projects that I have laying around and that are bursting to be completed.

I think that I have finally convinced myself that I like working with clay and sculpting and my sculpture pinterest board is building up some amazing pieces of work by very talented artists who are also an inspiration.

I would really encourage you to give it a try, there are loads of courses, tutorials and videos that will show you the ropes, all you have to do is get some clay and start to play and don't worry what your first piece looks like, as you progress you will be surprised at the results.  Working with clay also has some therapeutic benefits that are worth exploring.

This bird was fun to make especially adding the accessories

Selection of the birds I have made so far

I will have some more art dolls to share and some larger pieces at the end of the week, and I am super excited by these pieces and can't wait to show you them along with some other paintings that I have been doing.  Until then stay blessed and be a blessing!

Material Mondays - Altering Beenie Hat

Altering a Beanie Hat with flowers

My mum has a hat that she loves wearing, primarily because it keeps her head warm, there isn't anything spectacular in the way that the hat looks, but I guess it is one of those things that we all have that we wear for comfort - much to my sons dismay I too have something that he says I shouldn't be wearing for one reason or another, but having lived so many more years than he I think I will park his fashion point of view for another post.

The hat before

Here is the hat, nothing to write home about, but she liked it.  I decided to give it a make over..  so a while back armed with my crochet needles and wool I decided to make some embellishments for the hat, without changing its comfort factor for mum.

With a crochet needle and wool you can do wonders!

I ended up making a couple of flowers and a strip that would go round the hat for decoration.

Flowers and crocheted strip

  I sewed the flowers and the strip to the hat once they were complete.  Here is the finished hat, modeled by mum....

 You can pretty much attach flowers to most things and they will give some added oomph when needed.

 It gives her the comfort that she wants, yet gives it an updated look

I will have a look at some of her other hats and see what updates can be made.  If you want to update an something you don't have to add crochet, you can embroider, or add some beading - find some jewelry that you no longer wear and attach it to an item of clothing for that extra sparkle.

If you are considering learning how to crochet, or any other creative activity check out Craftsy online courses, at the moment they are doing a special offer on some of their classes, and they are offering some free mini courses.Click here.

Material Mondays - Crochet Baby Hat

Crochet Baby Hat

So I've been out with the crochet needles again, trying my hand at perfecting hats.  This time though on a smaller scale for a baby!

At some point I will follow a pattern....

This one though was done free style, I knew how wide the head should be, so using this as a guide and knowing how I wanted the hat to look I carried on.

The hat with accompanying flower can be worn to the side or to the front, I personally like it worn to the side.  The baby that it is intended for was born last week and I contemplated attempting a pair of booties, got a bit carried away trying to do it without a pattern and ended up with quite a few oddly shaped samples. So for now we will have to do with the hat!

If you are considering learning how to crochet, or any other creative activity check out Craftsy online courses, at the moment they are doing a special offer on some of their classes, and they are offering some free mini courses. Click here.

Have a blessed day, see you tomorrow for Tutorial Tuesday.

Crochet Makes - Beenie Hat

I have been busy in the studio painting and creating a range of things that I will share over the coming week.   One of the things that I have kept up with is crocheting.  I have found it to be a great way to relax, I've even signed up to Craftsy - a community for people who make things.  I took a class by Linda Perrman, she has a really relaxed and clear style to her teaching.  Craftsy are giving a 7 day free trial on any course, and it's well worth checking out, whatever the craft you are into.

Anyway I've been having problems with finding a hat that I liked, so I thought I would make one, and have been quite pleased with the results.  It's a beeny hat, probably better for use in milder weather. I didn't follow any pattern for this one, but will definitely for the next, it was great to challenge myself and see what I could come up with.  The great thing I am finding with crochet is that with a few tools you can make some beautiful things, and once you understand how to read the patterns then you are well away!

The flower is detachable so if you make a few that are different colours you have a new colour combination every time.  I will be adding some beads to the rim.  The black wool has some silver thread running through though you can't see it in the picture.

I made the head out of recycled bags and paper mache, will let you see how it started out during the week, will be painting this as well......  I have been seeing how many things I can make out of recycled materials, anyway that's for another post. I hope you are having a blessed weekend, and wish all the mothers out there a very Happy Mothers Day for tomorrow!