Subterranean Art

Elliana's Room

2010-07-26T10:57:00.043-04:00

The baby's room is finally finished, with possibly two weeks to spare!

Thanks goes to my husband for painting the walls and dresser, and hanging of items on the walls and ceiling, as well as putting the crib together. Thanks goes to my mother and grandmother for making the quilt, bumper, and valances.

I painted unfinished bird houses that I purchased at a craft store to match the room.

I painted this little bedside dresser to match the full-size dresser. The turtle lamp is Tiffany style and makes a great night-light.

The goldfish and other mobile items are made from felt.

The mobile is hung using ribbon-covered embroidery hoops.

I painted the mirror and knobs in Strawberry Pink. The koi pond painted floor cloth is acrylic on duckcloth, with several layers of polyurethane topped with a thin layer of paste wax.

The letters are painted to match the koi fabric that makes up the quilt and valances.

Painted Floor Cloth

2010-07-04T20:59:00.014-04:00

I've been working on a painted floor cloth for the baby's room-- it's a koi pond. I purchased a length of white duckcloth, then applied several layers of gesso to one side (lightly sanding in between each layer of gesso). When the floor cloth is completed, it should be strong enough to hold up to normal foot traffic.

Here is my pencil sketch of the pond on top of several layers of gesso on the duckcloth.

I've used acrylic paints in many layers to create the pond scene. The cloth is not yet finished. The finished product will not show the white around the edges after I use rubber cement to glue the edges to the back. The cloth should also have a glossier sheen to it, once I apply the polycrylic and furniture wax.

2009-11-20T20:42:00.005-05:00

I have finished the cranberry medicine bag and listed it on Etsy (click the pic). The semester is finally nearing an end and I have plans for lots of creations in my future-- including more wet-felted bags.

I have also been working on a zafu and zabuton set. These are traditional Japanese style cushions for meditating. I am finished with the zabuton, but have some work left on the zafu, which is the round cushion. These will be Christmas gifts for someone very special. Pics to come soon!

Holding on to Summer

2009-11-15T17:26:00.014-05:00

I have been working on our breakfast nook to transform it into my little office/craft nook/ area to "get away". Because I am a sun and tree worshipper, I thought it would be fun to summerize the room to help me get through the winter blahs. I painted the walls a spring green called "Asparagus" and the hutch is "Fire Orange" and "Summer Squash". There are still a few things left to do. I'm getting the antique desk and chair refinished for Christmas, and I still need to paint the burgandy door on the tall cabinet orange to match the hutch. I'm also going to get some white honeycomb style shades for the windows. They will be the kind that let a lot of light in. Overall, I love my little space. It is small, but workable. I have moved quite a bit of craft items into the hutch, which I have stripped, sanded, and painted. The baskets work really well on the shelves to hold small projects and craft supplies.

The curtain sets off the room from the kitchen and provides me with a bit more privacy for sanity purposes.

I keep my sewing basket on top of the tall cabinet, which also houses paper supplies, craft books, and cook books.

Wet-Felted Spirit Bags

2009-10-11T20:49:00.029-04:00

My first experience wet felting produced these two little spirit / medicine bags. They do not yet have their necklace straps afixed. I tried my hand at spinning, using a drop spindle that I made out of a dowel, two cds, a cup hook, and two rubber washers (instructions here). The yarn is drying and it may be a day or two before I can tell if it is going to work well for the strap on the blue bag. If it works for the blue bag, I'll repeat in red.

I will update the pics when I finish the bags. The red bag actually has a lighter shade of wool felted onto the tip of the flap, but the picture doesn't show it.

Also, I am very happy that Eibhear, the celtic warrior painted cloth doll has sold! Thanks, Jane.

A Tiny Golden Treasure and Quilts

2009-06-13T16:00:00.014-04:00

I finally finished Goldie- she is about the same size as the little Pug. She's a fancy fantail goldfish.

I wasn't able to get my creations over to the Crone Cottage yet because my husband sold his 11 year old Jeep and we spent four nights car shopping last week. Thankfully he made a decision- a Mazda 3, which is really nice. Now I have car envy. Last Saturday I went to Poor Farmer's Market near Piqua, OH to the antique tractor show. Really, I just went to the quilt show, which featured quilts made by my mother, aunt, and grandmother. I could have gone to CC today, but I was too busy laying out in the sun and putting the final touches on Goldie. I'm also reading "The Mermaid Chair," by Sue Monk Kidd, which I found at Poor Farmer's Market for $1. Oh...was I supposed to do housework today?

The quilts are awesome and high quality- most of them are king sized, except the smaller baby sized quilts that my grandmother likes to make (not shown here). Apparently the ladies did well at Poor Farmer's market. I'm going to help my mother get her Etsy account working so she can list the quilts. My pictures in no way do them justice-- luckily the ladies hired a professional photographer. This is just a sample:

Pug!

2009-05-19T21:22:00.014-04:00

This little fellow is the tiniest three dimensional thingie I've ever needle felted, measuring in at 2" from hiney to tip of nose and 1 1/4 inches tall. This one is a prototype for my tic-tac-toe game, which I now know will take me forever to make, since this little guy took me three nights to complete. Actually, I don't think I'm quite done with him. I ordered some gray corriedale and may add some subtle highlights to his face to bring out the details. Black is not a good color for details and if I make the tic-tac-toe game, it will consist of four tiny black pugs in addition to five fawn pugs. I'm definitely having second thoughts about the game though. Two months of making nothing but tiny pugs may drive me insane and I have too many other ideas competing for my meager free time. Tomorrow I'm going to the fabric store to pick up an iron on transfer pen so I can get started on my celtic knotwork design. I have a couple of patterns that I blew up on the copier from Great Book of Celtic Patterns, by Laura S. Irish, and Draw Your Own Celtic Designs, by David James and Vitor Gonzalez. I think I'm making a tapestry, but I'm not sure what will come out of it.

UPDATE 10/13/2009: The tiny pug is for sale in my Etsy shop!

A flurry of creation

2009-05-16T15:52:00.005-04:00

Having finished the spring semester and sold one of my favorite dolls, Ossian, at the Crone Cottage in Bellevue, KY, I have been working feverishly on some new felted creations. My brain is blooming with ideas and I can't wait to get started on either my pug tic-tac-toe set, or the celtic knotwork letters that I've been thinking about for the past year or more. Which one will come first?