Edgar, A Sleepy Eyed Badger

 

Edgar is a sleepy eyed badger chap with Midnight tones. Sporting a cuffed white linen shirt with a Liberty print waistcoat he is quite the dapper chap if a little sombre in outlook.
Carrying a leather and felt bag he can wander the country churchyard looking for inspiration for his writing. His outfit is finished with tweedy yarn dyed plus fours, leather boots and lots of tiny buttons. His cravat is vintage silk in a steel grey.
He has a tiny hoop brooch with a gingham rose to detatch and wear should you want to xx

Princess Amalia, A Court Frog

 

Amalia, a princess frog at the court of Queen Marie is now listed on Folksy. She is an OOAK Frog Princess with a tiny silver crown. Her court day dress is in a wonderfully froggy William Morris style cotton poplin which is teamed with fresh green gingham and white tulle. Her bodice and her sleeves are trimmed with lacy frills and eau du nil silk ribbon and finished with tiny pale green buttons. She is a handsome gentle frog ready for afternoon tea on the lawn or in the pond!

Working on Badgers

 

Freya was a winter badger from last year. She was the first of an adapted pattern with a broader face and body.
Recently I have been working with and refining the pattern. I find badger ears tricky and I have been working on a way to make them a better fit with my vision.
Badgers have ears, they are just very small and set a long way back on the head. If you are not careful you can quickly get into panda territory! Which is confusing.
This week I will be listing four new badgers, two little girls and two gentlemen before making more frog girls. Then I want to crack on with my FF squirrel. Working around the weather recently gives you time to think when it is too hot in the studio you can work on patterns in the cool!

Frida, A Mexicam Grumpy Frog

 Inspired by all this heat, Frida(Sold) the Mexican frog was made. As a great admirer of the original lady, my Frida is a little froggy homage!

There is a new exhibition in London at the Tate entitled Frida: The Making of an Icon. I would love to see this but will not make it down so I bought the book, which is stunning, Looking through the pages show how others have paid their respects to this 'Icon'.
Her skirt is a piece of vintage Liberty tana lawn called Felda with lush tropical foliage all teamed with a soft orange shot cotton and a burnt orange silk. She has lots of bergamot peel in her stuffing with several different stones including jade and turquoise.
I was introduced to a new technique to make her flower trim and discovered you cannot put a monobrow on a frog!

Claude, A Grumpy Frog Gentleman

 

Claude is a dapper frog gentleman with a grumpy nature. His waiscoat is a Liberty tana lawn called Floral Muse, it is teamed with a pale straw silk cravat. His shirt is butter yellow linen with cuffed sleeves and his trews are a soft apple green yarn dye cotton. With leather boots to stomp around in and sporting a felt and leather bag for his foraging finds he is ready for a long walk by the River Yarrow.
His eyes are hand painted and then hand embroidered with a myriad of French knots in three colours of thread for depth. He has citrine to his heart with lots of chamomile to his stuffing for a gentle scent. The little embroidery hoop is a brooch you can remove a wear!

A Doll Just for Myself

 

Every so often I make a doll for me! I have a real affection for Dr Pamela Islay or Poison Ivy as she is know and wanted a baby Ivy for myself. Whilst purist will tell you she only turned green as an adult, I wanted a Poison Ivy Little Girl. I have real sympathy for her aims if not her methods and she is so froglike that she appealed to me even as a child. I have several incarnations of her, including a Barbie Signature Poison Ivy! as well as several hand crafted versions too. They sit well with my extensive frog collection.
As soon as I saw this collection of fabrics by Liberty I wanted to make Poison Ivy. She has a patchwork floral dress with lots of different green floral fabrics and is covered in daisies. Leaves and flowers adorn her striking red hair and I love her living green skin. Their is a frog like quality to her which I relish.
She as several of my favourite crystals to her heart including malachite and green jasper with rosemary and chamomile to her stuffing. A proper little miss with tiny white socks and boots, her dress is finished with organza ribbon, cuffed sleeves and lace petticoats with a serious pair of bloomers underneath. Loved making her and I love her on my wall with all the other odd dolls I crave!