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 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!
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!
I have been making and reflecting on frogs. I really enjoyed this pair as in their photo shoot I placed several of my large and expanding collection of frogs. If you peep around the photos you will see a few little treasures. I also enjoyed this wonderfully froggy fabric called Wonder Garden, a Liberty Piccadilly Poplin.Each frog is hand painted and then heavily embroidered with French knots, adding to the grumpy frog feel, These little guys are broad in the beam and look like they don't miss too many meals!I have made a similar pattern for several years but have refined and reduced the size over the years. They are now about half the size of the original design. Much of my Liberty fabric stock comes from a friend who makes ties in Bath. She cuts in such a way that I use many of her offcuts as I need only tiny pieces of fabric. However, I do actively seek out fabric that is specificlly for my frogs and enjoy doing it!
