The Surprise and a Few Other Pleasantries

Hello Readers!

My laundry is done and thus the surprise has been revealed. 

It was just a plain white wool ball when I took it out of the sock it was in for its trip into water world and then into the inferno of hell with a rousing tumble in the dryer.  It was kinda miraculous when you consider it just wrapped that ball up as tight as I could get it without any felting involved before I put it in the toe of the sock and tied a knot to keep it there. 

It could have felted just a tab bit tighter but the embroidery goes smoothly with as much play as I have in the wool. The insides of this ball are cashmere sweater material, some thick twine and some wool sweater material. The outer shell of wool is four layers of roving. I think it probably could have used a longer felting period. I was anxious to get busy and pretty it up some! 

I could not get that piece of mint green cashmere to felt at all. 

Felting balls is FUN! I have got to get some more roving! 

This is the bowl I told you all about the last post. It isn't a success by any stretch of the imagination. It'll hold feathers quite nicely but don't put anything else in it or the sides will collapse! Back to the drawing board with this sheet of roving. This bowl was only practice!

I gave you a glimpse of some fishes in the last post...

They are all out of order. 

 This one has the beginnings of the end started with the silver paint pen.

I cut up a large brown grocery sack. 

Drew a bunch of fishes with a big fat sharpie marker.

Got out some acrylics and gave them some color.

Don't let this one fool you. It was just as faded as the others when I got done with the painting. I went over this one with the sharpie again after painting.

This one is the largest of the bunch measuring somewhere around 8 x 6 inches...totally guessing there. I'm pretty good at guessing though. Always have been good with measurements....

This fish is done for now. I may put a coat of shiny varnish on them before they get cut out and collaged to something.

My brother was here today. I haven't seen my brother in ages. I needed his help with the idea I'm going to tell you about in a bit. While he and Ma went to the tree dump in town to get some wood chips, I sat in my recliner with my feet up and braided some of the seams and the hem off that brown skirt I cut up to make that basket out of. That basket remains a work in progress at this time.

Shrek was on the sofa when I sat down to take this picture. Shrek is about 4 inches tall to give you scale as to how large the braids are. The littlest one may end up on fp7. The other two are a bit too large.

I didn't even know I had a Shrek toy until I found him on the sofa last night after Lue, RWson and Gabe had left. Kung Fu Panda was three too. RWson's sister in law, Terah, calls her husband Shrek. Fits RJson nicely especially when she refers to herself as Fiona. 

I have to warn you that my idea is a weird one. It's a bit touchy as it involves baby dolls. Some folks have an aversion to messing with baby dolls in the way I'm fixing to mess some baby dolls. So if you are one of those folks, it may be best for you to just back on out and come another day. Or you can be brave and follow me on the quest to turn baby dolls (that have been much loved by little girls)   into small aliens that will reside beneath my pear trees. That should get the attention of drivers on the highway.... 

Honestly I thought my brother was going to bust a gut when I told him what I needed him to do. He said, "You know, I've done a lot of strange things in my time, but I have never preformed drill surgery on a baby doll before!" 

Well, when you live in my world...there's a first time for everything!

I have to say brother did a darn fine job of drilling three holes in each of my alien wannabees.

I know, I know....it isn't a pretty sight. 

And yes, I did forget to take pictures of the babies before I undressed them and cut all their hair off. Sorry babies.....

The tallest baby is about 20 inches tall. I had hoped the foam in a can would only fill the legs but apparently it filled the entire body cavity. I knew I should have weighted them with rocks before putting the foam in to hold the stakes in place on their feet. The other tall one is about 18 inches. 

I borrowed the metal rods for their stakes from one of brother's junk buckets in the garage. He said they came off a political sign that were put in people's yards at election time. 

The little guy is less than a foot tall.

We had somewhat of a mishap when filling the babies with foam. Ma got shot in the head with it. That stuff is terrible sticky stuff! We took the acetone to Ma's hair to get it all out. She had it all over the left side of her head. Barely missed her eye. 

All's well though, no harm done. She bravely opened another can of foam when the first ran dry and finished the job of attaching the stakes. 

Fred got caught in the crossfire of foam too. He got more than I did!

When the foam dries inside the babies I'm going to spray paint them silver and embellish them a might.

Here's where the inspiration came from:

Garden of Isis

I'm not exactly sure what my aliens will look like when I've finished with them. At any rate this room in the Deeble House is what set the gears in motion last summer.

I had my first visit to the Deeble House then. I want to go back again!

If you ever find yourself in Lucas, Kansas....explore the town! There is whimsy at every turn! It's a wonderful place to visit. Follow the links with the picture to find out more about the Grassroots Art Center. The Deeble House is an extension to the Art Center's musuem. Only it's across town from the Art Center. They usually walk over there from the Art Center to talk about all the art you can see on the street. 

I'm going to toot my own horn about the Art Center. I have art there on permanent display. Two limestone carvings of mine adorn the walls of the courtyard. There are numerous artists represented on the courtyard walls. 

Murray is on a mission to somewhere! 

This is the etching on that van window in the picture above. I put it there with an electric diamond bit engraver back in 2005.

Flomar, brother's tag along.

It was a beautiful day to be outside!

I told you all about the wheatfield in the last post. These two pictures are just two thirds of the entire field. It runs almost a half mile from one end to the other. I'm assuming it's at least 500 acres? I'm not good with acres...Yeah, I know...that's a measurement...It's a danged big field!

I'll stop rambling. I need to go to sleep!

Thanks for stopping by twice today!

Be good to one another!

It matters! 

Peace

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