Crafting through the coughs

I picked up a bug from my boss last week, and had to call in sick for a few days. Between the napping, coughing, exhaustion and feverishness, I wasn't fit for much mentally, but I was itching to use my hands, so I got on with some crafting I had outstanding.

I'd been asked if I could make two Totoro characters in quilling, one in pink and one in grey, for a first wedding anniversary gift. I researched, I experimented, and after creating a first design that I was happy with, I made the pair:

When I posted these on my Facebook page, another friend asked if I would make her a No Face. Now, I'm not a Studio Ghibli fan (I've seen My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away, but only once, and years ago), so this involved more research to check just what was being asked for! After that, I made a first version in "plain" quilling:

I offered to put a back of black strips on the body, and the recipient wanted this, and it turned out looking good and finished it off nicely :)

Meanwhile, I'd remembered that I'd promised a goose to someone else ages ago, but hadn't had a chance to get one designed. So, I designed and made a goose...

Which would have been fine...if the recipient had actually wanted a goose, rather than the white duck she'd asked for! Luckily, she was happy enough to receive a goose instead :)

A friend had been talking about Malcolm Tucker' sweary quotes from The Thick Of It, and how entertaining it would be to have one of them as a quote on their front door, for departing guests. So, I tested out my basic cross stitch skills to make a simple word design, and set to work. This was the end result:

I had also promised hand-drawn postcards of dandelion clocks to the people who sponsored me to do an abseil a while ago, but I hadn't had a chance to get to do those either, so I was able to make a good start of getting them done.

And today I took a trip to the Post Office with a LOT of packages, including a RAK for someone as a wee cheering thing (hopefully).

So, being sick isn't always an entirely bad thing, if you can keep your hands occupied :)

Commissions, gifts, and RAKs

I've not blogged for a while, but I have been busy! With lots of babies arriving to friends, I was kept busy making quilled baby feet canvases, so there's another half dozen of them done ( a few are shown below), some have been personalised and sent off, some are waiting for the details of the recipients (AKA for the babies to arrive) so they can be personalised.

During April, I had a lot of physical work to do in my workplace, and to keep my morale up and keep me motivated, I offered some decorated pebbles to the people who best guessed my progress at 4 set points during the main activity day.

I also had a weekend long resin jewellery making class booked, where I experimented with putting quilled bits into the resin. These were the pieces I made, ready for me to drill and mount as necklaces. All I need to do next is find the time to make these sort of necklaces properly, and then put them in my shop: these were just tests with pieces of quilling that I had lots of, or could make quickly to fill spaces.

Then lovely V's birthday was coming up, so I wanted to make her something made of "V"'s, and I started doodling...which quickly became these dandelion clock postcards, that are based around the use of the letter V in varying sizes. I really rather like the design, and have since made and given away a few more of these postcards. I'm also thinking of offering a hand drawn one of them in return for sponsorship of over £5 for a future event I want to do.

As the virtual desktop system at work had some major issues that prevented me getting on to work for a day, I also did a lyrics postcard to occupy myself: this was the lyrics of "Happy" by Pharrell, which ended up with a colleague.

I had a commission in early June for a christening gift for a friend's godchild, with a bit of a difference for me: the text would be both in English, and Hungarian! My friend guided me on the shape she wanted it in, and got a friend to do a transcription of the Hungarian text.

Then, I did a test drawing to see how the verse spacing worked.

Then a second version, with the best text spacing. I added a pencil outer line, where the Hungarian text would be going.

Once I had the translation, I wrote it out in pencil to make sure that the spacing was right, then overwrote it with ink, before removing the under writing. This is the finished dove on the slope I work on, and the handwritten Hungarian transcription I was working from.

I took some nice photos of the finished dove, but they're on my camera, and...erm...I don't know where I've put it! So, the picture above is both languages, but the Hungarian text still has the pencil version under it (which is why it looks a bit thick/odd).

This was a gift for a friend, with words that have a personal meaning for them.

I also promised another friend a gift, and they decided on a literary themed image, in this case Poirot. Thankfully, this one worked out perfectly first time!

Still on the paper pad where I drew it.

Cropped to better effect!

So, although I've not blogged it for a while, I HAVE been crafting, and I have been sending craft RAKs - but I'm sure I've missed out some RAKS from here too. So, if I've sent you something and it's not mentioned here, can you let me know? I'm keeping a spreadsheet, so I can distribute RAKs randomly, but not overly favour anybody with too many things!

More RACKs

It appears that I'm slightly overachieving on my Craft RAK target of 1 item a month, as this post shows. Oh well, it probably just means that when I run out of recipients I'll open a call for volunteers again!

So, what did I send in February?

1: A decorated dried elm leaf - I drew a circle and dash pattern on the surface first.

                                 

Then I decided it needed a bit more bling, so I added some glitter to every second dot, and it turned a bit more disco :)

                                 

2: A needle felted mouse inside a walnut shell - I think I may have pushed the bounds of how small I can do needle felting (I'm no expert at it, I've only made half a dozen things, and I've been learning by experimenting) I struggled to felt the wool tightly enough to mean the ears could be attached while still staying distinct as ears!

I put the mouse inside, carefully glued the halves together with PVA glue (it holds the shell together but can be broken apart when wanted without damaging the shell or contents), and tied it up in a pretty ribbon.

3: A decorated pebble - This one is actually something I did previously, but I decided it was time it went on to a new owner, as I'd had the benefit of it for a while. I drew the random pattern with a fine pigment ink pen.

4: An ink-blown and filigree tree. I had a bit of a flashback to my youth, and played with some liquid drawing ink and a straw to create a tree shape. 

                                                 

I waited for it to dry.

Then I filled in the gaps between the "branches" of the tree with some filigree patterns.

5: Finally - A mini treasure map. This actually was quite personal - I had a few compliment slips left from my workplace of many years, that went spectacularly bust last year. The engrossment paper used for those slips is a good weight/texture for ageing, so I put one to good use by making a mini treasure map from it, and ageing it with walnut ink and crumpling.

Then I packaged everything up,  tried to match up the makings with the randomly-drawn names of recipients, and what I thought they might like, and posted them off.

There: all my February RACKs - hopefully the recipients all liked what they got!