the windblown look

to this day i recall my mother saying to me that her hair had the 'windblown look' to it. it took me a long time to figure out exactly what that saying meant. mind you, looking back, it actually did refer to when she was out and about on a windy day.

now when looking at myself, at my hair, i must admit i LOVE the 'windblown look'. mind you, i think that i might love to use different adjectives to describe this picture.

how about using some of these ones...

bouncy ~ wild ~ crazy ~ free ~ gusty ~ windy ~ airy ~  messy ~ beehive ~ swirly ~ ruffly ~ tangly ~ tousled ~ frowzy (yes, i really did look it up to see if it was a word or not -- frowzy {frowz*y  adj  scruffy in appearance}) ~ .. and i'm sure that there is an infinite descriptive words out there (mind you, i will need help with my handy-dandy thesaurus (and yes, i did actually have to look up the spelling of thesaurus {and yes, i still got it wrong and a kudos to spell check to fixing it again for me}) to come up with more.

okay, figuring that some of the above words probably got so off topic that they weren't windblown after all.

and, again off topic..i know that i have been very inconsistence with my 'random quotes' (hoping that some of my Instagram postings might make up for one or two but, but but....well my little nursery is kinda looking a bit 'windblown' right now...with boxes and containers everywhere with these next two seasons sneaking up way to quickly...

so here is a thank you to Jimi Hendrix for letting  me daydream...

"Butterflies and zebras

Moonbeams and fairytales

That's all she ever thinks about

Riding with the wind."

.. all the while ... riding with the wind.

Creative Conundrums

I will admit that this latest Northern Faerie has caused me more self-doubting than any other faerie to date!

As I have had plans to complete a full calendars worth of Northern Faeries by the end of June, I am a bit behind after not feeling well for the first 3 weeks of the New Year.

Getting back on track though has proven more difficult than it should have been....grrrrrrrr!

There are currently 7 Northern Faeries (one will not be released until December 31, 2014 though) including... Aurora, Midnight Sun, Boreal, Agua, Snowflake and Raven. I do know the names of the next 4 faeries and I have most everything that I need in order to make them. This leaves me only 1 more to go, which I do have all the product for but she at this stage is still unnamed.

Back to the faerie that I have been working on now for the past couple of weeks. I have pulled out I don't know how many colours of flower petals and nothing seemed to be working for me. I have set her out numerous times (at least 6) in the evening time so I could look at her in the morning with fresh eyes and possibly new ideas. In the end...I actually didn't change any of her flower petals in either shape, size or colour! I did though find out what was throwing me off which was a good thing before I put her back on the shelf to tackle down the road. As each faerie gets a wee flower bead that goes right on her hairline on her forehead, of all things, it was this little bead that had thrown me for a loop. I know that this fine little detail could be the cause of all of my angst but it was! After you see the photos below, you will definitely question why the new colour works but trust me it does :)

Once I figured out that this is what was causing my problems it ended up to be such a quick fix. Everything from that point on just worked out exactly as I wanted to.

All that is left to do is for Hubby to curl her hands and toes. She will then be epoxied to her wooden plate stand and she will be released and made available for purchase.

As noted above, there are a few more things that I need to buy before I can proceed with some of the faeries that are on the list to be made. I am hoping that most items will be picked up on our trip out this week.

One stop will be made to the fabric store? Yes, one of the Northern Line will be made with fabric and not flower petals! How on earth could this be you ask? Well, I have researched our northern cultural and folk lore of Canada and am including all three territories...the Yukon, Nunuvat and the Northwest Territories (where the nursery is located) and not all ideas can be captured using just flower petals. No worries, I won't keep you in the dark too much longer on her....well, unless of course I can't find the type of fabric that I want!

Without giving away the latest Northern Faerie to be released I have attached a few photos for you to enjoy :)

Bowl of Inspiration!!

Original Hair Bead -- a very light pink/peach

Hair Bead used on new Northern Faerie 

The Clay Potters....arghhhhhh

Okay, after what is this now....4 prototypes, I still can't just get the look I want for the faerie boys!

My biggest problem seems to be the body part itself. I have tried large beads (you know the ones that used to be used for macramé), seed pods that hubby dearest drilled arm and legs wholes for, smaller beads arghhhhhhh.

For their arms and legs I have tried moss covered wire, paper wrapped wire, just plain old think wire and finally I used yarn to wrap them with....now I have incredible hulks lol. So.....that at least was an easy fix...I am just using yarn like floss and I can say that I love the way it looks...plus this will allow me to actually have boys that are of different colours.

Belts? Should they have belts? I have awesome natural dyed hemp cording that looks awesome but when I tie it around their waists...well it doesn't look so good as it does in my head! Insert another arghhhhhh here :)

Hair? How impossible could this type of decision be?? I have lots of different styles of acorn caps or even using the plastic parts from all of the flowers (but mind you....can't figure out what to use to cover up the hole at the top...still working on this). I have tried yarn, floss, the inside plastic stuff from the flowers (you know...its what makes flowers look bulky...usually clear with lots of little tentacle like things coming from the centre), to even using natural moss. How could boy heads be this hard (ahhh just answered my own question there...sorry...oops to any men reading this blog...lol)? On some of the bodies that I have made, no hair looks awesome...so I think the whole head dilemma will have to wait till the body is finalized.

I also went as far as picking out material that I could use as a wee little shirt and cropped pants....but but but...their legs were soooo spindly looking that I gave up that idea as well. Perhaps with the new wire wrapping technique, I should revisit this idea.

 
I don't think that I have allowed myself or my work table get this frustrated and messy in a long time!!

So here I sit with little boys all around me and not one that I could say...that's it...that's the type I want to use. Insert another arghhhhhh here :)

Back to the drawing board...AGAIN!