Nicky's Crocheted Creatures

Nicky's first attempts at crochet are based on patterns from Edward's Menagerie.

Here they all are (apart from a cat that was given as a present). Baabara the sheep, Baby elephant with mother Bridget, Aurora the lion (name stolen from baby Dorrie), and rabbit Lazarus, so called because he was Nicky's first creation and kept rising from the 'dead'!

Branching Out: More Carvings by Nicky

Having made some of Tomashek's creatures (see below), Nicky decided to have a go at some carving projects of her own.
Here's a Wood Spirit made from a branch taken from the garden at our old house on Weoley Park Road in Birmingham. I think he looks a bit like Kris Kristofferson...

This candle-holder is created from a root Nicky dug out of the garden at Rose Cottage.

Three little mice. The one with the curliest tail is made from a piece of walnut bought from a timber-store. The middle one is made from a piece of a chopped-down cherry tree that used to stand in  our Birmingham garden. The one of the left's made from pine - a piece of our old shed door at the cottage.

Here's Finn after chopping down the cherry tree. It had been attacked by fungus and had to go. Still it's nice to have a memento of it in mouse-form.

The cherry tree in happier days!

We still have a wooden cherry from it - also carved by Nicky! The stalk's made from a twiglet from the tree.

Here's the shed-door before its removal - we had the shed taken down and now have a lovely brick-built outdoor workshop for gardening bits and bobs and larger art projects.

And the lump of shed door on Nicky's work-bench. Just waiting for the bits that aren't mouse to be carved away from it!

Nicky's Whimsical Whittlings

Nicky was inspired by Steve Tomashek's book 'Tiny Whittling' to have a go at some of the diminutive creatures inside. The little red bird is Pimpernel.

She began with a rabbit carved from a carrot.

Lovely at first but doomed to decay! Going...

Going...

Gone...

More than gone!

Here are some more permanent creatures at Rose Cottage. 

Woody Woodpecker - to celebrate the woodpeckers that are regular visitors to our garden.

Woodruff the dog.

With Wilfie keeping a close eye on him.

Chivers the cat. Watch out birds!

Friesia the cow.

Dumpy Dobbin - who turned out slightly more rotund than expected.

Shrawley Fox - so named because he was made from a lump of lime-wood found in Shrawley Woods near our cottage.

Bluey Rabbit - an Easter gift for mum - and named by her...

The wooden clan on our dresser.

Tins in Progress!

We've been away in London visiting Finn, Katie and Dorrie and catching Running Wild in Regents Park (Finn and his work partner Toby were puppet directors). No action on tins for a little while. See below a picture of our workshop with a few tins in progress. These include a tin based on the streets where I was born (on Pontefract Road near Leeds); a David Bowie 'Ashes to Ashes' tin and a tin based on a poem about mending a bicycle puncture. Spot a lovely art deco tin in the collection just waiting for ideas! Click on the photograph to see everything in a bit more detail.

Latest Tin

Here is another 'local' tin linked to a school in a village near Rose Cottage. We've included the school rules from a local history book and an old image of children from the village. We quite like the spooky effect of a blurred child just behind the miniature schoolchild. Such blurring occurred if anyone moved during the very long exposure time needed for cameras back then.

Nicky made the wooden insert and I pasted a local map on it and the image behind. Here is a picture of the insert before it was put into the tin. We're toying with ideas for using this 'lighting' effect in other projects.

This is the outside - the same type of tin we used for the e e Cummings poem.