Ramster

On Friday, I had a day out to Ramster with my friend to see the textile exhibition being held there.  Lots of work to admire over 200 pieces, and I was surprised how many names I recognized.
After the exhibition, a walk around the gardens, lovely to see so much Spring colour.

Snakeshead.

So many Primroses.
Ramster has a large collection of Camellias, these are my favourite ones.

I don't know the variety of this daffodil, never seen any like this before.

These ones reminded me of raspberry ripple.

Love reflections on water.

I have a white version of this in my garden, and shall be looking to find one in this acid yellow to join it. The drive home  was horrendous.  A Friday afternoon, broken down cars and accidents made for a long slow journey back to Essex. 

March fairy and more.

Here she is, as mentioned in my last post, Daffodil Fairy :-

She is made with 30%wool and 70% rayon which I get from Craft Arena, the nicest wool mix felt I have found.  Her wings are made from tissue paper, painted and glittered.

For the last 18 months, I have been working on and off on Captain Sparrow (Johnny Depp's character,) and with another doll workshop with Ray Slater fast approaching, it was time to finish him.  On Wednesday night, late, I thought I had, and showing the 'finished' doll to my husband, he said, 'shouldn't he have a cutlass?' and  after a bit of research, yes, he should!!!!!!

 The basic doll pattern is one of Ray Slater's, but for his costume, I found a really good website for men who want to dress like Johnny Depp's character.  It tells you how to make the wig, where the holes should appear on his garments and more.  It has been a wonderful mine of information for me. Hence the picture above,  then having the hair removed as not correct, and a trip to London to get the dreadlocks.

 I have enjoyed scouring the shops trying to find the various bits that I could adapt to make his rings, as near to the real thing as possible.

So this is where it stopped for quite a long while - last summer to be exact, before being put aside again.

There is a guide on the website I found that tells you exactly what beads and charms to put in his hair, but depends on which film as to what beads and talismans he has.  This required me to make a ships sail needle out of paper clay, and painted with Powertex to make it strong.

So here he is now, just waiting for the final items to be made.  My husband made me the cutlass from white plastic which you can see and the scabbard from card.

 I have had to apply several coats of paints in various colour's before attacking them with sandpaper to make them distressed as per the film.

Now all I have left to do  is make the baldric sword belt and frog!  Hope to be back later on in the week with my finished doll.

Now

I'm back!!!!

Been missing from Blogland for quite some time.
When my textile group, Fen Edge closed down, I lost the reason to create.  I have set myself a challenge to make a little flower fairy doll for each month of the year. It is now March and I have made my 3 dolls so far.
This is the doll that gave me the idea for my challenge.  I made her for my mother for Christmas as a memento of my brothers wedding.  ( His wife had a fairy for a bridesmaid)

 

So for January, may I introduce................

 Snowdrop Fairy.

For February, it just had to be......................

 Rose. 

 Photos of my fairy for March will be posted soon.  She is finished, and posed for photos earlier this evening.