should a teddy have a tail?

So, this is about all I've been up too making wise recently*. I decided to try and make a teddy bear.

My favourite is the little bow tie bear, which was the last one I made, which is probably why. No hedgehog shaped head like the first one (he had no snout and very far back ears!) and no busting seams like the second one when I changed stitches, but stitched a little too close to the edges.

Ironically the only bit I didn't hand sew was his bow tie, which for some reason I took a notion to use a 1950's hand cranked kids sewing machine, called a Vulcan Junior. Why do I have this? Not a clue, I think it was my mum's when she was kid, or at least it's from someone on her side of the family, and it's been sitting at the back of one of my shelves for years. Real question is, why did I choose to use it? Truth? Sewing up the bears is actually easier by hand, but I hate having to lug out the proper sewing machine, it's heavy and involves too much set up for a two inch piece of sewing on flimsy fabric. 

I've been looking at little, very basic sewing machines, to do quick simple bits and bobs (hemming mini bow ties etc) but I'm havering over something tiny that basically just does straight stitch or a slightly bigger one which does a few more stitches. Though, the novelty of using the toy sewing machine was enjoyable, the actual using of it was... well, it needs a good service. There's thread wrapped where it shouldn't be, it needs an oil and some rusty bits dealt with, but it was still quicker than hand stitching!

Question is, should a teddy bear have a tail or not? 

Bears have tails, but not all teddies do. Are teddy makers intentionally docking the tails off teddy bears? 

* "What are you making at the moment?" I get asked that question a lot. By people at work (both colleagues and patients who know who I am and my background), by my grandparents, by my family if they see me with any form of fabric, needle, design book or tool in my hand. Sometimes I'm not making anything and sometimes I'm making something but I don't really want to show it in case it goes wrong. I don't always like to talk about what I'm making because it also gets the "why are you doing it" part of my brain active. That part isn't always a beneficial conversationalist.

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Listening: King - Years and Years

Window Fodder: Spring Has Sprung...

Hello May! How gloomily you've started! Especially when April was so glorious. Shame I missed the last of it sitting in the kitchen with paper, scissors and hundreds of cotton buds.

It's my first properly new window of the year. If I'm honest, my mum had been doing a great job, gradually adapting the post Christmas window with our crocheted flowers for the past few months - the repeated reappearance of the snow making it a little too easy for me to put off coming up with a new window. However, with April's sunshine came the need for something new, which we can add too over the summer, and what did the April sunshine bring? The grass cutters, chopping off the pretty pink tinged little daisies and really getting allergy season off with a bang.

It's simple, but I really kind of love it.

Just keep your fingers crossed the centres of the daisies don't fall out, and the ones on bamboo canes don't topple... I had visions all of Monday night of coming into work on Tuesday morning and finding my whole window had collapsed in on itself!

They hadn't, but the paranoia will be there every morning.

Next add in, a few pollen pompoms possibly?

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Listening: Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count - The Divine Comedy

Leftovers: "Off To See The Wizard" Autumn Window 2014

More leftovers from Christmas, as you know, 2014 was the Centenary of the First World War, so I made hundreds of poppies to fill our window at work to mark this. However, around about Halloween, people always ask what we'll be putting in the window.

Now, I actually don't see a huge point in Halloween windows. It's like doing a window for Valentines day. It's one day of the year, which given how long it takes me to make the windows, is an idiotic idea for me to try and do. However, when I put the Poppy window in, I left a gap and put down a yellow brick road. See, I'm not daft, Everyone else was watching the Wimbledon final and I was thinking about Halloween.

So, (slightly later than intended) I started making the characters from The Wizard of Oz. In sheep form...

 

 

 

The Wizard of Oz was a theme my sister, my mum and I had been talking about doing for years. And Annie at work had only been slightly cursing me for never doing it, as this is one of her favourite films/stories. It had always just been a little tricky to work around. But the idea of making Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Tin Man in sheep form... how could I resist?*

It was still a lot of work for only - in the end - a few weeks but it was worth it, I love them. So did Annie, who made me take her photo with them for her daughter, before I took them out for Christmas. She also spent all of the time they were in, pulling down Dorothy's skirt, so she wasn't exposing her bum.**

Have you ever tried making a dress for a papier-mâché sheep***? No. Don't. It's impossible... then again shirt and trousers is harder! Especially when a piece of dusty fabric means you can't breathe because of an allergic reaction.

A little breathing difficulty was definitely worth it. What do you think?

* Sorry there aren't more pictures! I've been lousy at taking enough/good enough photos of the windows this year. Add that to the ill-fated resolutions list.
** Must make her some bloomers!
*** If you're making a dress for a real sheep, I may have to ask you to leave the blog.
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Listening: Somewhere Over The Rainbow  - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

If happy little felt birds fly...

 

...beyond the rainbow,

why, oh why, can't I?

I've been adding to the window, sewing up little felt birds for the post twelve days edit. I even went as far as to design the pattern for myself, as I couldn't find one I liked online/was too cheap (cheap) to buy one.

So I've made robins, gold finches, cardinals, bluebirds and lots of randomly coloured birds, which are already in, but mum has decided she would like to try and embroider on a few of their teeny, tiny wings.

Easier said than done when they're only a couple of centimetres square.

 

 

What do you think?

I'm proud of them, like I said, I couldn't find a shape I was happy with, they were either too pointy or too ball like, but what I wanted was fat robin shape, all belly. Bit like me. So it's luck more than anything else that they actually fitted together!

I like this part of my job, sitting with a pile of craft supplies, a cup of coffee and a bag of wadding.

Between these and the Great British Sewing Bee, I've got this urge to try and make a teddy bear. Possibly that will be a little too advanced for me at this stage. But it's an idea that's stuck in my head now, which means I should probably have a go even if I end up with some sort of deformed creature.

Perhaps, however, if I managed it, we could do another teddy bears window. Just an idea.

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Listening: Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Emily had a little lamb...

 ...its fleece was glued on tight.

And every fleece Em glued on, she burnt her hand just twice.

I'd like to introduce you to my little flock of sheep, which I made for the window at work last year. They've been in the window since last March and have had two makeovers, once for the Relay for Life where they got purple and pink fun run style gear (the one in the tutu is one) and then again at Christmas. These are mostly their Christmas incarnations, so for the winter season they were given knitted and crocheted hats, scarves and earmuffs. 

Three of them even got glittery antlers.

They're all hand made, so no sheep is the same and I love them, walking into work and seeing them makes me feel proud and I've had a lot of positive feedback and a few people ask if I'm selling them.

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

Wonder if I should name them? Any suggestions?

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Listening: At Night I Dream Your Bedroom's Crammed With Ducks - Merz

Infinity Fidget Bracelet

Infinity Fidget Bracelet by Emily L. J. Boyd (Stirling Silver and 9ct Gold)

I made something else over Christmas, for my dad to give gran. The fidget bracelets were actually kind of inspired by gran, and her ability to wear more bracelets than anyone I know and indeed her inability to sit still, so the bracelets I call fidget all have kinetic elements which run around the band.

I've been wanting to do one as an infinity bracelet for a while and when dad asked for a bracelet which was kind of double helix shaped, it gave me the excuse...that or he'd been in my sketchbook or noticed my obsession with infinity scarves. Either way, it's one of the first time in a long while that I knew exactly what and how I would make a piece of jewellery in months. And I know it's a simple design, but the fact that I wasn't completely freaked out by the prospect of it is a really big step forward!

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Listening: My Baby Girl - John Martyn

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...a pendant made by me.

You know I've barely made anything this year. My brain being all over the place, but last weekend was my grandparents Diamond wedding anniversary, they've been married 60 years and my grandpa commissioned me to make a pendant, a slightly terrifying challenge, with a peridot - this being her favourite stone.

It's mostly silver, though there are three gold spots remaining after a few failed to fully fuse and I decided it was better to drill some out and change my design than risk the joints running because I over heated it.

The main thing is...I made a piece of jewellery!

And I've been back in the shed. Which is a good step forwards.

Merry Christmas! Part two tomorrow...

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Listening: Smith & Burrows - When The Thames Froze

Little Boxes | Ticky Tacky

I havent posted anything of my own for a while. Mostly because there's been a lack of anything to actually post. There's a couple of other pieces from this series, but they're not completely finished. I've been stuck with them, so maybe I'll post them another day.

These earrings however, were part of the Christmas gifts for the girls at work, thankfully, both liked them. They're are made of silver, ophthalmic lenses and Amazakoue. Amazakoue being a gorgeous hardwood which I used for one of my degree show chess sets and have had so many chunks lying around the workshop. I keep battering myself with them - as well as branches of thorny rose wood, maple, buddleia, rosemary, lilac, elm, cherry and pine from the garden, which I've been seasoning for the past year and a half. They should be good to use now I think.

Have been having a bad day today. Which is annoying as I'd been feeling better about things lately.I feel like the herbal concoction has been helping and I've been thinking about getting back in touch with friends, thinking about designs, thinking about ordering some silver, thinking about going sorting out the workshop...I couldn't get to sleep two nights ago thinking about a design, but today all I want to do is stay in bed and either have a cry or go back to sleep. I'm not even feeling very bloggy, but I'm pushing myself to try and post more frequently and I've been meaning to post these earrings since Christmas.

Anyway, think it's time for bed. Sleep tight.

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Listening: Scott Matthews - Elusive

Isn't it always the way?

Why is it the day you feel like blogging, Blogger's down? It was like this the week before last, I started blogging again and then not only does it go down but they delete the post? I don't think I'd mind if there were any obvious changes to Blogger afterwards, but there never seems to be. Although, this seemed easily remedied - if not obviously advertised - that simply deleting your history/cache/cookies would sort it out.

Anyway, this means that I was sat in the kitchen yesterday drinking my evil herbal concoxtion, a cup of coffee and crackers that taste like buttered popcorn - which is nicer than it sounds - all whilst typing up some blog entries sans pictures in Notepad. Notepad as whenever I've attempted to write things up in Word it has resulted in bizzare coding when it's transfered.

Blogger may be my prefered platform for blogging, but seriously sometimes it's just annoying.

Right so today we shall be having some normal blogging of things which were put on hold last week, including a hopeful revisit to DoJ's Degree Show towards the end of this week or start of next, as I didn't make it all the way round and there are more postcards to be collected and art to be seen. Then next week we shall have some special birthday blogging!

I haven't quite worked out what special birthday blogging is, but I'm thinking that there should be music, decorations, cake and presents. And do I dare write a "things to do in my 26th year" list? Probably and indeed probably not. We'll see how I feel once I actually am 26!

Em x

PS: I hate posting without a picture, so the image above is an illustration I did for uni. He's called Bates. Don't piss him off. He's a bit of a nutter. Bad experience with a red sock and a washing machine. One day I shall post the story I wrote to go with him.

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Listening: Lady Gaga - Judas

Monday Mood Board: Our Garden 2011

Row 1: Forsythia, Dicentra aka "Bleeding Heart"

Row 2: Azalea, Dandelion

Row 3: Honesty, Hosta, Apple Blossom

All by Me.

Well did we all have a nice long Easter weekend?

Hope it was at least better than mine. Generally it was fine, bar another bout of earache and being pretty depressed. At least the depression I can do something about, but the earache! I've spent the entire weekend in pain and completely deaf on my right lug hole. Which means I've gone around all weekend saying"wat!" like an old granny every two seconds.

It seems to be easing off today, so I can at least hear again, which is nice, got to love that my body deals with stress and depression by giving me earache which sparks off tooth ache in my wisdoms and migraines.

Never mind. Most of this weekend was spent in the garden, including chopping down trees all over the place. Would you believe that a jeweller would enjoy wielding a saw in the garden more than weeding? Nah, I wouldn't have either.

Here are a few of my pictures from this weekend of what's been growing in the Boyd garden.

Oh, incidentally, I had posts to be auto published this weekend, which apparently didn't, so I'll post them today either before or after this depending on the date stamp. Think I pushed save and not publish.

Me, dim? Nah!

Enjoy the sunshine!

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Listening: James Blake - CMYK

Crocheted Primroses

Crocheted primroses made by mum and I over the past couple of weeks. They're all wired and secured on painted polystyrene bases -I used polystyrene coving because it was cheap, smooth, paintable and the right size to make small clumps of flowers which them saved us having to mess around with them in the window, but up until I got that I had them a jar, which looked pretty.

They each also have attached crocheted leaves which, when they on the stand, clump together and hide any attachments, holes etc.

I tried to take photos of them inside, but in the end, took advantage of the last five minutes of my camera's battery and the first day of sunshine we'd had in Blair for a while. Hasn't it been nice seeing the sun? It finally feels like winter's over with! Which, given two weeks ago they were predicting more snow over us, is a bloody miracle!

Shame it's grey and dank today, I was going to go up and take some photos of the window these are in. Louise and I put it in yesterday lunch time, in a miraculously fast installation, and the light was off the window when we finished, so, as I think for flowers I need a little bit of sunshine hitting them, I left it to do today. Mistake. Seems like the grey will be lingering for a while and I'll have to play it by ear. Never mind.

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Listening: James Taylor - Sweet Baby James

Peacock Charm

My friend Bex asked me to make her a silver peacock charm, as a wedding present for her friend...and typically I failed to take a photo of it before I gave it to her.

However! I had two prototypes! Yay! So above is mark one, which was the perfect shape, the peacocks profile was good etc, but it was too thin, too big and I chopped its bum off forgetting that as soon as I did that it would lose its rigidity. Mark two sorted these issues but the profile was a little bit like the Penguin from Wallace and Gromit and was too big for a charm.

That's sorted and hopefully the bride liked it and had a wonderful wedding day.

Bex liking it was enough for me and it has given me just because for a lovely new bag...could it has been spent on more silver? Yes. But I had to have the bag...I had too! It was too lovely to resist!

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Listening: Regina Spektor - Music Box

A n n i v e r s a r i e s

This is technically a back blog since I had intended to post this yesterday. Yesterday being my parents 31st Wedding Anniversary, thus I'd intended to post pictures of the wedding ring and eternity ring I designed for mum from dad.

The wedding ring is a funny one, it was for their 30th anniversary and traditionally the gift you give for the 30th is pearls. But mum isn't fond of them, so I went looking for alternatives. It's ridiculous actually the number of modern alternatives to the traditional anniversary gifts that have somehow ended up as diamonds. The 10th, 30th and 60th are now all considered diamond wedding anniversaries in gifting terms, though 60th is actually the diamond wedding anniversary, so I suppose it shouldn't count. However, two have been added from the traditional. Just proves how diamond obsessed we've become!

This ring is really important to me, not only because it was for my mum, but because it was only the second time I'd used gold and it was the first time I'd ever bought a diamond. In fact it was the first time I'd ever held one that wasn't set! It was also the first wedding ring I'd every made, so I'm so glad it was for my mum. Though, a year on, I would like it back for a re-polishing!

As does the eternity ring:

It's based on mum's engagement ring, which had a sapphire in the centre and diamonds either side...and it's beautiful. It's very traditional in it's style, but it's beautiful. Unfortunately mum can't wear it anymore, so dad really wanted her to have another ring which would match up. It's a terrible picture, I couldn't get the lighting good enough to take a macro shot, so I decided to go cutesy thinking I'd eventually get a chance to retake the photo - I still haven't and it for a Christmas present, but hey ho.

Anyway, I wanted to post a Happy Anniversary to my parents and post a few pieces of my jewellery since I've barely made anything since the start of the year. Which makes me sad, but fingers crossed inspiration will strike soon!

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Listening: Joan As Police Woman - The Ride

Downed Tools

I've noticed something. Something I've neglected. Or avoided. Jewellery. Maybe because I'm avoiding it in my personal life at the moment - which for a jeweller is probably. No. Definitely a bad thing, but I also seem to be avoiding talking about it in the blogosphere.

I'm still in the zero-confidence-about-my-work stage and the worst thing I can do is actually not be making. But the idea of sitting in the shed, either making substandard pieces or nothing at all, procrastinating by reorganising my tools again makes me feel even more depressed about it.

On my birthday, I sat writing myself briefs so I could try and design again. I was very happy doing that. I had gone through all my jewellery books looking at all the techniques, materials and styles I like to create an 'ingredients' list. So now I have 4 or 5 briefs, which for the last week I've been refusing to look at. Amazing how much time you can procrastinate away making paper mache beehives for work. I'm just a bit blah at the moment.

Anyway, I have a backlog of things to blog about and I'll try and get all of them out by weeks end and then I'm going to try a week of jewellery posts, since this is supposed to be a blog about jewellery and other designs. It's about time I actually focus on something I know about.

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Listening: The Streets - It was Supposed To Be So Easy