Horn Book poster winner!

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Salley Mavor

I am overwhelmed by the response to the Horn Book poster giveaway! Thank you to everyone (107) who entered. I am very touched by so many lengthy, thoughtful and generous comments on the giveaway post, well beyond the usual minimal missives.

Drum roll, please. The winner is Marianne Monaghan! I’ll notify her by e-mail and find out where to send the poster. Anyone who’d like to buy posters ($7 within the US, $10 outside the US) from the Horn Book can call (Eastern Standard Time) or email any of the following:

800-325-9558 ext 7942, 614-873-7942, info@hbook.com

I gave a poster to Woods Hole Library Director Margaret McCormick, to hang up in our library.

I just had to show you this picture of one-year-old Helen dressed as a lamb, which was in the most recent Woods Hole Library newsletter. Her mother, Kellie Porter was working at the desk in the library when I brought in the poster. Kellie and I were both surprised to see the similarity between her daughter/lamb and my little girl/lamb swinging from the tree in the poster. I made the artwork for the magazine this past summer and Kellie hadn’t seen the Horn Book cover until I showed her the poster, so the resemblance was unexpected. By the way, Helen’s costume is not homemade, but I think it could easily be copied. I wish I had thought to add a collar and bell!

Close-ups (winter solstice)

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Salley Mavor

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.

Salley, age 8

They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.

detail from “One Misty, Moisty Morning” in “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – listen!

detail from “Little Jack Horner” in “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.

detail of balsam pillow in “Felt Wee Folk” 2003

And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

detail from “Little Jack Horner” in “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Autographed copies of Pocketful of Posies are available from my Esty Shop.

Felt Wee Folk around the kitchen table

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Salley Mavor

fairies from “Felt Wee Folk”

Sometimes I look at my blog statistics to find out how people find me. Quite frequently searches like “pipe cleaner dolls”or “wee felt people” bring them here. This week’s wordy favorite was “how to wrap embroidery floss around pipe cleaners for fairies”.

Last week, I received the most wonderful e-mail message from Michele in Nebraska, who wrote, “I didn’t do anything else yesterday evening except enjoy every single thing on your blog.” She went on describe how she and her family have enjoyed the doll projects in Felt Wee Folk.

“I purchased your book when my daughter was 15 (she is now 20 and a new mother). She had a close friend spend the night once that year and I brought my new book, along with lots of felt, threads, combed wool (I spin) and all manner of goodies, into the kitchen with the two girls and announced we were going to make tiny dolls. You should have seen their teenage faces! At first hesitant and then fascinated and completely absorbed, those two girls insisted on staying up till 2:30 in the morning so their little people could be finished! We talked about everything and laughed and laughed and when we were done, we sat and looked at our little people with the greatest satisfaction and joy. Just recently, my daughter’s same good friend came to our house to visit and told me that night spent here was the most fun she has ever had and that she felt so much love in our home. She has her little Wee Folk doll still and wants to make more with her children when she has them.

I just thought you might like to hear that your art has the most profound effect on others in such a positive and loving way. Thank you for your years of sharing. Thank you for leaving your examples of doll art on your website as inspiration for those of us who cannot get enough of them. I am sure you will be blessed in all your new endeavors.

And finally thank you for being true to yourself, for in doing that, what you have created is truly magical.”

Stories like Michele’s make me feel that sharing my fantasy/play world is truly worth it. It warms my heart to think of kitchen tables around the world scattered with silk flower petals, pipe cleaners and acorn caps. I can imagine faces of all ages and colors bowed in concentration and busy hands engrossed in making wee dolls. It’s been almost 9 years since Felt Wee Folk was released by C&T Publishing. Since 2003, the book has been reprinted many times, selling over 50,000 copies, which is way more than any of my children’s books.

Pansy, the last fairy

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Salley Mavor

For the past few months, I’ve been wrapping legs, sewing felt tunics and painting faces for a new Ltd. Edition fairy doll. During those months, I found it harder and harder to find the time to work on the 25 dolls and kept putting them aside. Even though I still like making them, I’d rather be working on other projects, so I made the decision that PANSY would be the last fairy design in this series. It’s true, I won’t be making any more dolls to sell. Last week, I sent an e-mail announcement to those who asked to be put on a mailing list and all 25 have already sold. It has been a joy to create the dolls and I thank all of you who have purchased other wee folk characters. Over the past 8 years, I’ve made 21 different designs and sewed 750 individual dolls.

Since the age of 12, I’ve been making and selling things, often mass producing large quantities of the same item. My little factory began with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band playing on the record player and now I work to the sound of Rosanne Cash. It’s time for a change, but I wanted to make one more fairy before devoting 100% of my studio time to my fabric relief artwork. Here are some photos of PANSY in the making.

A visit to Mimi’s

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Salley Mavor

I’m still catching up on writing about last week activities and will soon get to last weekend’s Conn. Book Fair and also post more pictures from my trip to Turkey.

I visited the talented doll and pin cushion maker Mimi Kirchner in Arlington, Mass. As you may remember from previous posts, Mimi inspired me to start this blog. This is the first time I’ve seen her new studio since she moved in. It was good to see that she has totally taken over the room. Unlike her previous quarters in the attic, she has heat and windows to look out of! Like her attic space, it’s chockfull of materials and inspiring objects. Downstairs, her inventory of Wee World pin cushions in tea cups were lined up on the piano.

And some dolls were piled in a wicker baby buggy. You can read more about Mimi and her work on her blog here.

visit to The Horn Book

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Salley Mavor

Last Tuesday, I visited the Horn Book Magazine’s office in Boston. I went to pick up my original artwork, which will be on the cover of their January/February issue. Designer Lolly Robinson showed it to me on the computer and it looks great! Editor in Chief Roger Sutton and I held up the original for a snapshot before I took it back home.

UPDATE: See photos and read commentary about how I made the illustration for The Horn Book cover in this post.
The original piece is now in a private collection.

The whole staff had lunch together around the big wooden table and we talked about our common love–children’s books. There were many posters and magazine covers hung up around the space. I was happy to see my college friend Beth Krommes’ cover from her Caldecott winning The House in the Night. (top row, center left). Her new book, Swirl by Swirl is amazing!

Lolly took a closeup photo of me sewing a little hand. It’ll appear alongside my Horn Book Award speech, which will be printed in the January/February issue. I don’t have a picture of the thread wrapping process in such small-scale, so its nice to be able to show it here.

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Posies exhibit at UConn

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Salley Mavor

Travel Update: I just want to assure you that we are safe in the Mediterranean, off the coast of southwestern Turkey, far away from the earthquake. We heard about it from friends who have e-mailed. No one has said a word (in english) about it at any ports we’ve stayed at. We’re having a wonderful time, by the way.

Travel Notice: I’m going on a trip to Turkey! So, see you back here in about 3 weeks (with pictures).

Radio Story: Our local NPR station (WCAI) broadcasted a story about my work. Hear it here.

detail from "There was a Crooked Man"

We’ve delivered 39 framed original illustrations from my book Pocketful of Posies to the next stop on the tour. The work will be exhibited through Dec. 16 at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center Gallery at the University of Connecticut – Storrs. On Saturday, Nov. 12th, I will be giving a presentation at 10:15 am and signing books throughout the day, during the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair on campus. The Dodd Center isn’t normally open on weekends, but because I’ll be there on the 12th, the gallery will be open for visitors from 12 noon to 3pm. So, if you can only come during the weekend, this is your chance!

Storrs is about 3 hours from our home on Cape Cod, so we wrapped the artwork in bubble wrap and drove it over in our car. Terri Goldich, the curator and my husband Rob helped load the cart.

The gallery is a beautiful, clean space with wall and floor display cases. We tested the DVD of my Rabbitat film to make sure it played on their TV in the corner. Terri hung the show after we left and it’s now open to the public Monday through Friday 8:30 am – 4:30 pm., through Dec. 16th. Again, the gallery will be open from 12 noon to 3pm on Saturday, Nov. 12th, when I’m at the book fair.

I’ll be away on a trip to Turkey, so there won’t be any new posts for about 3 weeks. But, I’ll bring back plenty of pictures!

Rabbitat – part 6 (rabbit characters)

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Salley Mavor

Originally, I was going to make human characters living in the drift wood house, but I kept imagining long ears sticking up from their heads, so they changed into a rabbit family. Hence the name Rabbitat (see film here). The mother and father dolls are about 4 inches tall and made with a bendable pipe-cleaner armature. The heads are made from wooden beads covered with wool felt. There’s a seam down the front of the face, under the embroidered nose.

As soon as I added front teeth, they lost their bland cuteness and took on personality, or should I say rabbitality?

Maybe I just identified with them more, having been a buck toothed child.

The faces are embroidered, with glass bead eyes.

The ears have fine wire sewn around the outside edge, so they can be bent expressively.

The baby carriage is made from this wire, which is covered with a bark-like natural material I found at a florist supply business. The wheels are acorn caps with holes drilled in the center.

I embroidered a carrot motif on the clothing.

And let’s not forget the biggest character of all — the rabbit topiary.

To see more posts in this series and to view the Rabbitat film click here.

Rabbitat – part 5 (garden gate)

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Salley Mavor

I added the garden gate about half way through the process of making Rabbitat. Since I changed the design from horizontal to vertical, I needed something in the lower right to balance the rabbit topiary on the left. I also wanted to create a transition from the foreground to the background and make an an entrance into the rabbit world.

I selected some driftwood and carved joints into the pieces. I then drilled holes in the joints and glued the pieces together with wire in the holes for reinforcement.

On a jig saw, I cut out a wooden rabbit shape to put on top of the gate.

I wanted bars in the gate, so I bent some 32 gauge cloth-covered wire and wrapped it with embroidery floss.

Then I had to figure out what to use for hinges and a latch. I got out my collection of little metal do-dads, but wasn’t satisfied with how they looked. Shiny metal didn’t seem to fit in the rabbit’s world. I ended up using clay tube beads for the hinges and wrapped wire for the latch.

I worked around the gate for many weeks, sewing the tree and constructing parts of the scene’s landscape.

I created a felt stone pathway leading to the gate, with french knot moss. Thinking ahead, I stitched my initials into the design on the right hand corner.

To see more posts in this series and to view the Rabbitat film click here.

Rabbitat – part 4 (stitched signature)

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Salley Mavor

The last part of the animated title sequence in the Rabbitat film (which just hit 2001 views!) includes this stitched signature. We wanted my name to appear below the title made of found objects, so I wrote the script out in a simple line of stitches.

On tissue paper, I wrote out my name in pen and then pinned the paper to a stretched piece of black felt. I then stitched through the paper, tracing the lines with orange Perle cotton, making one continuous line. Removing the paper afterwards was a tedious mess. I cut as much as I could with scissors and pulled out the small bits with tweezers, making sure not to leave bits of white showing on the black background. I’m sure that I could have found a better method, like water soluble paper, but I didn’t want to get it wet.

We stabilized the camera by strapping it to a stack of books.

We used a tripod and clamps to hold the stretcher upright and rigid, so that I could access the back.

Daniel took pictures as I pulled out one stitch at a time. Through the magic of filmmaking, he put all of the photos together to make it look like the signature was written out in stitches and added it to the rest of the title sequence. The process took several hours for a few seconds of action in the film, but we think it was worth it.

To see the film and read other posts in the Rabbitat series click here.