Wee Folk centerpiece

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Salley Mavor

In the last post, I mentioned making a centerpiece for the Pocketful of Posies book release party at Highfield. Since I forgot to take pictures of the finished setup, here are some shots taken during the construction phase. Many of the dolls were models for projects in my how-to book Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects and were unearthed for this event.

I arranged driftwood and logs that the wee folk could sit on and climb up. Old, dried up bayberry bushes, with their compact spread of small branches make good wee folk scale trees.

I drilled holes in the wood for small screw eyes, which served as anchors for the dolls. I felt like a prison guard, shackling their tiny ankles and tying their waists to the screw eyes with wire. But, it was to protect them from easy escape into the hands of big folk.

One vertical log needed a rope ladder, so I gathered some possible materials; jute rope and twine, old fishing line, a woven wooden slat place mat .

I selected the fatter jute rope and pulled out a wooden slat from the place mat. To make the rungs, I fed broken off wood sections through the rope and lashed them in place with an improvised knot. I wished we had learned knot tying in girl scouts. You never can tell when you’ll need outdoor survival skills!

Here’s Jack climbing up the finished rope ladder. See Jack climbing the bean stalk here.

Here are some characters from Felt Wee Folk.

Princess from “Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects”

Jester from “Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects”

Hansel & Gretel and the Witch from “Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects”

And a grandpa with his grandchildren. It sure was fun playing with these dolls again and bringing them on a short outing to my exhibit at Highfield.

Pocketful of Borders: Jack Sprat & My son John

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Salley Mavor

All of the borders from Pocketful of Posies are finished and the artwork is hung at Highfield for the first leg of the tour. The book release party will be held at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 6pm. I hope to see some of you there!

I still have some photos which show the border making process for a few more illustrations. This one incorporates two different rhymes, Jack Sprat (who ate no fat) and Deedle, deedle dumpling, my son John (who went to bed with his trousers on).

The gray of the driftwood house is too monochromatic for me, so I added a favorite color combination of orange and blue to the figures and props. I used cool colors on the felt border, allowing the warmer browns and oranges to pop out visually. Jack Sprat and his wife are holding doll house utensils.

I embroidered the border pieces with variegated thread.

The driftwood beams and floor boards are sewn onto the felt background through tiny drilled holes. No dreaded glue! Now that I think of it, I did use some glue on the furniture.

But sewed son John’s bed in place.

I can remember really liking the process of building the house, which was so different from sewing. There was sawing, sanding, drilling, carving and whittling. Sawdust mingled with threads on the floor.

Jack Sprat from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Dolls from Istanbul

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Salley Mavor

A family I know from Woods Hole went on a trip to Turkey this summer. Deb sent me this series of photos of a doll shop in Istanbul. Here is her daughter Celeste standing alongside the amazing display of felt dolls. Among the conservatively dressed female figures, I can see some whirling dervish dancers in white as well as some pretty wild-looking felt caps.

Please Note: Mara from Ankara, Turkey just wrote a comment and said, “These are actually made in Central Asia — in Uzbekhistan, if I remember correctly — but they are sold quite widely in Turkey”.

There are dressed up rabbits, mothers with babies hanging on, and moustached short squat men. Thanks for sharing these, Deb!

Close-ups (cottages)

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m a hopeless homebody and have been putting cottages and other cozy shelters in my artwork forever. This first yellow house is from the back cover of the first edition of Mary Had a Little Lamb. The board book version shows a portion of the picture that doesn’t include the house.

This one from You and Me: Poems of Friendship has a ribbon porch roof decorated with tatting.

I used cloth-covered wire to make the gingerbread edging along the roof line in this cottage from The Hollyhock Wall. Looking more closely, there is a lot of cloth wrapped wire in this scene: tree branches, hollyhock stems wicker furniture and straw hats. The dolls are about 1 1/4″ tall.

This is the Russian grandfather’s house from Peter and the Wolf. See the whole illustration in an earlier story about the CD here.

This quintessential thatched cottage is from the rhyme, “One, two, three, four, Mary’s at the cottage door”, which is in my new book, Pocketful of Posies. Find out about the book and the traveling exhibit of original artwork here. Also, see the whole double page spread in another post here.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Pocketful of Borders: Little piggies & back jacket

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This is a quick update on the border project for the illustrations from Pocketful of Posies. I’m working on the last one now, so if everything goes as planned, we will be readyto hang the show next Monday! My husband has been helping by putting the artwork into the frames he made. To see the show schedule, go to the Traveling Exhibit Page here. These pictures are from This Little Piggy and the back book jacket.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: Go to bed first

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Salley Mavor

There are only 5 more borders to make before we hang the first installment of the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit at Highfield Hall in Falmouth next week. Besides stitching, all I’ve been doing for the past month is eating, sleeping and occasionally riding my bike for exercise. It takes about 8 to 10 hours of sewing to complete each border, so I’ve been aiming for one a day. My broken wrist set me back 4 months last winter, so I’m making up for it now.

“Go to bed first, a golden purse” begins the last rhyme in the book. Here’s my work table with the illustration surrounded by piles of wool felt.

The border colors have been selected and cut.

I was so intent on finishing this one, that I skipped taking pictures of the stitching process. The rug under the beds is decorated with embroidery on felt, with thread tassels.

The different beds are made with found objects like beads, dowels, and hollow thorns.

It’s always a good idea to end a bedtime story book with a picture of a sleeping child.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: Old woman who lived in a shoe, etc.

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This double page spread from Pocketful of Posies has three rhymes dispersed throughout; There was an old woman who lived under a shoe, Lillies are white and See saw, Margery Daw. Since I’m so busy stitching, I’ll just show pictures of the border making process without description.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: Humpty Dumpty

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Here’s a shot of my work table (ironing board) with a border in progress. It shows the illustration from Pocketful of Posies that includes “Humpty Dumpty”, “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers” and “Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall”.

There’s lots of foliage and a stone wall build with a combination of stone beads and individually appliqued felt stones. Peter Piper’s hat and basket of peppers are made with thread wrapped and coiled wire.

I had fun using some interesting pieces of driftwood and other found objects.

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: my black hen

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This illustration from Pocketful of Posies is for the rhyme, Hickety, pickety, my black hen, she lays eggs for gentlemen. My descriptions will be brief, as I’m working hard to finish all of the borders for the upcoming traveling show. The colors vary in this series of photos becuase I took them at different times of day, under different lighting conditions. The color green is famously difficult to reproduce anyways. Here’s the fabric relief piece sewn to foam core board, before a border was attached. Yes, I made the egg basket, by wrapping and coiling wire around and around. Pretty obsessive, but necessary!

The arched hen-house is made with bittersweet vine, with driftwood floor boards.

The border need a little punch, so I sewed some purple perle cotton around the outside edges.

The embroidered leaves could also be seen as feathers.

The hen’s nest is made from some curly excelsior packing material and her feathers are highlighted with purple metallic thread.

This coloring is more true to the original piece.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: Donkey & Elsie Marley

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m making good progress on the borders for the Pocketful of Posies Exhibit and thought I’d show one from earlier this summer. This double page spread illustrates the nursery rhymes “Donkey, donkey, old and gray…” and “Elsie Marley has grown so fine, she won’t get up to feed the swine…”.

UPDATE: Autographed copies of Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes are available in my Etsy Shop here.

The hungry swine were fun to make! The stones on the path were made with chain stitches in a tight spiral.

See a detail shot of the driftwood roofs and tree in an earlier post here.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

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