squirrel momma

Hair. And the Animals that Grow It.

This weekend was the West Michigan Fiber Festival. I went to stock up on wool roving (didn't find any felt), but my favorite part ended up being the critters.

There were really big bunnies.

 

Llamas with attitude.

 

Goats who needed a trim.

 

And goats who were just plain adorable.

 

Although I didn't leave with a baby goat (really, really had to talk myself out of that one), I did score some fabulously weird wool.

I think the stuff on the top is from those curly sheep I can't remember the name of, and the stuff at the bottom is wool "pebbles". What's it for? Who knows! What will Squirrel Momma use it for? Hmmm. Fish scales? Frog warts? Monster fur? Don't know yet, but I can practically guarantee it will be strange, and most probably have fangs.

Fangy Flashback

Found these floating around my jewelry drawer, in need of a minor repair. Turquoise set in sterling silver, circa 1998. They're actually fairly small earrings--her face is about 1/2 inch high--so people have to squint to see what's dangling from my ears.

Apparently fangs are not a new thing with me.

 

Obviously I'm a Trendsetter

Spotted on the Paris runways (via racked):

 

Where does one find googly eyes that big, anyway?  The ginormous monster store?

(...and I'm loving how the model's hair matches her purse...may have to start doing that...)

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

That quote should clue you in to the fact that my family took me to see Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" for my birthday.

 Guess who my favorite character was?

 

 

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Monsters--and their fur--are taking over my studio.

 

I try really, really hard not to be a fabric hoarder, and I'm attempting to limit myself to what will fit in the dresser in my studio. But my fur drawer is full to bursting. And when I see a fabulous new fur, what am I supposed to do--walk away empty handed? Nuh uh! So I need to start sewing it up to make room for new acquisitions. Which means more purses! Pouches! Monsters!

Should I sew a fur bikini for our upcoming vacation? Hmmm...

Hmmm...

Would it be too much if I added monster eyes to my footwear?

 

 

Greetings from Frau Frankenstein

Another day, another snowstorm.  And more experiments with eyeballs.

 

I did a dry run with the same fabric I'd use for a monster purse: eyeball, wool felt, fur, wool felt (the last layer of wool felt is to make sure the washer has something to grip, as the minky is pretty slippery on the back).

 

It was immediately obvious--even to someone who mistakenly let a 10 year old boy stay home from school when he wasn't actually sick, just exhausted from too much Super Bowl--that the prongs need to be facing up (towards you) as you push the washer down onto the shaft.

 

I clipped off the excess shaft with a pair of wire cutters and voila!  An eyeball locked down tight and ready to roll. 

Now I must go back to my laboratory and check on Igor...

Eyeballs. Lots of 'Em.

Now that the Super Bowl is over and the Saints have won, life can get back to normal around here--well, as normal as it ever is.

Like a zombie on a quest for brains, I have been hunting around for eyeballs for the Monster Purses.  I didn't have much luck locally, so I ordered some from Etsy seller 6060.

6060 paints her own eyes--wait, let's rephrase that--6060 paints many of the eyes she sells (hmmm, still sounds a little creepy, but I'll go with it) herself, hence her fabulous range of colors, not to mention styles and sizes. And obviously, I am a woman who desperately needed to have pink cat eyes.

 

But the one thing that is unusual about her eyes is the shaft, which is slightly different from the ones I've been buying at Hobby Lobby.

 

See the ridges on one of my "old" eyes on the bottom right?  When you push the washer on, those ridges helps lock it in place (that's why they are, in theory, safe for small children).  My new ones must lock on with friction; I'm guessing the metal washer cuts into the plastic shaft, helping it grip.  And I know there should be a correct direction for the washer to go on, so that it doesn't slip off.

So I must go perform experiments with eyeballs!

 

  

  

Well, That Was Interesting

I now am a much older, wiser woman.  I have undergone the hard drive death of our family computer--yes, everything was lost, most importantly three years of photos--and I have processed the seven stages of grief, including rage (why won't this #$%@!!! thing turn on?!) and denial (if we take it to the Genius Bar at the Apple store one of those geniuses can surely fix it!).  I have learned many things, not the least of which is setting up a Mac from scratch.  Which, it turns out, is not so hard, as long as you don't have any qualms about closing your eyes and stabbing at random keys when asked if you run on a LAN or PPP or PPPoe.

So. What else have I been doing? Frame purses.  

 

Have to say, this may be the best craft ever. Aside from the fact that you have to mail order the frames (I got mine from the Etsy shop 3Dpatternpaper) they are very simple to make, and there are plenty of tutorials out there that explain all the details very clearly. Which is my way of saying I'm too lazy to do it for you.

Of course Squirrel Momma can't make normal purses. No, no, no. She must make Monster Purses. So meet Juanita...

 

...and Dwayne...

 

In my own defense, I tried to be normal, really. I had silk dupioni, in a nice sedate chocolate brown, all picked out at the fabric store, but then the fake fur called to me. And then I had to add fangs. And then I remembered I had green cat eyes. And then...

Squirrel Accomplished!

 

There.  Now 2010 can officially begin.