After making my crochet dollies, I’ve been left with a feeling of ” somethings not quite finished”.
So I embarked on painting portraits of my crochet curiosities.
After making these mini paintings, I knew I needed to create frames to suit. A regular wooden frame just wouldn’t fit. So I raided my studio for materials and created original frames from mixed materials to compliment the painting and match the quirkiness .
So, here’s what I made earlier:
I’m really enjoying the process.
There will be more.
Some of the paintings will be exhibited soon at the Little Summer Benefits exhibition at the wonderful Vyner Street Gallery.
I’ve made crochet dollies, even creepy crochet dollies and I’ve made cats and dogs from crochet. Now of course , in an obvious step, I’ve combined the two.
Now I’m making Crochet animal /human mix ups; crochet anthropomorphism if you will.
But why use words, when a picture tells the story far better?So far there has been Pugwoman, a very worried looking lady with a few extra nipples with a very classical air.
Then there’s Bunny Girl, a very seductive creature indeed.
Then Kit E Kat , a pussy cat with a pvc mini skirt and black feather neckpiece.
Finally, probably the strangest of all so far is Cock a Doodle Dude. He’s pretty self explanatory.
I’m going to eventually set these dollies in environments to create art pieces in their own right. ( Apart from Bunny Girl and Kit E Kat who are for sale in the wonderful alternative space that is the Brighton Arts Club. )
There will be others. My imagination is teeming with them , all woofing, miaaowing and mooing to get out.
I’ve been so busy making stuff for shops and my upcoming Xmas stall at Brixton Station Road Market that I’ve sadly neglected the bloggosphere, for that I apologise.
To cheer y’all up I decided to show you two of my little kittens I’ve made.
Introducing Batcat
and Robin
Don’t they make a cute superhero cat couple? The Batcat was inspired by an image going around the Internet that I stumbled upon and I thought I just had to reacreate this little black kitten with black bat wings in crochet. So I did.
Then I made this little Sealpoint Siamese kitten and realised that she was the cat equivalent of Robin, with her lovely facial mask.
It didn’t take much of a leap of imagination to link Batcat to Robin.
🙂
I’ve also recently made a set of Batman and Robin dollies for a very lovely client and Facebook friend. They were based on the original 1960 Kapow! Adam West version of Batman and Robin. Here’s a few pics.
Batman Kapow!
Robin. Kersplat!
Off to save the day.
Well, I’ve not got much more time to write so I’ll leave you with more pics of little Batcat and Robin.
She’s so sweet
Batcat from the side
So fluffy!
Back to the hook. 🙂
If you’d like to keep up with everything I’m making, and are on Facebook, here are links to my Facebook pages : (remember to click that ‘LIKE’ button)
I’ve been so busy what with Diane’s Puppets Â
and making all things crochet, I’ve hardly had time to think, let alone write.
But I’m not complaining, not a bit of it!
Since learning to crochet just over a year ago now I’m now have my crochet being stocked in three shops, one in my local area, Brixton in a brand new gift shop in Market Row, right next door to the best pizza place in the UK , Franca Manca’s . If you haven’t had a pizza at Franca Manca’s you’ve not eaten pizza, trust me. And it’s really reasonably priced too. (You can tell I’m hungry can’t you? ) Well while you are there, pop into the gift shop next door called 20 Storey and check out Crochet Bright and Beautiful and also some Crochet Dark and Decadent.
One of my pugs in the window at 20 Storey.
Cute crochet for cool kids .
I’ve also got stock in a lovely new boutique : Harriet Jade Boutique in the Derbyshire town of Wirksworth. Have a look at the facebook page here .
Crochet Bright and Beautiful hits Derbyshire! My stock in Harriet Jade Boutique
Then I’ve got five of my ‘scaries’ that I’ve made over at Crochet Dark and Decadent in a lovely toyshop Heelgoed SpeelgoedÂ
Scary collectable dollies in Amsterdam toyshop Heelgoed Speelgoed
As if that isn’t enough, I’ve been asked to make some collectable dogs and cats for a lovely tea party shop in Putney. As soon as I’m finished that order, I’ll let you know the details.
I’m busy making new stock for my Xmas Eve market stall in Brixton for Crochet Bright and Beautiful. Here is a little taster of what I’ve been making:
Baby headbands
Cute soft ear hats
The ‘fluffy ears’ range of hats
Boy hats
Super luxurious newborn baby fox hat
Fish hat
Flower power hat
Girly hat
Daisy hat
The Quick Brown Fox hat
Red Admiral hat
So as you can see, I’ve been busy. Got lots more ideas to come, and lots more to make.
Oh, exciting news too, Crochet Dark and Decadent will be featured in two alternative magazines in the near future… I’ll keep you posted as soon as I get news.
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you all soon(ish).
Now where’s my hook?
Things have been really exciting recently. My crochet work has taken a brand new direction. Complimenting the bright and beautiful crochet goods I have been making over at CrochetBrightandBeautiful I have stepped through the looking glass that I … Continue reading →
She is a gift for artist friend John Lee Bird who I spoke about in my previous post. His very closest companion, friend and muse, Ferret the cat sadly passed away suddenly recently. I don’t even have the heart to ask what happened, it’s all too raw.
Since I’ve been making crocheted cats for a while, I thought it only fitting to make a special one for John.
Look at this wonderful creature. I tried my hardest to recreate her using the materials I had . It was an honest struggle. It was hard to recapture her exact colouring, but I gave it a go. While I don’t think I’ve got an exact likeness ( not really going to happen with a crochet caricature ) but I think I’ve captured something of her spirit.
So here are few pictures of my tribute to Ferret.
John is a wonderful artist and human being who makes his living by making art . You can help him keep creating beautiful things for the world by sponsoring him by buying something beautiful here
I just bought this gorgeous tote bag
Wearable art
Isn’t it pretty? Buying this piece helps John put on his exhibitions that keep art alive in our pretty dull world.
So what are you waiting for, go and have a look at what he has to offer.
In the mean time I’ll tuck little crochet Ferret up in her box and get her ready for delivery.
His life celebrated in the West End musical Taboo, he in turn inspired another one of my heroes , painter Lucien Freud, who used Leigh as one of his biggest models.
Lucien Freuds masterful work.
I’ve recently discovered performance artist Marnie Scarlet through a mutual friend, the wonderful painter John Lee Bird who had recently painted Marnie’s portrait as part of his Before Encore exhibition series. Please drop by this wonderful man’s site and support his art. If you have a few spare pennies, maybe you could help him reach his sponsor target. It’s tough for artists right now, all Arts Council funding has been scrapped this year because of the Olympics, so if you care about art, show your love. Here’s a link to his blog for more information and examples of his fantastic art work.
Marnie is an extraordinary creative soul and I feel she has taken Leigh Bowery’s legacy of playing with taboos and body image and expressed it as a strong woman. Be warned though, most of Marnie’s work is not suitable for those under 18 or who are easily offended.
After totally falling in love with one of Marnie’s incarnations: A Mexican Day of the Dead character, I was inspired to make a crochet version of her.
So here she is, I’m rather stuck on her.
Isn’t she lovely?
Every detail faithfully reproduced, right down to the high heels!
Look at her posing
Such a sassy lass
But wait, that hair style looks familiar…
Where have I seen that look before?
Oh yes, that’d be my work ribbons . I’ll avoid the matching skull face for work I think…
I think she ties in rather nicely with my sugar skull brooches
Available for sale in my Folksy shop.
Marnie the dolly is not for sale right now. I think I may make a range of ‘Scaries’ to go with my fairies, so until I do that you can’t have her.
She’s MINE!!! Nyeh, nyeh , nyeh, nyeh! ( Sorry came over all silly there)
But the brooches are for sale, only £6.50 each for handmade , every one unique .
It’s been an interesting few days, full of coincidences and chance meetings.
I’m the sort of person who believes that if you are on the right path, then things go right and coincidences happen as part of that confirmation.
( Just as I wrote that line, Dynamo the magician playing on the telly in the background said : My grandfather always told me that there was no such thing as coincidences, just things that were waiting to happen… )
Spooky that.
Well back to my true story.
Last time I held my market stall in Brixton Station Road
The collectible section of my market stall.
( a very seldom affair) , a very lovely man spent an awful long time pouring over my stock , clearly deep in thought. I’m quite a shy sort, and I’m not quick to offer help so waited for the inevitable inquiry.
” Could you make a dog to order? I’ve got a Jack Russel that I’d love to have made as a gift for a friend who looks after her for me.”
Well I love a challenge so I gave him my card and waited for the contact.
One one side of my business card I have my crochet business details.
On the flip side I have my Diane’s Puppets business details. I thought I’d combine the two in a multi purpose card. After all the target audience is virtually the same.
Well, a few months past and I totally forgot about this lovely man. That is until I received an email regarding making the dog for him. He had sent these lovely two pictures of Betty the dog
Lovely Betty the Jack Russel
She’s a sweetie
and asked if I could make her before the beginning of September.
That gave me loads of time, I’d surely get it done long before the deadline.
At the end of the email, he wrote this:
“Yes, I did check out your website as I was fascinated by the reverse side of your business card.
By a curious co-incidence you might like to check out my website : www.simonbuckley.co.uk ”
My curiosity prickled, I clicked on the link to find that the man who operated the Churchill Dog on the adverts
who had operated Margaret Thatcher’s puppet in Spitting Image and who was the legend that was Nobby the Sheep from Children’s telly had commissioned little ole me to make him something. Talk about a puppets connection… how strange. He lived locally too, in Brixton.
Here is his showreel.
Seriously Simon, I’m not worthy.
But I took the job on and within two days Betty the little puppy was finished. Here is the finished result:
Isn’t she cute? She even has a little ladybird on her nose as an added cute touch.
I’m delighted to report that Simon loved her . We spent a very lovely morning chatting puppets and crochet over a coffee in Brixton as I presented Betty to her owner.
I’m still sitting here smiling at the serendipity of it all. I think I must be doing something right.
A bespoke crochet your pet service soon to be launched here at Crochet Bright and Beautiful for just £30 you can have your own pet made young forever translated into crochet. If you’re interested, leave a comment or email me on
thebabyfairyfifi@hotmail.com and make the subject line : Bespoke Pet and I’ll get back to you straight away.
I make all my puppies and kitties up as I go along, I’m not great with patterns. Now I’ve had some experience with crochet, I love the freedom of freeform crochet.
But if you are looking for inspiration and great patterns for dolls and cats and dogs, look no further than the wonderful Beth Webber who’s blog By Hook By Hand is an absolute treasure trove of patterns and who is my first inspiration on my journey for making my collectibles.
Cushions that could have come straight out of the psychedelic 60’s
Yes I know that video is in black and white, but boy can you just hear the psychedelic colours coming at you as you listen? I know I can and I have never licked any cute coloured stamps.
After watching these performances and others recently on the television of the Doors European tour in 1968 ( I was 4!) I was struck by the sheer creativity, inventiveness and freedom that musicians displayed then. Now because of all sorts of reasons ( many being commercial) we are restricted to what we can hear on mainstream media, unlike back in those heady years of early black and white telly. Of course, the Internet should allow for us to find such creative musical expressionists, but why am I still so excited at the sheer energy of watching Jim Morrison and the wonderful Ray Manzarek on keyboards, his head wiggling as he played , his body perfectly still and his long skeletal fingers working musical magic on the keys? I could wax lyrical about how impressed I was , but I won’t.
Back to crochet.
Bright colours were the order of the day in the 60’s . I remember my early childhood.: our bathroom was lilac and the ceiling was painted blood red. Our living room was a temple to purple , teamed with rich chocolate brown.
I’m still clearly influenced by those colour choices even today. I can’t help myself , colour makes me happy. Many people comment on my use of colour. I don’t see anything special about it, until I try to find other stuff with colours I like and then end up making it myself.
Like these cushions:
I call them the Light My Fire cushions after the lovely Mr Morrison’s song that the Beeb tried to ban because he mentioned ( shock horror) Girl you couldn’t get much HIGHER. I feel they really reflect the spirit of the 60’s and psychedelia .
I used the granny square motif because of it’s real retro 60’s/70’s hippy feel and used three coordinating styles rather than matching: 9 small squares edged in black,
4 squares edged in black
and then one large gradated colour square , also edged in black.
All three of the cushions are lined and backed in modern crisp black cotton and fastened at the top with mix and match shiny gold buttons for that added bling factor.
I’m rather in love with these babies, but they could be yours.
They cost £15 each , including the cushion pad, which I think represents fantastic value for money for a completely handmade unique item.
You can buy the full set of three for £45 and the postage will come free.
Remember, these cushions aren’t for the feint hearted. They are bright. Probably even brighter than these photographs can even portray. But if you have a minimalist interior that could do with statement cushions, eh voila!
Or , if like me, you just like to cram as much colour into your life as possible, then you won’t need any persuading.
![paint7]](https://dianespuppetsproducts.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/paint7.jpg)
I’m really enjoying the process.
Diane Goldie Artist 