Purple Dotee

My last post was about my trip to the fabric district. The ultimate reason for the trip was because I needed materials for my purple dotee that I need to send off this week (to Australia!).

I found some Dia de los Muestos festive fabric that I used for her face.

After this, I stuffed her, added hair, and closed her up.

The skirt that I attached next was something that I found at the fabric district in this really messy store, along with the purple buttons.

Finally some bead embellishments, and a bio. Her name is Mictecacihuatl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mictecacihuatl

LA Fabric District

Today was my first ever trip to the LA Fabric District. All within walking distance are are LA Flower Mart, and the LA Fashion District.

The fabric district was SO AMAZING! IT was shop after shop of
endless amazing yarn

stacks and stack of fabric

It was like a fabric land...

I went into one shop that had just a mess of random things. Buttons, sequins, crocheted fabric pieces... Like a huge thrift store of nice finds.

And finally, beads. These are all seed beads... but this store was really huge and had everything. I bought some needles here for threading the tiniest of seed beads.

The best part about it? It is relatively cheap. Of course the fabric I wanted wasn't the highest bargain, but the print was amazing! Projects to come!

Mermaid Dotee

What is a Dotee?

Dotee dolls were created by a very talented Australian artist called Dot. They are little friendship dolls, made using scraps of fabric and beads, embellishments etc, and the rules are that they are only to be given away, as gifts or traded, not sold. They are usually 3-5 inches long, and they include a hanger, and a beaded tail.

I created my first mermaid dotee just the other day!

Since it is a mermaid, I skipped the beaded tail and just used a 'real' tail. Traced it out on leather.

The leather was very difficult to work with. After sewing, taking apart and re-sewing, it is finally ok. The final tail, after adding some beads and drawing.

I'm not very good at arms, or anything like that, so she's a bit of a stump arm, with drawn on face...She is also larger than dotee's usually are, but thats ok.

I sewed in some yarn for hair (which I had to do twice because I did it wrong the first time...), and used some green tulle for decoration.
The final product :

Wine Cork Stamps

Sifting through recycled materials at work I found a huge container full of wine corks. I remember people using these as stamps, so I decided to try that out.

First, I took the wine cork and on the side that seemed most flat, I drew a design (a heart)

Then, using an Exacto knife, I cut out the design. You have to be really careful when doing this. It is easy to just cut the whole thing off. Especially with the star stamp that you can see below. I tried using my rubber cutters. Nope, bad idea. It just made a scratch on the top of the cork which you can now see in the stamped image.

I stamped the image and used that to create a paper image so people know what the stamp is of.

I also created a star stamp!

Here you can see the depth of which I cut.

REALLY SIMPLE! I sent these to the same swap partner that got my pumpkin cushion.

Pumpkin Pin Cushion

I found some fabric that inspired me to make a pumpkin pin cushion. Nice fall colors, and an easy project for a swap partner.

First, I traced my design onto the fabric.

Then, I made an outlying line that will serve as my cutting line. This is so I make sure to have enough space when I'm sewing so it doesn't come apart. Cut.

Sew together leaving a small space.

Make sure to cut off most of the extra fabric. Turn inside out, and stuff with filler. Sew closed.

Next, I took embroidery thread and starting in the middle, sewed the pumpkin creases. What are these called anyway? Make sure to pull tight so that it makes the pumpkin plump.

TaDa! I added a green stem just by cutting some random fabric and sewing it on as I sewed the creases. Perfect for pins, or just decoration.

Thrift store find

Friday I went to a few thrift stores, and came across this box.
I had to have it. At only $10, it was worth it. The carving is so intricate, and the flower inlay is metal.
The inside is lined with a thin felt, but amazingly clean and reinforced with paper thin wood. I love how the metal work is so tiny and old looking.
This inspires me to go into more thrift stores when I see them. Especially ones with home goods.

Syrenka stamp

I was invited to join a mermaid themed group on Swap-Bot. This brought to the forefront of my mind my love of folklore and imaginary creatures. I was inspired to make a stamp of such a creature :

The initial drawing and transfer
After carving, and initial stamping
After some touchups, and adhering the stamp backing. I used a dye based stamp for this, and it turned out interesting. It is as if the mermaid is underwater...
Anyway, I typically use a non-smear waterproof ink for this, and this is why.