Week Thirty-Five: Butterfly Nursery Mobile

This week I have attempted something a bit different, and I gave a clue a week or two ago on the Facebook page, and I must say I'm quite chuffed with the end product, it is gloriously sweet.

A Rainbow of pretty husked flutterbies for little babies to watch as they fall asleep!

 

 

The fantastic thing about these husked butterflies for this purpose is that they are so light and seem to catch the teeniest tiniest breeze, so it's basically constantly moving, which is perfect for the little bubby watching, it's quite mesmerising and so happy and bright.

 

 

I've used the classic husking technique as displayed in Week 7, in various sizes and all the basic colours of the rainbow.

The frame is made of the inside ring of embroidery hoops of two sizes, and I've painted them with a pearlescent white paint, then it's all put together with white embroidery thread, nice and thick to hold up the rings but one strand thick for the pretty butterflies. I've sealed the knots with fabric glue to avoid it unravelling, and I've sprayed the butterflies with 'preserve it' to avoid colour fading and make them a little tougher. And it's all held up by a simple silver ring.

I've seen ways to make the structure to attach it to a crib, but as it's so delicate I would suggest hanging it from a hook in the ceiling would be much better, and you can add string to the ring to have it lower down without it ending up within reach of your little munchkin/s as even a baby would crush these within seconds.

Here's a shot of what the little ones will see...

It was hard to pick a photo of this nursery mobile, as the breeze changed it so often that each picture was different in a lovely way. Getting this to hang evenly was the hardest part of this project I must say, it took a few tries and lots of wasted thread, but now I've got the hang of it I am sure I won't have so much trouble in the future.

So, that was lovely wasn't it? Makes you wish there were more real live butterflies around. We should do something about that. Having said that I found one in my kitchen last week, perhaps she saw these others and knew we were butterfly-friendly. Anyway, next week we're going to see something really purple!


xnata

Winter Markets and an Upcoming Giveaway!

Hi People! Just popping in to let you know that next Saturday I'll be hauling my goodies to the Winter Markets at All Saints Anglican Church, Chermside QLD!

The Winter Market is on from 7am(!!) to 12pm on the 22nd of June. I'll be sharing a table with several special and talented ladies, so be sure to stop by and take a look.

I've upgraded my market system by protecting my cards in fancy plastic slips and with proper printed price stickers like I used to do. I think it makes for a more professional look and it keeps the goods protected and clean for the buyers. Pricing them with nice stickers is yet to come.

In the mean time I'll be quilling like crazy to make this stock pile bigger!


AND...


We are just two posts away from my 100TH Blog Post!! I'm so impressed with myself for getting here (and we definitely have my year of weekly quilling to thank for that), that I've decided to celebrate with another GIVEAWAY! I'll announce the details in that post along with some fun stats about the blog to mark the occasion and to give me something to look back at in the future.

The prize will be a choice between two things, one of which I am currently making, and it's another very different technique to things I've made before. I haven't decided on the other option yet, so let me know if there's anything I've made that you'd love to win!

Stay tuned for two weeks from now and make sure you enter to win.

See you next week!

xnata

Facebook Fan 100 Likers Giveaway!

Surprise, it's finally time for a giveaway!

Well, not quite. I haven't quite hit the 100 likers mark, but as a favourite tv quote of mine goes, I tried being patient but it took too long.

I've made a blue version of the butterfly I did last week (well, a bit different actually, but a butterfly using the husking technique), and if you like my facebook page and the giveaway picture, you could win it!

Here's some pics of it being made...

I decided this one belonged resting on a nice big leaf...here it is being propped up by the frame of my glasses while the glue dried   :)

And here's the finished card that could be yours!

this is the exact photo you'll find on the Facebook page.

So, now we just have to wait for the facebook page to hit the 100 likers mark, and then you'll all have five more days to 'like' the photo of the blue butterfly, and then I'll draw the winner out of an umbrella (for reasons that should be clear to you all) and then I'll announce the winner! Remember, if you want to win it you have to 'like' the page AND the picture of the butterfly that will be marked 'GIVEAWAY!'


Good luck!

xnata

ps - stay tuned for this week's project!

Week Seven: Husked Butterfly

I always fret about posting on a Saturday as it usually seems to be the day that no one goes on the internet, but unfortunately I didn't manage to finish this week's project in time for posting yesterday.

To those of you who've followed my quilling for a long while, you may have taken my hint last week to mean that I'd be making another one of these: https://www.facebook.com/PolkaDotParasolDesigns/posts/490773770965994?ref=notif&notif_t=like#!/photo.php?fbid=118570614852980&set=a.118569684853073.7599.118568908186484&type=3&theater but I'm wanting to try new things in this quilling year, so I've gone a different way, I hope you like it!

The reason it took longer than I expected was that I was learning an advanced quilling tehnique, and this was my first attempt! The technique is called 'Husking', and involves the use of a pattern and pins to construct the piece. I've included some 'during' shots to show you what I mean.

Here's the finished product!

 Love it.

So, this will give you an idea of what husking is. 

I drew a basic outline of the wings on a piece of card, and put a foam board underneath it and a piece of baking paper on top, then placed pins at extreme points on the design. Then you put the paper around and glue it in place, and so on and so forth. 

I only did it for the outline, then removed the wings from their little pin frame and filled them in by hand. The cool thing about this is that you can get the shape just right, and as it's independant of the card, potentially I could make freestanding butterflies, much like the snowflakes! I see the making of a butterfly mobile in my future...

I made the body with a normal quilling tool, making a series of cone shapes and then gluing them together. I then mounted the body to the card, and glued down the wings on a tilt so they don't sit flush on the card, to give it a bit of life. As you can see below I used a bunch of quilling strips to prop them up until the glue dried.

The wind knocked it over during my little photo shoot, but I noticed that would be a good way to show the angle that the wings sit at.

Oh so pretty.

Voila! I know I'll be making more of these.

Week eight will be here before you know it, and it brings another winged creature!

xnata.