nesting brooches

Those wee nests I had begun have now come full circle. ho ho ho

I had fun giving each one its little details like moss and tiny feathers.

These are brooches, meant to be worn to welcome the coming spring.

Or maybe to encourage spring to visit. Yoo hooo...Spring...come hither!

These are making a brief stop in my online shop and then will be headed to the Gift Shop at my work.

If you're so inclined, you can see them HERE before they're on their way.

I hope you all have a wonder-filled weekend.

Happy Friday.

new landscape brooches in the shop today

These new landscape brooches will be in the shop this morning at 10am central daylight time.

Sorry for the short notice.

They're here in my shop already for viewing.

They're making me crave a road trip.  Can you write off a road trip as a business expense if it's to gather inspiration?  hmm...

Thanks everyone!  Hope you have a great day.

more brooches in progress and a shop update to come

 

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I was making brooches and that I had several started.  I mentioned that I needed to be in a certain "place" to focus and finish them.  Clearly that "place" has been a little hard to find because I now have many brooches started but only a few nearing completion.

  

Can't get the quiet time you need to finish some?  Start some more!  Like, 23 more!

 

I'm optimistic that this weekend will bring the respite I need to finish some of these and to get out to the barn and make the wood bases.  So optimistic, in fact, that I plan to have a shop update with the ones I finish on Monday afternoon.

I'll put them in my shop to preview as soon as I finish and photograph them, but then they'll go up for sale on Monday the 25th at 3pm Central Standard Time.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

 

back to it

 

Spring break is over, my boys are back in school, and I'm back to my routine.  Over the break I've been working on some brooches-to-be, shaping them and laying out some backgrounds.  In order to finish a piece like this, to give it details and feeling, I need to be wholly present while working on it and that's not something that comes easy with 4 kids running through the house.

 Over the break I finally treated myself to a little pack of these sodas I've had my eye on, and I'm so glad I did, they're a great treat.  Different, in a delicious sort of way.

 

My youngest discovered she could climb walls.  Which pretty much sums up a good portion of the week.

I've been told that spring is swiftly approaching but it seems Ma Nature hasn't gotten the message.  We have well over a foot of snow still on the ground with more falling as we speak.

Starting next week I'll have some help with childcare and I'm hoping that will translate to a more productive me, work-wise.  I'm hoping to have those brooches up there finished and ready to share, soon, as well as other pieces I have in the works including project stones.

There is much to do.

So off I go.

Have a good start to the week, everyone.

birds nest fungi brooch

 

I've completed a new brooch, this one inspired by the tiny birds nest fungi.

A fanciful collection of bullion knots, french knots, and a few beads too.

 

The wool was some from a local shearer that I dyed in an autumnal mix of browns and rust.  The base is a piece of poplar branch that I dried so that the bark would remain in tact.  I love the bits of lichen attached to it.

A very earthy, natural piece.  If you know someone who shares that unique aesthetic, this piece is now available in my shop.

Enjoy your weekend!

mold and moss brooch

 

I managed to finish up the brooch I was working on yesterday.  It's reminiscent of moss and mold, no?

 

I set it into a base I made out of a fallen poplar branch.  I left some traces of bark on the edge, and made the shape natural and organic-looking, but sanded smooth.  I try to make things that I would like to hold in my hand, and the combination of wool, stitches, and wood make it just that for me.

 

 I've put this in my shop already and hope to have a few more pieces on a more regular basis.  I'll be sure to blog about them here and mention them on facebook and twitter too.

We did get that freezing rain last night so we are hunkered down today.  The kids have a pile of clay on the counter and are making pizzas and bowls. (mmmm clay pizza... )

I have a cup of coffee and some pie.  (mmmm coffee and pie... )

I hope your weekend is cozy too.

new items in the shop today

I have a few new pieces that I've added to my shop this morning.

This needlefelted wool scene has been fitted into a piece of oak from my woods.  I love the dark band in the grain of the wood.

For grins, here's an extreme close up.

The actual scene is only 1 1/4" across.

There is also this peaceful meadow scene surrounded by a pretty piece of chokecherry wood.

A small moss garden necklace, strung on leather cord.

This is also fitted into a piece of chokecherry.  I love the grain in this piece.

There will also be a limited number of custom-made embroidered stones and perhaps a completed stone or two if the weather cooperates and gives me light to photograph by.  After yesterday's gorrrgeous weather, I am not complaining about a little rain today.

If you'd like, please stop by my shop

here

Sorry about the short notice, I normally like to announce shop updates beforehand, but today is one of those unplanned kind of days.

Have a great day, everyone.

new work coming soon and a question

I've just finished a few of my needle felted landscape brooches and have decided that I'll be having a little shop update this Saturday morning at 10am CST.

my shop: lil fish studios

There will be a couple of brooches and a few sets of textural stones as well.  I'll be putting the listings up as I get them photographed and then they'll be available for purchase when they go live on Saturday.

For those of you that purchase from me, is it helpful to know in advance when I'll be listing new work?  Did the preview help last time?  Just try to determine if I should continue this way or just put new work in as I finish it.  I'd love your input.

Thanks everybody!  Have a great day.

Wordless Wednesday

Tinkering in progress

Signs of progress...chunks of wood turning into brooch bases...antlers being cut and drilled...wool being needled...

There's been some tinkering going on over here.  

It makes me happy.

and so does this.

More about all of this in time.

Fo now, have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 

Sunset and Spring

Just a quick pop-in this morning.  I've just finished a new brooch and put it in my shop.  I feel the urge to do more needling but the sun is out and calling me to work on some projects that our long cold spell has prevented.  I've moved my little greenhouse back outside now (again) and will be putting my seed starts and succulents back in there.  I did this last week and mother nature decided to freeze us out and give us more snow so let's hope she's done with those shenanigans...

I'm hopeful.  I'm really hopeful that spring has finally arrived.

Hope today finds you hopeful too.

Landscape Brooches

My muse seems to be whispering in my ear again.  Right now she's making me nostalgic about trips taken and dreamt of, and as a result I've been needling some small scenes for brooches.  I wonder if my muse was off road-tripping all this time?

The scene of birch and violets has already found a home, but this lone hickory will be in my shop shortly, and if I'm lucky, another piece featuring the sun setting over open water. 

Have you taken a trip lately?  Would you like to?  Where would you like to watch the sun set?

Damn It's Cold and A Bit About My Process

What do I do when I wake up to temperatures like this?

I stay inside and update my Etsy shop.  That is just what I did yesterday.  I had a few brooches completed so I took a few photos and added them to my shop.  I have a few other pieces in the works (new stuff!) and will be adding them to the shop sometime next week. 

Yesterday's additions were brooches, a few birch bark pieces and a few oak and wool. 

I was glad to have some time out in the barn last week to cut wood because with these temperatures there's no way I could stand out there and work.  The pole barn is unheated and my fingerless gloves just don't provide the warmth I need.  My gloves actually started off with fingers but suffered one too many run-ins with the belt sander so they are now mostly fingerless.  (thank goodness I'm not)

Each of these wood brooches has been cut from a downed branch that I've hauled out of the woods.  All of these are oak which is a nice sturdy wood to work with.  I cut them, shape them, sand them, drill them, wax them, and embroider them.  I gather the birch bark myself and then peel it into layers and use it as a veneer.  I make the wool felt by hand.  It's a labor of love.

It's important to me that these feel natural and unique.  I want them to feel like something plucked from the forest floor.  I cut them in organic shapes and leave angles and planes on the wood to remind the hand that holds it that it is handmade.

I can't wait to share what else I'm working on.  Soon.

What are you working on this weekend?

Mail Love

I received an amazing, AMAZING, bit of mail love yesterday and just had to share it.  My friend Lynn, ( silverwork on Etsy) is a very talented metalsmith and I had asked her if it would be possible to make me a brooch out of a tiny fish fossil that I had (from MWNaturesAntiquities also on Etsy).  I didn't know what was possible with the soft limestone, but Lynn said she'd give it a whack. 

What I received is pure art, and I was gobsmacked when I opened the box. 

There was my fish, surrounded in copper (love!) and finished with feathers.  Fish, chicken feathers, and copper?  Yes please!  Around the outside she had stamped "On the fifth day he made the fish and fowl".

I love that she included the sketch of her idea too.

I honestly can't decide whether to wear this or hang it on my wall as art.  Perhaps both.    

Lynn has a photo of the brooch on her blog, too, which I didn't see until after I received it so I was completely surprised.  Yay!

Thank you Lynn!   

Workin'

Workin' on the weekend, that's me. 

I'll be listing a few new brooches in the shop later today, and a set of heart ornaments (it's been a while) too.

I'm running low on birch rings for my brooches so I think today I'll be digging through our firewood pile and looking through the back woods for dead birch limbs.  When I find one that's suitable, I'll be cutting, sanding, and waxing these little babies.  Then I'll need to make more felt...  I'm trying out some other woods too and hope to continue working in this theme.  Combining the wood and wool has hit a note with me and I'd like to see where it takes me, so bear with me sweet readers because I am bound to bore you to tears with images of wood and wool...

It was 14 degrees when I woke up this morning but I see the sun shining so I have high hopes that this first day of spring will be a warmer one.

Have a great day.  Happy Spring!

New Brooches

I've been playing with a new concept for brooches and I'm hooked.
The hubby and I have been making wood buttons and I noticed that some of the birch pieces we had cut had decayed between the bark and the wood, just enough that I was able to pop off the outer ring of bark.  I took these rings, sanded them and waxed them, then fitted them with a piece of wool felt that I made by wet-felting.  Some I've sewn little details in, others I've left alone.

I'll be putting these in my Etsy shop sometime later today.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

More Mushrooms

I must have fungus on the brain.  Here is what I've been working on this week.

Mushrooms for your desk...a wool terrarium scene planted in a blue mason jar.

Mushrooms for your lapel...brooches made of recycled sweater wool.

And a flower brooch.  Not a mushroom.  Just to shake things up.  Also made of felted wool sweater and an awesome vintage mother of pearl button.

I hope to get some more work done this weekend. I feel like I'm on a roll right now, creatively, and want to ride it out and see where it goes.  Whether you're in the studio or in front of the TV this weekend, I hope you all have a great one.