Show your (craft)work

[overthehill]

I do. And I'm counting each row. But there's loads of stuff going on here. Mostly, I'm not very good at this! Also, switching the colours from the original, I hadn't taken into account where the increases occur. There's an increase at the end of each fourth or fifth row, which - where that coincides with a colour-change - makes the whole thing look worse. I've also messed up the colour-change between the black and yellow, resulting in an apparent extra stitch.

On the other hand, R thinks it's brilliant, bless him. Maybe the mistakes will look less obvious when it's finished. :polyanna:

[H1ppychick]

You could maybe try and tidy up your transition where you had an extra stitch by oversewing with yarn of the right colour on a needle?

[overthehill]

You could maybe try and tidy up your transition where you had an extra stitch by oversewing with yarn of the right colour on a needle?

Funnily enough, that's exactly what I did. I searched the web for some way of replacing a stitch but the only viable solution seemed to be to re-do the whole lot. So I put in a couple of stitches in yellow yarn, to cover the black. It isn't very expertly done, but the colour swaps now run in an even diagonal line.

I've finished one of the legs, so the elephant is now ready for stuffing, before I close the body by crocheting the second one, but I did a flame test on the kapok and have decided against using it. It flares up immediately at the touch of a match, like the brandy on a Christmas pudding, and then smolders for several minutes, emitting glowing red sparks, until all that is left is a small charred ball. Definitely not safe - though, for interest, I'll try the same test on the polyester wadding and see what happens.

[H1ppychick]

I've just been down to pick up the results of my first pottery weekend, I'm generally pleased. Herewith my favourites.

[H1ppychick]

Here’s my trinket/bonbon tray.

[H1ppychick]

Here’s my little pinch pot thingy, made with crank clay which is coarser:

[H1ppychick]

And finally my tulip wall plaque, which is not perfect, but I think came out pretty well given that I had literally 5 minutes to bang on some coloured slip at the end of the session. The inside of the petals are pretty patchy but it looks ok on the outside apart from a tiny smudge. Shame I didn’t have time to paint any of the foliage but I think it stands out quite well as it is.

[H1ppychick]

I made 3 other things but I don’t like them as much.

[rosy]

They are so pretty & clever!

[ParisGal]

The tray is fantastic!

[SunnyMum]

Wow! They're brilliant. I love the tulip.

[Arrietty]

Really lovely.

[wendy james]

The elephant is looking great OTH.

Lego fabric outfits are done in time for our holiday.

[Cerise]

You’ll certainly be able to find your children in a crowd!

[overthehill]

Wow! Those are great, Hippy. I love the scale/fish pattern on your bon bon tray. Was that done by pressing something into the clay? It looks very professional.

[H1ppychick]

Thanks OTH, that was the first thing we made on day 1 and was by far the easiest, and you could probably make lots of the same thing fairly consistently! It is indeed created by rolling out a sheet of prepared clay, putting something of the desired pattern on top and rerolling it (in this case the edge of one of those wipe clean coated table mat / doily things, which I repeat-rolled across the surface). You then cut to the shape you want using a sharp knife, create the rim by pushing a slightly smaller wood block gently down into the centre of the clay sheet when it's sitting on top of a sponge, and it's pretty much ready, bar a minor trimming of any sharp edges after it's dried a couple of hours, then firing and glazing.

[overthehill]

Hello! Pardon my state of undress. I still need my trousers and hat.

luisa-elephant-2.jpg

[H1ppychick]

He's so cute! He looks vaguely shy / bashful (notwithstanding any trousery-nudity).

[Shoe]

He's so cute! I live the pottery too.

WJ the Lego fabric looks great made up!

[wendy james]

He’s cute!

I made a start on outfits for us for a christening. I have another dress to make for me, so will be able to choose.

Sproglette’s is a vest that I’ve extended to dress length then used the sheer poncho pattern from a top I made for myself, adjusting the neckline to match the vest.