Monday, September 29, 2008

Autumn Winds, Fae, and Poetic Ramblings...

Yesterday I saw the wind in his cloak of green and gold,
he looked at me with childish eyes though his face was wrinkled and old.
He called the leaves to dance with him in their dresses of crimson bright,
and they followed behind with maidenly pride in the waning Autumn light.

A bit of verse I wrote when I was 11. I guess I have been seeing fae all my life. And the winds have always been my favorites...

Here's my last Fall fairy for this year...maybe. I actually have one more in mind but as she is a very complicated piece she may not see realization until I have more time. Autumn IS my favorite season, I can't seem to help being drawn to all it's denizens. This is Queen Maeve with her attendant leaf pixies...and a pumpkin...just because!


Thursday, September 18, 2008

A Little bit of Witchery

Five Little Witches

Five little witches on a Halloween night
Made a very, very spooky sight.
The first witch danced on her tippy tiptoes.
The second witch tumbled and bumped her nose.
The third witch flew high up in the air.
The fourth witch combed her fuzzy hair.
The fifth witch sang a Halloween song.
Five witches played the whole night long!
- Anonymous

Okay I only have two little witches , but they are very little...



And here's another witch poem, one of my favorites...

Witchcraft was hung, in History,
But History and I
Find all the Witchcraft that we need
Around us, every Day—
- Emily Dickinson

Thursday, September 11, 2008

A Charm of Gnomes

Well there doesn't seem to be an official collective noun for a group of Gnomes so please feel free to make up your own if you don't like mine. I thought of saying "A Garden of Gnomes" but those are obviously another branch on the family tree. Any who, here is my

"Charm of Gnomes "

and they are definitely a charming group! While I was trying to get these shots this morning I had a little rascal trying to steal into the shots. Don't be fooled by her nonchalance...

I'm not the least bit interested in what you're doing!

See! Actually Calliope loves that cherry red doll and has been trying to get it since it was made!
And she's fast too!
This last one is for Bea, I took it even before you asked! But Calliope is too fast for my creaky old camera.


Monday, September 8, 2008

Little Gnomes

Here's a peek at a my newest doll design, a sweet little forest gnome. I've got 3 more in various stages awaiting completion in the studio so hopefully I can show you a group shot in a few days. I'm so pleased with how they turned out. They're so sweet, have a really original body design AND you can put your fingers in their arms and use them like puppets. Pretty cool huh? I'm not quite sure how to photograph that though, so far the shots just don't work... any ideas? And I'd love to hear what you think about the design as well. Also check out those buttons! Aren't they wonderful? They're from The Button Shop and I just love them. Thanks Jenn! You'll see more of those on the new dolls too.
Back to work now, I'll post more soon! Lots of toy making to do for Santa!

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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Witches!

"By the pricking of my thumbs something wicked this way comes..." - William Shakespeare "Macbeth"

"I know of the leafy paths that the witches take
Who come with their crowns of pearl and their spindles of wool,
And their secret smile, out of the depths of the lake..."
- William Butler Yeats "The Withering of the Boughs"

Well not too wicked. Meet Tabitha and Penelope. Two witches who personify the "trick" and "treat" of Halloween. Tabitha is all about the tricks. She can be a terrible nuisance; soaping cars, putting tangle spells on hair, spilling milk, and hiding keys or shoes...but there is one way to avoid her pranks. Because of her great love of pumpkins, she'll never play tricks on a home with a jack-o-lantern outside! On the other hand, Penelope and her cat Poe are MUCH more interested in the treats and love to make all kinds of goodies for the neighborhood kiddies...the yummy kind because Penny is a Good witch! They live together despite their differences and figure between them they have all the Halloween bases covered.

In the spirit of these two I give you some bits of classic witchery that I love...

Witch-Wife
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.
She has more hair than she needs;
In the sun 'tis a woe to me!
And her voice is a string of colored beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.
She loves me all that she can,
And her ways to my ways resign;
But she was not made for any man,
And she never will be all mine.

Witches Chant
by William Shakespeare

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.--
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch's mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangl'd babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,--
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Unbeliveable as it may seem I knew this second one one by heart at a ridiculously young age. I'm not sure what that says about my upbringing but it certainly was a literary one....