Snowbats

The other day, I was searching online for bats, as I often do, and came across these gorgeous little guys:



They're Honduran white bats, and live in the rainforest. Having seen these cute little snowballs, I of course wanted to make one, and set about designing how that might look:



The basic idea was to have some sort of big pom-pom, and to add wire wings and features to that. My attempts at pom-pom making haven't been too successful though! For example, this one, made from some very fluffy yarn, is just too fluffy, and moults everywhere:



Instead, I've decided that felted balls are the way to go, so I've ordered a few of those. Until those turn up, here's a little Photoshop mock-up of what will be known as a Snowbat:



The Snowbats will be a lot like my Fuzzy Bats, only snowball-sized, and will have a loop with which to hang them from your Christmas tree.

Cute Inspiration

Inspired by icons of cute such as Hello Kitty:



and Miffy:



plus the handmade cuteness of Etsy friends, and other cute things in my collection;



I am starting to move my work in a slightly new direction. Sort of a creepy-cute direction. Various cuteness seems to have been invading my studio lately, and the cute could not fail to invade my work too. And, being me, it comes with a creepy edge.

The creepy-cute invasion of my work begins with Evil Bunny. I'd say that his bark's worse than his bite, but rabbits don't bark.

Click the image below to see the listing:



Look out for more creatures coming soon! Here's a few designs I've been playing around with:



In the meantime, click below to check out the new Creatures section of my Etsy shop for bats, cats and more:

Halloween in July part 2 - a beaded skull

Production of the Halloween range has begun, and one of the first pieces I've created is this beaded skull:



This piece is the result of a series of sketches, in which I was working out how to make the skull look right. In my designs, I often draw something out as a line drawing first to see whether it would work in wire, as the construction of my wire pieces is basically made up of a series of curved lines. I always drew skulls face-on, and, as a line drawing, that always made them look too monkey-like.





However, while watching Buffy (series 7, which has a hand walking up a skull in the title sequence),



I hit on the (now obvious-sounding) idea that the skull did not have to be symmetrical face-on image, but could be a side-on image instead.





Thus, this design was born - a simple line drawing in copper wire, adorned with glass beads. Click the image below to go to the listing: