No Post Due to Holiday Weekend

I hope you are enjoying spending time with family and friends during this holiday week.  Please take some time for a remembrance of our military past and present and their families.

Lamb Soft Sculpture - Part 7

Just a quick post today.  I really have not done anything on the lamb in the last few days.  I have been getting ready for the upcoming holiday weekend.  I thought I would add a photo of the lamb body and head together.  It should give a bit of a feel for the shape of the lamb.  Young animals are a little leggy.  They have not filled out their body weight yet.  Also, the upper part of the legs will eventually be covered with wool.  That will change the profile of the leg. 

The lamb is lying on its side.  I have used a couple of items to prop the parts in position so the parts would stay in place.

Lamb Soft Sculpture - Part 6

No, I haven't gone off the deep end with the updates.  There was a correction that really needed to be made.  The name of the clamp referenced in the last post was a hemostat clamp.  I mistakenly identified it as forceps.  It is not the same, and I did not want someone to be searching for a different type of tool.

Once again I am late getting anything up on the blog.  I have done a quick evaluation on my time usage trying to find why things are so out of order for the last couple of months.  I have been having real trouble getting things to stay on track.  I figured out that in the last two months I have added in about seventeen hours of activities each month, which has generated about four and a half hours of travel time each month as well; about three hours visiting with friends and four hours in attending an informational meeting and a seminar on a couple of different subjects.  This is on top of my normal schedule of events.  Not to mention that I have been on a trip and also had family come to visit.  No wonder I don't have any crafting time. 

Anyway, what little time I have had to craft has been put to good use.  Last blog post I showed the legs had been stuffed.  Now I have the body and head stuffed and the head is attached to the body.  Before attaching the head, I shortened the neck's length by half an inch.  The head still looks a little long to me.  I don't know much (or for that matter, anything) about a sheep's anatomy.  I guess that the neck is actually connected a little lower down.  When I see sheep standing up and looking forward it seems that the sheep's neck is scrunched up next to the shoulders. I think I will have to relocate the lamb's neck or at least make the neck a little shorter.  (Either that, or turn this project into a pony.)  I really would rather it was a lamb, so I guess I will be doing some more work on the neck. 

A sheep has a lot of wool that makes it look much more solid than it is.  My added wool is not likely to be on as thickly as it is on an actual sheep.  Therefore, the body of the sheep was built larger to account for some of the wool.  This is why the lamb's body looks disproportionately large right now.  Once all the wool is in place it will look more like a lamb.

The lamb will not look like this when it is finished.  This project is still in the first stages.  The legs will soon be attached.  Then there will be some additional fabric and stuffing to fill in around the joints of the shoulders and withers.  So there is still a lot to be done.  One step at a time.  Check back for progress on the lamb. 

Lamb Soft Sculpture - Part 5

Fiber fill folded into a small ball and clamped to hold shape.

I was so busy on Thursday that I did not get to post.  It was just one of those weeks with double stacked activities and appointments on a number of days.  Even with all of that, I am making a some progress on the lamb.  I hope to have the first phase of this project completed soon.  I would like to have this phase completed by the end of the week.  (Fingers crossed on that.)  The lamb is still in a very primitive state.  It should look a lot better when it is finished.

It is fairly easy to make a stuffed animal if you have a pattern.  There is a learning curve when you try to create patterns yourself.  What you want, and what fabric and fiber are able to do can be two different things.  Sometimes you have to rework things until they come out right.  In this case, it is the legs that have been giving me the most trouble. 

Front and rear legs of the lamb.

There is an old saying that the third time is a charm.  I had to remake the legs again.  I think I have fixed the problem this time.  The first time I made the legs the size was too small and the fabric so stiff that I could not turn the legs without tearing them up.  The second time I made the legs I realized that the were so thin that they could not hold up weight of the body without bowing.  The legs would either have to have some internal support or be made larger.  I opted for making them larger and straighter so that no internal support would be needed.  If this toy lamb to be given to a child, you would not want something rigid inside as it could injure the child if he or she fell while holding it.  So now I am onto the third rendition of the legs.  I may have needed to make them straighter, but I did not want to lose the overall shape of the leg musculature.  If the lamb turns out to be a bit bandy legged I have a fix in mind.  There is no way to really test whether the legs will actually hold the weight until they are sewn onto the body.  So we will have to see when I reach that point.

The first time most people try to make a stuffed animal or doll they say, "What happened?"  Most times the toy comes out floppy even if the entire amount of stuffing called for has been used.  There are some techniques for stuffing toys that some people may not know, so I will go into them here in some detail.  It may save someone from becoming frustrated with a project.  It is not as simple a project as it seems.

Polyester stuffing is fluffy because there are a lot of air pockets.  You have to get the air out of the fiberfill so that your stuffing becomes a solid mass that will support your project.  This is not a hard task, but it can be time consuming.  These directions are for smaller projects.  If you have a very large project you may have to do things differently, but they will work for most dolls and small stuffed toys if the opening for the area you are stuffing is only a couple of inches.

To get started, grab a shallow handful of Polyester fiber fill.  By a shallow handful I mean about as much fiber as will cover the palm of your hand.  Fold it in half, fold it in half again,  keep folding it in half until it is in a tight bundle that cannot be easily folded any further.  Ideally, it should not much larger than slightly more than a quarter inch larger than the width and length of your thumb.  Clamp this with a forceps hemostat clamp.  Stuff this ball of fiber into your project and release the clamp.  You can generally buy these clamps as part of a craft tool kit or tool store such as Harbor Freight. 

Next, use a blunt object to pat the fiber into place, pushing it as firmly as possible.  Keep packing in balls of fiberfill until the project part is solid.  You can purchase a tool for this, but most people use chopsticks that came with takeout or the blunt end of a skewer or knitting needle.  The main thing is that you do not want something sharp poking holes in your project.  This process takes a while.  I estimate that it took forty minutes to an hour to stuff each leg.  While you are packing in the fiber, use the stuffing tool to push one ball of fabric over another so that the individual balls are not making the project lumpy.  Massage and knead the fiber as you go along.  Once the piece is stuffed, massage and knead it some more.  If there area areas that just won't smooth out, insert a long needle such as a doll making needle and push the fiber around. 

How do you know when  you have stuffed a project enough?  It is almost easier to describe what you don't want than what you want.   You don't want the project to be floppy.  You don't want it so overstuffed that it is straining the seams.  And you don't want large lumps in the project.  Remember though, that generally the stuffing is the first layer and that most projects are going to have other layers on top of this layer.  It will never be perfect, so as Erma Bombeck used to say, "Don't sweat the small stuff."  Eventually, you will know the feeling of a well stuffed toy.  If you are not sure what that feels like, borrow a toy from a kid or check out the animals at your local toy department.  (Although people may look at you strangely for squeezing the stuffed animals.)

At this point in my project, the legs are still a little lumpy.  They need a little work.  But that is where I stopped on the project.  Next blog post will be about the head and body.  Check back on Thursday for the latest blog post.

Lamb Soft Sculpture - Part 4- Project Reset

Lamb torso is partially stuffed.

Last blog post I wrote about my lamb fail.  The material was using was so stiff that I ended up ripping the feet off the lamb when I tried to turn the fabric right side out.  I was so annoyed that I almost gave up on the project.  But, I decided that I really wanted to make a folk art lamb, so I started over again.  The materials I was using would have worked well on a larger project, but when working on such a small figure the legs were so thin that it just was not going to work. My solution was to start over on this project.

Pattern ready to cut.

I find size to be a constant problem.  Working on larger sized projects is easier, but then the finished object becomes problematic.  My house is already filled with my art and finding a place for the new creation is a problem.  Smaller size makes it easier to display, but it is much more difficult to work on it.  I decided to keep this project the same size and to use plain muslin this time.  Some areas of the lamb will look differently than I had originally planned, but I think I will be able to come up with solutions to those problems.

Concept drawing for creating pattern.

The project is now off to a good start.  I have cut out the pattern.  The pieces have been sewn together and turned right side out.  A portion of the lamb's torso has been stuffed.  Although it seems like such a small amount of work to finish, getting this far took a solid three hours.  At least a third of that was taken in turning the fabric right side out after stitching it.  For the torso and had I was able to use a turning tool.  However the legs, ears, and tail needed something much thinner.  I was finally able to turn it by inserting a forceps clamp and grabbing the base of the hoof.  That allowed me to turn most of it, but the bottom of the hoof was still stuck in the narrow part above the hoof.  I just had to keep working on it until I was able to get it through.  And of course, there were four legs.  It took a lot of patience and persistence.

Even stuffing something so relatively small takes a fair amount of time.  I had to stop for the day and go on to other things, so I clipped the area with a couple of clothes pins to keep the stuffing in place.  I hope to have most of the lamb stuffed by next blog post.  I will blog more about the ins and outs of stuffing in my next blog post.

Right now the lamb looks a little bland.  It will not look like this when it is finished.  A project is not over until it is over.  This project is not just a matter of cutting fabric and stuffing it.  There is much more to be done.  Don't judge the project by the first steps.  There are many layers to come before the lamb is completed.  Check back on Thursday for the next blog post.

 

Lamb Fail

Well, I had hoped to show you pictures of a constructed or at least partially constructed lamb today.  However, that is not the case.  For one thing I have only had one hour and twelve minutes to work on it.  The second thing is that I managed to wreck the project in that time.  Although I enlarged my pattern, it was still too small to be able to turn the fabric.  I managed to rip the feet off two legs trying to turn the project right side out. The fusible fleece I used on the project was too thick and stiff to turn at that size.  So my choices are to enlarge the pattern again and go purchase more fusible fleece or just make the lame from muslin. 

I chose to make the lamb out of muslin rather than adding the fusible fleece to the muslin.  Due to my travels, I have been away from the project for so long I am asking myself why I started the project in the first place.  Sometimes when I put a project down for an extended period of time, I lose interest in it.  In an attempt from this project becoming a UFO (unfinished object) I decided to rekindle it by working on a muslin lamb.  Maybe something will come out of it and I will go on to finish the project.

The lamb was never a priority project, but I had hoped that I could apply what I had learned to make a larger folk art lamb.  However, there are other projects that I really would like to get started on as soon as I can.  I had already purchased the materials for a different project when I digressed to get started on the lamb.  If I hit another snag I might just put it away and go back to the other project.  The year is already five  months along and I am not getting much done.  (At least as far as my art is concerned.)

Anyway, I have pinned the pattern back onto some muslin to make another attempt at the lamb.  So my lamb photo today is showing me starting over on the project.  I will give it one more try, but only because I decided I would rather make a folk art lamb than buy the one I saw at the folk art museum in San Diego.  If I do decide to make a larger lamb later in the year, I think I may be using a different construction method.  More about that whenever I get around to it.

Check back Sunday.  Maybe I will have the lamb cut out by then.  



    

Cabin Renovation

The old paint color was very dark.

This was our first time up to the cabin this year.  The first trip up for the year is always a lot of work.  The place has to be cleaned and dusted.  The yard must be cleared of sticks and raked before it can be mowed.  Yes, mowed!  Although only the earliest leaves are coming out on the trees, the grass needed mowing.  Otherwise, it would be really high by the next trip up.  So we did all that, and worked on renovations also.

Primer coat.

We are full steam ahead on renovating the bedroom.  On this trip we were up for five full days and two partial days.  The first and last days were not productive in that we were mainly packing and driving either to get there or go back home.  So, in five full days we managed to remove the old flooring and under layment, wash the walls in preparation for painting, install the furring strips and shim them in preparation for installing the wood slat ceiling, and paint a primer coat on the walls.  We also cleared out some of the stuff in the attic. We made two trips to the dump with all the old materials.  Is it any wonder that we are tired?

Old flooring beneath the underlayment.

Although it feels as if we worked non-stop, we still managed to grill out one night.  My husband made some great bread that we baked on the grill.  It is a curious effect that it seems as if we did not get very far on renovations even though we managed to get a considerable amount of work done in the amount of time we had.  When I compare it to the amount of work we have yet to do it seems as if we only made a dent.  When I actually look with hindsight at what we accomplished I realize that we actually accomplished a lot of work this trip.

When we stripped out the old linoleum and under layment, we  found the floor in the old wooden floor in the bedroom was in relatively good shape.  (At least as compared to the flooring in the kitchen and along the outside dining room wall.  See the cabin renovation posts from last year about the rotted out floor boards and joists.)    We had to fight the temptation to consider refinishing the old wood floor.   However, we have the laminate already, so we are sticking with the plan.  At least the flooring will be consistent throughout the house this way.  Besides, we are familiar with how dust and dirt can collect in the gaps between the floor boards.  The cabin will stay cleaner longer using the laminate flooring.

Since we returned last week, I have been doing laundry and getting the house back in order.  When we return from the cabin, we launder everything we take with us.  At this time of year you have to pack for both warm and cold weather.  We had temperatures in the low forties and in the upper seventies.  Although it is easier to make estimates on the weather with all the modern weather technology, the weather can turn on a dime, and you need to be prepared for anything.  There was a mountain of laundry to do. 

I have also been playing catch up on everything that needs to be done around here:  shopping for groceries, appointments, returning phone calls, everything that I did not get done before I left, and so on.   I am finally going to have a chance to get back into my studio.  Maybe?  I just looked at my calendar for the week and realized that I have appointments and activities scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  They won't take all day, but it will take some large chunks out of them.  So maybe I will be getting something done in the studio, but it won't be as much as I would have liked. 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I will have some new photos of the lamb project on Thursday.  Check back then to see that I am finally getting back to work on my crafts.