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Updated!
Soon to be ready for sale once I visit the the Post Office to sort out postage cost. Go visit my Big Cartel store !!

Umbrella Prints Bird

  I love to use printed fabrics in my birds. Especially Australian designed prints.

So when I heard about the competition the Australian company Umbrella Prints was hosting, I was in! Competition Rules? By a Trimmings pack from one of their online stores and make something with it. Hello new bird!

Here is the trimmings pack I received all spread out on the kitchen bench....

Here is the bird mid - creation being pinned and cut on the ironing board....

I used all the pieces except for 2 [which are on the right hand side of the first photo (heart printed fabric)] I patch worked the pieces together onto a base cloth of muslin, cut the bird pieces out and then assembled the bird. I had stitched on a tan leather beak, ochre wings and leg cuffs all made from 100% wool felt and then finally - twig legs from a fallen tree!

handmade and fragile
one of a kind - no two the same
[madebykilljoy]

100% cotton - Umbrella Prints fabric
100% wool felt
Tan Leather
twig feet
polyester stuffing

I'm pretty happy with how this little fellow turned out. I had a lot of fun making him and I really like the colours. I don't often choose neutrals [I over did it with the linen for a while] but I'm loving yellow right now and the earthy yellow in these fabrics is really lovely.

I took these shots in my back yard in the afternoon light against our fence line. There was a kookaburra above me keeping an eye on the proceedings and I was hoping he would fly down a bit closer so I could get a shot of both birds together but I think the Kookaburra was waiting for my neighbour to appear with his afternoon snack of mince!

Photo shoot in backyard. Kookaburra top left corner...

I also Instagram-ed [hellokilljoy] this pic of the bird but I didn't think it was so crashed hot [too much yellow sunlight and green weeds] so I nixed it....

If you would like to vote for my bird - you need to head over to Umbrella Prints Pinterest Board. Pin it, like it = ♥

And if you'd like to buy the bird - I think I'll list him in my etsy shop or big cartel shop at the end of the comp. Or you could email me? madebykilljoy [at] gmail [dot] com.

Wish me luck, xx

Back on the birds

I'm still waiting for the casters to call me about making my leg molds, so in the meantime I thought I'd try making some leather birds because I'd like to make an edition of leather birds with pewter legs.

But it's hard. My machine doesn't like sewing leather. My Indian Rajdoot industrial machine isn't up to the task yet (needs so fine tuning!) so I'm a bit stuck. I can sew leather to fabric but not leather to leather.

On this bird I'd like to sew on a pleated frill. But I can't fit it under my machine foot. Crisis!!

Bird leg production line - the last legs

Bird leg production line - the last legs, a photo by madebykilljoy on Flickr.

Its been a long time since I posted....

These are the last of the bird legs. The fallen tree from which they came is well and truly gone and these are the only ones that are left. We are currently doing some research into having the legs cast in bronze - making them never ending!!

Whilst I think the idea of cast bronze legs is a total winner, I've always loved that my little birdies had twig legs and that each pair was unique and a bit wonky.

Maybe I just need to SEE the bronze legs - I'm sure they will be super beautiful. It also means that we can patinate the legs black and green or have them shiny. More options.

Stay tuned...
(promise I won't be gone so long this time, xx)

Blog Feature!

The lovely peeps at Parliament of Two featured one of my birdies on their Blog! Here is a little screen shot...

You should go visit their blog! They are terribly clever and find all sorts of cool stuff to write about on their blog. You should also go buy stuff from their Big Cartel shop! Ohh - hello! They are on Etsy too..

I particularly like this brooch - its kind of creepy and I really like that quality in my brooches. I could freak out my students with a big mouth on my shirt. That would stop them in their tracks!!

http://parliamentoftwo.bigcartel.com/product/the-mouth-open-wide

Fun things I bought on Etsy!

Oh dear - I've been spending on Etsy!

I recently went to ArtExpress at AGNSW and saw a student had heavily referenced Rob Ryan's work. It was a beautiful artwork - but made me think of how much I really like Rob Ryan's original work. So I bought some of his work on etsy!

This is what I bought!

Ceramic Tile

printed packing tape

But wait - I bought more....

I also bought this lovely top from a seller in Thailand. Her name is SweetDecade. I really hope the tops fits, but a little part of me thinks that it might be too small. AND - I especially like the way she sent me photo's of how she packaged it! See how cute it looks? I really can't wait for my goodies to arrive...

Pretty tulip print top

Packaging!

 

Hurry up Postman!