The Final in my Halloween Needlin'

This is my graveyard scene ... thanks to those who gave me inspirational ideas!

Standing 7 1/2" high, I've signed the back of a purple bat button from Just Another Button Company and attached it to the gravestone.   Not the best photo, but hey ... you get the idea!
I've emailed the gal who wanted these 6 creations to let her know I was done well ahead of schedule (she was to have given a deposit before I started, but I got enthused!!).  Gave her pictures, dimensions and prices and asked her to let me know IF she wanted them still, IF she wanted something else. IF she changed her mind and didn't want them ... any response was fine with me!   (I'm such a marshmallow!)  If she doesn't want them, or wants some of them and something else done, the 'rejects' will sell at the upcoming Art Fair the end of August.

Now .. to begin work on an Elephant (for someone else) and then I can start on my felting for the show!

a bit of Halloween felting ...

   I've been commissioned to create 6 Halloween characters for a customer. Problem is, she didn't specify what kind of felted creations she wanted. I gave a variety of suggestions and only received an "all sound good as long as they're in the $40 to $50 range" response. I'd emailed her a picture of my first creation (Jack the Headless Pumpkin Man) and asked if this was something she liked and told her that since I was custom creating for her, I really would like some idea of what she wanted ... and haven't heard a thing since.
   So, even IF she should not come through with our agreement, I'll have the Halloween items for sale in my Etsy shop and also for an upcoming Art Fair at the end of August. It's a win-win situation no matter what happens.
      Each is felted over a wire armature so they'll free stand or pose if you wish, and each is embellished with a button from Just Another Button Company that I've signed on the back of with my name and year date.
I've been asked to show what I've done so far, and here you go:

This is Jack the Headless Pumpkin Man .. and is by far my favorite! I'll have to do another of him, or maybe two!  His button is a pumpkin 'belt buckle' at his waist. He was too skinny to free stand, so he's been attached to a wooden base for display. Jack stands 15" tall. 

 Little Trick or Treating Ghostie is taking his pet bat Henry for a walk with him. Standing 9 1/2" from his boots to the top of Henry's wings, Ghostie boy also wears glasses! His button is a smiling Pumpkin that I've attached to cording so it looks like it's his 'treat bag'.

This witch is a REAL "Broom Hilda" and stands 13" tall. The bristles of her broom are natural undyed sheep curls to which a black cat button with pumpkin has been attached. Every witch needs her cat nearby, don't ya know?! My witches tend to be a bit 'more fashionably attired" than what the books would have you believe .. I think it's to offset their, um ... looks!

This little guy hasn't told me his name ... yet! Black Cat on Jack stands 8 1/2" high. His button is attached to the side of his yellow cone hat .. it's a purple spider!

And what would Halloween be with out Frankie? Since he's walking towards you, he's also been mounted onto a block so he'll stand upright at 9 1/2" high. He proudly wears as a lapel pin his JABCo button which is a tombstone with bat and RIP on it.

Dave has a real problem with this creation as Frankie wears a gold hoop earring in one ear ... and Dave says "that's just so wrong Deb".

I have #6 to create yet, and after getting some imput from my Facebook friends have decided that it will be EITHER a tombstone, with a ghost peeking around one corner of it and with an owl or raven perched ontop of the stone
OR
a frog wearing a witches hat and holding a magic wand.

decisions decisions!

























Little Trick or Treating Ghostie is taking his pet bat Henry for a walk with him.



Standing 9 1/2" from his boots to the top of Henry's wings, Ghostie boy also wears glasses! His button is a smiling Pumpkin that I've attached to cording so it looks like it's his 'treat bag'.













This witch is a REAL "Broom Hilda" and stands 13" tall. The bristles of her broom are natural undyed sheep curls to which a black cat button with pumpkin has been attached. Every witch needs her cat nearby, don't ya know?! My witches tend to be a bit 'more fashionably attired" than what the books would have you believe .. I think it's to offset their, um ... looks!















This little guy hasn't told me his name ... yet! Black Cat on Jack stands 8 1/2" high. His button is attached to the side of his yellow cone hat .. it's a purple spider!''











And what would Halloween be with out Frankie? Since he's walking towards you, he's also been mounted onto a block so he'll stand upright at 9 1/2" high. He proudly wears as a lapel pin his JABCo button which is a tombstone with bat and RIP on it.





Dave has a real problem with this creation as Frankie wears a gold hoop earring in one ear. Dave looked at him for the longest time and then said "that's just so wrong Deb".









I have #6 to create yet, and after getting some input on Facebook, have decided that it will either be a tombstone with a ghost peeking around one side and have an owl or raven perched on top of the stone



OR



a frog wearing a witches hat and holding a wand.







hummmmm decisions decisions

Felting the days away!



The weather was good for the Flint Institute Of Art Summer Art Fair ... a bit cool, a smidge windy (felted fairies and witches try to 'fly' about when it's windy), but sunny and best of all .. no rain!

Got the booth assembled and put up on Friday night .. then Dave and I headed off about 7:30 the  next morning to finish positioning tables and arranging my items for best exposure.  Wait?  Did I say DAVE and I?  Dave was there .. I was the one moving things around!  Dave was wandering around and getting a good look at everything, and then wandering back into the booth to tell me the neat stuff he'd seen. 

  When the traffic in the booth slowed down and I suggested that I be the one to do some wandering around, this look of total terror would come over his face!  But finally, I did get to leave - just for a few minutes though - and when I got back, Dave would tell me, in this long suffering sort of way, that "I had to make change and everything" and that "as soon as you left, I had to sell 4 of the angel ornaments and one of the bowls AND I had to wrap them in tissue and everything"!  And then he'd wander off again.   LOL

    My friends Cathy and Laurie came to see me and brought a gift too!  They'd found one of those metal garden/lawn stakes that had a squirrel on it holding a nut (think nuts and bolts type of nut here .. it was really really cute) and, in honor of our squirrel experiences, presented it to both of us!  It's next to the 'cat pen' at home now!
    Sunday again had quite a bit of traffic in and out of the booth and a lot of giggles going on between me and Kathy.  We got there two hours before the show opened as they had an Artists Breakfast and Awards Presentation - 4 honorable mentions and 3 place winners.  They had one more honorable mention to name and they said   Debra   and my heart jolted   and then they said the last name and it wasn't mine.  Oh well, with that many artisans there, I really didn't expect to receive anything.  But then, last summer I didn't expect to win 2nd place in my first ever show either!  So after the Breakfast, we had time to wander and look at the other booths as they were being opened .
    5pm .. the show is over.  Kathy and I were tissue wrapping everything and boxing them up, waiting for Dave to arrive to take the tent down.  Finally everything is loaded in the van, so Kathy goes her merry way and Dave and I start in on un-assembling the tent.  Phase One:  got it lowered down.  Phase Two:  I remembered we had to get at opposite sides and move in toward each other.  Dave didn't remember that part.  So I zigged and he zagged (with a lot of muttering going on under his breath).  Then ... he kept pushing and  ... one of the struts in the roof snapped apart - right in half!  More muttering - this was apparently my fault, but I was calm cool and collected and ignored him.  We zigged and zagged a bit more ... SNAP another strut snaps in half!  Ok .. Dave's mad but I'm still calm, laughing actually .. what IS the matter with me?  This is so not Deb the Impatient!  

    The tent is now wrecked .. it cannot be used again.  So .. let's just push and pull and push some more to COMPACT it so we can at least get it into the van and get the heck outta there!  So push and pull and push some more we did!   

Now mind you, the other people that were taking their booths down were studiously avoiding eye contact with us. FINALLY, as we're picking up what was once a really nice tent and carrying it to the van, a few came over ... cautiously, mind you.  By then Dave was laughing too (I think he was really concerned about why I was laughing and decided to go with the flow).  One lady was concerned .. I told her it was OK as we were "Patrons Of Modern Art" and now had our own sculpture!  Another suggested that we just leave 'it' on the grounds of the Institute ... it may take them a month or two before they realize that this piece of 'art' wasn't really owned by the FIA!

 So .. now it sits in my spot in the driveway.  And I need to buy a new tent before the August show in Swartz Creek.  And Dave ...well  but the time we got home Dave realized that the entire problem was that he'd NOT put the tent poles in their final position down before we started our zigging and zagging (so it wasn't my fault after all!!!)!



I'm still here, honest I am .. really!

And I so apologize .. it's been 3 months since I've blogged here! I've been on Facebook, I've been on Twitter and I guess that much social media took me away from thoughts posted here. I'm sorry .. honest I am!

So .. what's going on in my world.

I'm fighting the 'itchies'! Have hives right now from stress (I internalize too much and then I suffer!) - this coming week: working Monday and Tuesday and getting ordering done and a weeks worth of invoices paid; driving to Columbus Wednesday for TNNA Retail Council meetings on Thursday and staying till noon on Friday for class sessions assisting the TNNA Member Meeting; then hightailing it home to start getting my booth /displays set up before 6:30pm for the Art Fair beginning on Saturday is taking a bit of a toll on me.
So .. I was out in the 'cat pen' last weekend. We have this long wire enclosed dog run with dog house in it that the dogs never went in, but the cats love it out there where they can be outside AND safe. The grass was about 2' high due to all the rain and too much for a mower to tackle, so I was out there with hedge trimmer shears getting the grass cut.
Dave wanders out and says .. 'you do know there's poison ivy in there, don't you'? HUH? I'm in tee shirt, shorts and sandals and not wearing gloves! "Why haven't you been spraying it with killer stuffs?" "I didn't want the kitties to get in the poison". "What about them getting into the poison ivy and bringing it into the house with them?" "Oh they won't do that .. it's all around the doghouse and right where you're clipping and they don't go there". "WHAT!!!!!!!! We get second-hand poison ivy every year from the dog when he's in it .. we will from the cats too!" "But Deb, it looks so pretty around the doghouse .. like a little ivy covered cottage!"
Needless to say .. I have hives on my arms and a bit on my legs from nerves .. and poison ivy (not as terribly bad as it could be, but itchy icky bumps all the same) all over the backs of my hands and spreading up onto my arms. Between Eucerin lotion and Benedryl cream, I'm fully supporting the local Rite-Aid pharmacy! But I feel that a steroid shot is also in my very near future (like before I leave for Columbus!).

I've been needle felting like a crazed being getting new stuffs created for the upcoming Art Fair at the Flint Institute Of Art this coming Saturday and Sunday (June 11 and 12th). If you're in the Flint area http://www.flintarts.org/visit/directions.html , come by and say HI - I'd like to just see you and have the opportunity to chat. Dave will be assisting me in my booth on Saturday from 10am - 6pm (he was my only choice as helper!) and that should be interesting. This is so not his thing, and being 'forced' to talk to people he hasn't known since birth is going to be rough going for him .. but .. he IS agreeably helping me with that one day! Kathy will be working with me on Sunday from 11am till 5pm.
I've also applied for acceptance in another juried art show for the end of August .. wish me luck on getting into that one. So, if my fiber art is approved, I'll be needle felting more stuffs after June is over so that I'll have new items for that show too!

Still stitching away in my, um, spare time on Lizzie Kate's Halloween Rules, using buttons from Just Another Button Company in place of some of the 'stitched' designs. It will become a bell pull instead of a framed model for the shop. I'm about 1/2 way through now and it's looking great! Of course, that doesn't stop me from collecting other designs to put in my "hey I gotta stitch these" stash pile!

And I'm adding books all the time for reading on my Kindle AND adding books on tape (also for my Kindle) from Audible.com. I've been listening to quite a few while I needle felt. I can watch TV (for the most part) while I'm stitching, but watch while felting .. it puts my fingers at too great a risk! I've got "Water For Elephants" waiting for me to listen to while I drive to and from Columbus. Right now I'm re-reading "Changes" from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and hoping that the next edition in this series comes soon! Someone told me to check out books by Michael Baron .. anyone familiar with his stuff??
Kathy had given this link to me http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ but I must confess I'd not checked it out yet. Think I just may do so a bit later today!! I'm trying to force myself to just kick back and take it easy today ... instead of trying to see what else I can felt in the few remaining moments before everything has to be packed up (today) for taking to the Flint Art Fair. overachiever? insane? that would be me!

A Tragic Loss

Early yesterday morning, while driving to work, Lisa Roswell from The Primitive Needle died as her car was was swept away in flood waters.   Her body was found early this morning.  

The needleart industry has lost a shining star and those of us who knew Lisa will deeply mourn this loss.

My prayers, my thoughts, my tears, my heart, go out to Lisa's family.  May the Lord grant you the comfort you need.

And, Continuing On ...

Great discussion on the copyright/copywrong issue I was concerned with. 
The result?  I'll continue on, in addition to those felting ideas that spring out of my wee little brain, getting inspiration from where I will. 
I've just 'torn out pictures' from a gift type catalog .. and will see if my felting needles can duplicate them in wool.  What kind of pictures you ask .. in case you're wondering IF I'm trying to 'copywrong' .. well, lets see:
(1)  from a picture of an pewter/enamelled gift box featuring a white bunny sitting atop a huge huge carrot
(2)  from a picture of some wooden painted folk art 'fish' - I'm picturing a long funky fish atop a tall wire post.

(3)  from a picture of a pair of tin sculpture wildly painted roosters.
(4)  from a picture of stone sculptured frogs .. in different yoga poses.
(5)  from a picture of glass blown rooster/chicken (pictured here) - I'm thinking of embedding funky fashion yarns in the wool for the 'striped' effect and also for hopefully a very cool texture effect.

I've also got the cross stitch charts "Hip Hop Cat" and "Hip Hop Cow" from Samsarah Design Studio that I've been wanting to stitch AND make the designs into felted sculptures.  I've already told Patti (the designer) about my plans and promised that when I DO needle felt them, she has to see them/I have to bring them to Market with me!

I feel that the above gift catalog pictures I've told you about are 'inspiration' .. not blatant copying.  You get inspiration from everywhere .. and I am taking a flat non-dimensional picture design are recreating it into a 3-D felted sculpture .. it won't be the same, it won't look the same, and cannot be conceived as the same.

Do I have 'original' designs?  Of course I do .. as long as you realize that I also do 'people' and breed specific dogs and birds.  And I also have 'how to felt' books that show you step by step how to do this needle art form .. those images become my own.  You start with an idea, whether imagined or pictured, and make it your own.

What about cross stitch?  I'm stitching too .. currently working on Lizzie Kate's "Christmas Rules", but instead of doing it on the Summer Khaki linen Linda chose .. I'm using "Golden Wattle" from Stitches & Spice.  It's a yellowish mottled opalescent and I'm really liking the colors on it!

Tonight I'll stitch some more ... tomorrow, I'm going to felt something!

Copyright or Copywrong?

What constitutes copyright infractions?
Is it being inspired by seeing something, and without taking pictures or etchings, reworking it from memory? Is it seeing a design in one medium and attempting to recreate it in another medium?

On my Etsy shop for Needle Felting (DebFeltIt) I have the following stated:   I needle felt with patterns, I needle felt without patterns, I needle felt from pictures seen, I needle felt what comes into my brain and out of my fingers. I wet felt scarves, bowls and vessels. I nuno felt.  Basically .. I felt!

    I have found myself in the position of seeing a sculpture at a trade show and becoming so enamored of it, tried to recreate it from memory by needle felting it when I returned home.  I did not try to pass this felted sculpture off as my own (see statement above) but I did put it for sale on my Etsy store.

    The original creator contacted me by phone and told me it was a copyrighted design (which had never occurred to me that it would be - I thought it was a 'display' item and again, copyright never entered my wee little mind) and asked me to remove the item.  Of course, I did so immediately!

   Later on that year, I did another couple of designs based on "Shaun The Sheep" from the Wallace and Gromit series.  Surprisingly enough, these were also similar  - or so it would seem - to the 'so called copyrighted' sheep design of earlier. I sold one at the First Frost Art Show and then placed the 2nd sheep on my Etsy shop.  Once again, I was contacted by the 

 same individual yelling copyright issues.

I told her that this sheep was based on Shaun The Sheep but was told that since 'her sheep' had knobby knees and Shaun did not have knobby knees, I was again duplicating her design. And since my sheep had 'blue' eyes like hers, it was obvious that I was in the wrong.  I responded by saying that since I have a stuffed Counting Sheep residing on the back of my sofa that also has 'buggy blue eyes', and since my "Number 44" has the same face style as my creation, he was also an obvious inspiration to my felted sheep. Once again, I was told to remove him immediately or face consequences.

So at what point am I guilty of copyright wrongs?

When I saw her design and from memory recreated it?

When I looked up Shaun The Sheep, or looked at my Counting Sheep,

and  recreated it?

When I put 'my' sheep up for sale, even though I did not claim personal  

credit for it?

And what happens when I see any other image in print, or in person, and

needle felt it?  If I felt from a kit and put it up for sale?  What if I do a dog

with spots and someone else has done a dog with spots?  What about my

 long-legged birds?

Again, going back to my Etsy shop description ... I needle felt with patterns, I needle felt without patterns, I needle felt from pictures seen, I needle felt what comes into my brain and out of my fingers.

Opinions, comments, criticism .. all are welcomed!!!