 |
Old Pictures
|
 |
|
|
When Jessica and I were just getting started, we needed some really nice pictures of our animals. Unfortunately, it was winter, snow was on the ground, and it was so grey and icky outside. So, with the magic of Photoshop and some pretty pictures for backgrounds, we made much nicer pictures then we could have possibly taken:
These were a lot of fun, but looking back on them now, you can tell they were fake pictures (plus they took hours and hours to make). Nowadays, I like our own actual shots. As Jessica said earlier, they're difficult to take, and we look pretty silly running around state parks with elephants and across fields with sheep. The pictures turn out amazing in the end, however, so it's worth it. The alpaca picture down below in the Shepherd's Harvest post is one example. We'll be posting more examples soon!
(The pictures used as backgrounds can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here. All were used under a CC licence and credit was given. We did not sell or make any money on these images, just used them as a background for reference shots.)
|
|
 |
Posted:
4/23/2008
|
 |
 |
It's Spring!
|
 |
|
|
As a general rule, I don't get that excited about spring. I'm one of those strange people that actually enjoys the winter, though fall is the best season of all. But what does excite me about spring is being able to photograph outdoors again (yeah, I know I can photograph outdoors in the winter too, but when you work outside the home, you often miss out on daylight).
As you can tell from the vibrant colors above, my color palette tends to change in the spring as well. I gravitate toward bright blues, pinks, oranges, and yellows.
Though I enjoy winter, by April, the drab greys and browns outside start to weigh me down. As a crafter, though, I can always create an instant pick-me-up. Making something brightly colored can lighten my mood, as can creating something in a nontraditional color.
Enjoy the season, everyone. Soon enough, we will all be complaining "it's not the heat, it's the humidity!" and longing for cooler temperatures once again.
|
|
|
|
Posted:
4/15/2008
|
|
|
|
Shepherd's Harvest
|
|
|
|
We are pleased to announce that Crabtree Studio has been selected as a vendor at Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival. The festival takes place every Mother's Day weekend at the Washington County fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, MN.
Amy and I have been attending the festival yearly to stock up on gorgeous handcrafted yarns and other fibers (and to ooh and aah over the lovely sheep, goats, and alpaca, of course!), and thought "why not join the fun and become vendors?" Some of our favorite patterns are fiber animals, and what better place to showcase these than at a fiber festival? As such, we will be concentrating our inventory on knitting bags, sheep, alpaca, camels, and rabbits. We hope you come out and see us there! In the meantime, here's a small sneak peak of what we plan to sell:
|
|
|
|
Posted:
3/29/2008
|
|
|
|
Squirrel Invasion
|
|
|
|
Some of you may have seen my two cute squirrels in the Playful Things exhibit at the Wausau Center for the Visual Arts. I started making squirrels when a coworker requested an "evil Loring Park" squirrel. For those not in Minneapolis, Loring Park squirrels seem mangier and crazier than the citywide population as a whole. But I couldn't bring myself to make this guy mangy; he was just too cute.
.jpg)
This squirrel was a hit with my coworker, and he immediately requested an albino squirrel and a zombie squirrel. That was months ago—before Halloween, I'm afraid—but they're finally finished after a long hunt for zombie-colored fur and some tweaks to make the pattern more squirrelish:
(I apologize for the poorer quality of this one. Night time and white fur do not mix!)
Thank goodness the zombie squirrel has a taste for acorn brains only! This one was really fun to make. I was disappointed I couldn't find maribou in the right color for his tail, but I'm pleased with the outcome nonetheless. I had no qualms about making this guy mangy, but you should see the number cutting patches out of his fur did to my craft room floor! It was well worth it, though, as the recipient of both these pieces is ecstatic about them. I think he's already scheming on future crazy squirrel commissions and other zombie animals as well. In the meantime, I think I'll craft some regular old grey, red, and brown squirrels!
|
|
|
|
Posted:
3/20/2008
|
|
|
|
New Giraffe
|
|
|
|
As promised, here's another peek at what I've been doing these last few weeks:
I've reinvented my giraffe pattern!
My giraffe has been a fan favorite since Crabtree first started, but making so many of them started to get a little boring. Don't get me wrong, I think my original giraffes are adorable. But when you craft as often as Amy and I do, your creative energies itch to try new things, solve new problems, and just plain play. I had ideas about tweaking the pattern almost since the beginning— the neck needed to be longer, the body plumper, and the limbs needed to be fully poseable.
It took almost a full year, but a few weeks ago I was finally fully inspired to begin the redesign. It took a few slight tweaks to get the giraffe I had envisioned, and I'm still getting used to using plastic doll joints (what makes the limbs poseable), but I'm extremely pleased with the end result.
|
|
|
|
Posted:
2/18/2008
|
|
|
|
The Great Reveal
|
|
|
|
Okay, so maybe it's not that big, but there has been a lot going on behind the scenes here at Crabtree that I'd like to share with you. Namely, pattern revisions and new pattern development. I'll save that last exciting bit for, well, last, but in the meantime, I give you
Puppy 2.0
This started with a custom order for my wolf, but smaller:
Isn't he cute? He's about 30 percent smaller than my standard wolf. Turning the sewn pup right side out again sure was a pain with this super thick fur, but I'm very pleased with the end result.
With the smaller puppy pattern, I decided to branch out into fabric other than fur. Not only because the smaller the pattern, the harder the fur is to work with, but because I had some Dalmatian-print flannel that just begged to be used!
And finally, there's this petite cutie, also a custom order:
Once I had my template for the smaller puppy size, it was easy to tweak it slightly to accommodate the dachshund's long body and short legs. The recipient of this little guy has also requested an even more petite version to use as an ornament. I'll post a picture of that when it's complete.
Stay tuned over the next week for some more exciting pattern unveilings!
|
|
|
|
Posted:
2/13/2008
|
|
|
|
Maisy Doll
|
|
|
|
I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been so busy! My niece turned three, and I really wanted to make her something special and girly. After four nephews (plus my son), she's our first and only girl in the family right now. And since she was three, I knew I could make something a bit nicer and not worry about her eating it.
I pored over all my knitting patterns, looked at all my animal patterns, but decided what I really wanted to make was a doll. And so I made the Maisy doll! It's inspired by a '40s cloth doll pattern, but I made quite a few changes to make it more like what I had in mind. Here she is:
She has a hand embroidered face with hand sewn wool yarn hair that's styled in a cute little bob. She's made of heavy cotton fabric with safety jointed arms and legs. This is her purple outfit, complete with cotton blouse, heavy wool jumper, and wool shoes. Of course, she needed more outfits than that, so I sewed more:
A white blouse with a red cotton dress and a soft camel-colored wool coat with hand knit red scarf (seed stitch pattern). I also gave Maisy her own dolly with bead eyes and embroidery thread hair sewed into braids, and I sewed up a little pink striped dress for it. So cute!
I have to say, as much as I like the doll, I equally, if not more, love the case I made for her. I found a vintage-looking suitcase, added a strap to hold the doll in, a peg for hanging up the clothes, and a small box with a latch at the bottom for holding all the doll's accessories. Everything is really secure in it too. I loaded it up, then shook it really good, and everything stayed in the right spots! It really makes the whole kit and caboodle feel like an heirloom, passed down from a grandmother. Maybe it will become one!
|
|
|
|
Posted:
1/30/2008
|
|
Archive...
|
|