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Sylvia Waddell

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Zahrah admires her new Quilt

A comfy bed for an old lady, and miniature goodies everywhere

October 19, 2021

Towards the end of their journey in my story Nieva and Affie meet my repurposed grannie character, Zahrah. In a previous blog post you saw the desk and chair I made for Zahrah. Now I’m having fun making even more stuff. This time I revamped the fairy bed I made last year (2nd revamping actually, as I had already made it longer when I created Grandmother Zuri). I added some “mosquito netting” above the bed.

I found myself wanting to create a better quilt for Zarah, so here is the finished article. Looks fancy enough for any bed and Zahrah will be very cosy snuggled under that. It’s all sewn by hand - I was too lazy to get the sewing machine out.

Welcome to Zahrah’s Cabin

Zahrah’s home is going to be a fun place to build. I already have the front worked out - I repurposed Nieva’s cabin from the beginning of my story and turned it into the outside entrance to Zahrah’s and added a gate built of twigs.

Zahrah’s Gate. I have a large collection of long pine needles and had intended to learn how to make a basket with them. That has not happened yet, so weaving them into my gate was a good use for some of them. I’ll get to that basket one day….

I just can’t stop making these cool mini things!

Inside Zahrah’s home will be a couple of rooms filled with books, scrolls, and other intriguing stuff for Zahrah the scholar/naturalist/scientist to study with. The book on the lectern is about dragons so Zahrah’s interest in them will come into my story.

More fun stuff for Zahrah to play with - a telescope and magnifier.

Seeds are always a good source of interesting forms and I’m always on the lookout for natural stuff I can add into my scenes. The “handles” on my little cupboard are seeds from a Grevillea shrub in the garden.

I found some tiny decorative telescopes in the jewelry section of Michaels and just had to have them. I used some sculpture wire to make a base and glued some jewelry findings either side of the telescope. I painted the wire bronze.

I also had fun making a teeny magnifier. Also in Michaels I saw some bracelet closures and thought the round part would make a great magnifying glass.  I poured a tiny amount of Gloss acrylic gel into the center and let it dry for a few days. I used freezer paper underneath so that the gel didn’t stick. I was then able to peel it off and attach the “magnifier” to a piece of wire for the base. I added a tiny metal “gear wheel” to the base for Zahrah to place things on when she is looking at them.

When I’m not picking up acorn cups in the park or shopping in Craft stores, I can be found in fabric shops…. I netted these goodies in JoAnn Fabrics with my next project in mind.

A while ago I had a fun trip to Joann Fabrics and bought some exciting stuff for a new project. At the end of my story is a community of warrior women, so I have to felt some warrior girls and then make clothes for them. What will they look like and what sort of clothes should I make…my mind is working overtime! You’ll get to see them in my next post.

← In praise of brave, resilient women everywhere..."Meadows can occur naturally under favorable conditions..." →

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Sylvia's Blog

My latest studio work, commissions, and miscellaneous oddities…

 

I have been plein air painting since 1994 and love the challenge of painting outdoors.  I paint in watercolor and acrylic and love to draw in pen or pencil. I also recently took up needle felting and my blog currently chronicles my journey with this medium.

Links

www.scvws.org

scvwspaintsites.blogspot.com

http://pleinairmuse.blogspot.com

Pleinairmuse is my old blog, you can see many of my past plein air sketches there.

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