18 March, 2010

Felt finger puppets

We're heading off for my father-in-laws 90th (!!) birthday party this weekend and I thought I'd take along some handsewing to do. I asked Hazel what she'd like out of Kata Golda's Hand Stitched Felt and she chose the finger puppets. So of course I started them last night while watching our weekly dose of surreal tv (Flash Forward and Lost) and I made 3 out of the 5. I finished them off today. Not sure what I'm going to do while we're away! Actually I think might try and make another set for my little niece Rebecca.

Finger puppets

The thing I like about the projects in this book, and probably about handsewing felt in general, is how easy it is, nice to work with, and totally and absolutely satisfying! The fact that a little unevenness actually looks great is a total bonus :)

Finger puppets

Of course, mine don't approach the rustic feel of the originals because I Just. Can't. Do. It. I try. I try really hard to be wonky. But my innate anal retentiveness won't allow me. It's a total battle as I go, part of my brain is saying in a very James Kirk way "Must. Be. Wonky." and the other part of me is saying in a Church Lady kind of voice "Tidiness is a virtue"

Part of the fun of the finger puppets is that she suggests you make various changes for different animals (as seen in her examples) but the tails are a mystery so I had to come up with my own versions for each animal (except the mouse). From left to right that would be: dog, mouse, rabbit, cat, hamster. I probably shouldn't have placed the cat next to the hamster but on second thought the hamster looks big enough to take care of itself.

Finger puppets' tails

I'm feeling a little dissatisfied with my photos recently. I know why and it's Photoshop action envy. I ended up at MCP Actions via Pioneer Woman's photography blog, and I have this horrible lingering feeling that if I could just afford to buy one of those packages then my photos would suddenly be breathtaking. I hate the hazy, slightly faded look they have sometimes and while I can Photoshop them a bit by myself or use the PW action sets I have (limited but great I should add) I really wish they had the depth of colour, clarity and sparkle that the pros manage.

18 comments:

  1. Do you already have Photoshop Elements? Try GIMP- it's free, and does just about everything Photoshop does, I think :) These little puppets turned out so sweet :)

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  2. I just died of cute. And, by the way, I like your photos. They look plenty bright and sparkly to me.

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  3. I love the curlicue tail you gave the bunny. And I know all about the inner church lady. Although she's not very successful (my wonkiness comes naturally, I fear), she certainly is loud.

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  4. I hope that you will ignore the voices telling you how you "should" be sewing and that your photos aren't quite good enough. I really enjoyed this post and may very well put some felt finger puppets together for my two year old twin nieces. Thanks for the lovely post!

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  5. Oh they are just entirely too cute! Love them, and you're right - the hamster can totally defend itself! (I wish we had hamsters here...that's a rodent I could get enthusiastic about having in the house! lol) Oh, and inner church ladies tend to keep their traps shut if you feed them cake, just btw...

    ...funny you should mention about your photos...I was just thinking what great ones you had of the puppets! I have no advice - am feeling decidedly disappointed with my photos at the moment - but I know that's all down to a decided lack of skill.
    More importantly though...what are you taking down to Feilding? Do you knit?

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  6. Hee hee....yes Jacqui do you knit?????

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  7. Your pics are lovely! Still, I know what you mean. I have a point & shoot and no photoshop. I may as well be in the dark ages! I feel like great pictures elevate the work *so much*.

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  8. Thank you! I work at it but definitely feel that if I could click one action button for the same result I'd be a happy camper.

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  9. I think that's the problem with church lady voices, the nasal tone really carries.

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  10. No, the voices aren't that prescriptive, just a reflection of my inner turmoil and struggle ;) I think a little more wonkiness and untidiness would be good for my soul, certainly I achieve it in other parts of my life with ease (like keeping the house clean), but in crafting it doesn't come naturally.

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  11. No I don't knit sadly, I ended up taking nothing down at all! But that was fine as I was doing social things mostly so this way I didn't feel like there ws something I should be doing instead :) I've decided that there's skill in photography and then there's Photoshop. A little of the first goes part of the way, Photoshop takes you the rest. It can't save a terrible photo but it does wonders with mediocre! I'm such a fan and I'd be even more of a fan if I had more actions...

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  12. Bugger off Gilsdorf. ;) You know darn well I rely on you for fabulous knitted items!

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  13. I've never had to experiment with them because I've always had Photoshop but I gather there are some pretty powerful free online tools for gussying up photos - or if not free then a darn sight cheaper than Photoshop!

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  14. OMG these are so so cute

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  15. These are cute! I had to laugh at your wonky comment. I was chopping up some choc slice last night and 'oh no, it's going all wonky...actually it's kind of cute wonky, maybe I'll do it like that...' so I ended up with a whole batch of totally symetrical identical little wonky pieces of chocolate slice.

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  16. I have the full-fledged Photoshop, of which I use to about...1% of its
    capacity I'd guess :)) I think next time I'll look into elements as I
    suspect it might be more suited to what I do with it, Photoshop proper is
    definitely geared for the pros.

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