Knitted Bender

I found a good pattern on Ravelry and after a couple of aborted attempts have knitted a Bender! I am a bit rubbish at tension so the first attempts came up far too big and this one is a bit snug on the loo roll. I recommend the pattern should anyone want to knit a Bender.

Knitted Finger Monsters

I am waiting for my husband to finish using the workbench so it's silly season and I have turned my hand to knitting Finger Monsters. This was inspired by a recent trip to the National Pinball Museum in Baltimore where is saw this one and decided to look for my collection. For some strange reason I have been collecting these all my life.

My oldest Finger Monster

and the two attempts at making a knitted version.

I should get the bench back tomorrow or I'm off to buy finer wool.

The Puppet with her Crow

Fabric Baby Crows

I needed a little crow to finish a puppet character but somehow I now have four!

Winter Carousel (Ladislaw Starewitch)

Having stumbled upon the animation of Wladyslaw Starewicz I have spent the last few hours watching the oddest films! 

Fairy Swap

Frosty fairies was this years theme and my wonderfully talented artist friend Sue Brown sent me a tiny paper and enamel frosty fairy attached to a label. She seems as fragile as frost and like she is just about to melt away.

I sent her a creepy little frosty imp.

I tried to make him look like a seductive black and white movie villain. 

Not quite sure what I was thinking.

Smacking Automaton

This is the first automaton I made in America, rediscovered in a cupboard.

A cat with very British teeth!

That smacks a girl

who smacks him back.

  Randomly accurate smacking occurs with the cam mechanism and the heavy off balance characters which makes this look a little more complex that it is.

I have a new camera and haven't mastered filming with it yet!

Mr Punch Automaton of Proverbs 19 v 3

I bought a wonderful little catalogue from an exhibition that Sam Smith had in the London Serpentine Gallery in 1980. Thank you Amazon UK. It was so inspiring it made me want to try a more 3D, pieced together approach to building figures. 

So for the next Proverb I have experimented with a slightly different look. It has turned out to be a bit larger than intended but has some elements that I will develop further. I also found a Sam Smith website.

Proverbs 19 verse 3

A man's own folly ruins his life,

yet he rages against the Lord.

I think that filming this in action may explain it better.

I also want to make more cats, oh dear!

Automaton of Flossing a Cat

This will really be the illustration of another proverb but in it's test it does look like a bit like Liam Neeson flossing a cat.

Flea Circus

A horrid cold and rainy afternoon in Baltimore but I got to see my first flea circus! Something I have always wanted to see and it couldn't have been more perfect! Mr Alberti you are fabulous!

My photo doesn't do this any justice but he did tell me he used one mechanism and the rest was purely imagined!

This was followed by an extremely odd puppet show! Each character was introduced onto the stage with "You don't need to be afraid" but you were!