Samhain Beads - Wheel of the Year

I spent some time last year creating these seasonal beads, 8 in total, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Here in the southern hemisphere it is almost Samhain, so these are the beads I made for this festive season. You can read more about this HERE.

To make these Samhain beads I first decided on the colours for this season, black, white, silver, gold, purple and orange. I then had to go through my supply of beads and find colours I had, so I ended up using 46 yellow, purple and gold beads, not including the obsidian stone spacer beads.

Faery Rag Doll #8

It has been over a year since my last post about my faery rag dolls, so I was well overdue to create another of these simple and sweet magical dolls. This lovely purple faery was a special order and I am glad to say she has settled into her new home quite nicely.

As with all these hand-sewn faery rag dolls she has black safely eyes, a blanket stitched fringe and detailed pointy ears. The full height of these dolls is about 24cm from head to toe and the full wingspan is about 16cm. I will have to get back to making more of these magical little dolls.

DIY Ogham Staves

For the past few months I have been trying to learn all about oghams. A very complicated and messy subject, due to the little facts that are actually known about oghams. The only concrete information about the oghams comes from the actual name meanings and the associations of the Bríatharogaim Kennings found in the Ogham Tract. However, there is plenty of opinion and speculation as to what the oghams represented and how they should be interpreted. 

Although there are some consistencies to be found among the many sources I have researched about the the meanings and associations of the oghems, there are still many others that differ or contradict what is found in other sources. Even the names of the oghams themselves have differing spellings. This becomes all the more complicated when you reach the last five ogham fews, which were a latter addition and for this reason not always discussed among literary sources.

To aid my learning I decided to create a physical set of oghams staves. My intention was to create a set from sticks, however as I have yet to procure the sticks I need, and because I had them on hand, I have created an ogham set from wooden nail cuticle pushers. I still intend to create a set from sticks, but for the moment these diy staves will do. They are wood and about the right height I wanted, just a little too skinny. All I needed to do was draw on the ogham figures and I was done. You can read more about using these Ogham staves HERE.

Beads Of 'A Year And A Day' - Faery Beads

'A Year And A Day' is a well known term that has, over time, held many significance's. There are stories in which couples would become handfasted for a year and day, which was a sort of temporary marriage commitment. After a year the couple could then decide to stay together or go their separate ways. It was seen as a period of time consisting of the 13 lunar months plus 1 day, making up the solar year. It was also said to be the length of time one would have to stay with the faeries in their realm, if one was to wander into their realm, before it would be possible to return to the mortal realm.

The instructions I found to create these beads describe using rowan berries threaded on string and finish with a cross of rowan wood. Not living in a country where rowan trees grow naturally, I instead decided I wanted to make these from actual beads. I also personally preferred the idea of creating beads that would last for a year and a day, as opposed to having to go through the process of drying out the berries and hoping the whole thing would not fall apart. I know it might have been nice to use natural products but that was not available to me and personally I prefer these beads that can be handled and worn.

 

Without access to rowan berries or wood, I instead decided to finish of my beads with a bronze star. There was no way I could use silver or iron on these faerie beads, for obvious reasons. To complete these beads of 'A Year And A Day' I used 4 different sized red, or reddish, coloured beads, totalling all up to be 366 beads. The full length of these beads from star to star measures about 133cm, creating one very long necklace if you wish to wear it as such. Though I have preferred to wear it wrapped around my wrist multiple times as a bracelet.

These faerie beads, as I like to think of them, were inspired by Eco Enchantments. The link to the instructions can be found HERE. There is short description about rowan berries and their use in healing and protection, as well as instructions for creating these using actual rowan berries and wood, if you are inclined to do so. Although I have no access to any rowan trees, I was lucky enough to have a small collection of different bead colours and types, so in creating this I used only the materials I already had, including the bronze star charm.

Embroidered Star Sign Constellations - Libra

  

Another star sign birthday gift I made, an embroidery of the constellation Libra. This was done using white embroidery thread on a silken navy blue material which I then placed in this white mini frame card. I brought a pack of these mini frame cards that measure about 9.5cm by 9cm, the inside framed embroidery measures about 6cm by 4.5cm. I also used my alphabet stamps to stamp the word Libra across the top of the card in blue ink to complete the piece.

Ravenclaw Diadem #2 +pattern

After my first attempt at creating the Ravenclaw Diadem, I couldn't decide if it was too plain or if I would prefer a more colourful, textured looking Diadem. So I redesigned the Ravenclaw Diadem slightly to include shadows and highlights to the piece with the addition of two more colours, the black for shadow and the light blue for highlight. I also redesigned the matching earrings in the same way.

The pattern for this Ravenclaw Diadem, including the earring, is below. Although I actually made the earrings and the diadem's gems on a round peg board, I have included it with the pattern below. This pattern is also a wallpaper, and I also have a simplified wallpaper below. To better view these just click on a picture to enlarge it. To download as a wallpaper, click on the picture you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background"

My Beanie Ringtail Possum

This native Australian marsupial can be commonly heard at night running across our rooftops, this is mostly because we live so close to bushland. But a lot of our native wildlife are suffering in the fires and I this little critter is just a small reminder of those unique animals that share this land.

Created from My Beanie pattern, my previous beanie makes being My Mouse and My Bunny, I wanted to create an Australian animal. And while I did first consider a Koala, I'm having a little trouble getting the ears right, so I instead  made this ringtail possum as the first of my Australian beanie makes.

I loved this silver grey material and thought it ideal for this ringtail possum. The tail and ears had to be created for this animal, but the body and paws are my standard beanie pattern. The face was done in the same ways as my other beanie makes using black safety eyes and a few stitches for his nose.

This ringtail possums tiny paws and tail are stuffed, but the body is filled with plastic pellets  making him soft, playful and very cute. The finished size is about 11cm long, not including the tail, which makes for a comfortable size to handle, toss or just keep you company.