Tart N Tiny

Man what a week! Aside from finishing another custom order which was actually supposed to be shipped out last week, I have been getting ready for a big move off Vancouver Island. George and I have been entertaining the idea of moving closer to family and old friends for a while now but never thought it was realistic to pull the plug here in Victoria. I mean, I co-owed a Design firm here, George and I own a house here and, as a couple for the last 10 years we have never lived anywhere else together. Kinda scary. I put our house up on Craigslist to see if we would get any interest for the amount we had listed it for. It never occured to me that it would happen so fast, let alone at all. Both George and I had thought that the rent we needed to cover the mortgage was too rich for a lot of people's blood. well apparently we were wrong! Not only did we get a huge response but we also had a number of people though and ended up renting it all within a few days of listing it. Oh, and FOR APRIL! Never saw that coming. So, needless to say I have been packing, searching for a house in the Okanagan, felting fast and furious to get through my orders and wrangling my little goblin who's favourite word right now is MOMMY! And of course for no rhyme or reason. Literally from the moment she wakes to even this moment when she should be sleeping in her crib. I am thinking I don't like the work Mommy to much this week. How can 1 25 pound curly blonde munch-kin run a women ragged like this?
I feel like the candle burning from both ends this week. It's only Monday too! Although I am not sure what that has to do with anything, everyday these days feels like Monday.

Oh, and to top it off...I crushed my finger tips trying to close the garage door quietly so not to wake George since he needed to sleep in this morning. Not easy to felt today with numb fingertips.

Anyway...aside from showing the home, packing 80% while curly-Q ride on my hip I have managed to finish another custom order from Etsy. It was an order I got before Christmas. A fellow had purchased a custom order for his wife's birthday which also happens to fall on Valentines Day! Awww! So she wanted Two goblins. One big and one little to represent her own little goblin Zara. I hope she likes them. Uhhgg I hate being late though. No time to get them there for Sunday. Happy Be-lated Birthday Dawn.

Tart, Bigger goblin in Peacock colors is jointed at the arms and sits 14" tall and Tiny, the lil pink and white goblin with no neck (heheh) sits at 7" tall.

Grinn and Friends

Grinn Goblin is finished. Another Epic Felted Creature is now alive and kicking. Grinn, named by his new owner is one of my favourite and best creatures to date I think. This Goblin was made for my first male customer and I had a great time working with Doug. He was a perfect customer to work with. Knew his theme and colors and gave me lots of details to work with. I really enjoy that in a client. I have to say I was a little worried to show it to him though. He based this Goblin off Starry Night Goblin who was custom made in the Fall. He said he wanted him exactly the same in face detail and color. That was the hardest part and no matter how hard I tired I could not duplicate the face. They are OOAK for a reason. Grinn is the biggest Goblin I have done. He even would tower over the Fiery I did which I thought was massive. Grinn sits at 24" tall and 24" long. His is made from both hand dyed wool and Ashford merino, silk and bamboo. Although I must say I want to get away from the bamboo. It's too fine and breaks my needles. I love the colors I get and the soft silky quality, but adding hair and a mane with bamboo adds at least 14 hours I would say.

Once I posted both Grinn and the Dragons to the various sites and clubs I am a part of it started a flurry of Etsy customers asking for unique and amazing custom creatures. I took a custom order despite my promise to my husband George (I have a 4 foot dragon core waiting for my attention) which will put me into April. If I took all the custom requests I got this week it would put me in July. I hate to turn people down. I just wish I could work more. George thinks he can make a hand powered needle felting tool for me. I think not. I already stab myself with one needle and it kills, I can't imagine drilling a cluster of needles into my hands and legs at full speed. Anyways, I am wasting valuable creating time.

Next to be completed Peacock and Pinkie Goblin Duo along with Another large curly horned Goblin...

Someday I'll get to my unicorns, sea monster, mermaids and Wonderland creatures!

Citrus Sunshine Dragons!

I am so excited to be finished this Dragon Duo. I had originally taken the order back in November I think...and thought it would be a breeze. But then I forgot that it was Dragons. Needless to say I am happy and pleased with the final outcome. The customer is away for the next week and now I sit on Pins and Needles until she either approves them or tells me I'm a nutter. So, these two, if it's not obvious is a Mama and Baby. I tend to think they are both girls, but that's just me. The baby is bigger then a Big Red Apple and Mama is twice her size. The outline I was given was Green, Yellow and Rainbow. So this is what my crazy mind made. The only thing I would do different with the next batch of custom Dragons..(Oh yes, Four to be exact! Uhhgg) is smaller Head fins. I made Mama Dragon's so big that you can't see her awesome three tone iridescent wings. Oh, and I am actually having my own personal Photographer (and very good friend Dion) over this weekend to snap a few shots to see if I can get into a book that is excepting submissions. I think with Dion's talent alone I could have a shot. Dion did all the Pictures for my Interior Design Business and they were amazing!
I am pretty excited about the book submission. But I am more doing it as like a coloring contest. If I get in..YIPPIE! And if not, well it was fun to try.

Anyway...Hubby rented me a horror movie and I am off to complete "Grinn Goblin" all 24" of him. My biggest creature yet.

Wish me luck!

Project Overload!

Oh it's been a long while since I posted on my blog. I have been on "project overload" for many many weeks now. I may have mentioned that I took on way too many Christmas orders this year which resulted in me working even on Christmas day! I managed to get all but one Christmas order to my customers on time. The last little goblin I shipped I finished on December 18th. I had thought I could send him express but he did not make it. I was thrilled though that the customer was surprised by his size and that he was way more colorful then the crappy picture I sent her had displayed. Ya! So, I'll post pictures of all the creatures I have finished too date.

Above are pictures of: Pop Rock Goblin, Fire-spark Goblin, Mini Starry Night Goblin who ended up so so mini, and Black Cherry Dragon.

I'm still working on a pair of Dragons that I took as a order back in November. I thought it would be easy, but then when I started I said to myself, oh right Dragons!!!! Dragons are more detailed and harder then goblins because of all their toes and claws..and now I am making two for one order!!! Silly, Silly me.

We actually went away this year at Christmas for almost a month. I thought having my in-laws around would help me to get more work done, but Bailey my little one wanted me more then ever which didn't allow for much felting. I even felted in the car after taken a heavy dose of motion-sickness remedy. It actually worked and it was pretty comfortable and the lighting was perfect!

I actually did something silly and took 4 more orders on one day over the holidays. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I have never been good at saying no. George almost killed me. He really wants me to work on the 4' dragon we started and with custom orders I can't work on anything else. Ooopps!

I am currently working on Three Valentines Orders and f more after that to be completed in March and April.

Pixie Stix Goblin

New to TangleWood Thicket is Pixie Stix Goblin. She is a custom creation for a little girl named Alanna in Eastern Canada. Her mom and dad ordered two creations for each of their girls for Christmas. How excited I was to get not one but two custom orders from one customer. I was more flattered then anything. I never fail to be amazed with each custom request I get. I started this goblin back in October but she was set aside while I finished Snow Cone, Morning Star and Starry Night Goblin. I am excited she is finally finished and love her turn out. This time around I used accents of super soft hand dyed Merino I obtained from a Ravelry Fiber Swap. I received a envelope of amazing rainbow colours to sample from South Africa. The colors were perfect for this rainbow creature.

I actually made a big mistake when making this goblin. She was supposed to be a medium size goblin, which means less time and sold for less. I am so sleep deprived from Bailey's constant wakings and lack of naps that I am making stupid silly mistakes. I mean, it's an okay mistake because I don't need to start over, and it's not like the customer won't get what she wanted...but still. I am trying not to beat myself up over it. Sleep is the answer to this problem though. Does not help that I like my alone time so when Bailey finally is asleep I use any ounce of time to felt, watch smutty TV and Read...Yes, I am trying to cram two books at once. One being Bridget Jones Diary .( This past weekend I poked a lot to make a dent in my Christmas orders. I was delighted that it was grey and rainy out and that Bridget Jones 1 and 2 was one Back to Back not just Saturday, but Sunday Too...So I worked to the sounds of endless hours of Rene's Voice and sneak Peeks of Colin Firth...Hmmm Colin Firth. My husband thinks he is a step up from my usual crushes. Jack Black, Anthony Edwards, Tom green, Rick Moranis, Richard Dryfus. I could go on...) Oh and the other book is by Denise Mina. It's a Scottish Thriller Mystery type.

Next to be completed is Red Dragon....

Goth Girl!

Something totally different! This is what I call Goth Girl. She may have a name, but I don't know what it is. This was a special custom order that I took for Christmas. This order was different because the concept, design and drawing were already done. I did not have to dive into my own imagination to conceive her. The above picture is the original concept drawing by 16 year old up and coming artist Chelsea Ferguson who lives way over in PEI. I had a lot of fun making my first Needle Felt Doll which was not a goblin or creature. It made me really want to get started on my Mermaids. But first the customs. Goth Girl is needle felted all the way from her head to her Mary-Janes. Where I cheated was the skirt, the shoe laces and the cape. Initially I tried to needle felt these items and the result was pretty gross. They looked awful. So I went out to find felt sheets. Do you think I could find black anywhere? In all of Victoria I was unable to find one sheet of plain black felt. So, she has a black sorta stiff Glittery skirt. I guess felt art by the sheet is very popular. I had no idea.
I used polymer clay to make her corn chopper. Haha.

I do wonder what the story behind this Goth Girl is. Why is she holding a scythe and is also hanging from a noose? I guess I'll never know. I hope that I did Chelsea's Goth girl Justice and did not butcher her little work of art.

Another Christmas custom order in my past. More to follow....

Gumdrop Goblin Part 2.

Well..it's been a busy couple of weeks. I am happy to say I finally finished part 2 of this custom order. Gumdrop now has his own little Goblin Sprite complete with wings. Also jointed for added playtime pleasure. The pair is adorable if I am allowed to admit it. So much so that I wanted to keep them the instant I slid little sprite into the big frumpy hands of Gumdrop Goblin. Little sprite is about the same size of a large red apple.

I would love to be a fly on the wall the on Christmas morning when the little girl wakes up and opens these two.

Oh, and I have a new Tanglewood Facebook Page...still not sure how to link it so other people can join who are not already my friends. I am sure I'll eventually figure it out. Anyways...stop by and check it out.