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Cross stitch, the original Pixel Art.
 
Following my post about Pirates, it seems im attempting to get in tune with my inner child.

Ill start with my rediscovered fascination with the Fair Folk. Growing up i had a passion for faeries and my belief in them outlasted my belief in St Nick by many years. Truth be told there is a part of me that my cynicism has not fully overcome in my old age, and that is the little girl who swears that she saw the fair folk after many years of wishing it. Sadly for her she was terrified to explore what she witnessed and to this day regrets it.

Until now that is. 

For some reason i had the desire to research the history of fairies and was intrigued by what i discovered.
~ Fairies originally were of human stature and did not have wings
~ The insect like beings we know of today originated during the Medieval and Victorian eras
~ Biblical fairies are said to be the creatures aught between heaven and hell. Neither Angels or Demons  One legends tells of when a group of angels revolted against God who then exiled them from heaven and locking the gates back in. However in locking the gate he also locked out other of creatures he created who had been accidentally caught up in the turmoil.
~ They are also said to be the souls of the deceased  This category includes the likes of the Banshee, imagine that lady as a ''Fairy''.
~ Fairies are strong advocates for nature and are the guardians of Gods creation. However they scorn humans as we have strayed from the natural order and mistreat Nature and Gods will. So they tend to play dirty tricks on us like stealing our children, messing around with our things and just being vindictive.
~ My favorite myth/legend/fact is the idea that fairies are aliens who have visited us throughout the ages. This is explained by the random abductions the folk perform as well as their strange physical features.

So here is my first interpretation of a Fairy. My intention is to highlight the between nature of fairies by giving them horns. The more ''heavenly'' they are the smaller their horns, the more tricky the bigger the horns.

References

Concise look at fairies and their origins. Scott Card (2000)http://www.forteantimes.com/reviews/books/415/troublesome_things_a_history_of_fairies_and_fairy_stories.html

Huldra. Wikipedia (2012)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldra

Fairy. Wikipedia (2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy

Fairy History. All About Fairies. http://www.all-about-fairies.com/fairy-history.html

History of faery beliefs. Monsterouse.com (2011) http://faerie.monstrous.com/history_of_faery_beliefs.htm

 
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Made me a nice Pirate outfit not too long ago. It was intended for my nieces 4th birthday but i have subsequently worn it to Halloween and wish to wear it many time more.

Also happily made my partner and his 6yo son outfits to match.

All extremely simple and cheap too. With the help of the interwbs and my local ip shop, i discovered its not too hard to make a daggy pirate outfit. 

My outfit
~ Hat hand from an old couch cover and cardboard
~ Satin oversised shirt. Modifications: Cut out oversized collar, removed buttons and sewed opening, inserted ribbon ties through collar, shortened sleeves, inserted ribbon ties into sleeves.
~ Short skirt
~ Bodice made from a couch cover and skewers
~ My knee high boots
~ Fishnet stockings~Foam sword and belt with fabric sword buckle
~ Lace detail and hand made adornments

My partner
~ Oversize shirt with collar removed and string tie instead of buttons
~ Black phat pants tucked into boots
~ Red bandanna and single silver hoop earring
~ Foam sword and belt with fabric sword buckle

6yo
~ Jeans, pirate print bandanna
~ Vest made from the couch cover plus a gold skull and cross bones an back
~ ~Foam sword and belt with fabric sword buckle


 
I have the post holiday laze.

Started and finished my skull cross stitch, which I have thrown into the concept basket. This is on account of the size of the image and the threads being too crowded, making the fabrics I use too stiff for the intended aesthetics.

Will have to try again. But the Waste Canvas is awesome in its simplicity to use.
Mailman has been tardy on my deliveries but before departure to my holiday I got my cameos and spider fabric. Eagerly waiting to post up the pictures of my finished product. But here is a tease.
Short but i am attempting to catch up on my to dos so expect more to come.

Soon to come;

~ Fairies
~ Faces
~ How tos
~ Products
Ect…
 
2012 has been something of a self learning-life experience the virtue of hindsight kind of year. But more importantly its been about finding my artistic roots again after the turmoil of University. Kudos to me for achieving this objective and boy how far i have fallen from my previous self confidence in my natural artistic gift. I bit the bullet and took a six month course in portraiture and something i wont regret. I learnt and found myself again.
The following are bad iPhone pictures. Update with new soon.