sometimes I get an idea

Sometimes an idea pops into my head and I follow it and then… stop. Idea- a fox in a kilt. Sounds like fun! After the kilt was made and on, I came to a crashing halt because I couldn’t figure out what should come next. I tried lots of things that didn’t work- a nice sweater made my fellow look like a preppy lady fox. A bulky sweater was just as off. A jacket? no. A wool vest? nope. I now had a nice pile of reject clothing that will find other foxes that suit them better. And I put him aside as I finished up the foxes for my window display. But, this week, he was back on the work table. I tried to shut of the critical/judging part of my brain and move forward with him. That is how this rather silly but takes-himself-oh-so-seriously fox came to life.

1-23-fox 4 - 1

He makes me think of a mountain man/fox, a hermit, or a wanderer. When I work on my characters, I ask them, Who are you? I am not really sure with this one.

1-23-fox 4 - 1 (1)

1-23-fox 4 - 1 (2)

1-23-fox 4 - 1 (4)

1-23-fox 4 - 1 (3)

I will be putting this weeks foxes into my etsy shop today.

foxes ahead!

6:29:fox boy 1

Fox time. I have 10 in progress and I hope to have them ready for California in less than 3 weeks! Number 1 fellow has an acid yellow/green corduroy jacket- love the color with his rusty brown wool body.

6:29:fox boy 3

6:29:fox boy 2

6:29:fox boy 5

I love his vest-

6:29:fox boy 6

6:29:fox boy 4

and the other SF fox

I finished up 2 foxes just before I left for San Francisco. This is the other one-

5 foxes found new homes including this one.

I am still in California. I will be back on the weekend and I will do a show report sometime after that.

Saturday Fox

I finished this fellow up on Saturday evening, just in time to take him to the Bazaar.

I usually photograph my work before I tag them. You can see the tag on this fellow’s foot. It is shrink plastic with my signature and date. All my dolls have these tags.

His vest, which closes with hook and eyes, is lined with a green cotton with a fern kind of pattern on it.

feeling foxy

an idea, a pattern tweak, becomes something new.

I don’t know if you can tell from the above photo, but I tried out several head shapes before getting to the one that worked in my eyes.

Just like the kitty except that I changed the ears, and the tail, and the nose. Oh yes, and the arms.

I sewed up the boy fox first (although I didn’t know it was a boy at that point). He is made of a woven orange wool. He is smaller because the fabric has less stretch then the knit that the girl was cut from.

I found that I imagine foxes as boys more than girls. It was easier to come up with clothing ideas for a boy fox.

And you really need to see the profile to get the full fox look. Photographing him straight on took a lot of the foxiness away.

As always, getting the point across in the simplest way is the challenge.

I got distracted by this pretty shadow when I was out taking photos this morning.