![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/2guysa.jpg\" "\\"2guysa\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt was a commission. You may or may not know that I have a policy of not taking commissions. I feel like I’ve talked about it regularly, but when I searched the blog, this<\/a> was the only post I could find. It isn’t recent but still pretty accurate. These days my excuse for not doing commission work is that I am not getting paid enough to not being doing just exactly what I feel like. But<\/em>, sometimes someone asks me if I’d be willing to do something that I do<\/em> feel like doing. Something that tickles my imagination. When I got an email from someone asking me if I would interpret a Staffordshire figurine<\/a> that a friend owns, my first thought was no… until I scrolled down and saw the photo.<\/p>\n How could I say no? I had fallen in love at first sight!<\/p>\n I used my tattooed man pattern but had to do quite a bit of problem solving to make the coats and hats. It was lots of fun and I love how they turned out.<\/p>\n So much white was a challenge. I decided to use a variety of slightly textured whites (twill) to give more visual interest.<\/p>\n I love all the blues here-<\/p>\n and I used every last little bit of this striped fabric to make his hair and beard.<\/p>\n I wanted the hats to be removable so I found some matching pins to hold them in place.<\/p>\n The coat is a piece of vintage twill. I’ve seen antique children’s coats made of this fabric.<\/p>\n These are Crimean War veterans- a soldier and a sailor. The figurines must have been a popular collectible at the time of the Crimean War because there seems to be a wide range of styles. Some examples here<\/a>.<\/p>\n And here is my husbands arm to show scale-<\/p>\n They are on their way to their new home. I had a hard time parting with them!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the secret project that I was working on a month ago. Secret because it is a gift for someone. It was a commission. You may or may not know that I have a policy of not taking commissions. … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n