(Inside A Black Apple)

"Nobody's Baby" Portable Illustration

A few weeks back, an awesome applet named Carly emailed me some photos of her freshly inked Nobody's Baby Now tattoo:

I think it looks pretty wonderful!
I get quite a few emails from thoughtful & conscientious folks asking to use one of my images for a tattoo. I always say "Yes, of course, just try to send me a photo"! It's one of the most flattering requests, in my book anyway.

Thank you so much for the amazing turnout/support for the update on Tuesday. I can never seem to make enough of those darn dolls! Don't fret about those gals, though...I love making them and plan to always have them included in the updates (for the foreseeable future, anyway).

We're mail-rooming it today (and probably tomorrow), so I'll be off.
Thanks, Carly, for the highest of compliments...and thanks to you again for the great update, my dear applets!

Dolls (in the Daylight)

Happy Tuesday!
Me and these dolls have an update to run in just about 20 minutes.

Doll Peek

There will be more and better pictures tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a little peek of the dolls that will be part of the update tomorrow (new knee socks and all). There they are, sitting in the night-time window.
I heart them pretty hard.

Squirrels in Love Pouches

This is the project I alluded to yesterday:

I wanted to make something little and Valentine-y for the update, and I had zipper pouches on the brain from the other day. I decided to go with the woodgrain, since it's a great fabric and I have a good bit of it, and then gocco a design in white onto the fronts.

So, squirrels in love it is! I'm really big on that heart-shaped acorn.

They are lined in a strawberry-red cotton with tiny white polka dots, and have a fray-resistant zipper pull made of the same:

I think these would be just the thing to slip a Valentine into on the 14th...and then it will hold your Valentine's pens, small notebooks, and lipgloss/chapstick for the rest of the year!

Little Kneesocks + Little Houses

This go 'round, the Sophie dolls have sweet, sweet knee-high socks (in place of their regular tights). This doesn't seem like a huge change, I suppose, but to me, these little socks makes me deliriously happy:

I've also got these cute "wee house" paintings on little canvases that I've been meaning to show you for a few weeks, now:

I think they'd look really sweet clustered with other small pieces or maybe some fabric swatches.
They'll be part of the update as well.
I hadn't shown that neat red curiosity shelf yet, had I? It normally holds some of my favorite things in my newly-white studio. After the update Tuesday, hopefully I'll get around to taking some photos of the place!

Okay, I've got one more project (and maybe another doll or two) to try and finish for you between today and tomorrow.

xoxo

True Love

True Love    approx. 11"x14"x1"   Acrylic on wooden plaque

I did this sketch over a month ago, and as you can see, I originally intended her banner-tattoo to have a long line from an X song on it:

It felt more right to just have "True Love" on there instead.
And it is Valentine's day soon, after all.

I'm off to work on some dolls to wear the doll-sized scarves I made last night.
Happy Weekend!

The Kids are Alright

I went to speak to my friend Robert's comics/cartoon class for teenagers yesterday, and we had a really fun time. The kids were really sweet, and it's very comforting that "the kids today" are pretty much exactly like they were when last I interacted with them as, well, one of them (7 years ago!).

I wanted to make them something for them, and I thought about bringing buttons or postcards or something along those lines...but then I thought that the boys would probably not go for that so much. So I decided to make them little pencil/pen zipper pouches, which would at least be useful. And I really love making zipper pouches. I have a quick n' dirty (aka cheater) technique that's very satisfying and still makes a nice little pouch. And I had a little help at the sewing machine yesterday:

I tried to make some "manly" ones (you know, because men like wood, and skulls, and tape measures). Sadly, the girls snapped up all the boyish ones for themselves, leaving the guys with owls and little red riding hood, etc.
The lesson here is make like 11 skull pouches next time (how did I not foresee that?).

I told them all about the shop, the way I work, infusing yourself into your work, personal inspirations, etc.  and they doodled and and were charming and a few asked questions and I really had a good time. The boys especially (kinda surprisingly?) were super-polite and sweet.
Even though they did end up with the girly pouches. Maybe it's because I also bribed them with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies?

Chipmunk Coiffure

Chipmunk Coiffure    7"x9"x1"    Acrylic on wooden plaque

Happy Friday Thursday, all!

(Thanks, Missy! I really lose track of the days sometimes. :)

Creeping towards the update

Caty Creepeth    11"x25"x1    Acrylic on wood plaque

I was looking through some old Belle & Sebastian liner notes the other day, which are really marvelous reading when one is stranded in a car. Stuart Murdoch was deliberating  one what his favorite word was, and he came up with "Creepeth". I don't think this word has been in the popular vernacular since biblical times, but nevertheless, it is a great word. It's almost onomatopoeic.

So, it's in the name of my new painting, which is quite large (for me). It's on a similar plaque to the one that The Twins was painted on, and I really love the shape.

Shop update on Tuesday, as it says above in the pretty green circus-font! Huzzah! I have some smaller paintings and a batch of dolls to wrap up between now and then, but I know already it's going to be a really good one!

Happy Wednesday, Applet dears.

Soft-Serve Scarf

I've made about 6 or 7 scarves so far. All super simple...just knitted. I'm getting the hang of the knit/purl/knit thing, but it will be a while before it's not kind of a disaster. And I'm trying to also get the "adding + subtracting" from rows thing down, but again, still in the pitiful stage. I've got a big stack of books on their way from Amazon, and I had all of your amazing suggestions from this post pulled up as I searched and added things to my cart. I'm so excited!

So, I've just been knitting really easy, soothing, beginner scarves at a mile a minute.
Here is one I just finished for my Sara, which was made with that amazing, frothy Twinkle yarn mixed with a cotton white/rose striped yarn. It reminded me so much of strawberry ice cream:

Now I am scheming up new people who might need a scarf in their life. I'm addicted to the simple, basic style, but I want to get better too, so I know I can't keep doing it indefinitely.

Josiah was right when he suspected early on that this would be the thing that made me even more productive. And I am obsessed with being productive. In a good way, not a scary blood-pressure stock broker way.
Because of the new knitting thing, I can be useful in the car!

Watching foreign films! (I have to concentrate too much too paint + read at the same time)

Waiting for food at restaurants!

It's wonderful.