A flock of fairies

This wonderful Spring sunshine has spurred me on to show off some new fairies from the up and coming Spring / Summer collection ( by which I mean my collection in various shoe boxes of fairies I have been stashing away with the sunnier weather in mind ... the snowflake and frosted ones are put on the top shelf to hibernate ! )

Above we have the butterfly girls - they are 2 inches high with a wing span of 2.5 - 3 inches.

They are embroidered and bejewelled and have hand painted silk wings and are £10 each.

Next up ( and I'm really pleased with these ) are my cotton reel fairies. I think they look really cute standing up proud and true on their little wooden plinths. Their little feet hook neatly in to the hole ( and they can be prised out to hang on their silver thread hanger. ) They are embroidered with tulle and metallic lace , their wings are embroidered organza and tulle and they are carrying paper rose wands. They are £20 including the cotton reel. I shall now be raiding boot sales and markets for these obsolete objects ...

Next in line are my sitting fairies ( also on wooden reels. ) These are made with pink and white chiffon and are wired to sit and bend. They have stiff paper wings and a satin pink rose at their waist. All my fairies are made in limited editions and are never exactly the same as I have to get on to the next piece of fabric that inspires me , so there are only 3 pink and two white of these. Priced at £15 with the reel.

Latest fairy fashion is this seasons flower hats ... these girls are 3 inches high, have stiff paper wings, silk fibre hair, and are wearing coloured tights ( not easy to fit on this scale I can assure you ! ) Price £13.



Coming soon to my website bettybibdolls.com are some bigger 9 inch fairies as well as some of the smaller ones featured here.

Happy Spring days and keep on fairy spotting !

A splash of colour

Have just got back from soaking up the colours in Thailand ( and was lucky enough to miss

the big freeze here ! ) I had a go at the incredible Thai art of vegetable carving ... I hasten to add the watermelon below is being carved by the teacher , not me .It's an amazing feat of controlling a very sharp knife and cutting from the right direction and at the right angle. I thought I might be o.k at it as I love to fiddle with small details and am obviously quite dexterous with the models I make - but this is something else and it really is awe inspiring to watch it being done by a master.

Here by contrast is my feeble effort of carving a carrot and cucumber in to a flower and a leaf !
Here's a view of the kind of knife you need to use and some of the mess I made in the process.

After carving the shapes are refreshed in cold water - and here is what they should like !

I have brought back a special serrated peeler and will try and practise in the privacy of my own home . I have dreams of a summers day and making an afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches suitably adorned with carved cucumber leaves ... a nice thought to have in the gloom of February !

Jumping from vegetables to the traffic in Bangkok which is notoriously slow moving , smelly and congested , but just look at the lip stick pink taxis ...

... and with all the other bright colours winking in the sun they somehow manage to look like Dinky cars in a toy shop display. I just love the vibrancy of this city but am now paying for this pleasure with the ensuing jet lag - so I hope this post is making sense !

I was looking forward to coming back to making my spring/ sumer collection of fairies and dolls but I've been offered a try out for a picture book - a re working of Snow White , which could be a great project if it comes to anything ... will let you know !

End of alphabet and new website !

At last I have reached the end of what has been a very long project ! Have really enjoyed painting these plants with their letter frameworks but have had to have a break every now and then as it has been quite intensive ( especially as some letters have been more difficult than others and I've had to do them more than once ! ) 'X' is a depiction of Xanthus ( cocklebur ) and seems to be the only plant that begins with that letter - a bit of a cheat as I have used the common name for all the rest of them.
The above is 'Y' for yarrow and below is 'Z' for zinnia and I don't know if I have mentioned that I have slogged dutifully to the end as they are due to be made into a range of cards for Cherry Picked For You and will be launched in May.

Here are some of the dolls that have already been printed up and will also be officially launched with the alphabet. They are available on my New Website ! bettybibdolls.com it has fairies on it as well ( I shall be updating this part with my new collection in April / May. )

Must away now to try and work out how I put a link between this blog and the web site !

Other New Years Resolutions are to join Face Book and Twitter to get the news out there and try and find like minded doll, teddy and fairy lovers ... please spread the word !

Christmas venues

I shall be at the following venues this Christmas season ; Joy Fox's house ( see above )

and at 52, Carlysle Road , Hove for the Open House ritual ( the last week end in November and the first two week ends in December. ) I shall also be at the Great Dixter Christmas fair which will take place in the beautiful Hall there, this week end and sharing a stall with Belen Gomez

www.belengomez.com . It is open between 10 -4 and here is a sneak preview of some of the fairy wares that I shall be showing ! Please note that at Festive Fox I shall be exhibiting my water colour alphabet prints and some garden embroideries. At Carlysle Rd there will be fairies and also my dolls and the greetings cards that they feature on will be on sale for the first time.

Here are some new hanging fairies that I have made in a much more fanciful style this year. (£15.) They are 9cms in height.

And in a box with their secret name inside they are £17.

Couldn't resist making some fairy bears ... £20 in a box with their name - this one is Tatiana.

Meet Custard who decided he didn't want to dress up !

Followed by Bluebell.

Last in line is a tree top fairy measuring 18cms high , She is £30 and I have made this range to be very ornate with embroidered dresses in lovely silks and organdy fabrics with frills and furbelows - to hopefully be handed down as a family heirloom for the top of the tree. I always remember when the tree fairy came out of her tissue wrapping once a year - it was always the most magical part of the fun of dressing the tree and I have found it hard to find anything that is precious enough to fill those shoes in more modern times - which is what got me making fairies in the first place !

Is it too soon to say ' Happy Christmas ' ?!

Mermaid Mad

After returning from a trip to Cornwall recently I have been embroidering mermaids madly ! Here are some of the loopy ladies ... Above is 'Blue Maid'. She measures 15x11cms

( embroidered area. ) Below is a detail of a bigger piece.

'Marina' is holding a tiny looking glass fashioned from a sequin and pearl beads. I just love getting this tiny ! She is 12x6cms.

Waiting in line is 'Sea Bed', so named after the sea urchins and star fish around her ( this one seems to have got caught in a current of threads ... she is 15x9 cms.

And this 'Lorelei' is 7x10cms and has a pearl in a shell for company ( I did beachcombe

the tiniest shells whilst I was there and have got some lovely big mussel shells which I have filled with tiny blue and white maids - yet to be photographed. )

One of my newest lines are these little mermaids sitting in slipper shells which I have painted and decorated with little sparkly bits - they come in a box with their secret name written on a scroll in the lid and I am selling them from here at £1o each plus 50p for p&p, multiples , the same postage. Please just specify a colour if you are interested.

More news soon of where I will be showing my work in the lead up to Christmas ... now back to the sewing machine - it's red hot at the moment !

PS Thank you for all the lovely comments you have written to me ... always lovely to receive when working from home- alone !

Alpha Betty !

A is for Acorn
Having enjoyed my 'Fox' painting so much I have now embarked on the rather ambitious project of painting an alphabet of plants. I have since realised that one starts a series like this in good heart and with plenty of enthusiasm but by the time you have reached ' l', 'm' and ' n'

that energy starts to burn itself out ! I also set out to diligently work my way through letter by letter in sequence but that didn't pan out either !

B is for Buttercup

C is for Campion

Well I didn't quite jump this far ahead ... but have decided to work these 6 inch squares of water colour up in batches that I intersperse with doing other work. Eventually I think they will be printed up in to cards and I'm hoping that people will be inspired to buy them by seeing them as friends and family's initials ( as well as to keen gardeners ! )

W is for Wisteria

R is for Rose

S is for Snowdrop

Yes, Winter is round the corner, though I can't believe this as I type in 30 degrees of heat !

Other news is that I am having a web site designed to sell my dolls and fairies from. I'm very excited by the prospect but it has been a lot of hard work to get the work photographed and the site designed to have the right atmosphere - and then there is the small matter of learning how to manage it when it is up and running . More stress no doubt but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end. It will be linked to this blog and I'm hoping to have more news on it when I next write. There will also be a card section and I can't wait to reveal my doll cards to you all !