I promised, last week, to share with you some Textile Art, made by yours truly. [grins] – So, Ladles and Jellyspoons, may I introduce … The Copper Topped Lavender Mob.
Three enchanted mushrooms mounted on a piece of aged, half round, wood which was cut and sanded smooth for me by Mr.Cobs.
The wood was treated and sealed, and then finished in a way that I love – it has a soft sheen to it and it’s as smooth as a baby’s you know what! It has a beautiful softness and warmth about it, and picks out the various shades of natures gift.
The mushrooms began life as part wire armature, with a selection of fabrics which go through a process of: washing, – dying, – staining, – then a lot of sewing, followed by colouring with a type of fabric paint, and finally, finished with whatever I felt the mushrooms needed in order to bring them to life.Everything is sewn by hand – even the gills (on the underside) are all hand pleated and stitched into place. Likewise the frills on the mushroom stalks are sewn and stitched in place by hand.
It’s not a quick craft, but it’s certainly one I’ve fallen deeply in love with.
The end result from all the work and an abundance of patience, is something magical, normally seen only in The Land of the Fae.
Although they look quite solid – they actually aren’t. They do have a gentle stiffness to them – after all, I needed them to hold their shape and be the piece of artwork I wanted them to be. But when you touch them, they have a ‘give’ or a slight ‘bounce’ – just like the regular mushrooms you buy from the supermarket or greengrocer have.
The green stuff clambering over the wooden base … isn’t moss… well no actually, it is, but it’s not real moss. But the stones and stone chippings…. well they are real. As are the trail of teeny tiny oak tree leaves.Yes, they really are real.How did you harvest oak leaves so small? [I hear you ask] …. Well, what else would you expect from the Land of Fae? Tiny fairies, tiny trees, teeny tiny oak leaves. Naturally!
The ‘Copper Tops’ aren’t real copper (of course), the fabulous colour comes from them being blessed by the Sun. These mushrooms grow in the woodland areas of The Land of Fae, and like nothing more than stretching their necks right up, in order to catch some of the sun rays, ~ from which they get their coppery sun tan!
Oh, and of course … as artists of the world do … the Copper Topped Lavender Mob are signed on the underside of the base ….
…. and the Union Jack nestled in the base is there to show they are UK mushrooms, produced in the United Kingdom by a UK artist!
These photographs don’t truly show the incredibleness of this little gang of three, the pictures don’t share their magic; nor their extraordinary twinkles which happen when the light catches various parts of them; neither do the photos share the unbelievable glow they have! I roped Mr.Cobs in to see if he could capture their amazing magical glow which my camera couldn’t….
photograph by Mr. Cobs
Mr.C took the Lavender Mob outside and perched them on the bird bath, hoping that the natural light would enable photos to show exactly how lovely they are. Sadly it didn’t work. It would seem that only the naked eye can see these majestic little creatures in all their glory.
I had the most amazing, enjoyable pleasure making these wondersome creations and they encouraged and motivated me to continue my journey with Textile Art.
But …the next magical makes are to be shared another time, for I’ve kept you here more than long enough.
The Copper Topped Lavender Mob have already gone to their forever home. Daughter No.2 saw them and fell in love with them, so they now live with her, and her husband, and my magical grandson, Little Cobs. And it’s the strangest thing. but I feel bereft. It’s kind of like having a child leave home. I miss their presence.
But … now it’s time to go.
Hmmm ,,, – hang on – … there’s something I’m forgetting … [thinks] … oh crumbs! It’s the JOKES….
These are the Jokes Folks!
What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards?
A receding hare-line!
~~~ ❤ ~~~
What rhymes with Orange?
No it doesn’t.
~~~ ❤ ~~~
Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl dinosaur go to the toilet?
Because the ‘p’ is silent.
~~~ ❤ ~~~
I’ll be back with some more Textile Art in the next blog post – only next time it will be something a little different.Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me. Have a beautiful Monday, and a truly blessed week.
In the Realm of the Fae (Fairy Land), the Elements of the Realm are represented by various things dependant upon the area where the particular Fairy Land is located. And … just like us humans, Fairy Land has the same sort of set up with Woodlands, towns, villages, counties, states, and countries!
Each ‘Town/Village/Country’ [etc] has its own way of expressing things, (just as we all have our own localised languages or terminology), and within the ‘village’ of Freckled Mushroom Wood, the four Elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, are represented by some of the most incredible mushrooms I think I’ve ever seen, and it’s some rather special specimens of these Elements that I’d like to share with you today!
All the specimens are held securely in glass test tubes, which have been sealed shut with a cork.
The test tubes you see in the photographs are all the same length: 10.2cm long – that’s 4″ (inches) to us folks who still love imperial measurements, and they’re just 1.5cm wide – which is 8/12th’s of an inch (or [roughly] just over half an inch for those who don’t do fractions).
So they’re quite small, and getting those Elementals to be the right size, took some doinger … searching. I had to search high and low to find long enough, but slim enough, Elementals which would fit inside those little glass tubes. Yes I did. I did indeed sweat buckets trying to get the size right! Phew. Fairy Land gets very hot and bothersome on some days.
These are the Mushroom Elementals of Freckled Mushroom Wood, each of them embodying one of the powers of nature: Earth; Air; Fire and Water.
The task of Elementals is to look after the nature kingdom. They are responsible for the therapeutic effects you feel when outdoors amongst nature, at the beach or sea-side; at lakes and by rivers; in parks and nature areas.
A little bit like a Phoenix, these very special Elemental Mushrooms live for only a specific length of time but once they’ve reached their ‘age’, each of them cyclically regenerates itself and is reborn again as new. Each of the Elemental Mushrooms not only represents an important Element of nature, but also plays its own part in the well-being of Fairy Land.
Shall we take a peep at them individually? Let’s begin with . . .
The Fairy Mushroom Elemental:Earth
The Element of Earth shown in a Fairy Mushroom Elemental.
The Earth Elemental is responsible for creating, sustaining, and renewing life on Earth. It helps:-
Plants, grass, and even weeds to grow, and helps the Fairy Gardeners to grow all the food needed for the Fairies, Gnomes, Pixies and all the other occupants of the Land of the Fae.
It encourages Trees to reach their full height and potential. Which gives the Fairies somewhere to play hide and seek and have races with other fairies.
It helps Children to flourish and develop in a healthy or vigorous way. It also helps with the birth and growing of Fairy Babies.
It is the sole purpose of all the elements, since it represents a basis for each of them.
Earth is the element of our planet and how got its name by it too.
The Earth Element has one very important job in Fairy land … it helps fairies to find their way home from wherever they may be. It’s a little bit like a satellite. It has a certain ‘vibration’ to it, which each Fairy recognises, and so can fly home whenever they wish, be it night or day!
The Fairy Mushroom Elemental: Air
TheAir Element is important in that it connects all the other elements. It’s invisible, but that doesn’t make it less important than any other, because, well, without it, we couldn’t exist!
The element of Air gives us
what we need for our lungs to function
opens our Souls
is important for the first breath of a new-born baby!
Where Earth is fixed, Air is definitely a mover!
It’s connected to the mind, spirit, wisdom and soul.
Air is required for flight. Not just Air-planes and the like, but for birds, flies, insects and bats, but also …. Fairies!Imagine Fairies flying in the wind – tiny creatures bestowed with pure intuition who fly where ever the air whispers to them.
The wind (and so Air)has a voice, and you have to listen carefully to it. The wind blowing in from the South and East hints of good things. But the wind can change direction and with that it itself predicts change – sometimes good, sometimes not so. Listen to its voice. Is it an angry voice, or is it gentle and soothing? It’s what Fairies do. Perhaps we should become like Fairies now and again, so that we can see things through the eyes of the innocent and hear things in an innocent way.
The Fairies in Freckled Mushroom Wood have taught me much about the Elements – both the ones in Fairy Land, and the ones in our human realm – and I now realise that they are, in fact, very much the same things.
The Fairy Mushroom Elemental: Fire
Firehas something particularly special about it. It’s the only element that shines. Water can sparkle, but only if it reflects the light created by Fire, whether a campfire or the Sun.
Of course, in the Land of the Fae the most Fire is found within the annoyance and anger of a Fairy Dragon. However, a Dragons Fire is a much-needed and very welcomed Fire, for Fairies need it to: Toast Apples; Roast Chestnuts; Cook Mushrooms; Bake Acorns; Warm Berries to eat and to make Fairy Jam with, and oh!, all sorts of other things!
Note Well: Humans won’t often find a Fairy Dragon – but if you do, treat it kindly and don’t disturb it if it’s asleep, for when baked in fire, you are crunchy, and Fairy Dragons discovered Ketchup on toasted ‘umans works wonders!
The Fairy Mushroom Elemental:Water
TheWater Elemental is the element of constant movement, moving sometimes slow and steady, and at other times rushing and a torrent; a destructive force of almost unimaginable proportions.
Fairies need water not only to drink and use to water their flowers, but to bathe, feed the birds and to make the dew drops which will sparkle in the early morning sunlight, and add joy to the early morning chorus.
If you’re really quiet, you might come across a Fairy playing or washing her hair under the dripping water of a Mushroom Water Elemental, for the Mushroom will drip, drip, drip continually, supplying water to the earth beneath it’s feet.
It was r.e.a.l.l.y. difficult to capture, in a photo, the dripping water on this Mushroom Water Elemental because water is transparent, but I share about the best shot I managed to get . . .
And that concludes our four Elementals. However … the observant among you will have noticed that there is a 5th Glass Test Tube in the two photos at the top of this post. . .
. . . can you spot it? That one right in the middle. “What’s that?” I hear you asking . . .
Well … it’s a Gnome … or a Tomte . . . or a Nisse. This little figure has different names depending on where in the world you find him, and … he’s a Protector. In this case, he’s a Fairy, Mushroom Elemental Protector. A very important job indeedly doodly!
This Gnome / Tomte / Nisse hides himself in little places so that he won’t be spotted by anyone rambling through the woodland which he’s protecting. This particular Gnome/Tomte/Nisse is a very special protector, for he is in charge of protecting all the Fairy, Mushroom Elementals which live in his wood.
He was almost impossible to capture a good image of him on film, because the little rascal kept moving! He would turn or stick his nose in the air, or generally refuse to hold still just for a moment, while I captured his image on film. You can barely see his nose … but I did manage a slightly blurred photo which kind of shows it in close up and share that with you . . .
A Gnome / Tomte / Nisse, captured (slightly blurred) in a photograph. (Blurred because he just wouldn’t keep still!).
His beard is of the whitest white, and it twinkles like nothing else I’ve ever seen. Again … I just couldn’t see to capture it in a photo. It looks incredibly magical when seen with the naked eye.
I admit that taking photographs of these Test Tube Elementals was one heck of a job. Lights bounced off the glass. Shadows showed up where there were none before. Patterns played across the glass from things on either side of the room and it made viewing the Mushrooms really difficult. Aw … it’s not something I’ll undertake so lightly again. Next time I go in for photographs of anything in a test tube, I’ll be more aware! (probably still take a hundred rubbish photos, but I’ll be aware. LOL).
Well… that’s me done and dusted regarding the Fairy, Mushroom Elementals.
So … how are you? I trust you are well, that life is treating you kindly and that things are going in a nice direction for you. Anything happening in life that you’d like to share? Need some advice from someone? Post your question in a comment and I’m sure you’ll get an answer – even if only from me!
Here in Cobweb Towers … it’s been a little cooler the last two days, and we’ve had some rain! [doing a BIG happy dance here!]. Finally the sun has given us a couple of days break and sleep has been much more comfortable for the last two nights. Such a blessing. I know that Dorset holiday makers won’t be finding it a blessing, but we very much-needed some cool weather for a while and the gardens desperately needed some rainwater.
All that’s left for me to say is that I hope your Monday was a decent one, and I wish you terrific Tuesday. May your day tomorrow begin with a smile and end with one, and may the hours in between have smiles shared and dotted throughout the day.
Sending squidges, from me in my corner, to you in yours.
Looking through my photos on my camera I found these photos which I took ages ago and totally forgot to share them. What a dope!
These fairy shoes belonged to Lady Lillie Fairy. She’s rather a big deal in The Land of the Fae. She’s the Fairy equivalent of our Dame (a title bestowed only by the Queen (or who ever is the Monarch at the time) in the UK). She’s well-respected and treated as a high-ranking Fairy among those who reside in the Land of the Fae.
She has her clothes made by Fairyland Designers, and shoes made by a Cobbler called Cobwebs. (Yes, I know, how incredible is that? Me=Cobwebs; Cobwebs=Cobbler! Who woulda thunk?!).
Possibly made from the petals of a Lily which one can find only in Fairy Land. (or they might have been made from Polymer. [cough]) Can you see the teeny tiny stamens – which don’t leave any stains on your clothes – peeping out from the insides of the inner petals of the Lily? They’re made from the same stuff.
The decoration which you see to the front of the shoes are teeny tiny green glass beads, which are hung on copper wire. These beads give the most delightful tinkling noise as the shoes are moved, which makes every step taken ring out in an ethereal, magical, almost imagined sound, – but it’s not imagined, for you really can hear it – as you would expect from a Fairy!
The copper Penny sat next to the shoes in the photographs is there for reference, so that you can get an idea of the size of the shoes.
Of course, no shoes were stolen in order to share these shoes with you. These shoes were left under a Fairy toadstool, in a place which is clearly labelled “Sharing the Shoes” – so that a passing Fairy might stumble upon them and try them for size, or a human, with an eye for Fairies, might find them and either add them to a collection (as I do) or might begin a collection.
These Fairy Lillie Shoes were brought to you by Cobwebs.
Have a spiffing Saturday! Be good to yourself, and be lovely to anyone you come into contact with. The Fairies would approve. 😉
Fairies DO exist, says Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer John Hyatt.
The photograph above is a real, really real, true photograph. There is no fakery or Photoshop trickery with this image. It’s a straight photograph, taken in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, by Professor John Hyatt of Manchester Metropolitan University. Take a look at it again. Actually look at it before you carry on reading.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,the creator of the world’s favourite ultra-rational detective, Sherlock Holmes, believed that there was no scientific reason why fairies could not exist. In his 1922 book, The Coming of the Fairies, he said:
We see objects within the limits which make up our colour spectrum, with infinite vibrations, unused by us, on either side of them. If we could conceive a race of beings which were constructed in material which threw out shorter or longer vibrations, they would be invisible unless we could tune ourselves up or tone them down… there is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing that which is invisible to others.
Doyle was writing about the famous photographs of fairies made by two Cottingley cousins, – schoolgirls Elsie and Frances, in 1917, and like many others at the time, he hoped they were true photographs. Sadly, they weren’t.
Photograph of The Cottingley Fairies featuring Elsie Wright (1901–1988)
The girls finally admitted later in life that they had indeed faked the photographs using painted cardboard cut-outs. However, even though the photographs weren’t real, the girls (at this point, women) still insisted on the reality of fairies.
Photograph of a Cottingley Fairy featuring Elsie Wright (1901–1988)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle then went on the speculate,
‘If the objects are indeed there, and if the inventive power of the human brain is turned upon the problem, it is likely that some sort of psychic spectacles, inconceivable to us at the moment, will be invented, and that we shall all be able to adapt ourselves to the new conditions. ‘.
Photograph of a Cottingley Fairy featuring Frances Griffiths (died 1986)
Now, almost a hundred years later, Professor John Hyatt of Manchester Metropolitan University has taken a series of true photographs of fairies.
When asked now about the existence of fairies,Professor Hyatt said:
“People can decide for themselves what they are but the message is to approach them with an open mind.
“Let the world decide for itself. It is my job, as an artist, to open people’s eyes to the wonders through which they walk every day.”
So the question now is, after everything you’ve just read and seen . . .
Do YOU believe in the existence of Fairies?
Have a fabulous rest of your day, all. May your day be filled with magical things.
The finished Tag. This one is so easy that the steps to make it are all done in photographs. (yes – it’s THAT easy!)
Another tag art tutorial, – and this one is so easy that I’ve done all the ‘instructions’ by photographs, and just adding a note or two if I felt I needed to.
Remember … your own finished tag might look totally different to mine: you might not have butterflies in mind, but baking or tool sheds. You might want to do a tag about caravans or sewing, or fishing or cooking … or just about anything. It’s not the things I’m using or the colours or even the tag shape or size. This is more about how to pull a tag together. The steps. The ideas. Sort of like a flow chart.
If, after seeing the picture tutorial you feel that you want to make a tag with the same ‘feel’ or similar colours etc etc – then you can get your own stuff together and come back and look at the pictures again as you make your own tag if it helps you to put things in order. However – I’ll tell you the things I’ve used to make this tag, as we go along, so that if you want to make one like it, or like a particular colour or ‘thing’, then you’ll have the information to get that ‘thing’.
Shall we start? OH... and remember … it’s Tag Art – it’s not brain surgery. No one is going to test you on it, or even mark your results to see if you’ve passed the test. It’s just a bit of fun, . . . and you might make something you love so much that you’ll want to frame it and put it on your wall. Or make it the main attraction on the front of your next handmade card! (Who knows … you might end up being the next big mixed media artist of the art world!)
A NOTE ABOUT PINFLAIR GENTLE BLENDS: If you haven’t used Gentle Blends before – I can highly recommend them. But .. don’t ‘dab’ up too much paint as it goes a long way with just a little medium. The open pots (see the top right for an open one) have the medium in the base and a sponge on the top which soaks up the medium and that’s where you gently and sparinglydab your sponge to pick up the medium and put it on your project.
I coloured the whole of the tag in Teal. The little off white patches that you see on the tag are where the tag picked up some glue off my glass mat. Don’t worry about things like that – they kind of add to the charm of a tag.But .. if you hate it, then you could gently rub the area where the glue is with an emery board to remove the glue. Failing that .. stick something on top of the glue and hide it. No one will ever know it was there!
Another colour … blended in a sort of oval around but leaving the central part of the tag still teal.
More Gentle Blends: this time in ‘Denim’. It’s a lovely colour, and a little darker, and slightly warmer than the two other colours. The idea here (all the different colours) is that you’re drawing the eye into the centre. You’re giving the ‘view’ of looking into somewhere lovely … somewhere like … a woodland fairy glade.
Now remember … although I’ve embossed using a Sheena Douglass embossing folder (shown here with a bit of dark card inside it so that you can see the whole of the embossing ‘picture’ that’s available on this folder) – you might not have that particular folder, so use something which will ‘go’ with your own project. A tree. A fish. A window. Some flowers. Whatever you have, use that.
BUT.. if you don’t have an embossing machine then that’s fine too! You could use stickers. Add some stickers in the right places – but don’t go crazy with them. You don’t want to over-crowd your tag. Three/four/five stickers would probably be fine.
OR… if you don’t have stickers – then use pencil/pens/markers – and draw something which ‘goes’ with the theme of your tag.
Not too much warm brown … just enough. Don’t muddy the colours you’ve already got there.
Beverysparing with black on your tag (Unless your tag is a dark, deep looking tag which you’re going to put brighter colours on top of).
Black can turn a card into something way different from you started out making. So keep stopping and checking. Pick up your tag and hold it at arm’s length. Squint at it (half close your eyes) if it helps you to see it in a sort of ‘detached’ view.
A photo looking ‘across’ the tag so that you can see a little of the depth to the embossing.
But, I hear you ask… “What if I don’t have any gilding wax?” …
No problem. Find some paints or ink pads or even water-colour pencils – anything which will allow you to pick up colour on your finger – and put a tiny bit of either paint, or chosen colour of ink pad, or water-colour pencil (which you’ve added the water from a barely damp brush to), on a glass mat, or blending mat, or heat/glue resistant mat – … – and then using your ring finger (ring finger because it gives the lightest ‘tap’), tap a little of your coloured medium onto your finger and gently either dab or stroke it onto the tag where you want the colour to be.
‘Metal’ – I missed the word ‘metal’ from the above – it should have read ‘with a larger, vintage looking, metal butterfly’.
Another reminder: If you’re doing a tag about golf or fishing or baking or sewing or … well whatever your tag is themed around – then use the eyelet hole to attach a fishing rod; golf club (mini one not a big one silly! lol); rolling-pin or something bakery themed; sewing machine embellishment etc etc etc.
A close up of the key and the brad holding the key in place.
The two extra tags … I’d printed out some words which I die cut with a free set of three dies which I’d got with a magazine about a year or so ago. I die cut the words on the white paper, using the medium sized die; and then cut a tag in brown card using the largest die.
I blended some of the teal Pinflair Gentle Blends – this was from the teal remaining on the sponge (I didn’t add any extra), around the outside of the white tag and then glued the white tag to the larger brown.
I worked out where the hole for the brad and key had to go and once I’d ‘threaded’ the key onto the brad and pushed it through the star eyelet hole, I then popped the glued together tags onto the back and opened the ‘wings’ of the brad behind them so that everything was held together, but the tags were able to move freely and so could be opened and closed behind the big tag.
close up of the tags, so that you can read the words.
Almost finished! . . .
twit twoo!Finished!
I’ve taken this last photograph without the flash so that you could see the details all together ‘as one’.
If you saw it with the naked eye, it glints and twinkles and actually does have something magical about it, which kind of makes your eye dance across the tag from one place to another.
I so hope that these ‘pointers’ are helping anyone who has some doubts about making tag art. There really isn’t anything to it. You just have to remind yourself that it’s only a tag and if you make a mistake … it’s not a mistake. It’s a happy accident which happened because something is trying to tell you to use that ‘happy accident’ as a kind of road sign and telling you to go ‘this’ way.
Thank you so much for coming and for having a read. Take a look around while you’re here!
Have a truly fabulous rest of your day. Happy Crafting all!
… because even a Fairy has to have shoes! These are Pollens Pods.
Pollen the Fairy has a very important job in the Land of the Fae, and that job is to dust down the flowers after the Bumbles have paid a visit. You see, Bumble Bees can be very messy sometimes and in their desire to collect pollen from flowers, they will occasionally get a little over greedy and splosh tiny specks of pollen all over the flowers and their petals! So Pollen the Fairy was put on the job and he dusts down the flowers with a very special brush, made from the hair of the Fairy Princess. (what? you thought that a bristle brush would do the job? tsk tsk)
But .. Pollen needed new shoes and so wanted Cobweb the Cobbler to make some which had a nod to the important flower dusting job. Cobweb thought long and hard about this and eventually came up with ‘Pods’. The cobbler took some pea pods, and fashioned them into the right shape and correct size, but felt they were the wrong colour.
So the cobbler asked a passing Kingfisher bird if he would be willing to gift one of his beautiful blue feathers to the cobbler. The Kingfisher obliged! – and Cobweb then went to town and, using the feather donated by the Kingfisher, painted the pea pod made shoes!
Slowly, as the cobbler painted – the bright blue colour of the feather began to seep into the green of the pea pod made fairy shoe and dyed it the incredible bright blue colour you see in the photographs!
But … that wasn’t enough!A fairy wouldn’t just have plain blue shoes for hecks sake! No fairy would want just a boring plain shoe! Nooooo. Fairies have to have something special. And that’s where the magic began.
… the front and back, and the back and front!
These fairy shoes are covered in the pollen of all the different coloured flowers which the Bumbles like to visit, and the vines which wind their way around the shoes are there to gently hug the ankles of the fairy wearer so that the shoes don’t fall off in mid-flight, for that would be disastrous!
A comment made by another blogger made me realise that I’d hadn’t shown any of the boxes which the Fairy Shoes arrive in, so I thought that perhaps I should include these boxes in the photographs from now on. So the first photograph(at the top of this post)and the last one (below) show the top (and sides) of the hand painted and decorated box which Cobweb the Cobbler delivers the special Fairy Shoes in.
The other box in the background? ….. Ohhhhh … well you’ll have to wait till next time in order to see the shoes which belong to that box! 😉
Fairy Shoes all hand-made by Cobweb @ The Cobweborium Emporium
This post is dedicated to a fellow blogger, who’s photograph of a Bumble Bee was the inspiration behind this post. You can find her truly beautiful and peace filled blog here: http://friendlyfairytales.com/
Have a blessed rest of your day, and … thank you for visiting and taking the time to read. I hope you like the shoes!
Peapody’s Sunday Best Slippers handmade by Cobweb the Fairy Cobbler
Peapody is a fabulous rascal in the land of Fae. He’s tall – in fact quite the lankiest of the male fairies that I ever did see – and wears long-legged brown woollen trousers with turn ups – which, he tells me, are there to catch seeds!; an old (but still very serviceable) white with the faintest of line checks, collar-less shirt – with the sleeves rolled up; and braces which hold his trousers up and are attached to them with white bone buttons.
He’s a gardener in Fairy Land and has been around for a gazillion years. Well – that’s what he tells me, but I’m not entirely certain I believe him. To me he looks around his late eighties / early nineties – but hey, what do I know. I’m only a ”whipper-snapper” according to Peapody!
He gardens every single day. He says that no one else is going to take care of that forest so he has to work every day! To be honest, I think he just likes to garden – but he also likes to have people tell him he’s doing a wonderful job – so I did, and still do, often!
He used to wear boots. Brown, wrinkled, crinkled, cracked, leathery looking boots with laces, but he said that he’s far too busy and can’t be bothered with boots now and so decided a while ago that he was going to retire his boots and instead wear something more comfy. He asked Cobwebs the Cobbler to come up with something which he didn’t have to fuss with. He wanted: comfy with no laces; no zippers; no doodly uppy bits; no hobnails; no rivets and no holes. He said he just wanted to push his feet in and walk. And this is what Cobwebs the Fairy Cobbler came up with.
Fairy Peapody’s Slippers
They look, to all intents and purposes, like they’ve been crafted from the pods of the peas which Peapody grows to make Pea Pod Soup, and they’re even adorned with peas!
Peapody was thrilled with them when he saw them, and, I’m told, hasn’t taken them off since because they’re sooo comfortable. One satisfied customer I think!
If you’re now wondering what Pea Pod Soup tastes like, Peapody very kindly shared his recipe, scroll down to find it!
Pea Pod Soup
Ingredients:
A colander full of freshly emptied pea pods, rinsed
1 onion or a handful of spring onions, chopped
A generous handful of fresh mint
Light vegetable stock
Seasoning: a little salt, a little pepper, a little sugar, a little lemon juice
To garnish: more chopped spring onions and chopped fresh herbs of your choice
Optional: a little yoghurt or cream (use vegan varieties for vegan soup!)
Method:
In a large saucepan, gently fry the chopped onion or spring onions in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes. Put the pea pods and mint into the pan – discard any very woody stems but there’s no need to chop everything up, this soup will be going into the food processor later on. Add enough light vegetable stock to allow the pea pods to float about happily. Bring to the boil, then turn to a low heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Check the water level and top up if you need to.
Allow the mixture to cool a little and then transfer to a food processor or liquidiser and whizz until smooth. Pea pods can be stringy, so be prepared to run the machine for several minutes and taste as you go so that you can be sure that the consistency is right for you. If all else fails and the consistency is still a bit too fibrous you can put the soup through a sieve.
Return the soup to the pan, check the consistency and thin it down with a little more stock if you like. Check the taste and adjust it to suit your own preference using salt, pepper, sugar or lemon juice. This soup can be served warm or chilled. Top with finely chopped spring onions and fresh herbs, or a swirl of cream or yoghurt.
Yes, it’s a genuine recipe. You really can make and eat it.
Thanks for coming to read and take a peep at Peapody’s Slippers. I love them. What do you think?
The Cobweborium Emporium welcomes you into the Realm of the Fae, where magic can be marvelled and wonderment rules.
Here is where Once upon a Time comes back to life . . .
Bodwink’s Faery Boots handmade by Cobwebs
Many years ago I was taught to sculpt in heavy, grey Stoneware Clay and I remember one day, my teacher coming to my work bench and seeing at what I was sculpting he smiled warmly at me and said “… it’s all in the details for you, isn’t it.“. He’d noticed, over time, something that I hadn’t realised before, – I loved to make tiny little extra additions to all my sculpts. It was a lightbulb moment for me! Before this I just thought I was just doing finishing touches to any sculpts I produced, because they seemed to bring my sculpted things to life.
I began to look for a medium which would allow me to sculpt little things.Although Stoneware is amazing – it’s a little too gritty to make the smooth surfaces I wanted in my small things. I found a particular mix of polymers was the perfect thing and these tiny Fairy Shoes came out of my fingers about 9 years ago.
I christen all of my handmade shoes with the name of the Faery, Fairy, Elf or any other inhabitant of the Faery Realm who wears the shoes or boots which I make. These, are Bodwinks Boots.
They measure less than one and a half inches long, and they have a finish to them which makes them look like they’ve been spray painted in pearlescent paint. Very twinkly, with a depth which suggests they’re ‘other worldly’.
Bodwink’s Faery Boots made by Cobwebs
While you’re here … and I’ve got your attention.. I’m figuring that you perhaps like Fairy or magical type things since you’re reading this blog post, and if so I would love to share with you something which I’ve held dear to my heart for years. There is a company called Duirwaigh (it means ‘door way’) who produced a mini film called: A Knock at the Door
This was Duirwaigh’s first inspirational mini-film. It contains beautiful works of art from a range of fantasy artists, combined with some beautiful, inspiring text that leads the viewer of the film back to the magical place inside themselves.
From their website: “A Knock at the Door takes us to the beginning and end of every journey; a place of wonder and innocence, but above all a place of remembering – to the most magical secret place of all – the place of believing.”
Sit back, relax and watch the movie. Your inner child will thank you for doing it.
The Art of Cobwebs 