Airy Spirits ~ Textile Art

Continuing with my new hobby love ~ a little more Textile Art, only this time, something with wings.

During the lock-down, due to Covid 19/Coronavirus, my brain got busy and spoke to my fingers, which began conjuring up butterflies. Although textile butterflies aren’t the easiest thing I’ve ever made, they’re mighty enjoyable, and all so precious when I’ve finished them. They all seem to have their own personalities, and they make me smile for one reason or another.

The Nectar Collector

Each one I’ve made is in a different fabric, and this particular one, called: The Nectar Collector; was made from Vintage Embroidered Fabric, which I tea stained then added a little ink to give it a warm peachy effect to the fabric itself

Why is this butterfly called: The Nectar Collector? Ah, well that’s an easy one to answer….

Butterflies ‘eat’ nectar and do so by the use of their ‘tongue’ – they have a long, curled proboscis, which is like a soft drinking straw, which uncoils to sip liquid food, and then coils up again into a spiral when the butterfly isn’t feeding.

But … what happens to all the nectar which the butterflies can’t reach, or miss because they don’t notice it?

Well, *I’m reliably informed by the Fairies which live in Cobweb Wood*, that there are special butterflies whose job it is to go around foraging for all the left over nectar which can be found on flowers, and collect it in special bottles. They then take it back to ‘Nectar Central’, where each of the bottles of nectar are dated, stored on shelves and saved for use on days when it’s too cold to go out or too windy, too blustery or those rainy days when the weather isn’t suitable for delicate Butterfly wings.

*Once all this was explained to me* it totally made sense, as I’m sure it does to you too, now that I’ve explained it to you!

The underside of a Butterflys wings are just as important as the tops, but for a totally different reason. The underside of a butterfly wing is actually called ‘The Ventral Side’. This ventral (under) side is more often than not, used for camouflage so that it can avoid being dinner for some passing bird or frog.

And the importance of the Ventral Side of the wings was important to me too. After all … I don’t want some passing frog to eat the Nectar Collector! So it clearly states on the underside of it’s wings that this butterfly isn’t for chomping on – for this is a Cobwebs Butterfly!

The tops of butterfly wings are used for signalling to another butterfly that the butterfly rather likes them and would like to marry them. (*That’s how it was explained to me, anyhow*).

Before this particular butterfly takes flight and leaves me, when it’s found it’s forever home, there will be a very tiny button sewn to the underside – of a particular colour and shape, which will have a special meaning. An explanation of the meaning of that button, will be sent along with him, so that he can be treasured for the treasure he actually is.

Now before I sign off …

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU – to all who replied and commented on my last post [<— clickable link] and who helped me – because I was near to being a big melted down mess on the floor, and BIG THANKS to those who gave me hints, tips and guidance on how to use the new block editor that WordPress have forced upon us.

As you can see, with your help, I have made a post! [a roar of cheers can be heard from all over the land].

I can’t say that I like the new editor, because I don’t. I REALLY don’t.

  • It has no spellcheck;
  • No ‘update’ button;
  • It won’t colour selected words in a paragraphbut simply colours all the words in that paragraph. (Unless you know a trick to that … and if you do, please share it with me);
  • It has pop up boxes which appear out of nowhere and block the view of what you want to seewhich I’m sure are meant to be helpful, when the time is right – but they’re a darn nuisance!;
  • Things are hidden behind unknown ‘terms’ and names;
  • Silly symbols which mean diddly squat to regular, not unintelligent users!;
  • Everything about it is so darn tiresome and seems to need an abundance of clicks to do the simplest thing
  • even changing the colour of the words isn’t the one click it used to be!

The new system is clunky, silly, old fashioned in many ways, behind the times and boringly, stupidly long winded.

It truthfully feels like the coding has been written by a junior member of staff instead of someone who knows what she/he is actually doing. It’s taken me a lot longer than I would normally have spent building a post – but . . . at least I now have a post, after lots of help from other WordPress users.

My sincere thanks to you all – for without you, I truthfully would have thrown the towel in and given up. Bless each and every one of you.

Thank you so much for coming today and sharing a coffee and some time with me, while I introduced you to the Nectar Collector – who is the first of my Airy Spirits. I love seeing you here, and love chatting with you all. So please feel welcome to leave a comment. It doesn’t have to be a huge comment, just say hello – because it’s always so nice to know who I’m chatting with.

And …. before I sign off, there HAS to be some Monday jokes:-

Q:- Where are average things manufactured?

A:- The satisfactory.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What does Charles Dickens keep in his spice rack?

A:- The best of thymes, the worst of thymes.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What do you call an apology written in dots and dashes?

A:- Re-Morse code.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What do you call a rooster staring at a pile of lettuce?

A:- A chicken sees a salad.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Just before I sign off … although I’ve been commenting on blogs over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been told by various bloggers that they’ve found my comments in their spam folders – so … please check your spam folders, as a comment or two might just be hiding there.

Have a wonderful Monday, and a truly blessed week. Sending love and squidges through the ether to you ….

* the ASTERISK * marked * statements [above] may or may not be entirely, exactly d’ twufe, d’ whole twufe and nuffin but d’ twufe. But I’m absolutely certain dere is some sort of twufe.

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Come with me, and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination . . .

That was the first line of one of my most favourite songs from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Last week I shared with you an altered, little Altoids (mints) sized tin for which I’d created a ‘Little bit of Dorset in a Tin’ – which was a [sort of] diorama inside a tin.

If you missed the blog post I paste a link here:-   A little bit of Dorset in a little Tinwhich, if you click on it, will open up in a new page for you.

I created that little tin for a friend of Mr.Cobs, who’s coming for a visit in a few weeks time.

Mr.Friend told Mr.Cobs on the phone that he rather fancied a trip to somewhere called Brownsea Island  –  which is here in Dorset where we live, but it’s an island all by itself and you have to board a boat to get to.

I wanted to make Mr.Friend something of a souvenir but couldn’t think of anything about Brownsea Island which I could work into a souvenir, so instead, I chose a famous lighthouse here in Dorset,  – and the Little Tin I shared last week had Portland Bill  Lighthouse inside the Little Tin.

Funny thing was …  two days later, just as I was dropping off to sleep in bed … a stray thought popped into my mind which woke me up, and in that moment a plan formed.  That plan is the little bit of fun that I’ve come to share with you now.

Brownsea Island is probably most famous all around the world for the ‘invention’ of the Scouts, for Brownsea Island is where is all began.  My sleepy brain remembered this and led me to an idea which would be the perfect thing to give Mr.Cobs Friend, instead of the Portland Bill Lighthouse!  So …  this is what happened after the brain cell gave me the vision. . .

brownsea island tin B
The English penny in the above photo, (to the left, at the bottom)  is for a kind of size reference.  It measures roughly 18mm and so almost the same size as an American dime

I thought that perhaps I could do a little research and see if I could find any details about what the first Scout boys had used by way of tents – style and colour etc.  I found enough information to tell me to make the classic upturned V style of tent, in a kind of khaki colour, and that’s what I created from some clay.

brownsea Island tin CAMP TENT copy
A close up of the ten, showing the flap gently blowing in the breeze.  The ‘guy rope’ is held securely to a tiny wooden tent peg, and I made the Union Jack Flag from paper.

I wasn’t absolutely sure that the tents would have been this Khaki colour – but it seemed right and looked so right that I was convinced that it had to be so.

 

brownsea Island e
The purple rule is showing the measurement of the tin, in centimetres. There are roughly 2.5cm to an inch.  So:  the tin is 9cm tall, and that would mean that it’s 3.54″ in inches.

The tree in the tin is made from a twig which was found in my back garden.

I built the campfire from some broken twigs which I’d found in my garden at the end of last summer, and had dried them out and kept them in my craft room, waiting for the right project.  Ahhh …. don’t you love it when you plan for something –  that you have no idea about at the time, – but when it happens …. YOU’RE READY FOR IT!  😀

brownsea Island tin CAMP FIRE
The Camp Fire

I thought that all the best scout camps would have a lit fire, cracking, sparkling and sending up smoke signals which floated tiny bits of burning embers up, up, up into the sky ….  so I built a camp fire exactly as I’d expect to see one!

I think that the most difficult part of this little Diorama Tin was the Red Squirrel you see hiding in the tree.  Made from clay, it took me three ‘goes’ before I got the size right.

brownsea island C
Can you see the red squirrel?

The red squirrel is the UK’s only native squirrel species, and was once a common sight across the UK. But for decades they’ve been in decline in the UK, and today,  red squirrels are sadly absent from most of the UK,  affected by the spread of the introduced non-native grey squirrel.

The Pine woods of Brownsea Island are home to one of the few remaining red squirrel populations in England.  Naturally because of this, I had to include a red squirrel in the tin!

I added a little pull out booklet to the inner lid of the altered tin . . .

brownsea Island tin Words

When pulled out, it tells the story of how the Scouts began . . .

brownsea Island tin c

I so enjoyed making this Little Tin.  It wasn’t a quick make by any standards, but so very enjoyable and once it was eventually finished, I felt as if I’d been smiling for days and days.  Such a fun make.  But then….  as we all know ….  I do like to make Little things.  lol.

brownsea Island tin A

Thank you so much for coming and having a coffee moment with me.  It’s so lovely to see you here and I really do appreciate you coming.

I take this moment to say hello to some new followers that have joined us.  I won’t embarrass anyone by naming names, but will say ….  I hope you find something(s) to enjoy here in the Cobweborium Emporium, and that you eventually pluck up the courage to say hello in a comment.

Remember … until someone sees you here, we can’t click to come and see you on your blog if you have one!  So please, don’t be shy.  No one bites here, and we’d all love to meet you.

I hope your Monday has been fabulous, and that the weather, where you are, is such that it leaves you smiling.

And … now that we are near my signing off …  remember the song I began singing right at the start of this blog post?  Well …. I include the song, and a click for you, if you fancy a listen and a bit of a read:

Dorset Wildlife Trust   <– CLICK.  A thoroughly lovely website (will open up in a new window for you) which has various pages of loveliness for you to look at.  Hover your mouse over the various sections of the black bar across the top of the page (just under the Title: Dorset Wildlife Trust) and each section will open up a little window so that you can click on any of them to have a read.

Have a truly blessed rest of your day my friends  ~

Coffee Sig

 

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