Needle Felted Krampus

 He's a special one-of-a-kind gift for a friend I have known since Kindergarten. She likes freaky stuff like Krampus the Yule Devil........so I made him for her. I even made the basket out of pipe cleaners and hemp.

Needle Felted Daniel Tiger

 Here is how he looked when I started. He looked like a bear!

 Then I started adding his sweater and shoes...and his paws....

And now he's set to be auctioned off at work to help raise money for Movember!

Needle Felted Radiation Rooster

Here is an image of the character Radiation Rooster. He's not a regular character on the show, Almost Naked Animals, but he appears as sort of a guest character. I'm posting this image of him because I couldn't find anything else of him on the web to link to. He's definitely one of my favorite characters on the show.

I made him in 100 % wool. He was a lot of fun to do!

I used sheets of acrylic craft felt to make his robe though, because the gag is that he always ends up naked at the end of the episode he shows up in. He's very absent minded, and he usually doesn't end up naked on purpose. His private parts are always off screen, or covered by a strategically placed bit of debris etc. in the foreground.

Rat Skull

I found a dead rat near my work one day, and it was entirely mummified. I got a couple plastic bags and picked it up off the ground. I really only wanted the skull, but being mummified it held together in one piece!

 I macerated the body in a bucket on my back porch, and after a few months, the flesh disintegrated enough to come off the bones. I replaced the water a few times until there was nothing left in the bucket but water and bones.

 Each time I dumped out the old water and yucky stuff, I risked losing a few of the tinier bones. I discovered that the skull had been broken, but I could see most of the parts were still around. By this time the water was clearer and I added a small amount of bleach to it. You have to be extra careful at this point because too much bleach will actually eat away at the bones.

 This morning, I took the skull bones which had been drying for a few days, and assembled them. I discovered a couple are gone forever, but it's still pretty good for a first time effort with something so small. I've only ever done large things like a moose and a couple deer. Oh yeah, and a Cormorant skull.

Duck "Hero Sandwich" Cake

 Making marshmallow fondant. Yes, you do indeed begin with marshmallows....microwave them for a minute until melted. Then mix in about 5 cups or more of icing sugar. Coat your hands and the work surface with vegetable shortening, because this stuff is STICKY!

Duck cake being decorated.

The finished product!

The Duck cake at work, waiting to be devoured! I made this cake in celebration of the show I work on called "Almost Naked Animals."
Here's a link to the scene it's referencing.

Rubber Chicken Cake

 Since it was my turn to make a dessert for our after Easter get together, I decided it should be a semi-traditional cake....in a ring shape, with green shredded coconut as nesting material, and a chicken.......but not just any chicken....a rubber chicken. So after Googling many fine images, I made a couple sketches then set to work sculpting the little thing out of coloured marzipan....very much the same way I would make little sculptures out of dough......but you use icing sugar, not flour, to keep the paste from sticking to your hands.
 It turned out a little larger than I had planned, but it still fit fairly well on the cake.  By the time we got to my mother's house, the chicken had sagged a bit, but that helped it look more rubbery. I'm happy to say the cake was a big success and the beak was the first part to get eaten! I had a foot. Some of the others had the wings and one of my nieces happily devoured the head.

My kids and I also did a variation on a rainbow cake. It's more difficult to control where the colours go than I had thought it would be. It seems the colour you want in the middle should go (as batter) into the pan last.

Local Wildlife

 We've been bombarded lately with multitudes of Red Admiral Butterflies. They love to find a sunny spot and soak up the warmth.

 I was lucky enough to have these ones open their wings while I came near, because a few of the others clamped their wings shut as soon as they sensed they were being watched.

 Also, we've been getting a lot more raccoons around...there were two in the big Elm next door the other morning. It was around 7:30 AM and they were just settling in, so I managed to get these photos!

Raccoon in a Tree

Around 5 PM last night, while I was waiting for our roast to cook in the oven, I was looking out our bedroom window at our next door neighbour's Elm tree. It's a gorgeous tree....but anyway, I saw an animal in it that I first thought was a cat. I went outside with my camera to zoom in on the critter. I figured if it had been a cat it would have been meowing to get down, but this one seemed right at home and was having a nap. Even through the highest zoom I still couldn't see 100 % if it was a raccoon, but today, when I lightened the images, that's exactly what the animal was. I saw him stirring as the sun was setting and he's not there today, so I figured he was possibly wandering out of his usual territory, and just using the tree as a safe haven until nightfall returned.


Here's a look at how high up he was....I've circled him in red. Wild animals sure are tough.....the sun may have been warm, but the wind was cold. I guess that's why they have such a thick coat of fur.

Druckfarben at the Mod Club

Canadian Prog Rock band Druckfarben played at the Virgin Mobile Mod Club Thursday night and performed their debut album, "Druckfarben" live. It was a great show and in spite of the mist in the air from the fog machines, I managed to get some half decent photos.

Druckfarben are Phil Naro (centre) Ed Bernard (left)bassist Peter Murray (right) ,
drummer Troy Feener and keyboardist William Hare.

Multi-instrumentalist Ed Bernard on his customized guitar.

Ed Bernard on mandolin.

Ed Bernard on electric violin, accompanied by lead singer Phil Naro on semi-acoustic guitar.

Needle Felted Chickadee

I discovered that making birds in wool felt is a lot more difficult than making mammals.
The feet are tricky and it's not easy to imitate feathers. I think I'll continue with mammals.