beetlegrass

You've Made Your Dog Beds, Now Lie In Them.

The exhibit I'm working on will have a total of six scenes, one of which will feature my dog finger puppets. In asking my sister for input re: themes for dogs -- because I don't want to have a reprise of the dogs celebrating their birthdays -- she suggested "doghouses". Bushels of ideas came from that suggestion, and I will show you how the doghouses are coming along in another blogpost. But for this blogpost, I thought I'd show you the beds and linens I've made for the houses.

I made a fairly simple, straightforward pattern for the bed, making it from cardstock that doubled back on itself for extra stability. I added half-circles of cardstock for the head and footboards, trimmed those down, then added lengths of coffee-stirrers for the bedposts, which got painted white. I added bones to the footboards (a double thickness of cardstock) for a little canine pizzazz... and so some other characters don't pretend these beds are THEIRS.

   

I made the bed linens using patterned cottons with white flannel. I'd never used flannel before with my miniatures, but I sure will use it more in the future. It's soft and it drapes far better than using any sort of felt I may have gravitated towards. The wee pillows were stuffed with lengths of quilt batting that I'd folded into thirds. The mattress is stuffed with a single layer of quilt batting. The "braided" rugs were made by gluing DMC's variegated Craft Thread onto cardstock ovals. A bit time-consuming considering the width of the craft thread, but worth it, I think, given the results.

I'd already established colorways with these characters (red, blue, green), so I'm continuing in that vein.

These characters -- their images, design and stories -- are the property of Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Photos are © Megan E. Jeffery.

You Kinda Hafta Be Bipartisan When You're a Conjoined Twin

So today is voting day... perhaps you'd heard?

A long time ago I made up a poem of which I am especially proud:

Vote early and often
So that you will win
Vote early and often
Pretend you are your twin.

These characters -- their images, design and stories -- are the property of Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Photos are © Megan E. Jeffery.

3-D MOOOOvie Glasses

So I made a slew of miniature 3-D movie glasses yesterday, as I am prepping another little exhibit. (More on that in an upcoming blogpost.)

These glasses were fairly easy to make, albeit a bit time-consuming.

I found a template for the glasses online, and messed around with it a bit on Photoshop for sizing AND to put a billion on a page.

Printed off a sheet of glasses onto white card stock and cut them out, even cutting out the lenses. Did I have to do this? Could I have just let the printed colors of blue and red suffice? Yeah, I could have. But then you don't get the transparent quality, and you can't see the puppets' eyeballs behind the frames, and you HAVE to have that.

So, to achieve that: a piece of Scotch tape on the backside of the glasses -- trimming was necessary.

THEN: coloring (on the non-sticky part of the tape) the lenses using ultra fine point Sharpies in aqua and red.

That's it! Done!

This character -- her image, design and stories -- are the property of Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Photos are © Megan E. Jeffery.

Making Miniature Soft Drinks

I made some miniature sodas today, so I decided to provide a short tutorial, in case you wanted to make some too! Here's François the French Bulldog to show you what we'll be making:

Below are the things you'll need. Click on the image to make it BIGGER.

I save things that I think would make good components for miniatures. Usually when I save these items, I have no idea what they'll be used for, but I know SOMETHING will crop up. Such was the case with the Lego pieces. They were spacers in a Lego pen that I have, and since I don't play with that pen 12x a day, there didn't seem much sense in saving allll the wardrobe possibilities.
These translucent caps are great because you can sort of see through them (to see the "soda"), and the ridges guide the Sharpie while drawing lines.

The only extra thing I would add regarding the above is: at Step 2, tamp down the clay with the end of your ballpoint pen. Doing so makes the blackness of the clay more visible through the cup. Then use the pen end to make sure the level of the soda is even all the way around.

Here's all the sodas I made today, with popcorn buckets I made awhile back, using toothpaste caps and polymer clay.

This character -- his image, design and stories -- are the property of Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Photos are © Megan E. Jeffery.

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Plastic Baby Buggy Bumpers

Babycakes Jr. had been making mewling baby noises about getting in on the Food Truck craze and establishing some visibility in the sectors of his community where his brick-and-mortar store ISN'T, so to that end, I did his bidding by gussying up some super inexpensive plastic baby buggies, the sort that are typically used at baby showers for little candies and whatnot.

This post will be less of a step-by-step how-to and more like a here's-what-I-started-with and here's-the-end-product type of thing. So I bought a package of 2 blue plastic baby buggies at the dollar store for $1.29. Why they don't call it the "$1.29 Store" is another Mystery for the Ages, but there ya go.

Here they are, above, as I bought them. As you can see, I was able to pop the parts out. Well, I wasn't able to pop the wheels off. I probably could have, but I didn't want to risk breaking my oh-so-expensive purchase.

I basically added fabric and painted the buggies. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

- flannel fabric for interiors
- felt mattress with coordinating flannel fabric for mattress
- lace (gathered and glued) around buggy
- lace in interior of buggy "bonnet" (bonnet remains removable)
- polka-dotty ribbon as trim
- painted undercarriages and handles silver
- wheels painted
- bit of fabric wrapped & glued around handles

So I'm saying to my dad that I'd like to have a whole fleet of these food trucks for Babycakes Jr. Dad asks, "Does he have anyone else helping him?" I say, no, that he has parents, but I haven't made them yet. Dad says, "Well, for one guy, 2 food trucks is probably all he could manage." I say, "Well I was thinking that he could just leave the food trucks unmanned in various parts of town, and rely on Good Faith payments from his customers." Dad's response to that was UNSATISFACTORY. But I love that we are discussing the business dealings of a finger puppet with something that approaches seriousness.

The name, concept & design of this puppet and his stories are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.These images are © Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Illustration Friday: BOOK

Couldn't help but tell the next exciting CHAPTER in the lives of my mobster finger puppets, and Illustration Friday has once again cooperated nicely by MAKING BOOK as this week's word. Sal is acting as the book's attorney -- he made him during his stint as a "bookmaker" and feels an uncharacteristic level of responsiblity. Both Sal and the book have agreed to follow the ruling of Judge Righteous Dood. Such courtroom drama! Can't decide if it's "Must See TV" or if it's a real page-turner. YOU can decide. With a jury of your peers.

More of my mobster finger puppet hijinks.

Illustration Friday: IDENTICAL

So Illustration Friday has a word like IDENTICAL and I'm NOT supposed to use my conjoined twin finger puppets? Oh, come on! I have to! Because I am just not that imaginative to do something else. For those of you with a knowledge of punchlines to lame/slightly dirty jokes, you may recognize the "source material" joke. And for those of you without a knowledge of such things: God bless you.

Perk!

One of the perks of teaching at RISD CE this summer is that the teachers get to have their own exhibition at Woods-Gerry Gallery in Providence. The opening last night was for teachers and students. The show runs until July 26th, so stop by if you're in the area!

I Live in a Small Town

"I Live in a Small Town" is a 17-scene exhibit I created for Providence Children's Museum, which featured 36 of my handcrafted finger puppets and hundreds of miniatures I've made or collected over the years. The exhibit was on display for four months and was well received by little kids and by big kids who are sometimes disguised as adults.

Below are some of the inhabitants who resided in the display boxes which measured 12 5/8" L x 6 3/4" H x 5 1/8"W -- now THAT'S a small town!

Designing thematically when it comes to puppets, I believe, makes for endless and richer storytelling possibilities as the characters interact with one another. Some of the themes I work with include: Little Paris, the Rodeo and Nursery Rhymes. 

It was in the crafting of these puppets that their stories unfolded, which indicated to me where these guys would like to live -- what sorts of backdrops and props needed to be made -- in order to make their small world REAL.

Working on a miniature scale is both challenging and hugely rewarding to me as an artist. So, whether I'm working with fiber and fabrics, or with clay, wood, or wire, I am striving for a high level of detail, for impeccable craftsmanship, and for believability. The goal is ALWAYS to pull the viewer into the "story", and to delight.

 

These characters' stories and images are the property of and are ©Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

Illustration Friday: SEPARATED

My finger puppets Ping & Pong were once again called into active duty to illuminate this week's word, as were the miniature glue bottles I'd made a while back. That's the great thing about having a ton of props -- you can just dig 'em up and use 'em at a moment's notice!

Other SEPARATEDs HERE.

The names, concept & design of this puppet and their stories are the property of Megan E. Jeffery. This image is © Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.