Indoor Project

 

It happened again, an attack of the 'Creativity Bug'. I was walking in the last snowstorm and had seen the predictions for an extremally cold week following the snow. I decided to take a bag with me while getting the mail and find some things in nature to 'create' something with. I didn't even have any idea what I was going to do.

Sometimes creativity literally smacks me upside the head. I have to drop what I am doing and mess around to scratch the itch of imagination.

I had been reading some articles on toy photography that included all kinds of toys, but focused on the smaller posable toys. Did you know that is a thing? People photograph cars, model cars, model airplanes, Teddy Bears, and more. [I'm giving a nod to fellow blogger L.D. and his collection of old toy cars that he has been photographing in his new light box!]

I took a class in Still Life and enjoyed it. The variety of things one can do with Still Life is amazing and it doesn't cost anything really. It is fun and frustrating.

My journey in making things from weird stuff began when I wanted to do some Fairy Houses for my spring garden. I went to shops and was absolutely floored at how pricey a Fairy Garden could be. I decided then to make a non Fairy Fairy garden and some fun was born.

I wanted to go cheap. I wanted only materials I could find while on my walks. It is something I like to do when the weather is in the subzero range. It keeps my mind occupied and stirs my creative juices.

So here is 20 seconds of what I started, just for fun. You can skip it for sure....it is just some shots of the materials I used to get started.

I wanted to make a rope or perhaps a coiled miniature rug. So I even braided some dried grass. I learned something fun...
it braids much easier when it is damp. 

I gave up on going further as the grasses kept breaking, but I'll keep other materials in the back of my mind next time. I may collect some iris leaves towards the end of next fall to see if I can't weave something out of them.

I read about using plant leaves for weaving on another blog, thanks Boud!

Here is Maisie with her axe helping to build Acorn's new A Frame Home.

They decided to weave together some wild grass to use as a rope to pull more branches to the top of the A Frame.

Farmer Bob came by with a load of gnarly branches on his cart.

Hobby set down her camera and really got into the work!

Just add moss and more moss to fill in the holes and some bark...
it's messy work....

But it sure turned out cozy looking!

There he rests next to his little new house in the wild.

His friend Maisie heads out to the forest to cut some firewood.

All in a few days work!

[The trees were created from small scrub apple trees I found in the pasture. They really have character. 
I used clay as a base or in some cases medicine bottle tops. I took the cotton balls that came with the meds and dropped them in some paint and water then stretched it out to make something that looked like Spanish Moss. See photo below. It was messy, but fun.]

The project was cheap, easy, and mostly very cost effective. I only used items I had on hand.

See what happens when I'm stuck indoors?