LEGOS!

My camera is essentially dead right now, so no pictures of the new projects I've been working on.  I'm not really done with the one I've been working on all week anyway, since I still need to order some eyeballs for him.  I feel like posting something though, so I thought I'd put up a couple of Lego creations I've made.  My family is pretty into Legos.  I tend to like making larger models and space sets, and my brother makes cities.  Our basement used to have an eight-foot by eight-foot city in it, and it was pretty cool.

My mom wanted me to make a Lego version of a Singer Featherweight sewing machine for her store, so I did.  I made one over summer vacation, but made another one a couple of weeks ago and made a couple of improvements.  It doesn't actually sew, but parts of it do move. :)

I made this years ago.  It's just a large version of a normal Lego mini-figure head.  I made it based on a picture of a similar model in a Lego book we have.

This is a dinosaur I made shortly after 9/11.  He's about the size of a large cat.

New animals!

I finally got my website all updated with new animals.  Most of them are needle-felted, but there are a couple of bears up, and I'm working on three bears :) 

Here are the new animals (all of these are around three inches in length or height):

Leo the lion

I'm so proud of my moose.  He was really hard to get a good picture of though.  I couldn't come up with a good name for him either...

I made a couple of little dragons, and I couldn't come up with names for them either, but they're cute!

These two were on ebay several months ago, but didn't sell.

Cammie:

Susy:

She's almost two inches tall and fully disc-jointed.

An introduction...

I've made the name of this blog "Katrina's Artistic Adventures" because I never seem to know what form of artwork I'm going to try next. Throughout my life, I've painted, sewn, dyed fabric, marbled fabric, batiked fabric, drawn, sculpted, decorated cupcakes, played with Legos, played the guitar, and quilted. Art is something I've grown up with. My mom is very artistic and an excellent quilter. One of her quilts was even displayed in Paducah, Kentucky for a while. She recently opened up a quilt shop, and I maintain the store's website and work there when I'm not at school. My brother is also pretty talented. He takes amazing pictures, designed his own quilt, makes great Lego models, and makes WWII dioramas (with one-inch tall guys with amazing detail, even eyebrows!). My dad is an engineer, so he is also good at designing and making things. He invented an automatic transmission for a bicycle and also holds a patent on thimbles he makes at home and ships around the world! (I think they are the most comfortable thimbles around). I consider myself to be truly blessed with some talent and a great family. I don’t know why I should be so blessed, but I thank God for what he has given me and try to honour the Giver by using the gifts well.

For several years, I've been making and selling miniature teddy bears under the name of Katrina's Miniature Menagerie. Since beginning college, I've not been very good about updating my website or putting new animals up for sale online. I'm still in school, but I keep hoping to get back into the teddy bear world, so I'm hoping this blog will help me get connected and stay connected. I have a lot of new ideas for animals, so I'm hoping I'll find some time to work on them this semester! Maybe I'll be able to earn some money to pay some college expenses…

Most of the teddy bears I make now are about two inches tall, though I want to make some more one-inchers. I've made several other animals, all from my own patterns. I've made dragons, horses, an otter, penguins… I use upholstery velvet or mini bear fabric and ultrasuede for my animals. Every single one is entirely hand-made by me. The two-inch bears are all disc jointed, and the smaller bears are thread-jointed. Other animals typically have an armature so they are posable.

Recently, I've discovered needle-felting, and I really enjoy it! It's so much fun to see what I can make, and there's no pattern required! I really have needle-felted a whole menagerie by now, and I have lots of ideas still. One of my favorite creations is a miniature of our former dog that I made for my mom.

I guess that's enough to get started with. I hope to post more as I finish new projects and head down different artistic avenues. Here are some more examples of bears (and a horse) I've made over the years (I'll put up current ones in my next post, after I get my website updated):