ldhenson

I recently lost my favorite customized mint tin, a vintage-NYC design. For various reasons (mostly because I was testing out new techniques) I wound up re-making that tin at least three times over the last couple of years. Hence my reluctance to do it yet another time, at least until I'm 100% sure it's lost for good.

In the meantime, I still need something to carry around my delicious mints in. Red Dwarf to the rescue, then!


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( More under cut... )

My plush kipper was picked as a Featured Project over on Craftster! I've made Hot New Projects several times but this is the first time I've been picked for this. Well if that doesn't just make my week.

What's really funny is that I had scrolled through the Featured slideshow a couple of times and didn't even notice my own project. The thumbnail is an extreme closeup, so it's mostly just one big eye and it took ages before I said, wait a minute...that looks familiar!

There's lots of cool stuff in the list, including a crocheted version of "Pass the Pigs" that's too adorable for words.

...I'll be back for breakfast.

(No. 10 in my series of soft toys.)

Meet Harry.



Harry's a herring.

( But wait! )

I managed the first new bits of writing I've done in over a year*: two Red Dwarf drabbles! (Take a look at the whole page...it's a lovely little collection from various people.) Don't know if I'll be doing more fic, but I really enjoyed getting to play around with words again.

[* "The Dusk Descending," much as I love it, doesn't fully count as new fic, as all of the recent chapters are polished versions of detailed drafts that were done ages ago.]

I've just realized that I just missed one one-year anniversary of my first stuffed toy, completed a year ago yesterday! That was the little stuffed bat, stitched from an adorable pattern by Carolyn Vosburg Hall.

I had picked up that book at random while browsing the crafts section at my local library, and it was only because the bat caught my fancy (after all, it was Batman Begins that introduced me to Christian Bale) that I decided to check out the book and take it home. I love stuffed animals, but I already had a ton of store-bought ones at home. No bats, though. I kid you not, had the book not contained one, I would never have given the idea of making stuffed toys a second thought.

And I would've missed out on a world of fun! After all, I had tried it as a kid once, failed miserably and hated it. That's serendipity for you, I suppose.

At one time I had vaguely entertained the notion of having 12 toys by the one-year mark, but I've only done nine to date (not counting commissioned duplicates of some of them). They're the only nine I've ever done, with the sole exception of a Riven beetle which didn't work and which I never completed/posted. Still, not too bad for a self-taught toymaker who just really really...wanted a bat!

The series so far:

1. bat (the only one sewn from a pattern)
2. dragon (Reign of Fire)
3. Batarang (Batman Begins)
4. Cornetto and improved pattern (Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz)
5. wahrk and greatly improved pattern (Myst)
6. 1967 Chevy Impala (Supernatural)
7. 1963 Opel Kadett (Top Gear)
8. robot goldfish (Red Dwarf)
9. New York circa 1900 (indirectly Newsies-inspired)

Heh, my stuff isn't fannish-influenced, no sir.

(The dragon will probably get partly-disassembled and re-done. I've learned a lot since I made him, and looking at it now there are improvements needed, hoo boy. It's why I haven't put together a pattern for him yet nor stitched a second one, though I know some folks are waiting...)

No. 8 in my series of stuffed toys.

My recent Red Dwarf-watching binge--yes, I gave in, I'm a new-minted fan--got me wishing I had a goldfish or two. Thing is, I'm terrible at keeping fish.

So this was the best I could do.



( Meet Nesmith... )

One interesting fallout of my new-found fondness for Red Dwarf (yes I gave in, I've gotten all the way through Series VI by this point) is that I can now go back and re-watch all of The Brittas Empire, much of which I admit I watched the first time around with considerable use of the FF button.

Sort of like what happened to me with Wilde, which I watched the first time around with eyes for no-one but Stephen Fry; years later, I re-watched it after I became a Jude Law fan. It was like a whole new film. Did the same thing with Velvet Goldmine, too (Ewan McGregor first, Christian Bale years after).

Because I can't get over how adorable these two are. It also marks the first time that I've ever truly gotten interested in an established couple (not that I've anything against established couples; I just tend to gravitate towards UST). I'd never seen The Brittas Empire before and just recently caught up with it. It's probably not a fandom I'll ever get very deeply into--the premise is a bit tricky to work with--but Gavin and Tim have proved to be a very pleasant distraction this past week.

(I'm also somewhat concerned that I'll get sucked into Red Dwarf. It was first pimped to me in '96 when my friend sent me home with a stack of tapes, but despite several attempts to watch it over the years, it never grabbed me. But watching TBE meant watching Chris Barrie, and while I didn't entirely warm up to him as Brittas, he pretty much charmed me in the outtakes, which led to me watching the RD outtakes, which led to me watching the first few episodes of RD...

Idon'tneedanewfandomIdon'tneedanewfandom...)