Tiny Things for a Tiny Fairy Garden

Wow, what a week. Between our internet being knocked out for a couple days and then sick, pukey children, I haven't really had time to so much as look at the computer, let alone make a post. Aside from being pretty beat, though, everyone is doing much better now. 

So, onto my post. Earlier this Summer, I busted out my old stash of polymer clays, and made a handful of tiny things for Kaia's faerie garden. With the little ones, I don't normally have much time to work on anything art related myself, and while this was still child related, it was nice to be able to sit down, make something, and, because it was tiny, actually be able to complete it. Kaia was happy to sit next to me, trying out the clay herself, and Katalin experimented with playdough while I worked.

I am trying to wrap up all the faerie related stuff by Wednesday this week for The Magic Onions fairy garden competition this year, (hopefully I will be back with another couple posts between now and then.) It got me to finally get around to taking pictures of all the little clay things, you will have to excuse a little dirt here and there, as they've been played with all Summer. They are far from perfect, but they lend a wonderful splash of colour to the garden, add quite a bit more detail, and a great deal more magic. (You'll also have to excuse my inefficiency with a macro lens, I'm afraid. I borrowed one to take these pictures, and I don't have much experience with it, so they are not all as clear as I would like them to be.)

Before starting, we dipped into our craft supplies to see if there was anything we could work with there. We didn't find a whole lot we wanted to use, but we did take out a few glass beads, a little metal heart, and a small wooden pot. Kaia painted the pot purple, and I made itsy bitsy flowers to fill it with. After they were baked, I stuffed a little wad of floral clay into the bottom of the pot to push them into.

I made a bird bath, and baked a toothpick into the bottom to stake it into the ground.

Kaia had found this mushroom at a thrift store last year for her garden, and while pretty cute, it has a hole through it. I think maybe it was meant for incense? I made a flower to cap it off with.

Kaia asked for a wagon, which seemed a little intimidating at first. It wasn't too bad, though. The wheels turn and the handle can be raised and lowered.

Here's a shot of the underside so you can see the "mechanics" of it. I attached four blocks to the bottom, each with a hole through the middle, and then another to the front with two prongs, also with holes through. The wheels and handle were made separate, and after they were baked I ran a stiff wire through them, bending it over on itself at the ends.

I made a shovel, hoe, and rake for the garden, pictured here with the broom I made earlier.

I made a few mushrooms, and baked toothpicks into them as well. Kaia loves moving them around the garden periodically.

Kaia loves gardening, and planting and harvesting are her favourite parts, of course, so I thought it would be fun to make some veggies that she could pop in and out of the ground. I made radishes, carrots, cabbage, and lettuce. (Although on different occasions she has pretended that the lettuce is spinach, leeks, or onions, too!) I love the way the fibrous texture of the Sculpey clay looks in the vegetables. I put up a second picture of the radishes where you can really see the surface of the clay and how.. well.. radishy it looks. You can see where one of the carrots had its top snapped off and glued back on, one of our cats thinks Kaia's garden is a perfect bed, and broke it when she sat on it. Kaia was not very pleased with her.

I made a pillow for the bed, which I at first considered making out of fabric, but I am trying to keep everything as durable for sitting out in the sun and rain as possible, so I did make it out of clay as well.

Out of a stick, the glass beads, and metal heart we made a lamp post for the intersection of pathways, and I made a lantern out of clay for that.

Then the faeries needed food to dine on, and Kaia picked lots of things she thought faeries would like for me to make. Apples, cakes, crescent rolls, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,  chocolate chip cookies, and cupcakes.

 

To go with the food, I made a teapot and cups, (Kaia wanted a flower on one side of the pot and a moth on the other,) a basket capable of holding a couple of the food items at a time, two leaf plates, a couple soup bowls, and a larger fruit bowl. Several of the coloured acorn caps we made waaaayyyy back here for last Christmas were pressed into service as well, you can see one of them holding the cookies above. (They have been kicking around doing all sorts of things since last Christmas, the kids love them.)

To help with a little perspective, this is what I mean when I say "tiny". Here is one of the apples on the palm of my 3 year old's hand. As I said before, all these things are very far from perfect, but nevertheless, it was challenging and rewarding to create on such a small scale. Kaia does not see their flaws, and is smitten with the whole lot.

Speaking of the whole lot, here is the entire faerie feast in her hands. The little soup bowls get all sorts of things added to them, like dirt soup, crushed leaves, or grass. Here they are holding sprinkles.

I spoke too soon when I started this post and ended up having to walk away for a few hours when one of the little ones woke up, sat up, and proceeded to empty herself all over the place. Ugghhh. Maybe.. maybe tomorrow everyone will wake up healthy? One can hope. ;)