Time to throw in the T-owl 2022 Part 2

 Time to throw in the T-owl 2022 Part 2

I never like to make things easy for myself. In this case I decided that I wanted to have an Owl on the inside too.

Rough Inner Sketch

 

The idea was to have the Inner Owl awake. Therefore I needed to open the Wings.

More Bat than Owl

 

I decided to start another Sketch to work on. Okay I know I wanted the Wings open and more Feathery but even to my unseasoned eye this looks more Bat than Owl.

Inner Sketch Feathers

 

I suppose that the Feathers made it more Owl like but I cannot pretend that I was entirely happy.

Edit Face

 

I decided to return to my first Inner Sketch. I wanted to fix the Face. It was too cartoony for my liking. I had been puzzled by what was wrong with the Face. Then it struck me. It was the Ears.

Now some Owls have Ears you can see and some do not. However what they certainly do not have is Ears on top like a Cat. I began to Edit the Face starting with the Ears. I have to confess that I searched for Images of Owls on the Internet.

Edit Talons

 

I Edited the Talons. I made them thicker and sharper. I also changed the underbelly of the Owl. You can just see the outline of the Branch that I have it sitting on.

Edit Front

 

As you can see from the above photograph I have added more detail. I have added V shaped Feathers to the Wings and long V shapes to the Front.

Compare the Two

I have now completed my two Rough Sketches. They are quite different. Naturally I will be using the Inner Sketch as a Basis for my Front Page of the Card.

Time to throw in the T-owl 2022

 Time to throw in the T-owl 2022

Another last minute idea. Only this didn’t come out so well.

What Design

 

It was my friends 40^th Birthday coming up as in less than 24hours and I couldn’t find a single card that I like not even on the web. I decided to do an Owl which is one of her favourite Animals.

Rough Circles

 

Firstly I have to say that I am not a good Drawer. Therefore I need to start from the very Basics. Therefore a Rough Draft would be prudent. Firstly I Drew 2 Rough Circles. One on Top of the other. I now have a badly shaped Snowman.

 

Adding Face

 

Okay I now have Ears, Nose and Eyes. Something doesn’t look right but I can’t work out what at the moment.

Add Wings and Claws

 

I added some Claws though as it is an Owl I suppose I should say Talons. I also Drew some Simple Curves as Wings.

Elongate Wings

 

As I needed to make the Wings more realistic I Elongated them by adding a few extra Lines. The former Lines would be rubbed out later.

Add Curves

 

I added some Curves to give me an idea of Feather Spacing.

Feather Lines

 

I added more Lines to give more detail for the Feather Sections.

Wake Up

I added some Eyelids, a Mouth and a notice saying Wake up.

I now had an extremely Rough Draft and a Concept. I was going to have a Sleepy Owl on the Front of the Card.

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 23 –Ribbon

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 23 –Ribbon

On to the final stretch of what has been a far bigger project than I realised

Glue in Place

 

I now added some Glue and Placed it as far down as I could to the Base.

Pin to Hold

 

I Pinned the Ribbon to Hold it in position. I didn’t want it to slip at this point.

Final Sew

 

After removing the Pin I gave a Final bit of Sewing at the Base.

Retouch Paint

 

Since I have been constantly turning the Wreath some of the Paint was looking a bit tired. I gave the Pine Cones a quick Retouch with the White Paint.

Festive Finish

The Final Festive Finish. It has been hanging for a week and not fell down. I am so proud.

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 22 –Ribbon

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 22 –Ribbon

I can continue now the Glue has finally dried.

Wrap Around Again

 

The reason that I am Wrapping the Ribbon around again is in two parts. First is to give it more strength. The Second is to hide any patches of Glue that have seeped through.

Curved Needle

 

Since I need to Sew Deep rather than across I have changed to a Curved Needle. This makes Stitching the Ribbon so it doesn’t move easier.

Wind Around Hand

 

I Wound the Ribbon around my Hand. This was to give a good Length of Ribbon to use as a Hanger. I pulled the Ribbon tight then cut off the remainder.

Sewing Loop

 

I Crimped the End of the Ribbon then Tucked it Under to make a Loop. This was a couple of Fingers wide. I then Sewed across to Secure.

Double Loop

 

I then Folded the Loop and Sewed across again. This is to give it extra Strength so it doesn’t tear or fray.

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 21 –Ribbon

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 21 –Ribbon

Now I have made the Ribbon I have to add it to the Wreath. I tried this so many times I hope I have got the right photographs. 

Pine Cone Central

 

The most important thing to get right is to have the Pine Cone Central at the Bottom. Otherwise when it comes to hanging it will be lopsided.

Add Gold Ribbon

 

This Ribbon isn’t actually Gold but with two lots of Red Ribbon it gets complicated. Therefore I am referring to the Red Ribbon with a Gold Trim simply as Gold.

Apologies that it isn’t easy to see but then it wasn’t easy to take a photo of either. To hold the Ribbon in place I believe that I put a few Tacking Stitches in. I may have used a spot of Glue too but frankly cannot remember.

Add Glue to Wreath

 

This was far easier to do than to try and explain. This is because it needs accurate Positioning. I place the Bow where I want it. Then I Wrapped the Ribbon around and checked where it met.

Then I added some Glue to that part of the Wreath.  Then I Stuck the Bow in place. I also added some Glue to the Top of the Wreath to make sure the Ribbon didn’t move.

Glue Back Ribbon

 

Next I Wrapped the Ribbon around the Back. However I didn’t Glue straight away. I brought the Ribbon back to the Front so I could check that it overlapped. Then I added the Glue and Stuck the Ribbon down at the Back.

Add Bow Glue

 

This is quite time consuming as I have to wait for the Glue to dry. With the Ribbon now Glued securely at the Top and Back I can move on to the next part. This was to add Glue to the Top of the Bow and part of the Ribbon leading from it.

Wrap Ribbon Around

 

The photographs might be slightly out of order. This because I am trying to show you the best way to do this. I then began to

Line up the Ribbon from Below. I added some Glue then Wrapped the Ribbon around the Wreath and the Bow.