Under the lemon tree

Hello dear readers,

Within a few days we'll be celebrating our Passover. This holiday is the time for family gatherings around very festive tables  The shops  are having sales of very elegant plastic disposal dishes and other table items. Not cheap but work saving.  As I was looking around I found these little cases. I asked the shop keeper what they were meant for and she didn't have a clue.  Neither had I.

First thing that entered my mind was DUST FREE tiny scenes!

Sitting under a lemon tree can be risky.  Good thing he had his hat on.

These hard, transparent plastic cases come in packages of 10 units.  Making different scenes in each of the ten will keep me busy for hours but, on the other hand, they'll be great gifts.

I was unable to resist and bought this cute plastic cake decoration set. Some of the pieces are good for 1/12" projects.  (The seventh dwarf refused to be photoed.)

I wish you all a pleasant weekend with lots of fun.  Blessings!

Purple flowers

Hello dear readers,

There was purple paper left over after the pansies.  I thought about all the beautiful flowers of this color in real life and started looking for tutorials on the net.  There are  many wonderful tutorials to be found on Pinterest, all you have to do is browse for them.  Here are my results (with a few adaptions of my own).

Agapanthus

Ornamental garlic

Iris

Hyacinth

This year is considered one of our dry ones with very little rain.  We rely mostly on water desalination.  Our parks and city squares use recycled water and are kept beautifully green and blooming. Spring is the best period for visiting Israel.

Blessings to all my dear friends and readers.

Pansies tutorial

Hello dear readers,


It was a beautiful spring day.  I went to Tel-Aviv in the morning and was happy to see, from the bus' large windows, some of the city squares full with these beautiful flowers., blooming in many colors.

This is how I made my version of pansies.


Tools -

The heart and star punches sizes are 0.8 cm size.  the hole punch is 0.4 mm. The flower punch is 0.8 cm. I used it for making five little heart shaped leaves each about 0.5 mm.


Materials - 

Stems:

From the paper coated wires (A gift from Jennifer for which I'll always be grateful) I cut about 2 cm length pieces. Dipped the tip of one end of each piece in yellow acrylic paint and put aside to dry.

Leaves and sepals:

Shaping leaves on a rubber eraser:

I laid the paper leaf on the rubber eraser and drew veins, pressing with the tiny ball end against the erazer. I poked dots all around the leaf (See the pencil drawing). Then I turned the leaf over and pressed it in the middle with the larger ball end.

Since only the leaf itself will be seen, I glued  green metal wires to the paper leaves.


Shaping the sepals:

I poked each of the five ends of the star with the small ball, turned the star over and pressed it in the middle with the large ball.


Flower heads:

On the butterfly shape I painted a cross with a deeper purple acrylic paint.  When dry I used a tooth pick to put a tiny yellow acrylic paint dot in the middle.  Two little circles were glued together, shaped and glued to the butterfly top on the wrong side.

Shaping the flower head:

Same as with the leaves, I poked dots with the tiny end ball (see drawing) Then turned the paper flower over.

To assemble the flower I perforated a tiny hole both in the middle of the sepal and middle of the yellow dot on the flower head.  Then  threaded the stem, first through the flower head then through the sepal putting dots of glue at the bottom of the yellow top of the stem and behind the flower head to keep the flower and sepal together.

The bigger pot is a cleaning staff bottle cap painted terracotta.  The smaller pot is a metal bell turned upside down and painted the same.  The two little pots are created by me from ceramic clay fired in a kilt. All the pots are filled with brown plasticine.  I just pushed the leaves and the flowers inside.

I cannot attempt to pretend that these pansies are perfect but I tried my best and enjoyed every step of the job.  If anyone will be able to use this tutorial, he or she are most welcome.

I wish you, my dear readers, beautiful spring days like the ones we enjoy now and blessings.

Pansies

Hello dear readers,

On my daughter's roof garden the pansies started to bloom. The flowers are very beautiful, each with a dark pattern that looks like a butterfly.  The leaves too are beautiful and heart shaped.

 I picked one and kept it floating in a glass bowl.  It's staying fresh now for several days.


There was a butterfly punch in my collection of punches, so I used it in trying to create 1:12" mini pansies. You can see my first attempts floating beside the real size pansy.  I still have to make more flower heads as well as stems and leaves.

My next project will be to make a pot of pansies and take photos as I go along for anyone who will be interested.

I wish you a lovely weekend filled with sunshine.  Blessings to all my dear friends and readers.