Herbert and Friends - Handmade Softies by Torunn

Last night I carved my first Halloween pumpkin! My sister Freya and I went over to Diana's place and she taught us all about the pumpkin carving tradition. Freya and I made one together, we agreed she needed square eyes, a fringe and jagged teeth. She turned out to be a squat grouchy little thing so we named her Gretchen. Diana's pumpkin is a cheerful vampire called Clancy. We had such a great time making them, I had no idea how much fun pumpkin carving can be! Here are some photos of them in the making and as finished Halloween creatures.

This is Nino! He's a super friendly snail that loves jelly in all colours and flavours. He has a punctuality problem which he intends to solve by inventing a snail bicycle. Nino is quite well known in the snail community as an inventor, some of his work includes a sanil friendly pulley system to get up and down stairs, and a walking/sliding frame for elderly snails.

I haven't seen so much rain in a long time! It's actually quite enjoyable to be inside creating things with the sound of the rain on our tin roof. I'm in the process of making a giant snail which also seems quite fitting, I'll post some photos of it in the next few days!

Yesterday I went to Danks St festival (which was under 10 cm of water) and the pyd design market which was luckily under cover. There were some really great stalls at the design market, one of which was feed the dog, who make really cool and quirky cushions and fabric panels. I recommend checking them out!

Herbert is super excited to introduce you to Zoltan the Yeti. It's the first yeti Herbert has ever met and they hit it off instantly! They bonded over a jar of peanut butter which happens to be both of their favourite food. Here they are posing together.

Zoltan is a little on the shy side, very polite and extraordinarily caring. He does enjoy getting up to a bit of mischief every now and then, but it's always in good fun. He's been planning his outfit for Halloween and has almost definitely decided on dressing up as Ponyo (which is his favourite movie).  

A new website has been launched called Plusho and Herbert & Friends is one of their featured sellers! Plusho sell handmade plush toys from makers worldwide. you can check out the website here.

On Sunday afternoon I went to a floristry workshop at Serial Space. It was heaps of fun! I wasn't expecting it to be as interesting and enjoyable as it was. There is so much work involved in floristry that I had no idea about. We learnt how to wire a rose and an orchid, make a buttonhole rose and as a group we made a table feature and an arch across a doorway. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera along but here are some photos of the buttonhole the following day. The leaves are looking a little dry but the rose still looks amazing. The workshop was run by Melanie Ryan who has a business called Red Amaryllis.

I just wanted to let you all know I've cancelled my Glebe market stall for tomorrow. I've been crazy busy and the weather isn't looking too great. I'll be investing in a marquee in the very near future so I can have stalls in any weather! I have moved my Glebe stall to Saturday 7th November, and I'll be at Bondi market next week. Have a great weekend!

I hope everyone had a great long weekend! I'm back from Newcastle and still trying to catch up on sleep from the weekend. This is Not Art was a huge success with heaps of great artist performing and showcasing their work. I have so many photos to go through, to begin with I'll share some of the highlights from the Sunday fair.
The market was held in a car park which was actually pretty cool. I shared a table with Diana who also makes softies, and Kate who makes journals, cards and gift tags. Here are a couple of photos from our stall. 

Next is a zine made by Sam Bruce called Folk Marketing - a photographic survey. It contains a series of photos of home-made signs, mostly advertising garage sales, together with the cataloguing details of where the sign appeared and what materials were used. To get your hands on one send an email to folk.marketing@gamil.com. 

Tuesday Trenton is the next artist I wanted to share with you. They have the loveliest cards and little books. To check out more of their stuff go to tuesdaytrenton.blogspot.com.

This stall had some great little things. These are pencil brooches, they also had scrabble rings and keyrings! Check them out at www.shelbyville.com.au.

And lastly I wanted to include a fellow softie stall. They make some really quirky little characters. You can find them at www.myspace.com/pebblztoydesign.