Bye Bye Owls

For the last four years my logo has been these two lovely little owls, I am really emotionally attatched to them. I never dreamt that Moby and Puddle would one day become my full time job and that these little owls would come to mean such a lot to me.

However, I am starting a new chapter in my life and a new adventure for Moby and Puddle, so the decision has been made to rebrand my business and to have a logo that is more representative of my brand and my new shop too. I have sketched and sketched and sketched to get a design that I can get excited about and I have finally found designed one that I love ...

... I hope that you will love it as much as I do. It is hard to see them go but bye bye owls xxx

An Exciting New Adventure

I have very exciting news ...

On the 8th March I put a deposit on a real bricks and mortar shop. I have dreamt of having my own little shop for so long and with dwindling views on social media making my online sales drop, I think that a new adventure is exactly what Moby and Puddle needs. I aim to blog my journey as I go!

I was not looking for a shop really but a friend posted a link from gumtree on Facebook. I have been a big fan of The House That Jack Built since my first trip to the Barbican around 10 years ago. They have a walkway with a magic tree, a dragon, elves and a fountain etc, could you imagine a more perfect place for Moby and Puddle? I had to try and get the shop of my dreams.

We are not well off, I'm not sure you can be when you have two children and a Lego addicted husband but we scraped the deposit together, applied and I was delighted when I heard back from the landlady to talk about my work and my plans for the shop.

I have to say a massive thank you to Lizzie from Make@140 Vauxhall Street who I have had the pleasure of knowing for many years now thanks to my daughters love of buttons and our trips to the fantastic Funky Poppy. Lizzie encouraged me to go for the shop and not to hesitate if it was what I really wanted, she answered a tonne of questions for me and helped make the decision easier. Lizzie you are fantastic!

I visited the space and had a very warm welcome from the existing tenants Pinnacle Arts And Crafts who showed me around, gave me loads of helpful tips and information. I fell in love with the space and could already start imagining how it would look! I put the deposit down then and there.

I plan to exhibit not only my own creations but handmade whimsical and fantastic makes from artists all over the UK too. It will be a great little place to come and forget the darkness in the world if only for a little while. 

I will get the keys soon and start moving in, ready for the grand opening on 1st May 2016.

I am so excited and will have lots of updates in the weeks ahead including new branding for Moby and Puddle. I hope that you will enjoy the journey with me and that I see lots of you in my new shop too xxx

Hobbycraft Make & Bake Clay Review

I was given a packet of Hobbycraft Make and Bake Clay in a very beautiful bright pink colour. I am very much a Fimo girl but I thought that I would give it a try and see how it went. This is just a quick review of my own experience with it and my own opinions only. As I have already said the colour is absolutely gorgeous!

The packaging was a nightmare to get off, I rarely use more than a little bit of clay at one time and always rewrap in the original packaging before storing in bags, there was no way to open this plastic without ripping it unfortunately.

I ripped off a chunk and it was very crumbly considering how soft the clay was. It had a very playdoughy texture rather than polymer clay.

It has an oily feeling to it but this made it very easily mouldable and it needed very little conditioning to get it into a small ball.

It worked really great with cutters, they came out very clean cut around the edges. However it was more difficult to sculpt anything with my hands, it was very soft and picked up every little print.

I managed to combine the hearts into one and the clay blends really well, possibly because of the oily texture too. It is more shiny than matte and feels sticky to the touch even when left for a little while.

Putting a head pin into the unbaked clay was difficult, it went through the clay easily, maybe a little too easy though because it distorted the bottom of the heart where it was pushed in and I had to resculpt the shape a little.

I baked as per the instructions and this little heart charm is the end result. Once baked the clay still has a shine without having any varnish on it at all. It seems very hard and would be hard wearing too. I am impressed with the final result.

I don't think that I would be happy to use this full time for my orders because it is too soft to be able to sculpt any significant details into and I was not fond of the slippery, oily texture of the unbaked clay. However for little charms like this I think that it is a great price per packet and I would definitely buy it for my children to save my Fimo clay for my work. It comes out in a beautiful finish which is essentially the most important thing. I am now hoping that I can store it in my poly bags without it affecting the clay since the original packaging had to be binned.

I hope that this has been informative. If you would like to buy some Hobbycraft Make and Bake Clay follow this link ... Hobbycraft xxx

The Eggsberts - Needle Felted Easter Creatures

These are the Eggsberts, they are very shy, very rare creatures only found in the top secret Easter Chocory where the Easter Bunny is head of operations. Eggsberts are the expert egg testers, they have all sorts of different ways to test the eggs, from jumping on the top of the eggs to test the strength to rolling them down hills to test the shape.

They are easily recognisable by their egg shaped uniforms and there colourful beards. They are much smaller than the bunnies and the chicks that work alongside them in the Chocory and like to sleep in the basket room.

If you would like an Eggsbert to help you test the eggs on Easter morning please let me know. I have managed to find three that would like to relocate but I could ask if anymore would like to have semi retirement xxx

Moby and Puddle was founded upon whimsy and fairytale, in the last year I have lost sight of why I started making my characters, I wanted to tell stories! It cannot be a coincidence that my sales have dropped in recent months despite the quality of my work improving. I stopped giving my creations stories, characters and personality. I have updated my business plan and the whimsy is coming back, the stories will be fresh and alive once more. I feel that Moby and Puddle has reached a new point and from here on will be get better and better. Thank you for sticking with me! Love Samantha xxx

Dartmoor Zoo Review

My children broke up for school on Thursday and we decided to go for a family day out at Dartmoor Zoo which is only a short way from our home.

It was raining and drizzling but we don't let the weather get us down, we put on wellies, hats and gloves. Warm and cosy we drove to the zoo which is very well sign posted from the A38. We found it easily and parked in the car park which was almost empty. 

We walked up the hill from the pay station to the main part of the zoo which was a bit steep, however there are beautiful capybara animals for the children to see on the way up so it wasn't too bad. 

Harrison thought they were giant hamsters. 

The main part of the zoo starts with absolutely adorable meerkats. They were running all over the place and having a great time. 

The zoo is really well laid out and just big enough for little people to walk round, we stayed for four hours. We took a picnic with us for the children and ate in the restaurant. The adults had a pasty meal deal for £5.00 which included a pasty, a drink and a snack. I am vegetarian and can honestly say that the vegetarian pasty was gorgeous. It was a lot more affordable than we had expected. It was clean and the service was fast. The attached gift shop is small and good value. They have some lovely items and it is not too overwhelming for little ones that want to spend some pocket money.

We saw lots of amazing animals who didn't seem to mind the drizzling rain either. We saw the wolves, cheetah, lions and a jaguar who was spectacular. They all looked very content and healthy which was a blessing to see. The animals had a lot of space and different aspects of the habitat to entertain them. They were a good distance from the public so that hopefully they didn't feel overwhelmed. 

The most amazing thing for us though was seeing the bears, we thought that they would have been asleep given the cold weather but both Hayley and Fudge were awaiting their handlers who were about to feed them. They were so majestic and I really could of stayed all day just watching them. 

There were so many other animals that we got to see too, all of them seemed happy and very well cared for. There is a lot of construction happening at the zoo at the moment so some of the enclosures were closed but that didn't take away from our enjoyment of the day. 

My Son particularly liked the otters and the red foxes.

I can honestly say that we had a brilliant day, it was very much worth the admission price. They could perhaps have had a children's outdoor play area or even an indoor softplay to make it more of a whole day out than just a morning but we certainly had no complaints at all. 

I would highly recommend a visit if you are local or visiting the area. It is a great size and not as exhausting as some of the bigger zoos that we have visited. Don't let the rain put you off, the zoo is quieter and you can still see the animals. 

Thank you Dartmoor Zoo for a really lovely day out, we look forward to visiting you again soon. Love the Webb Family xxx

The Enchanted tales Of The Cornlings

The books have finally arrived! I am so excited! You will be able to purchase it via my folksy page or just send me a quick message and I can send one directly xxx



CLICK HERE TO BUY MY BOOK 

Falkor

I loved The Neverending Story as a child, I fell in love with Falkor and so wanted to ride him.
A friend of mine asked if I had ever tried to recreate Falkor in faux fur and I could not resist the challenge.
I spent a good while trying to design the pattern and must admit that he has come out like a very young Falkor but I am very proud of him. His body is faux fur, his beads have been handsewn and his nose, claws, teeth and eyelids are all handsculpted from Polymer Clay. He was certainly a labour of love. I hope that you like him xxx

Crowdfunder Thank You

 

My Crowdfunder project was a success and I am so delighted to say that the funds raised have been used to print the first 100 copies of the Tales of the Enchanted Cornlings. I could not have done any of it without the help and support of the people mentioned above. Thank you to them all, I cannot wait to see the book in print xxx

Crowdfunding - Cornlings Picture Book

Cornlings -Children's Picture Book is now available to support via Crowdfunder.

I have recently finished needle felting all of the illustrations for my Cornling story. They are beautifully finished with hand embroidered details and beading.

I now just need the support to get my book printed and I am offering lots of lovely rewards for my supporters too. Please take a minute to look and hopefully I can convince you that you need a Cornling in your life.

Love Samantha xxx

How To Make Polymer Clay Moulds From Zubber

I make a lot of my creations from polymer clay and as well as extremely rewarding it is also very time consuming which increases the price range of my handcrafted items.

When asked to have a craft stall at the local school I knew that my price points would be too high however I really did want to contribute so I decided to make some moulds that I could use to make some quick and simple cabochons.

Rather than use expensive mould makers I decided to use a much cheaper and accessible material, Zubber. It is sold at most toy stores and the pack shown below was from Toys'R'Us and it is currently under £2.00.

It is intended for children and is incredibly easy to use as you will see in the next few photographs. You get two tubs of coloured Zubber and a white tub of the activator, two measuring scoops and a plastic plate that you can make rubber charms with (not pictured because it is not used in this tutorial). I also selected some shaped buttons from my daughters button box which I am going to use to make the moulds. They can be plastic, wood, metal, anything you can think of really that you like the shape of.

To activate the Zubber you need to use an equal amount of colour and white, measure them using the spoons provided. Only mix a little at a time because once they are mixed you don't have much time to work with them before they start to set.

Simply mix them together as quickly as possible until you have a ball of one solid colour (this is the same process no matter what colour you use), they will not set properly if they are not completely mixed in. It is pretty easy to mix because it is really soft and has an oily texture before it sets. 

Press your button into the Zubber so that it goes a little higher than the edge of the button. Be sure to make sure that you CAN'T feel the button through the bottom of the Zubber because if your mould is too thin it will split at the bottom when you try to remove your clay.

I used the tray inside the box to hold the Zubber whilst it set. This picture shows how many moulds I made from one whole pack of Zubber. The instructions say that they should be set in ten minutes however I wanted to be sure to have as much detail as possible so I left mine to set overnight.

Then I simply popped the buttons out, gave them a wipe and put them away. The moulds are now ready to use with polymer clay.

Fill the mould with polymer clay and be sure to push it in as firm as possible. I find that you get the best results if you squeeze the sides of the moulds too.

Cut off the excess clay with a sharp blade and then gently pop out the clay from the mould and bake as per the instructions.

I added eyes and noses where appropriate with tiny pieces of clay. The photo above shows some of the clay that has been baked. You now have usable cabochons that can be quickly and easily replicated over and over again to make inexpensive but handcrafted Jewellery or art.

And I decorated the cabochons with clay canes, 3d paint, sparkles and glitter, anything I could get my hands on really. I added them to rings and hair clips all ready for the fair and at half the price of my none moulded creations.

I hope that this tutorial helps and possibly inspires, Love Sam xxx