Reflective Skull

Cat Bruce from Scotland showed off this skull badge [pin] made with buttons, felt and reflective fabric.

Safety C says:

What a great way to incorporate a little safety with fashion.  I dabbled a little with the reflective material way back HERE, but never thought of using it to be the main focus of the design perhaps I need to revisit this material again in the future.  Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Dia de la Abby: #81 Skull Baby Quilt

This quilt, like the Skull Baby Toy that my daughter made, is for Noah and his wife's soon to be born baby.

Ever since I made this Free-form Embroidery Skull, I've been enjoying playing with this technique whenever it fits the project. This is the largest baby quilt that I've made. If you are familiar with my artwork, you might recognize this type of image...a skull with many flowers. It's Dia de los Muertos inspired. Since the gender of the baby won't be revealed until it's born, I tried to tone down the design. Though this quilt is for the blanket, Noah immediately said he might use it more. For scale of the quilt, Noah is holding it up in the photo. It's about a yard of fabric. It's backed with this Dia de los Muertos printed fabric by Alexander Henry. This quilt took about 12 hrs to make. Well worth the time. I'm looking forward to meet the little baby the quilt is for.

On Thursdays in the 6.0 year, I will post my own Dia de la Abby creations. On Thursdays in the 4.0 and 5.0 years, I posted my Dia de la Abby creations and occasionally tutorials with instructions on how I made my pieces. Hopefully you feel inspired by my posts just as I was by Noah's Skull-A-Day 1.0 daily project. Want to find me elsewhere, follow me on Facebook, my Blog, Google+ and/or Twitter.

Higby Skeleton Doll

Megan from Rochester, NY, submitted photos of Higby, her little crocheted buddy.  "This is where he resides--in his haunted house--which is on display year round. The design didn't call for the heart, but I added it tucked behind his thready ribs because I knew he had a creepy cute soul." If you have any questions about the design you can contact Megan, yanksmeg2@hotmail.com

Making a crocheted item can be very therapeutic. Making a sculptural object is harder than say, a scarf...well depending on the type of scarf. However, with practice, anything you do will get easier. I have seen the pattern for this style doll in various places. It's a great one if you want to expand your crochet skills into something sculptural. The shape is a bit like Matryoshka dolls (Russian nesting dolls). I like how how Megan expanded on this design, with the yarn color choices and the details. The button heart is a cute way to make this a bit more eerie. There are lots of free crochet doll patterns on the internet. I just recently started making crocheted dolls. This Little Ninja and Lily Doll (sign up is free) are my favorites to use.


Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in today's drawing to win a button just leave a comment below stating: What kind of adventures would you take a skeleton doll on? I would take mine to Paris, France to see the catacombs.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way to contact you 
(either an e-mail in the post OR make sure your Blogger profile has an e-mail link for you on it).

NOTE: If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in the contest.

Calavera Plush & Maracas

I am just in a plush mood this week and since it is Friday lets flashback to a past contributor who has some more work for us to share.

Artist Pierre Sauvage, from Reims, France said: “I've already had the honor to appear on the site with my calavera skull plush and I would like to submit some other works I made.”

“This is my first calavera plush I made, cute and big enough to hold it in your arms.”


“My plush calavera maracas, they actually make sound thanks to bottle caps that are inside.”


Nursery C says:

Thank you for sharing this additional work with us. I really like how you staged the photo of the plush skeleton it reminds me of this song. Speaking of music your maracas are amazing, I am glad that you were able come up with a solution so that they would actually make sound.

Plush Skull

Artist Lana Crooks from the Chicago Area creates plush skulls. She wrote: “They are hand sewn using felt, fleece and fiberfil. I make various sizes and animals they are all within my ‘Paleoclothic
collection’ in my etsy shop.”


All New Materials C says:

Simply amazing! I am in awe by your ability to turn flat material into a flawless 3-d shape. The curving smooth lines and added detail of the eye ridges are stunning. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Fiber Art Skulls

From across the country and around the globe, skulls are hot for spring...

Shabana Ahmed from Melbourne, Australia shared: “I'm a big fan of your website and have never submitted before, but just recently started learning to crochet and the main shape I want to create in crochet is the skull so here's one of my first one my own skull design.”


Mandy Duffy in Maryland said: “I love skulls and knitted and felted this knitting bag for
myself.”

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock in Lyons, Colorado knitted this hat inspired from a design of Adrian Bazilia


Milan C says:

One of the truly amazing things about fiber arts is the fact that you can make functional items for everyday use. There is something amazing about a stranger walking up to you and giving you a compliment on something you made. Today allow me to be that stanger and tell you all that your work is amazing. Thank you for sharing your artwork with us and since you are all so talented let me invite you to participate in the Skull-A-Day quilt project that is being done in conjunction with Skull Appreciation Day on June 4th.

Embroidered Skulls

Lois from Jogjakarta, Indonesia send us these little skulls. I will let her explain them. "I made these babies few weeks ago for my DIY line stroberiHITAM. I know I shouldn't send any commercially-produced items (cuz I'm selling some of them), but later on I decided not to sell these babies n will send em as giveaways for my friends. It was a fun project, I can play with so many colors for different skulls, and there are no two same skulls! They came out as key-keepers and brooches. Until today, I only hand em one by one to the trusted ppl who can surely take care of em!"

I love that she passes them on to friends, to be trusted keepers of these little cute skulls. They look like they would make good guardians. I like the creative use of colors and stitching to give each skull individual character. These are adorable and they make me think of children's toys. Many of my friends are pregnant, so I wonder if I can make a baby friendly skull. That reminds me of Noah's Baby Toy Skull. Though I might have baby gifts on the brain, these are excellent for adults too. Especially as key keepers. I would have trouble misplacing my keys with these. These are definitely inspirational, keep up the great work!

Embroidered Skull

I saw this piece from Yuki Snow in our submission and knew it would be perfect for today.

Here's Yuki Snow's explanation of herself: "I am Japanese Artist/ Art lecturer, living and working in the UK. I have been exhibiting professionally as an Artist for the last 10 years at contemporary art galleries in the UK, New York, Brazil, Greece and Japan and was recently selected and published as one of the 36 featured Japanese Artists in a Taiwanese Art catalogue.

My textured paintings combine knitting, embroidery, sequins, buttons, acrylic and oil painting as the sensation of touch is very important in my artwork. This image was made in 2006 out of embroidery and acrylic stencil on canvas."

"Never Alone Again"

Since I was a little girl (about 4-5), I've been doing embroidery. When I see awesome pieces like this, I'm instantly drawn to them. My best friend Kit McSmash, (Partner in Crime...or Craft) of over 20 years, is a fiber artist and currently in Japan on a much deserved vacation, so this particular one made me think of her. Up until a couple years ago, she had the front of her hair pink for many years. She is like my sister from different parents, so of course we love similar things, like creepy skulls. One day, we will make one together.

For this piece, I love the use of a filling stitch for the hair, skull and boot areas. I like being able the see the texture of the fabric through the skin areas and black of the hoodie. I love seeing embroidery still used to create wonderful art. There are other great pieces on Yuki Snow's website, that use similar techniques that create amazing results, so I suggest checking out her other pieces too.

[BONUS] The Gift of Skulls: Skully Birthday

I had a birthday recently and since I'm now part of the Skull-A-Day crew, I got lots of skull presents...which of course I loved. This one below, is one my best friend, Kit McSmash, made for me. I love the combination of the different black, white and grey fabrics with the bright stitching, colorful sequins and beads. Now, I have to figure out how to frame it, so I can hang it with my growing collection of skull art.