Hypnotica - Abstract fine liner doodle art zentangle

I’m looking forward to tomorrow as I get to have fun demonstrating my art at Hobbycraft Bristol, Cribbs Causeway as their Artist in residence.  I’m going to be doing some dylusion ink art, mono printing on my Gelli Arts Gel plate, see some examples of the different types of art I’ll be doing throughout this article.

Wealie Arts Halloween Colouring Book Cover

Dylusions Ink Art Design

I’m also going to be doing some abstract doodle art, or  zentangles as they are sometimes called and I’ll be launching my very first abstract doodle art colouring book, a snap at just £3.50  Don’t despair if you won’t be able to make it to pick up your copy, keep a watchful eye on this space as I’m hoping to upload it as a downloadable pdf at some point in the not too distant future.

I’ll also be launching a halloween colouring competition for kids up to the age of 13 to submit a coloured version of one of the designs (the witches’ hat) from the colouring book, with a prize of their very own zentangle doodle art design of whatever subject they would like me to create.

Firery Waves - Mono Print

The deadline is 31 October so there’s plenty of time for the kids to get colouring and you can download a copy of the competition form and rules here.  I’ll post the entries I receive on a special blog post on 05 November together with the announcement of the winner and will post a pic of the winner’s doodle choice once I’ve completed it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

R
x

Wealie Nice Muffins

I’ve been baking muffins this evening; I find baking very therapeutic and meditative.  The fact that at the end of the process you have lovely yummy cakes to eat is an added bonus to the sense of peace and tranquillity that the act of baking brings.

Anyway I thought it would be nice to blog my recipe in case any of you would like to re-create them and maybe get a slice baking tranquillity too.

Actually this recipe is my multi-purpose sponge recipe, which is good for Muffin’s fairy cakes, Victoria sponge or a drizzle cake, so feel free to experiment .

Enjoy!

Wealie x

Wealie Nice Muffin Recipe

Ingredients

2 Med/Large Eggs (Weighed)
Self Raising Flour (Same weight as eggs)
Flora Margarine (Same weight as eggs)
Golden Caster Sugar (Same weight as eggs)
Generous teaspoon of Baking Powder
Generous desert spoon of Vanilla Essence (Preferably Mexican)
Optional – Heaped table spoon of Coca Powder to make chocolate muffins

Method

• Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees centigrade and make sure the top shelf is fairly high in the oven, but with enough room to get your muffin tray in and out.
• Weigh your eggs and then your flour, margarine and caster sugar amounts should be exactly the same.
• Whisk together your margarine and caster sugar for approximately 3-5 minutes or until the mixture is a pale yellow.
• Sieve the flour into your bowl of margarine and caster sugar.  If you are making chocolate flavour muffins sieve in your cocoa powder at the same time.
• Add in the rest of your ingredients (baking powder, vanilla essence and eggs).
• Gently whisk together the ingredient working in the contents from the edges.
• Once the flour is all mixed in increase the electric whisk to the maximum speed and work air into the mixture for approximately 3 to 5 minutes until the colour of the mixture has turned pale and the volume of the mixture has increased by about one third.
• You’ll know that the mix is ready if when you put a spoon in you can turn the spoon upside down and the mixture slowly drops off the spoon.
• Put some muffin cases into your muffin tray and spoon out a heaped spoonful of cake mix into each of the muffin cases.
• If you are making half and half (chocolate and vanilla) or marble cakes (chocolate and vanilla swirled) only spoon in half a spoon of each flavour.  To make a marble effect use a wooden skewer to lightly mix together the two flavours before you put the muffins in the oven.



• Put the muffins in the pre-heated oven (180 degrees centigrade) for 15 mins and then turn them around and give them another 5 minutes cooking.
• Lightly press the top of a muffin with your thumb to see if it springs back , if yes the cakes are ready to be turned out onto the cooling tray, if not give them another few minutes in the oven and then test again, but be careful not to over cook or check on them too often.
• Once your muffins are cooked turned them out onto the cooling rack and make sure you as baker supreme, scoff a nice hot one, it’s the muffin baking golden rule!

Wealie Muffins!

I hope you enjoy baking and of course eating your Muffins!

Wealie x

You can purchase t-shirts, long sleeved tees and hoodies for both kids and adults and there are also baby t-shirts and one piece outfits for the little ones.  The clothing is available in a variety of designs and background colours to choose from.

The iPhone cases are available for the iPhone 4 and 4S models.

Additionally you can also order greeting cards & postcards, posters, stickers, calendars and photographic, canvas, framed, mounted, matted and laminated prints of my artwork and my best photographs.

Thanks for taking a look at the designs.

Wealie x

Here’s a few examples of what’s available:

iPhone Cases	T-shirts & Hoodies
Kids Clothing	Stickers
Calendars	Greeting & Post Cards
Posters	Framed Prints

There are a few places that I make a pilgrimage to regularly, where I have a kinship and need to pay homage.  These places are all clustered around three key areas in the South West of England, the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, Purbeck Isle in Dorset and Glastonbury in Somerset.  However as I was writing the article to include all the places in those areas it turned out to be far too long, so I decided to make this a three part article.  Today’s article looks at an area that perhaps has the happiest and most holiday feel to my memories, the Isle of Purbeck.

Purbeck Isle

The Isle of Purbeck is not actually an island, but a 60 mile square area of land on the south west coast in Dorset, England.  There are a number of places here that I find irresistible to visit, Corfe Castle, Studland Beach, Swanage Bay, Wareham Forest and Lulworth Cove. Lulworth Cove I discovered in later life, but Corfe, Studland and Swanage have been mainstays of holidays and family days out since I was a very young child and I have nothing but positive memories connected with these places.

Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle Sketch - Copyright R.Weal 1998

Corfe Castle holds a mystical power over me which I find difficult to explain.  All I can say is that for as long as I can remember I’ve felt at home there, as if a part of me knew it before I ever became conscious of such complex thoughts.  When I have been in dark places it has been a beacon calling out to me, a true north to guide me back to the essence of me when all around me are trying to contain me within fleshy walls of unreality.  Perhaps that sounds overly dramatic, but regardless it is my truth.

Bankes Hotel (Corfe Village) - Copyright R.Weal 1998

Walking amongst the ruins is a true joy to me. I love to touch the stones and let them speak to me, call to a me that isn’t me, to a time in which I can’t possibly belong.  I have walked around it countless times, photographed, videoed, sketched and written about the castle ruins, slept in its shadow at the Bankes Arms hotel, studied it’s history, witnessed an eclipse from within it, dragged numerous friends and family to it and constantly wondered at the magical spell it holds me under, musing as to why it makes me feel so warm, content and safe.

Corfe Castle - Copyright R.Weal 2009

As a child it was the first sign that we were only minutes from Studland beach and I always felt a strange tugging, a longing to go there instead of the beach.  I would find myself turning in my seat as we passed it, watching it until it was finally out of sight.  My Granddad would always recite his silly story about how the castle got its name:

“Do you know how come it’s called Corfe Castle girls?” my Granddad would say, to which my sisters and I would unerringly reply, “No Granddad” amid girlish giggles at the tired and worn joke we knew was coming, but couldn’t help, but love.  ”Well, it’s because the silly idiot that built it forgot to put glass in the windows, so all the people who lived there caught colds and started corfing and corfed it right down”.

Corfe Castle View from Village - Copyright R.Weal 1998

The wry grin that would play across my Granddad’s lips was a warming sight, as was the mischievous glint in his eyes that always accompanied it.  Then one of my sisters or I would pipe up “But there’s not such thing as corfing Granddad!”
“Ah, but there is, it’s how they used to say cough and coughing in old English!”  The laughter that always issued forth from Granddad and his three granddaughters is a precious memory that it always warms me to share and I can’t help but keep up the tradition myself whenever I visit with guests in tow!

To say that Corfe is captivating, inspirational and awe inspiring is like saying water is wet, it’s so obvious to you the moment you see its majestic beauty rising up above all the surrounding landscaping.  A commanding presence, it must have been quite a sight when it was intact.  Corfe Castle is now lovingly cared for by the National Trust and is open all year round to visitors and I thoroughly recommend a visit to my castle.

Studland Beach

Studland beach was the place my Nan taught me to swim, where I became her mermaid diving beneath the waves.  It was where my Dad took me rock pooling and I felt like I was an intrepid naturalist in the vein of my hero Sir David Attenborough.  It was a place that my whole family visited often for weekend beach days, to rest, relax and have fun.

Ben and Dylan at Studland Beach - Copyright R.Weal 2009

I remember setting off with my Mum, Dad and sisters, stopping off at Westbury to have my Nan and Granddad and my Uncle Steve join us and create a three car caravan to Studland.  I remember begging to be allowed to go in the car with my Uncle Steve, because he always drove fast over the long road past Wareham Forest with the big bumps that had your tummy sailing up to your throat!

We would arrive early – the Weal family always made the most out of beach days, up at the crack of dawn and leaving the beach just before the car park closed.  We would arrive just as the gates to the car park were opening and we were always sure to get our obligatory large area marked out with blankets, towels, wind-breakers and assorted inflatables before settling in for some hardcore relaxation and beach time.  Granddad would be sat fully dressed in a deck chair, with his shirt unbuttoned down to his navel and the shirt sleeves and his trousers rolled up.

Nan was always the first to come into the water with us, even though it was probably too cold.  At lunch a great big feast of a picnic was a must and cheese, ham and sand (yuck) rolls were always on the menu along with a carton of orange juice and the obligatory trip to the ice-cream hut with Nan or Uncle Steve.

Sand castles and sand pits were an art form with Uncle Steve and Dad on hand, whether it was being buried alive, or burying someone else alive, creating and elaborate fort, castle or boat, there was always much fun to be had in the sand.  This probably also accounted for the copious amounts of sand in the ham and cheese sandwiches, my swimming costume, my sandals, the car and at the end of the evening the bath after we washed up for bed!

Studland South Beach Sketch - Copyright R.Weal 1998

After lunch was the rock pooling with Dad and Uncle Steve.  We would always bring back the catch in our buckets to show the rest of the family before quite rightly setting them free back in the sea a little way out from the shore to keep them safe from those pesky seagulls who would otherwise have made a feast of them.

Late afternoon heralded the time to build up the sea defences as the tide turned and headed back in shore. Dad, Uncle Steve, my sisters Shelley, Sarah and I would all valiantly attempt to hold back the sea with large sand walls, deep trenches and lots of shells and stones, but alas to no avail.  The surf always won in the end, but watching the final destruction was also half the fun.

The year I turned ten my Nan taught me to swim at Studland, it is one of those picture perfect memories indelibly written on the fabric of my mind.  I remember how firmly I believed that I was a real mermaid and bless her heart, my Nan didn’t contradict me. Some years later I wrote the following poem about my experience learning to swim at Studland with my Nan.

THE LITTLE MERMAID

If I hold my breath, if I dive real deep, Nan, will the mermaids come and fetch me?
If I close my eyes, if I swim real fast, will I get my mermaid tail at last?
If I sit on the sand, with the sea on head, will I find the mermaid’s bed?

I have to be the little mermaid again; the ten year old girl who believed in miracles, that if she held her breath for long enough, her legs would dissolve and she would be the mermaid beneath the waves. Dancing in the surf, diving in the shallows, revolving around her grandmother’s legs, like yesterday had never happened, that today would never end and there would never be a tomorrow. She lives in me still, the brown eyed, sun kissed child that made her grandmother laugh with the absurdity of her belief and the strength of her conviction. At one with her own nature and the world that she surrounds herself within. Lost within her words, weaving stories around those she loves to fascinate and entice with her picture of another world, a world through her eyes, a world that only she can truly behold.

I feel sometimes as if the cup of my emotion would never cease to overflow, my soul too big for this meagre earthbound frame, spilling out and infecting others with my heightened emotions. An almost frightening power, it slumbers restlessly beneath the surface of the organised and rational woman who stands before you now. I guess she is my artist, she is the words, the movement that courts the tempo, the paint strokes that flow from my hand, the voice in my head that drives me to write, the vision that sees before I ever create the shapes of which only I know the true meaning and the whisper of a thrill that drives me as my body melds to the music. Yet she is also the insidious whisperer, who can drive me to distraction, who can take me to the depths of despair as quickly as she can launch me into the moonlight to bask amongst the stars. And so again it begins to sound like poetry…

If I hold my breath, if I dive real deep, Nan, will the mermaids come and fetch me?
If I close my eyes, if I swim real fast, will I get my mermaid tail at last?
If I sit on the sand, with the sea on head, will I find the mermaid’s bed?

Awaken little mermaid, I truly need to find you.
Ruth Weal 08 November 2006 6.24 am
Copyright R.Weal 2006

Dedicated to two special women
For Nan, for never telling me I could not be the Mermaid of my daydreams
For Susie, for giving me a reason to write the words and find my little mermaid again
x

Swanage Bay

Swanage Sunset - Copyright R.Weal 2006

And now we fix our gaze on Swanage Bay.  Just around the corner from Corfe Castle and Studland, it forms the third point in a geographical triangle of mystical power and protection for me.

Swanage was always where we went for our early evenings after a day out at the beach on Studland.  Fish and chips eaten with legs dangling over the edge of the path down into the harbour.  Wrapped up warm in cardigans to keep out the evening sea breeze.  Fending off the seagulls out to nab our chips (I had a fair few stolen from my fingers) and then into the penny arcades to win a piece of tat and waste some 2ps on the shove ha’ penny machines.

It was with great pleasure to me that Ben and I took Dylan to Swanage and introduced him to all my favourite things to do and it was heartening to see that he enjoyed it as much as I had at his age and that over the years so little had changed.  But what is always enchanting to me is that my enjoyment of the activities had not dimmed in the intervening years between my child and adulthood.

Swanage - Copyright R.Weal 2006

The whole family, grandparents and Uncle Steve included spent a summer holiday in Swanage when I was ten.  I remember clearly the self catering house we had rented high up on the hill and the long walk up from the town centre to get to it.  I remember my parents worrying about our Volkswagen Beetle’s brakes, leaving it in reverse to ensure it was still there when we got up in the morning!

It was that holiday where my Granddad and Uncle Steve successfully got me to put a saucepan on my head and of course my Uncle Steve had his camera handy to record the moment for posterity!  I never did live that one down, it was almost as memorable as the time I excitedly flashed my Granddad my new bra – well it was my first one and I was about 9 at the time!  Truth be told I didn’t have a lot to put into my 24 AA cup anyway ;-P

Well, not to change the subject, but back to the saucepan – you’re probably wondering how they got me to put it on my head in the first place?  Well my Granddad being a first rate deadpan joker had asked me why I was taking a saucepan up the stairs.  When I informed him that there wasn’t a shower head attachment in the bathroom so the saucepan was being used for rinsing of hair he promptly asked me if it would fit and muggins here said “of course”, stuck it on my head and then heard the click of Uncle Steve’s camera.  Yes, I was well and truly got!

Deserted Swanage Bay at 6 am - Copyright R.Weal 1998

I have always loved the little curio shops in Swanage and I could and have spent hours walking in and around them perusing the various items of curiosity, tat and art that they contain.  Even today where many other town high streets are becoming devoid of any diversity Swanage remains a beacon, an oasis of individuality that always heartens me.

There are a number of alternative clothing outlets and I remember I bought a pair of trousers in one of them back in the mid 90s that I still had until a year or two ago.  The patterns on the waist band were faded beyond recognition and the fabric was falling apart, but I had worn those trousers religiously throughout the 90s and into the 00s and it was a really difficult decision to finally let them go.

Swanage Open Air Theatre Sketch - Copyright R.Weal 1998

One of my favourite things about Swanage is the open air theatre and it is a place that I’ve often visited over the years, especially around my birthday, I sketched the picture on the right of the open air theatre as the sun was fading on my birthday back in 1998.

Throughout the summer Swanage puts on a beautiful fireworks display every Saturday night that attracts people from far and wide.  The best vantage point for viewing the fireworks is definitely up on the hill or on the open air theatre.  If you’ve never seen the fireworks you really should go along, especially as they are free!  Get there early (they start at about 8.30 to 9 pm) to get your fish and chips before the queues get too long and to make sure you get a good place to view them as it is very popular, especially in the School summer holidays.

In 1998 I spent my first and only birthday to date alone sat up on the hill looking down over the open air theatre watching the fireworks.  It was as if they had been put on especially for me and it was a wonderful culmination to what was a great day and part of a very special pilgrimage for me.

Swanage is an excellent place to take a holiday or day trip out to.  There’s lots to see and do and it’s also a great base for exploring the surrounding area within the Purbeck Isle.

Wareham Forest

Pine Cones on Branch - Copyright R.Weal 2009

Wareham forest is a stretch of forest that we always used to drive past on our way to Studland beach and also the location of the bumpy road that I mentioned above.  It’s seems strange that as a child we never stopped to walk around this lovely evergreen pine forest, but then again when you’ve got three young girls eager to get to the beach perhaps it’s not so strange!

I didn’t really come to appreciate Wareham forest until I was an adult.  I’ve visited a few times and always had my camera with me to take some pictures of the flora and fauna that is on show in abundance from spring through autumn.

Lichen Close Up - Copyright R.Weal 2009

As someone who has grown up in an area dominated primarily by deciduous forests Wareham forest also has a slightly alien and foreign feel to it that is very appealing to me.  Sometimes it is good to walk in a different world, even if it is only an hour or so away from home.

Wareham forest has some lovely walks, with well trodden and mapped paths which don’t require too much effort to navigate and are not challenging in terms of terrain.  A nice post-Sunday lunch walk could easily take in a good part of the forest and leave you feeling like you walked off the extra roast spud you shouldn’t really have eaten, but not leaving you feeling like you climbed Mount Everest!  It’s also a great place to visit to pick up a few fallen pine cones to decorate for your Christmas Tree.

Lulworth Cove

Finally we come to Lulworth Cove, which I didn’t discover until I was in my early twenties.  It is a beautiful little cove round the corner from Swanage, Studland and Corfe.  Think challenging windswept cliff walks with outstanding views and you’ve pretty much got Lulworth Cove pegged.

One narrow and hilly road descends through the tiny little village, which leads you down into the cove itself.  There’s a large and well equipped  visitor centre which makes it clear to you immediately that this is a National Trust protected piece of coastline.  There’s also ample parking and facilities as well as some local shops and pubs.

Map of the South West Coast Path

If you’re looking for more than a few curio shops and seaside vendors, a good bite to eat with a pint followed by challenging walks with great views then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. The size and peacefulness of Lulworth is the next biggest attraction on top of the outstanding views and walks.

It’s part of the south west coast path, which is the longest way marked long distance path in the country and a national trail, which basically takes you round the south west “foot” of England, starting up in Minehead, Somerset, travelling across the top of Devon and Cornwall, round the tip of Land’s End, back through the bottom of Cornwall and Devon and into Dorset where it ends just past Studland.

Bassett Hound (Lulworth Cove Limestone Folding) - Copyright R.Weal 2009

Lulworth is also part of what is known as the Jurassic Coast, which has been deemed a world heritage site as it consists of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous cliffs, spanning the Mesozoic Era, documenting 180 million years of geological history.  Lulworth is particularly known for the Cove and its fine example of Limestone folding.  You can see an example of this in the photograph to the left, the limestone folding here gives the impression of a sleeping bassett hound, at least it looks that way to me!

If you want to find out more about the Jurassic Coast the heritage centre at Lulworth Cove is a great resource.  If you’re lucky you might even find yourself a fossil down amongst the rocks and pebbles on the shore!

There isn’t really much more I can say about Lulworth, really it’s the breathtaking views that speak volumes, so I’ll let a few of my pictures do the talking instead of my words.

Lulworth Cove Blues - Copyright R.Weal 2009

Sunset Beach at Lulworth Cove - Copyright R.Weal 2009

Lulworth Cove Setting Sun - Copyright R.Weal 2009

South West Costal Path (Lulworth Cove) - Copyright R.Weal 2009

That concludes the second instalment of my Places of Pilgrimage, if you haven’t seen the first instalment please feel free to check it out and find out about the places I love in my home county of Wiltshire and specifically around the Salisbury Plain. Keep your eyes peeled for the final instalment number three – Glastonbury!

Tread safely in the light my friends.

Wealie
x

Salisbury Plain
Glastonbury

Last week I finally stumped up the cash and indulged myself by buying the Adobe CS5 Master Suite.  I spent most of today installing the software and getting rid of old versions of Photoshop and Dreamweaver and a selection of other software that does the same thing as the Master Suite. Then there was the fun of ensuring that all my Photoshop presets were copied over and setting up my preferred workspace view.  Well once I’d gotten that out of the way it was about 10 pm and I started at 2 pm!

After all that I felt like I needed to have a little play around, so opened up Adobe Illustrator, which I’ve never used before.  It took a little getting used to, but with the help of the lovely Ben who’s a bit of an expert in Illustrator I came up with this:

Irene the Illustration - Copyright R.Weal 2010

I’ve called her Irene the Illustration and she was created without a graphics tablet I might add. It was good fun and she does look similar to the face doodles that I occasionally draw in notebooks and on scraps of paper. I can thoroughly recommend having a play with Illustrator if you haven’t done so already.

Happy electronic doodling!

Wealie x

Fred the Pumpkin Dances - Copyright R.Weal 2010

This is Dylan in the Pumpkin costume that Ben and I made for him. Ben was in charge of the frame and measurements (metal work and mathematics are not my strong suit).  I handled the sewing of the fabric, adding the fine details of the face and leaves and the dubious pleasure of putting the whole thing together with my glue gun!

To make the costume took 3 square metres of orange felt, half a metre each of black and green felt, approximately 15 metres of coat hanger grade wire, a role of insulation tape, the use of a sewing machine, 9 glue gun sticks and several large chunks of my flesh when using said glue gun :-/

The result of all our hard work is Fred the pumpkin (Dylan chose his name), who is almost as wide as Dylan is tall and only just got through the doorway! This is Dylan (sorry Fred), dancing to the pumpkin rock which Ben was making up on his guitar as Dylan danced!

In addition to the pumpkin costume and the Wealie household pumpkins we also created a giant cobweb on the living room ceiling and added some home made spiders.  To make the web you need a few drawing pins and a big ball of thick black wool.  Pin the drawing pins into four equal corners of your ceiling and take a length of wool from each pin to the centre of the room and either pin them to the centre, or tie them around the light fitting (being careful of any fire hazards!).

Working from the centre out, tie a knot about 10 cms from the middle on the first of the four lengths, unwrap enough wool to make a line to the next length and again tie a knot.  Work round all the four lengths until you have a square.  Move out another 10 cm on the first length and repeat the process.  Once you’ve gone as far as possible cut your wool, lie on the floor and look up!  You’ve now got your very own home made cobweb.

A Wealie Web - Copyright R.Weal 2010

The spiders are easy to make, just cut up an egg box into the individual sections and paint each section, these become your spider’s body, so for a half dozen box you will be able to make 6 spiders. You may need to trim down the edges on some of the more modern egg boxes.

To make the legs take two standard length pipe cleaners and cut them in half, these four lengths will form your spider’s legs.  Put a glue dot in the centre of each length of pipe cleaner and glue to the inside bottom of the spider body.

Then you just fan out the legs and twist to make feet to cling to the cob web.  Finally use some more glue dots to attach a couple of googlie eyes and your spider is ready to sit on his (or her web) as in the picture above.

Anything goes with the Wealie household spiders and Dylan was in charge of choosing the colour matches and patterns for the bodies and legs.  The gallery below shows the twelve spiders created this year.  The red and purple one in the bottom corner is mine and Dylan’s favourite!

The Spider Gallery Halloween 2010 - Copyright R.Weal 2010

The last in our menagerie of Halloween creepies are the bats, which are showcased in the belfry gallery below.  Ben takes all the credit for the bats, he based the design on the pattern from some Halloween fabric that we bought.  Ben created a template on white paper, which he then cut around on the black card.  There was some interesting times had trying to suspend them properly, but they looked quite effective.  Personally I quite liked them stuck flat against the fire place and back door too!

So now you’ve got some idea of what Halloween is like in the Wealie household.  I hope you had fun making your Halloween decorations and costumes too.

Happy Halloween one and all!

Wealie x

Bats in the belfry - Copyright R.Weal 2010

The Pumpkin Fred - Copyright R.Weal 2010

If you’ve ever wondered how to make a pumpkin costume here’s how one’s made in the Wealie household.  Ben was in charge of the frame and measurements (metal work and mathematics are not my strong suit).  I handled the sewing of the fabric, adding the fine details of the face and leaves and the dubious pleasure of putting the whole thing together with my glue gun!

To make the costume took 3 square metres of orange felt, half a metre each of black and green felt, approximately 15 metres of coat hanger grade wire, a role of insulation tape, the use of a sewing machine, 9 glue gun sticks and several large chunks of my flesh when using said glue gun :-/

It’s actually quite an easy pattern, with a few little fiddly bits, but here’s how to make it.  Firstly you need to make three hoops of wire, one to go around the neck (make sure it fits comfortably with a fair amount of room over the head, as you will be adding layers of fabric on top), one for the middle (this should be the widest that you want your pumpkin to be and finally the legs (make sure the hoop is wide enough that the wearer will be able to walk unimpeded). To measure for the hoops you can measure a straight line across to give you the width from one side to the other of the circle, (the diameter), you then multiply the diameter by 3 to get the circumference (the length of the circle if you were to cut it, flatten it out into a straight line and then measure it end to end).

Dylan Peeks out of Pumpkin Fred - Copyright R.Weal 2010

Next you need 8 lengths of wire that you attach to the different hoops at the neck, middle and legs, these are your supporting struts and also the segments of the pumpkin. If you are able to welding is probably the best method of attaching the hoops and struts.  However, if like us you don’t have that kind of equipment, then insulation tape is an acceptable alternative, though not as robust! Once you’ve attached the frame together make sure you get the wearer to test it out before you go any further!

Now to cut out your fabric.  Divide the circumference of each hoop by eight and these are the measurements of the top, middle and bottom for each pumpkin segment.  For a small boy like Dylan each segment was about 30 cms at the widest point (the middle) and the strut lengths were about 9o cm.  So allowing for hemming cut a 40 cm by 1 metre length of orange felt.

Dylan is Pumpkin Fred - Copyright R.Weal 2010

On the back of the length measure out from a central point and mark up the width of the top middle and bottom, allowing a 4-5 cm hem at the top, bottom and on each side.  Then you need to draw a curve from the top to the middle and the middle to the bottom on both edges of the fabric from both the sewing lines and hem lines.

You should have drawn an elongated oval segment, which is slightly wider at the bottom, with parallel lines around 4-5 cm apart up to the edge of the fabric.  Once you’re happy with the measurements cut out the segment along the hem line and use this as the pattern template to cut out a further 7 segments.

Once you’ve cut out all the segments you’ll need to mark up the sewing line on a further 3 segments.  To avoid measuring up again place the three extra pieces of fabric beneath your original pattern and using your scissors stab points along the lines to go through onto the fabric beneath.  Lift off the template and then mark up the lines on each of the pieces of fabric beneath. Pin together each of the marked up segments with an unmarked segment and stitch along the sewing line on the right from top to bottom.  Once you’ve stitched together each pair begin to stitch together the pairings, again stitch the marked segments to an unmarked one.  Be careful you always stitch from the top down to put the pattern together correctly.

Worn out Fred sits - Copyright R.Weal 2010

Once all the segments are stitched together wrap them around the frame and pull them taut.  You should be able to overlap the two end segments.  Whilst one person is holding the segments together another needs to glue the segments down using a glue gun or fast acting fabric glue.  Now you can loop the hems over the top and bottom hoops, gluing them down as you work around the pumpkin.

Now it’s time to add the detail, cut out a face from the black felt, we went with triangles for the eyes and nose and a big spiky mouth and then glue them onto the main body where you want them.  Finally cut out 8 triangles from the green felt to make the leaves.  Glue them onto the neck hoop and slightly overlap them to ensure that all orange felt around the neck in covered.

That’s the hard work over, now you need to get your wearer to put it on and indicate where the arm holes need to go.  Simply cut a slit in the felt that they can put their arms through.  Add a trick or treat bucket and they’re ready to go!

The result for us is Fred the pumpkin (Dylan chose his name), who is almost as wide as Dylan is tall and only just got through the doorway (something you might want to take into consideration before building it)! The picture below is of Dylan (sorry Fred), dancing to the pumpkin rock which Ben was making up on his guitar as Dylan danced!

Happy Halloween and happy pumpkin making!

Wealie x

Fred the Pumpkin Dances - Copyright R.Weal 2010

The aim is to update this firstly with all my poetry from down the years, so that it is readily accessible in one location and to showcase some of my favourite flickr uploads.  From then on everything will go on chronologically as I create it, think it, or have a view (aka rant) about it.

Feedback is very welcome, so be sure to comment and let me know what you think on the content of pages, posts and pictures, but also on the website.

Looking forward to spending a bit of time with my anonymous audience.

Thanks for reading and tread safely in the light!

Wealie x