another peg

Managed to find time, using another vintage peg, to create an automaton! As the handle is turned the figure goes up and down - he's supposed to be a swimmer. Not sure whether to add paint or just leave alone.

dolls and books

A couple of weeks ago I managed to find some vintage wooden pegs at a flea market.
Have just got round to making one up as a peg doll. The arms are jointed using vintage buttons and hand-made string. The wooden heart covers a hole but thinking about it now I could have left it and called this a 'broken-hearted' doll.

The reason it's taken a couple of weeks to whittle this is because I've been busy publishing again!
This time I've gone all ebook and have put a children's book into the kindle store on Amazon. It only went live yesterday but already has begun to sell. Its the first in what I intend to be a series that can stand alone as fiction books or be used in a classroom to spark an interest and enthusiasm for grammar and punctuation! Please feel free to check it out;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/P-U-nC-S-Saviours-punctuation-John-Fidler-ebook/dp/B01FPLZK8K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463412374&sr=8-2&keywords=john+fidler

back at school - yay!

Managed to put our 'Tudor' houses on display - they were only completed on the final day of last term! Partnered them up with our model of the Globe to portray a small section of Shakespeare's London! It looks quite impressive in the flesh - each house stands around 25cm tall. 
(And I seem to be able to email myself pics again!)

The children made peg doll characters to populate the streets.

sculpture

Yesterday our y4s had a Tudor Day and came costumed accordingly. They took part in a variety of activities, one of which was to do a 'stump' doll version of themselves. A peg, pipecleaner, felt and their skill were all that were needed to end up with mini-me's!

Y3s are sculpting Ancient Greek warriors and have now added mod-roc to their armatures. I think I can hear the strains of 'Zorba' starting up somewhere behind this one!

puppets

Today, as part of their studies about toys, the Y1's created some 'talking' and 'moving' puppets. They used clothes pegs to operate the 'mouths' and utilised paper fasteners to allow the limbs to move.

These are my examples that I used to show the principle features to the children. 

on the bench

Currently on my worktable are several part completed wooden automaton figures. Some made from pegs, some from bobbins and some from wooden blocks - am experimenting with the most efficient process at the moment. 

 

automaton

The latest automaton to grace my work table. This time using a wooden block for the base and a simple turntable mechanism. Again, the figure is poseable and twirls as the handle is turned.

 

The small red beads you can see in this pic support the turntable.

 

Quite pleased with the simplicity of this one. It also breaks down into two parts so is relatively easy to package should I decide to sell them through my shops. What do folk think?

finished

Yesterday I completed the ballerina automaton and it works! The figure is still poseable and she twirls when you turn the handle. The box lid slides in and out. Quite proud of this little piece though you do have to hum or whistle a little tune as you turn the handle in order to get the full 'musical box' experience.

 

I've left the box plain as this was a prototype but obviously it could be painted, decoupaged, stained etc. Am now on the lookout for more boxes to adapt.

BIG 2

It wasn't as messy as it could have been! The children were very sensible and managed to cover large areas of the dinosaurs rather than themselves!

 

 A little wooden peg doll I whittled recently. The joints are tied with elastic making it poseable.

puppets

In FS1 we've been making panda stick puppets;

 

In Y1 we made 'talking' puppets using a wooden spring peg;

peg doll

Arabella Peggotty is a refined young lady. She is confident and poised. It wasn't always thus - she had a lowly start in life, but through persistence and a winning personality has managed to overcome all the obstacles life has thrown at her. She is now looking to broaden her horizons further - you'll find her in my Folksy shop (button on the right) patiently waiting for the right person to come along.

She stands around 13cm tall and is made from a wooden peg, a lollipop stick and a carved wooden bead. Her joints are secured by thread and vintage Fench nacre buttons.

peggy

Here she is all finished. I think she's turned out much as I envisaged. I like the primitive style and lack of fussy detail. She's about 13cm long. Might end up making a few of these before my attention switches to something else!

I've listed her in my Folksy shop (please click the button on the right to visit).

latest peggy

Been making the pieces for a new peg doll. This time I decided to see if I could carve a simple face, much like the peg dolls of old. The easiest way to do it was to file and sand away part of a wooden bead and attach this in place of the top of the peg. The joints are secured with embroidery thread and vintage French hand-cut nacre buttons. Will give it a simple paint job, attach some string 'hair' and list it in my folksy shop when it's complete. Not quite sure what to charge though.

peggy revisited

Had this one on the back-burner for a little while and have just completed her. She has knees! But I'm drawing the line at elbows!! Her joints are held together with embroidery thread and vintage buttons and she measures in around about 12cm tall. Not sure whether to give her eyes or leave blank.

peg dolls

As part of their 19th century studies, the children made peg doll characters. They were each given a peg and a page of hints/tips as to what might make good arms, how to do hair etc. The figures that returned were fantastic. They were all different. Clothing had been made from fabric scraps, paper or even just painted on. Many had obviously enjoyed the parental touch but that is very much a positive - interacting, helping with their childs homework can only be a good thing. I love the big, baggy shorts on the footy player !

poseable jake

Have been playing around with improvements to the 'jake' figures. Joints made with elastic cord secured by buttons allows for a fantastic range of holdable poses as can be seen from the pics. Please note that this figure was one I put together out of spare pieces just to try out the concept. He stands around 10cm (4") when stood up straight!

I Would really welcome any comments.