I had the Cirque de Souris hiding in my cupboard. Miniature banners, a popcorn circus tent, and the cast and crew were ready but the performance never happened. Why? Because an evil witch cast her spell on the cloche curator and took away all the happiness from the land. There were no smiles, no laughs, just the quiet murmurs of a bell jar village shaken by unforeseen events.
So, what now? Where do we go from here when the magic is gone?
If I asked you this question yesterday, you wouldn’t have a clue. But now, at approximately 7:22pm on Sunday night, I can tell you that the door, the bird, and the mouse can all be found in my Etsy shop!
Yes, I have found my groove and started to create again! Here’s the cast of characters, and a door:
MAX, THE GNOME MAMA BIRD BABY SITTER
Every morning rosella parrots visit my garden. Their cute squeaky chirping sound would greet me when I wake up. I wondered then when parrots take flight and look for food, who’s looking after the baby chicks? Certainly no mama bird will leave her babies alone!
If you look at this particular nest, it looks like any ordinary nest. Two eggs and a mama bird. But then, what’s that roundish blob with a beard sticking out beneath the beak? Hmm…something is definitely weird in this picture.
Meet Max, a babysitting gnome at work! Like any gnome, Max is a softie at heart when it comes to helping out helpless little animals. When the real mama bird goes out to forage, Max would don his parrot costume and keep the eggs company. He plays it so well, that if I didn’t point out to you his nose and beard, you won’t notice it!
Max is made of Super Sculpey Clay and needle felted blue and red wool to look like a rosella parrot. Sitting on the nest, Max is 4cm tall x 6.5cm length x 4cm width. This gnome is glued to the nest and will definitely not leave the eggs behind.
The eggs are tiny decorative plastic eggs sitting on a bed of lichen moss. The nest 7cm in diameter and is made of synthetic fiber woven by yours truly.
CRACKERS AND THE CHEESE BALL MOON
While millions of children and mice wonder if the pock marked moon is made of cheese, one mouse made the trip to the moon (?!) to satisfy his curiosity.
Meet Crackers, a courageous mouse who can confirm that yes, the moon is made of cheddar, slightly sharp for his taste but quite perfect with biscuits.
Unfortunately, that fact is a half truth, because he didn’t make it to our real moon at all. He made a detour to my house where on one dark night, when he was bleary eyed and half asleep, he found this ball of cheese sitting on top of my star studded shawl. Quite my fault really, I was enjoying a plate of crackers and cheese when this cheese ball rolled out of my plate. It did look like a cosmic piece of cheese to me from this angle. Almost like the moon. I can’t blame Crackers for his mistake!
Standing 7cm tall x 4cm wide with a 4cm round belly, Crackers is made of white needle felt wool with a pink mousie nose, tail, and ears. His hands and feet are made of sculpey clay.
The 4cm tall x 5cm wide cheese ball moon and the piece of cheese is made of paper mache painted with yellow acrylic clay and protected with matte varnish. Crackers is glued on top of the cheese ball moon.
THE GNOME DOOR – THE ENTRANCE TO THE BELL JAR VILLAGE
Introducing the Life in a Bell Jar Mice & Gnomes Real Estate Agency! Our motto is “whimsical homes for magical mice and gnomes”. Grand opening today! See the 1st of our model gnome doors up for sale.
Ever wondered how to get to the Bell Jar Village? It’s right through a gnome door. On clear starry nights, when the moon is high and the wind is cool, you can sometimes spot a gnome door appearing at the most unusual places. Beneath a lavender bush, beside the oak tree, on a branch of a lemon tree…depends on where the gnome owner in question wants to open his door to from the Bell Jar Village to our world.
You are in luck if you are in the market looking for your own piece of magical real estate! One of the local gnomes has decided to upgrade and has left me with this whimsical gnome door.
Standing 16.5 cm high x 11cm wide with a base 13cm long x 5cm wide, this gnome door has a metal deer plate fixed in the middle and a metal door knob. Lichen moss, leaves, berries, gumnuts, and charms grow around it. The door is made of wood stained craft sticks and twigs glued securely to a base. The back of the door is reinforced with pebbles at the base.
How this door opens is something I can’t teach you. You’re not even supposed to open it if you’re not a gnome. But as an owner to be of this gnome door, I can let you in on a secret… you can lease this door to a wandering gnome for free and watch him open the door by magic!
That’s all for now! There’s more to come. Please do drop by and visit. There are more photos of Max, Crackers and the gnome door in my tiny shop!
Happy New Year everybody! How is everyone? Wow has it been 4 months since my last post? Yikes! I better make up for lost time!
I passed by a quirky shop in Upwey last week and could not resist this cute spice drawer. Can you spot something else in this photo?
Spring is only two days away and yet here I am still feeling the winter blues. Clouds have cast dark shadows around my home and the cold rain has totally drenched my newly hung laundry. The Cirque de Souris had to close their show for now on the account of the dismal weather. Stuck with nothing fancy to do I’ve decided to check my archives and found this photo. It cheered me up and reminded me sunny days are soon to come.
I know all of you are eager to watch the Cirque de Souris perform. But before that, I would like to present Pascall. He’s belongs to a family of mini mallow mice. This type of species are smaller than your average mouse, apricot in color, and are known to live in cupboards that store bags of marshmallows.
I was inspired to make Pascall one cold winter weekend when I was hanging out with my hubby while he had to work. I forgot to bring pipe cleaners and my bag of white wool so I had to improvise with just a bag of apricot colored wool. I use pipe cleaners for the frame of my mice simply because that was how I got used to making them. Pascall is made of pure wool, without a pipe cleaner frame hence he turned out smaller and cuter.
By the way, this mouse is not holding a real marshmallow. It’s white paper clay with a tinge of pink paint. It does look real, doesn’t it? Really happy with how it turned out.
I have decided to put up for adoption a line of mini mallow mice. Depending on how fast I can make them, the cute critters will soon be available at the Mice & Gnomes Adoption Agency.
I have a new fave shop! Daiso, a Japanese $2.80 shop, just recently opened in Melbourne. I happened to pass by the shop last week and saw these….
Pinwheels! Aren’t they just so colorful and gorgeous? I got so excited I bought a bunch of them. They had tiny ones available! Just perfect for my Cirque de Souris bell jar.
I hopped and skipped all the way home with my bag of pinwheels. I was just so inspired, I started practicing making a circus poster. My old printer ran out of ink, which was fortunate. I wouldn’t have thought of using my colorful markers to make the poster. Here’s a photo of my first try. Not bad, huh?
Have to go now! Still have to make my circus bell jar.
Shhh!!! This is top secret! The Cirque de Souris (as in Circus of Mice) is in town! They have been secretly practicing, as you can see, on top of my dining table. Unfortunately, all I have is this one picture. I do recognize Bailey the Dumbo Mouse, but who is this other mystery mouse? I guess we’ll find out on the grand opening of Cirque de Souris! Check your nearest ticket outlets for the performance dates.
Here’s my new cabinet of curiousities. Drum roll please….
I admit it has been a long time since my last post but happily I’m back on my feet and back to creating! Yay!
The bell jar village is currently under construction so apologies to everyone who have missed the mice and gnomes. We miss you all too!
From seagulls to parrots and cockatoos. I’ve just moved to a quaint wooden house on top of a hill somewhere near the Dandenong Ranges. Quite a sea change after being so used to life near the beach. Thus explains why I have been creatively dormant for the past two months. Luckily, I have been slowly getting my groove back and started to make the Hollow Tree Library even though the house is still packed with a jumble of unopened moving boxes.
The Hollow Tree Library is made from a piece of driftwood I found in Altona Beach. The mushrooms are made from paper clay and actually glow in the dark. I hope I can capture the glow of the mushrooms when I take photos of the finished piece.
Here’s a view of the back of the tree. Although the leaves look real, let’s just say I don’t need to worry about it changing its autumn colours. O yeah, there’s a smattering of ladybugs too.
I still don’t know what to put in this new bell jar theme. I’ll figure it out soon. Stay tuned!
Marley was supposedly part of the Frogpond Symphony Orchestra but just didn’t quite fit in. This gnome with his drum and dreadlocks marches to the beat of a different drummer.
Months before Marley was only just bits of clay glued together unfinished, lonely, and gathering dust in my apothecary cabinet. Then someone sent me a souvenir keychain with a tiny drum and thought it would be nice for my “leftover” gnome.
See the fairy door behind Marley? I made it months ago and never really found the ideal bell jar for it. So like Marley, the fairy door was just sitting on the shelf.
I decided to give Marley and the forgotten fairy door a new lease on life and gave them their very own bell jar. Because everybody, even gnomes and fairy doors, deserve a second chance.
Life in a Bell Jar 