PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

I’m in the UK this week, visiting my family, but that doesn’t mean I’m not making anything…

Mysterious Cities of Gold was one of our favourite TV shows when my sister and I were young, and we still love it now (and it’s finally been released on DVD!)

From the DVD synopsis: In the year 1532, a Spanish orphan named Esteban joins a party of Spaniards in their search for one of The Seven Cities of Gold in the New World, hoping to find his father. They are joined on their quest by Zia, an Incan girl, and Tao, the last descendant of the sunken empire of Hiva.

My sister is going to a costume party as Zia, so she asked me to make her a sun medallion for her costume. I decided to make one for myself at the same time – making two is as easy as one. We went out for supplies (a package of FIMO, gold paint, spray varnish and a leather cord) so I could try to reproduce these medallions from the series:

To make them, I rolled out the polymer clay and cut it into a circle shape. With the help of a Google image search, I found a picture of the medallion’s pattern, and printed it at the same size as my circle for reference. I carved the pattern with deep, wide cuts so they would show up in the finished piece, made a hole at the top for the cord, and baked it. After baking. I sanded it lightly to knock off any sharp edges, then painted it with three coats of Venetian Gold paint (making sure the paint got into all the lines of the pattern). I sealed the paint on all sides with spray varnish, and then threaded the cord through when it was all dry. And here’s the finished result:

It’s still winter here. The snow hasn’t melted yet, and it feels like it’s been winter forever! I can’t wait any longer for spring to arrive, so I decided to create some spring for myself…

Here’s my vase of crocheted daffodils – a bit of instant springtime!

Click for larger picture

I’ve written up the pattern for you – it’s another Donationware pattern, so it’s free to view and, if you like it, you can send me a thank you payment. I hope you enjoy it!

>> Continue to the Daffodils free pattern instructions >>

One of the things I most love about my blog is the opportunity it gives me to ‘meet’ other artists and crafters and people who make things. One such person is Christy DeKoning, a talented artist who I recently ‘met’ online but coincidentally also lives in Ontario. She paints watercolour portraits and also sells small ACEO-sized paintings in her Etsy store.

When I visited Christy’s website I fell in love with the most adorable ACEO puppy painting I have ever seen. A few days later, and I now own my first piece of original artwork! My painting “Puppy Dog Eyes” is, in reality, even more special that I had hoped for – look at that eye! And I just love the colouring.

I’ll be framing it soon and I’ll hang it somewhere in my craft room. Christy also accepts commissions, so I hope my furbaby Maui is feeling photogenic, because he’s about to become immortalized in watercolour… 🙂

I’ve tried something a bit different for my latest design for the AquaAmi range. My sea turtle is made with two colours of yarn, but is still all worked in single crochet in the round (apart from a few rogue hdcs). He is one of my largest and most ambitious designs to date, at 11″ (28cm) long from nose to tail, with a 12.5″ (32cm) flipper-span!

Click for larger photo

I’ve designed him so his head and limbs appear to stick out of holes in his shell. The top and bottom of his shell are each formed from 10 hexagons. Yes, that is a lot of stitching together, but I think it was worth it!

Some fun sea turtle facts I discovered while researching for this design:

• Sea turtles, unlike other turtles, cannot retract their heads and limbs into their shells
• Sea turtles have evolved streamlined shells and large front flippers so they can ‘fly’ through the water
• Sea turtles spend almost their whole lives at sea, but females return to the same beach they were born to lay their eggs
• You can tell females from males as the females have a very short tail

Here’s his belly:

Once I have finished writing up and illustrating all the steps that go into making him, you’ll be able to make your own Sea Turtle! Join my mailing list if you’d like to know when the pattern is available.

What do you think of him? I hope you love him as much as I do!

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the AquaAmi Sea Turtle crochet pattern in my shop.

AmiDogs Set 3 includes:

• Siberian Husky (or Alaskan Malamute)
• Welsh Corgi (Pembroke and Cardigan varieties)
• German Shepherd (aka Alsatian)

The patterns are available individually, or as a value-priced set of all three. If you’d like to purchase them, you can click through to my store to buy (and scroll down; the latest dogs are at the bottom of the list!)

Enjoy!

I decided I was being unfair by making my corgi design only apply to tailless Pembroke Welsh Corgis, so here is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi modification:

(The corgi pattern will include both versions!)

For everyone who is waiting, the AmiDogs Set 3 patterns will be available very shortly…

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the AmiDogs Corgi crochet pattern in my shop.

Want to know some more about me and my crafting? The lovely and crafty Carina (Wardi) interviewed me a few weeks ago, and the interview is up on her blog today.

Go and check out my interview, and while you’re there, take a look at Carina’s blog and see the happy colourful crafts she’s been making lately!

Thanks to Carina for taking the time to interview me – it was fun 🙂

Photo credit: embroidered garden by Carina

By popular demand, I finally designed a german shepherd (also known as an Alsatian, for any Brits reading this):

A big thanks to Kris and Kassie for your design feedback!

It’s difficult to see his nose (black on black) but you can see it’s there from the profile of the face. I also just realised that the angle of these pictures don’t really show it, but the black from the dog’s back carries over into the base of the tail.

Now to finish the patterns… AmiDogs Set 3 (Husky, Corgi & German Shepherd) should be ready to purchase (individually or as a set) within the next few days; please sign up for my mailing list if you’d like to be notified when the set is available.

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the AmiDogs German Shepherd crochet pattern in my shop.