Skip to main content

Christmas Countdown 14: Christmas Tree #12 - Playful

Seoul : http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2897710
Advent Blog Day 12 - Playful 
If you had to guess what would be the softest, most cuddly material to create a Christmas tree from, I  don't know if many would think 'teddy bear'. Obviously a number of people have, and  while I think the idea is a little bizarre, it's probably no more weird than some of the crazy Christmas trees we have already seen this month. There is no doubt that this is a playful idea, and a good one if you are in the business of retailing teddy bears.
  1. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/560557484866498385/
Takashikaya, Japan : http://garden-frenzy.blogspot.com/2010/12/takashimaya_16.html

Sheraton Grand Hotel, Beijing :http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/BeijingInformation/BeijingNewsUpdate/t1460811.htm

While teddy bears seem a favourite Christmas toy symbol, Disney creations have also found themselves front and centre in the Christmas tree stakes. This huge tree  (about 15 metres high) seen at London's St Pancras' station ( the same place which hosted the giant LEGO tree) was made entirely of stuffed  toy versions of Disney animated characters. 

St Pancras station : https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristintablang/2015/12/16/most-wonderfully-bizzare-christmas-trees-in-the-world/#27148ae2ef7e



Not quite as spectacular perhaps but equally cuddly are trees made from other children's favourites. I can't verify where these trees were made, but Hello Kitty might be a clue? 

  1. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/424605071093963300/

  1. http://hello-kitty.tumblr.com/post/70200046990
Very few households could gather so many soft toys together to make trees of this size, but it could be a very good way of approaching "tidying up" if children were encouraged to stack their toys  in a Christmas tree formation,  if only for this season. 

  1.  https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/310607705521885647/

And just because teddy bears are cute, whether they are stacked as Christmas trees or not, I am adding this link  for my blog followers who like to make teddy bears for donations to Red Cross,    women's and children's refuges, charity fundraising or hospital groups and other charities. 
I'll be back here tomorrow with some amazing Christmas trees to share with you. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Fabric Tags for Tag Tuesday

At Tag Tuesday, this fortnight Sandie  is hosting the Steampunk/Mechanical challenge. Although this isn't a theme I usually tackle, Sandie's tags are so fantastic and inspirational that I was motivated to create a tag this afternoon. I had some fabrics on my desk which I discharge dyed last week.and this piece with the addition of a few copper cogs reminded me of " industrial and mechanical" . The way the background fabric was created was by applying bleach gel with a roller over the top of a plastic stencil. The fabric was originally a  bluish dark grey   cotton, When the bleach had removed the colour, the process was halted with a commercial  neutralizing solution  called AntiChlor. I have been told that a vinegar solution  will also stop the discharge of colour and act as a neutraliser. The metal cogs were stitched on to the fabric by hand. Here are  a couple of great resource sites for discharging colour with bleach. - Threads ...

Fragments

 Some days are just your lucky days - today I was very fortunate and privileged to open the first ever Australian exhibition "Fragments" by  UK  Fibre Artist  Sue Hotchkis .  Here is a little about the techniques of this amazing textile artist from her own website  ...  Working intuitively with print and stitch, marks, textures and colours are exaggerated, intensified to reveal the detail and complexity within the images. Materials are deconstructed using modern methods, ripped, burnt and dyed. Time is invested in their reconstruction; pieces can take from a week to several months to create. Whilst being aesthetically pleasing the work can also act as a metaphor for deterioration and ruin, associated with urban decay and ultimately death and loss. They evolve organically, built up with layers of print, cloth, paper, and stitch into three-dimensional abstract forms that hover between object and image; to create a unique, visual and tactile lan...