Tag: drawings

Art, Stories

A very special project

Sonja

This fresh new year, I am starting with a very special project. I am making the pattern for a fossilised monkey. And it is not even that simple, the monkey I am making is a prosimian or a lemur monkey. The researchers are not completely sure about it. This monkey, called Ida (based on Darwin’s name), died 47 million years ago and was found in Messel, Germany.

monkWhy am I making a fossilised monkey that lived 47 million years ago? To be honest, I’m not really a monkey fan. They just aren’t my kind of animals. I do love some lemurs and prosimians and please don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike monkeys, but they aren’t on my list of cute and cuddly things that make me feel all happy like when I see a guinea pig, fox or squirrel.

But this Ida monkey does! This was the cutest and most beautiful monkey ever. A friend of mine, who is a wildlife and paleo artist, made the most fabulous illustrations for a book about Ida. Because Ida was so very well preserved, Esther could draw her exactly as she looked, except for the colours. They couldn’t see those from the fossil so she had to chose the most likely colours. And how she portraid Ida, I was in love with her from the start! She made the monkey look so gorgeous and exotic.

Ida is a lemur or prosimian monkey and has this specific type of body. I really like the shape of her head and flexible form. She is perfect for the monkey I like to make. The coloured illustration you see is one of the illustrations Esther made for the book. Ida is the baby monkey carried by the mother.

idaEsther has asked me before if I could make an Ida monkey, but I never wanted to because it doesn’t exist anymore and therefor crafters won’t recognise the crochet monkey. But lately I was thinking about making a hanging monkey and got stuck on which type. I asked Ether if she knew an extra cute one and of course she said I should make the Ida monkey. I wasn’t sure about it at first but the more I thought about it, the less unlikely it felt. Why wouldn’t I make a pattern for this type of monkey? Ida is absolutely gorgeous and If I design a hanging Ida monkey, I bet many crocheters would just love it. The colours can easily be replaced for colours of existing monkeys if one prefers so what’s the problem. It was done. I was making a fossilised monkey as first project of the year! Now to think of a suitable name…

 

Stories

The tiniest bears…

Sonja

Ham1Are called hamsters, at least, that is what I think. When I was at the art academie, I had this Syrian hamster who looked like a tiny little bear. Even my mum, who is not so much an animal friend as I am, thought he was the cutest little thing. It was a murky brown hamster with a beige little snout.

He wasn’t very friendly though and started screaming whenever I picked him up. One time he bit my boyfriend in his finger, right before a gig he had with the band he was in and that bite caused him trouble playing his bass guitar. I found it kind of funny.

Ham2I just treated my hamster with care and gave him a fantastic big cage with different floors and lots of little pipes he called walk trough and a little thatched cottage. And, not to forget a hamster wheel for exercise. He was a happy hamster.

Now after making an elephant, I thought lets make something completely different. I kind of postponed making a hamster, because Lopi does not have a suitable pink for hamster hands and feet, so I decided to just add another kind of yarn and go for the crochet hamster pattern.

Stories

A flying one

Sonja

Brutus-post1Currently I am working on my new project, a crochet bat. Every night, when I look out of our bedroom window, I see little bats flying around the courtyard, their wings lighted up by a single lamppost. It all looks so mystical.

As autumn is drawing nearer every day now, I have to get on with designing the bat pattern. As well as a bat makes a perfect autumn pattern, I want my bat to be ready in time for Halloween. That means, the pattern must be finished before October.

The bat I am making belongs to the group of ‘megabats’, which most of us know as fruit bats. The little bats I am seeing around my house aren’t megabats but microbats. They are insect eating small bats. However, for a crochet version I just find the fruit bats more suitable.

 

Art, Stories

A red one

Sonja

Hello! I already mentioned in my previous post my next project was going to be a red panda and I was trying out a new look for this animal. After some shaping experiments I wasn’t happy at all about the results. It wasn’t a doll anymore and it felt like I kind of abandoned my own style. Furthermore, everybody I told I was going to try something different replied with a big ‘why?’

So, a red panda playful & happy doll it will be!

Both

Art, Stories

Upcoming spring pattern

Sonja

And now for something completely different. Well, perhaps not completely but a bit. My next pattern will be my first bird pattern. Last year I thought of making a duckling and decided to wait till spring this year. Yes, a duckling! I love ducks and especially mallards and white ducks and do think a pattern for a crochet duckling will make a perfect crochet spring project.

If the duckling is going to meet my expectations, I will also make his father someday. I very much hope I can make my duckling as whimsical as he looks in the second sketch. Looking forward to present my first little bird.

Eendjes

A little surprise pattern will follow soon……

 

Art, Stories

New logo, improved patterns

Sonja

Logo-blogThis week I’ve been busy improving and refreshing all my patterns. When I started writing these patterns I didn’t have a good logo yet and did not use the sketches as more than just the sketch. Later I decided to make the sketches in colour and to add them to the patterns.

Also, the more animals I designed, the more complete the patterns became. Because I think good quality patterns are very important, the old versions were good, but the new ones just better(looking), I decided to give all my patterns the same layout. I also changed my Son’s Popkes name logo a bit, because I noticed some people couldn’t read it. And that is very important!

I’m glad I’m finished now with refreshing the patterns, it was a lot of work and not much fun to do. Everyone who’ve bought a pattern, will get an email from either Craftsy or Ravelry with a new and free download link for the improved version. It really looks better and I’m very happy with the result.

Here’s another image to show all the sketches that are now appearing in the patterns.

Son's-Popkes-sketches-blogHaha, Son’s Popkes! Thanks for all your support and I hope you like the improved patterns. If you’ve bought a pattern directly from me and want a new version, please let me know!