Wednesday 20 August 2014

Fantastic Mr. Fox


The title of this blog refers to one of Roald Dahl's fabulous collection of children's books illustrated by the genius that is Quentin Blake. I am particularly partial to children's book illustration as is my good buddy and fellow designer Debi Potter.

Debi and I trained as illustrators at the same time, in the same college where I specialised in cartoons and she specialised in children's book illustration which brings us neatly to my point.

Debi has designed a range of woodland themed dies which are just adorable so if you like Die-cutting, foxes and owls you need look no further. Luckily for us Europeans it is exclusive to our region too.

For today's post I chose the Sizzix Bigz Die - Fox Face (659910) which I have used quite a bit recently for both paper and textile based projects. I began by die-cutting the face from ivory corrugated card and some Orange patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Collectable range. I inked the edges of the die-cut shapes and attached the corrugated card shapes in position.

Next, I employed one of my favourite paper craft cheats by using a pattern makers wheel and marker pen to create a faux stitched effect around the perimeter of the die-cut shapes. Sometimes, life's to short to pull out your sewing machine and change the bobbin! I die-cut the nose from brown card and attached it with a 3D foam pad. I used adhesive black pearls for eyes although you can die-cut them if you prefer.
I folded an 8 x 11 cm base card before trimming to my desired shape. Next, I applied Distress Ink to the edges to add definition and added my faux stitching.

I wanted to make a tail, so I die-cut the fox's cheek from orange patterned card and ivory corrugated card. I trimmed off the top of the ivory card and attached it to the orange die-cut before adding the stitching.

The next bit is all scissor work, I decided to smarten up Mr. fox by adding a collar and tie. The collar is cut from stiff ivory card and the tie from patterned paper from the Collectable range. I inked the edges and crumpled the tie before attaching both to the base card along with the assembled tail.


And here is the finished card, Quite dapper I think?















3 comments:

  1. He is so cute, and you made him from scratch, so creative.

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  2. A very handsome and dapper Mr Fox :-) I particularly like what you did with his tie. Your faux stitching is excellent; I can't use a pattern maker's wheel but have to resort to using a pokey/parchment pricking tool. I do love Debi's new collection of designs - definitely right up my street!

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  3. Thanks for the comments, the new collection is proving very popular and is great fun to work with in paper and textiles

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