Monthly Archives: February 2012

Goddesses of Protection

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If you’ve been following along at Little Cunning Plan you’ll remember that I’ve been working on some crafts that I’m hoping to sell through this website. I wanted something that I could enjoy doing, would be able to do on the boat if I wanted to, would be easy to ship, and would be attractive to cruisers; even something that I might trade for goods or services, or give to a host in another country.  Most of the craft stuff I’ve done recently involves large batches of cement and hundreds of bottles of paint. That’s out, naturally. I had to come up with something different.

I’m not even going to try to explain how my mind works. It’s a mystery even to me. Suffice to say I came up with an idea that is rooted in the mythologies of many countries: the myths about goddesses that protect ocean voyages, fishermen, and sailors. The idea started off with mermaids, those universally loved beauties of the sea of The Little Mermaid fame, and evolved from there.

Celeste is the last one I've made so far and I'm pleased with her overall. She has recycled sari silk for hair, a fabric head and painted face, which I've been learning to do, toille fins, and a real amethyst in her belly button. I'm pretty happy with the techniques for this doll and am working to refine them. I like the fabric heads and faces, but still want to learn how to do felt ones.

Using wool felt and the down time given me during the recent storm, I created a mermaid and called it good. The idea would work. Then I decided to play with fabric and other materials, combining them with the felted wool. ‘Personalities’ began to emerge in the dolls.  When that happened, the real fun began. By ‘fun’ I mean the gathering of supplies, reading of books about techniques, practicing said techniques and making them my own, then getting fancy with all the stuff.  Fun, to me, is challenging the limits of materials to see what I can do with them. I’m always challenging limits. Just ask Mike. (And any of my previous bosses, or even my mother.)

The result is only a beginning, but I’m liking the progress so far. I think the dolls just keep getting better as I refine techniques and become more experienced.  I’m hoping that cruisers will be attracted to having a ‘boat goddess’ the same way we used to have kitchen ‘witches’ to watch over the cooking of our food.

Milicent, the pregnant mermaid. Made completely of felted wool. She is very hug-able and would make a good doll for a young child.

Some will be made in the image of actual goddesses from mythology such as Mazu and Nehalennia, and Amphitrite. Even Isis, the Egyptian goddess, was the patron goddess of sailors. Others may be made as generic goddesses that will offer their protection if offered a name and place on a boat. Perhaps I might even make an ocean goddess that would match a boat’s name and ‘personality’, as described by the owners. For instance, I have a vision of a goddess for our new friends aboard S/V Emerald Lady. She’s all blues and greens with matching beaded accents and long, flowing fins to match the lines of the beautiful boat. She’s mature and elegant, with dark hair,  not unlike the Empress from the tarot.

 

Sekou. This one didn't have a face for a long time. I didn't want to ruin her by putting a wool face that didn't look good. I was experimenting with squid-like tentacles on this one, using lichen in the hair to mimic seaweed, beading, and fabric clothing. She's pretty fancy and needed a fancy face. So I sewed one on. I can refine that technique quite a bit, but I think eventually it will work. I'm not sure this face really works with this doll, though. I may need to take it off and do another one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are samples of what I’ve been working on. Obviously they are not ready for the alter of retail yet as I’m still working on technique and design. But I think I’m getting close and would like feedback from the readers we have. What do you like about them? What doesn’t work for you? Do you have any ideas that would expand or refine any aspect of the overall plan? If you are a cruiser, is this idea something that appeals to you? In terms of marketing, they’ll be available through this website, but likely will be linked to this one from other sites such as Etsy, Ebay, and Craigslist. Let me know what you think. And thanks for the input!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, Mexico! I Never Really Been But I Sure Want to Go!

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La Paz. Man, I sure want to go. And stay for a long time. Desert and ocean. Two great things that go great together.

And before anyone emails me about the grammar in that title, those are the actual words from the James Taylor song. And they describe my state of mind just perfectly! For many moons now Mike and I have been dreaming of the day we’d get to go down to the Baja peninsula in Mexico and soak in the local culture, food, water, and warmth. Those days are approaching!

Before people get too excited, we aren’t getting to go down on our boat. No, this is a ‘preliminary’ trip to celebrate or 30th wedding anniversary and look at some boats for sale down south. You can get a lot more for the money down there, we hear.  We’re going to skip Cabo San Lucas completely and go directly to La Paz, otherwise known as ‘La Pause’, in cruising circles because so many cruisers get there and decide to stay awhile. We’re very excited and I’m sure Mike is already anticipating trouble getting me back on the plane to come home. I’m anticipating the same from him, so we’re even. I might have to have my temper tantrum here, before we go, so as to save him some embarrassment.

In that wonderful, synchronistic way that the Universe has, we’ve just discovered some pretty cool bloggers who are living the dream on their boat down Mexico way. Stephan and Lulu Yoder are just far enough ahead of us in this wild plan to be our new role models. I read their blog with stars in my eyes and envy in my heart. They really have the right attitude: sleep when you want to, get up when you want to, go somewhere and stay as long as you feel like it, eat really good food. Basically, leave the whole ‘work ethic thing’ behind, and good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. And they’ve spent much time in La Paz, so they know some great places to stay and to eat. Plus, Mike and Stephan have some career stuff in common, and Lulu is a craftswoman! They are so much like us, they could BE us, except that they are living on their boat in Mexico and we aren’t. Rats. 🙁

We wanted to go down in March, our anniversary month, but, alas, life has worked it out so that we can’t really go that month. We’re shooting for April and hoping the spring break crowd will stay in Cabo. I’m REALLY hoping the whale sharks will hang around until we get there and I can go snorkeling with them. But I’m not holding my breath. I think March is the latest they stay. So look for some awesome posts and photos from Mexico someday soon. And you can pretend we’re sending them from our boat. I know we’ll be pretending the same.

I would SOOOO do this. If they are there, I'm going to be over the moon with excitement.

 

Another Perfect Day!

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What is up with all the beautiful weather we’re having lately? I think it was close to 60 degrees today, and this is day 4 of this sunshine. It makes us feel like we’ve completely wasted a day when we cannot go sailing and the weather is this perfect. People who don’t live in the wet pacific northwest will not have a way to really understand the group ‘sunny day’ mentality here. When the sun comes out, people really celebrate. They take off from their jobs, come out of their houses, and go outside. People wear shorts and sandals as though it were summer. I’m not making that up. Suddenly, people get a spell of ‘happy’ and all is well with the world. Naturally, not a day can go to waste because the weather will probably change within 24 hours and it will be rain and low clouds again. Blech. In a word, winter here sucks. Pardon my French. When it’s sunny, Carpe diem, indeed! So 4 days in a row is a bit unheard of around here.

In a nutshell,  we’ve had perfect sailing weather lately. Well,  not really perfect. It’s bloody cold out on the water! I really want to go out, then we get out there and I’m freezing my hind end off. I hate being cold. As a middle aged woman, I already spend my life trying to stay warm. So being out on a boat in the cold has to be really, really worth it. Winter sailing makes me  want to look at boats with pilot houses, or at least a completely canvased cockpits. As it is, I go sailing as the great marshmallow woman, dressed in so many layers I can barely move.

Sadly, last Friday, a perfect winter sailing day, and Mike had to work. I hate things like jobs that interfere with my free time. Anyhow, I spent the day in Seattle… again NOT going to the boat show. I was thinking I would go, but the weather talked me out of it. Why sit in some room and listen to someone tell me about their cool trip to the South Pacific, or talk about sail trim when I can be outside?  It’s only going to irritate me that I can’t get out there right this minute and sail away. So I decided to stay outside and walk around Gasworks Park down on Lake Union, and maybe check out a few boats for sale in the general area as there are several yacht brokers on the lake. I’ve never been to Gasworks Park and it is totally cool! I had my phone, so I snapped a few photos for people who don’t live in this area. Don’t you love how phones take photos now? Who would have thought?

Cool view of downtown from the park. Actually, if it were bigger, you'd be able to see the boats at the outdoor part of the boat show.

As cities go, Seattle is definitely worthy of several photos. Wish I had a camera that would do justice to the night time view.

You can begin to see why it's called 'Gasworks Park'. I love the way they've made these industrial structures into art for the park.

Just loved the colors, and the moon in broad daylight.

 

The signs say 'no climbing'. Huh? What fun is that, then?

 

After work, Mike met me at The Armchair Sailor to browse their books, then we walked down to one of the yacht dealers on the lake and looked at boats. This dealer happens to have docks right by some of the more picturesque areas of houseboat living.

That boat to the right is for sale but, alas, at over $300,000, it's just a tad out of our price range.

We ended our fun evening by going to see Seattle’s version of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma at the 5th Avenue Theater. No matter what show you see, the theater is worth going to. It’s all art deco and completely restored. It’s just beautiful. Plus, it still has a very cool retro sign out front.

Too bad a still photo doesn't show all the twinkling these lights do.

And here’s a detail of the ceiling. I told you it was cool.

Dragon on the ceiling!

If you are in Seattle, go see something, anything, at the 5th Avenue. It’s worth it for the decor alone. And if it’s not raining, go to Gasworks Park. It’s fabulous, and it’s right across the street from Fisheries Supply! Can’t beat that with a stick!