Not seeing a Scroll to Top Button? Go to our FAQ page for more info. Northbrook Designs: Flint and Roger

Monday, February 27, 2017

Flint and Roger

I finished Flint the other day, the third doll for the exhibit. I made some slight changes, of course….. For those who may not know, this is the latest pattern from Jill Maas.

Instead of one Roger, there’s 2. Instead of free standing, they are on a base with a grass surface (which is actually moss) and a basket full of carrots given there are 2 bunnies now.

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The moss I’ve used is from a garden center. I didn’t have my smart hat on at the time, but now I do. It’s fine that I bought it, it wasn’t expensive, but now I have lots more for free thanks to Mother Nature.

In this part of the world we tend to mostly have mild winters, rain and not much snow (this year being the exception in quite a few years). With all the rain comes lichens on trees and pretty much wherever spores land. Also moss is a big thing, both on the roof tops and in our case, it’s growing on the wood of the raised garden beds and even in the lawn. It’s not huge overgrowth, but enough to keep a doll maker happy.

In the back corner of the yard, we put a tree stump eons ago. It’s kind of a fun thing, the cats like to sit on it, sometimes I put a potted plant on it. One day last week I was doing a bit of cleaning up around the yard and stopped to look at the moss. It came off in lovely big pieces. I left most of it for the micro organisms that feed under it. I also picked some off the garden beds and some in the lawn. It will dry up as soon as it warms up anyway, so might as well grab some before that happens. The stump will continue to grow the moss, it’s in the shade.  Here is one batch I collected, and another is drying, the pieces that came from the lawn.

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What I did to attach it to the base with Flint and the bunnies, was to use a glue similar to FabriTac that I get from the dollar store, I would bet it’s exactly the same thing, but much cheaper. After it was set, I then gave it two good sprays with a sealer. Lots of glue and press the moss well into it to grab hold of as much of the moss as you can. It feels really good, and I suppose there may be the odd little bits that will move, but those are just the surface tiny bits.

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If you want to use moss, please don’t take it from a forest. That’s what keeps a forest healthy, it’s all the natural mosses, lichens, mushrooms and more than carpet the ground and trees and keep a forest vibrant. Check your garden centers for moss, they usually bring that kind of thing in. Enjoy….;o)

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