We Make Monsters.
Happy Easter, everybody! The Beasties have been busy organising their own festival, featuring a traditional Beaster Egg Hunt…
Let’s see if they can gather up the last few eggs before Explorer Beastie’s backpack bursts at the seams!
Hope you all have a great weekend… We’ll be back on Tuesday with more monster mayhem!
Look at this! A bunch of new arrivals!
I’m delighted to announce that a whole herd of brand new Barróg Beasties – special little monsters made with 100% Irish wool – have invaded Beastie Towers! Earlier today they emerged from the box where they had been hiding…
… Assembled the tools they thought I might need…
… And only got a little distracted by some shiny things!
They also made a start on deciding which colours I should use.
And now they’re sitting back and waiting patiently for me to make them the accessories they want! I’m sure a few of them will be looking for old favourites, like books and mugs of tea, but I have a feeling that there might be some requests for new, never-made-before items too. So with that in mind, I’m going to be taking a bit of a “spring break” from blogging over the next couple of weeks, and slow my postings down to once a week – at least until we get these guys sorted out, anyway!
In the meantime, you can keep up with the whirlwind of monster activity here in Beastie Towers by joining us on Facebook and Instagram!
See you again next week!
Hello there, Beastiebuddies, and happy Friday!
Today, Explorer Beastie and I want to take you to another part of Dublin you may not have seen before. Come and join us as we wander down the side of Merrion Square, and head towards the Grand Canal!
Around here, you can see some great examples of Georgian townhouses – a style of architecture which still dominates large areas of Dublin’s city centre, both north and south of the river. The first “Georgian-style” buildings date back to the 1720s, when many of Dublin’s narrow mediaeval streets were widened, and a property boom encouraged developers to build new houses on what were then the very edges of the city. It’s strange to think that what I consider to be the heart of Dublin was once almost the countryside!
Unlike modern-day developers, the Georgian builders were given pretty strict guidelines about how their houses should look. So in these areas, you can expect to see big, often brightly-coloured front doors, with a semi-circular “fanlight” window over them…
There are usually steps to raise them up above street level, and they tend to be tall (by Irish standards) with a basement underneath. To pick up extra Georgian status points, add an imposing door knocker…
… Or an elaborate iron boot scraper!
And of course there’s a prize if you spot a house with a famous former resident!
You can also find out more about what life was like inside these houses a little further down the street, at Number Twenty Nine – a faithfully restored Georgian-style house, which is open to visitors all year round. We didn’t go inside this time, but we’ve been before and it’s definitely worth a look!
Further down Mount Street, we stopped for a quick game of hide and seek…
…And then carried on to find one of Dublin’s lesser-known landmarks – St Stephen’s Church, affectionately known to Dubliners as “The Pepper Canister”!
Building work began on the church in 1821, as more people starting moving to this part of the city. It’s a perfect spot to stop for some photos…
… Before heading back home!
I wonder where Explorer Beastie will pop up next? Tune in next week to find out!
Here’s wishing all our BeastieBuddies a very happy St Patrick’s Day! Hopefully you’ll get a chance to raise a glass (or at least a mug of strong tea) sometime today to celebrate all things Irish… Sláinte!
I celebrated a birthday over the weekend, and I got some very special greetings from a pair of adventurous little monsters! It seems they are still speaking, despite the hiccup at the end of their last holiday… What a relief!
Anyway, I wanted to share their birthday greetings with you… and experiment with a new format. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Awwww, you guys!
Hope you all had a great weekend, too! We’ll be back on Friday to share another Dublin treasure with you… Provided Explorer Beastie doesn’t party too hard on St Patrick’s Day, of course!
…So Explorer Beastie and I could hardly wait to get outside and enjoy some unexpected sun yesterday afternoon! And with St Patrick’s Day coming up next week, where better to hang out than in St Patrick’s Park? The park is right beside St Patrick’s Cathedral, so you really can’t miss it… The Cathedral’s tall spire dominates the skyline for miles around!
And once you get up close, it’s really striking.
The site of the Cathedral was chosen because St Patrick is said to have baptised people into Christianity here, back in 450AD. There has been a church dedicated to him in this area for more than a thousand years – its first documented mention was in 890! Although it has grown and changed a lot since then, most of what you see here today was built between 1220-60. The exterior is covered in interesting little details, for anyone with the time to take a closer look…
…Although only one of us was small enough to be able to sneak in for a full investigation!
Once I’d managed to persuade Explorer Beastie to rejoin me on the right side of the fence, he had a great time tearing around the park. There were trees to climb…
… Steps to scale…
…And of course, he had to take a look at the fountain in the centre of the park!
They’ve also been busy filling the flowerbeds with brightly-coloured plants for Spring, as you can see.
“Check these out – they’re the same colours as me!”
All this left him pretty tuckered out, so we sat on one of the benches for a while and watched the world go by…
…Before heading off into the sunset!
If you should find yourself in Dublin, St Patrick’s Cathedral and Park are open year-round (although the park does close earlier in the winter). A visit to the Cathedral will set you back €6 (€5 for OAPs and students)… but access to the park is totally free! Although it’s a popular tourist spot, many locals also use the park as a place to relax, walk their dogs or enjoy a bit of greenery on their way to work.
And once you’re there, you’re well on your way to exploring the lesser-travelled paths of Dublin 8… But we’ll save that for another day!
Do any of you have a favourite local park? Let us know in the comments!
Last week was one of those weeks when life just got in the way – for starters, a busy few days at Other Work after being just a Maker of Monsters for a month was a bit of a shock to the system! And while I was distracted with that, the plumbing here at Beastie Towers decided it would be an excellent time to start wreaking all kinds of aquatic mayhem.
So unfortunately, that means I have no new Beasties for you today – despite the best efforts of my little helpers, who you can see working away in the photo above!
However, I thought this little hiccup might be the perfect opportunity to tell you all a little more about what’s going on behind the scenes here at Beastie Towers… namely, my own ongoing education.
(Picture borrowed from www.fatmovieguy.com)
You see, last year I was busy. Flat-out, using-every-spare-second-and-then-some BUSY. And it occurred to me that I’d sort of reached the limits of the skills I had, and it was high time I picked up some more – skills that would help me to better design, make and share my creations.
Alas, there is no real-life Monsters University where I can enroll, so I’ve had to make up my own study programme. Here, let me introduce you to some of my teachers!
Next Level Sewing with Abby Glassenberg
Abby blogs at whileshenaps.com, and while I’ve learned a lot from her regular posts and newsletters about running a crafty business, I really hit the jackpot when I treated myself to a copy of her book “Stuffed Animals – From Concept to Construction” just after Christmas. Even flicking through the book for the first time was exciting… Finally, I’d found someone who was teaching the stuff I needed to know! Up until now, I’ve had to figure everything out myself, using a combination of guesswork and techniques borrowed from dressmaking books, with varying degress of success. But with Abby as my guide, I’ve been better able to understand how to cut and shape fabric so that it does my bidding faster, easier and with considerably less cursing!
So far, I’ve been mostly dipping into the help sections when I need guidance… but I have also attempted one of the projects. I made this felt bunny as a gift for a little girl who turned one in January!
The pattern was super-easy to follow, and it was nice to let someone else do the brainwork for once! That said, I did still stitch every seam by hand. So, another class I’ve been taking is…
Sewing Machine Wrangling 101
This is not really a class. This is me sewing miles and miles of practice seams on my sewing machine, to become better at using it. On the plus side, I’ll never need to buy another cushion cover!
I’ve also been honing my drawing skills, so that I’m able to put sketches for commissions together more quickly…
For this, I’ve been trying to keep up with Tammie Painter’s Sketchbook Saturdays… here’s what I came up with for this week’s prompt, “Leafing Out”!
I’ve also signed up for an online sketchbook workshop on Tammie’s recommendation, so I fully expect these doodlings to magically become Da Vinci standard over the next couple of weeks!
And finally, I’ve been taking a Social Media Refresher Course using this book…
(Cover image from www.thedesigntrust.co.uk)
Aaaah, social media… yes, it’s great for sharing your crafty goodies with the whole world, in a way that just wouldn’t have been possible a few short years ago. But it feels like such a time sink! I’m sure I’m not the only person who dips a toe into the murky waters of Facebook “just to have a quick look”, and resurfaces 2 hours later. I feel like there has to be a better way to use social networks which I can’t quite figure out by myself, so I’m going to let someone else explain it to me. With pictures. And that’s what this book is for. Here’s the review on Fizzi-Jayne Makes which convinced me to give it a shot!
Oh, and I nearly forgot! As an extra-credit assignment, I’ve been having a stab (ha!) at needle felting, in the hope that I’ll be able to use this method to make some of the Beasties’ smaller, fiddlier accessories. That, and it’s great for stress relief after all this studying!
Have you tried anything new this year? Tell us all about it in the comments!
OK, so normally Explorer Beastie and I would be taking you to one of our favourite Dublin places today… But when a rare opportunity to visit Belfast presented itself, we could hardly say no!
Although I originally hail from this part of the world, I very seldom get to hang out in Belfast any more. Trips “Up Home” seem to skim by in an instant – by the time I’ve shared all my news, heard what my parents have been up to, said hello to the cat and sampled the latest batch of my Dad’s homemade wine, I almost need to pack up and head south again! So when we heard there was a Rembrandt self-portrait on loan to the Ulster Museum, it was a perfect excuse to take the bus from the family homestead and pay a visit to one of my favourite childhood stomping grounds. On the way, Explorer Beastie had a quick look around the historic Lanyon building at Queen’s University…
…Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading into the museum!
It turns out that there are lots of monster-like things living in the Ulster Museum, if you know where to look!
And you really need to watch out for those dragons flying around the atrium too…
These incredible sculptures are made from woven willow, and they’re the handiwork of local master basketweaver Bob Johnston. They’re so lifelike that you could almost imagine them swooping down from the ceiling! Fortunately, they seem more interested in each other… for now!
This trip was a great opportunity for me to check in with some old favourites – the exhibits I’ve been coming here to see since I was a small, creepily-obsessed-with-Ancient-Egypt-and-vampires child. Even after a complete refurbishment a few years ago, many of them are still on display! That includes Takabuti, the Eygptian mummy who has been an important part of the museum’s collection since she was first introduced to the public in 1835.
Since long experience has taught me that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for mummies, I’ll just include this photo of a lock of Takabuti’s hair here instead… but you can find out more about her on the Museum’s website if you like!
Next, we went in search of some dinosaurs…
…And some prehistoric creatures that are still with us!
Explorer Beastie was pretty intriuged by this coelacanth – a fish that was thought to be extinct until a live one was captured off the coast of South Africa in 1938. Before this, it had only been seen in fossils – ones that were at least 80 million years old! The Ulster Museum’s own “living fossil” was caught in 1973 off the Comoros Islands, and has been here ever since.
Also high on Explorer Beastie’s must-see list were the finds from the “Girona”, a ship from the Spanish Armada that was wrecked off the coast of County Antrim in 1588. He examined one of the original cannons…
…And discovered the kind of treasure that would make Pirate Beastie’s one remaining knee go weak!
Then we had a go at building a Neolithic stone tomb…
Wait a second… Tomb? Shipwrecks? Mummies? This is all getting very morbid! I think it’s high time we headed off to find that Rembrandt!
Wow. The detail in the face is amazing – you can almost imagine him opening his mouth and launching into his life story. In fact, this is one of the last paintings Rembrandt completed… a final addition to the collection of 80 or so self-portraits he produced in his lifetime.
We could have stayed in the museum all day, but it really was time to head for home. At least we still had a few spare minutes for a leisurely stroll back into town through the Queen’s Quarter…
…And a quick hot chocolate on the way!
Thanks for joining us on our adventure north of the border! We’ll be back in Beastie Towers next week, bringing you monster news on Tuesday and another Dublin day out on Friday. In the meantime, have a super weekend!
I don’t know about you, but February has just zipped by for me and the Beasties!
A lot of this was down to the fact that I’ve been focussing on just being a Maker of Monsters this past month. I took the plunge, and booked time off from Other Work to take care of some Beastie business that’s been sitting on my to-do list for far too long. So, I’ve already shared my new improved workspace and spruced-up home on the internet… But what else have I been up to?
Well, for starters, I’ve been collaborating with a spinner! I met Diarmuid from S Twist Wool at one of my pre-Christmas markets, and I jumped at the chance to create a very special Beastie for him using his own range of yarns. Of course, Explorer Beastie was on hand to help me choose which wool to use for the project…
… And now here’s the newest member of the Beastie family, hot off the needles!
Diarmuid dyed the chunky 2-ply yarn in blue and purple especially for this Beastie, and I used S Twist’s sock yarn in Tiger for his lovely red hair, and Juniper for his traditional Aran-style sweater.
I was also able to use natural sheep’s fleece as stuffing instead of my usual polyfill! And since S Twist Beastie has been recruited to help out with the business, it seemed only fair to get him started with the spinning straight away… so I made him a Beastie-sized drop spindle!
And now he’s ready to get to work!
But wait… There’s more to this Beastie than meets the eye!
No, your mind isn’t playing tricks on you! Beastie-volution has taken another leap forward… And this little monster has BONES! That means he can wave, dance a jig, or sit down to do his spinning!
And believe me, this extra flexibility is going to come in handy in his new job. Because Diarmuid sources his wool locally (it all comes from farms in Kilkenny and Tipperary), and prepares, spins and dyes it himself, there’s always plenty of work to do!
I’m really looking forward to seeing how S Twist Beastie gets on in his new career as a master spinner! They also have plans to attend several shows across Ireland and the UK over the coming months… If you get a chance, why not pop along and say hello? You can keep up with all the latest news from S Twist on Facebook or Twitter!
It’s always exciting to try out new methods and materials, so this collaboration couldn’t have come at a better time. And we’re not done yet with the Beastie R&D either!
February was the month where I finally broke the ice with my sewing machine, and now we’re working together on some exciting new projects. But they’re not quite ready yet, so you’ll have to stay tuned to find out what monster-making mayhem we have in the pipeline… In the meantime, there will be Beastie antics aplenty, starting with a special travel feature from Explorer Beastie on Friday. See you then!
Ciao ragazzi!
As you know, the Beasties and I always love to hear all the news from any little woolly monsters who have left Beastie Towers for new homes. So we were delighted to receive an email AND photos from Antonello Beastie and Tiziana Beastie last week, when they ventured out in search of a taste of Ireland… In southern Italy! Let’s join them, shall we?
Aha! A green building with a Guinness logo in the window – this looks promising! And inside…
Yes, I think we’re definitely in the right place!
Now to check out the draught taps… And look at all the other cool stuff they have behind the bar!
So, what will we have? Well, it probably has to be…
… A pint of the black stuff, of course!
SLÁINTE! SALUTI! CHEERS!
And here’s a picture of all the girls together!
But wait a second… Where’s Antonello Beastie gone? Uh-oh…
… It turns out that there IS a limit to how much Guinness a Beastie can have after all! Shhhhhhh, don’t wake him up!
The Beasties’ cat enjoyed her evening out too… Although it looks like Tris was glad to see her little felt friend safely back home in their basket!
Thanks so much to Antonello, Tiziana and their Beasties for these super photos! I hope you enjoyed your evening out together!
And what have the rest of you got planned for the weekend ahead? Let us know in the comments!