Fairy Houses

I am desperately trying to buck-up and get some other projects done before the LoLa Art Crawl next month! Money is a little tight (because I am a broke-ass ho) so I'm just scrounging up found scrap materials, waiving my magic wand and praying for the best.  But fear not, I am the absolute High Priest of turning lemons into lemonade. BTW, thank you, Jesus, for giving me my unique ability to work miracles with nothing but Scotch Tape and sequins! Amen.

Here's my first fairy house, under construction. I'm going to have to break down and buy some snappy exterior-grade paint to finish the job.

Ages ago, I used to make similar-type bird houses and peddle them around town and beyond, and fairy houses seemed like a natural, no-brainer progression, right?  I'm going to whip up a whole mess of them and set them up around the little pond in the back yard.  That is --I mean-- where the 'new, improved' pond is going to be...

The beginnings of my waterfront fairy ghetto grotto

There is an ambitious, new project underway whereby the lovely, already-existing backyard pond is being expanded. Why settle for a perfectly adorable, little pond (with an attendant, amusing bronze frog that spits a delightful stream of water from its lips) when you can have two ponds separated by a sham waterfall? 

I fear if nobody buys the fairy houses, I could quite possibly end up homeless --but at least the damn fairies won't be! (P.S. Jesus: I know You were a carpenter, so please forgive me for providing housing to pagan woodland creatures. Amen).

A page from the Fall, 1998 Legacy catalog

Way back in the day, I ended up selling my birdhouses through a catalog, which meant that I had to sort of mass-produce the things. Ugh! I may as well been sentenced to hell because the only thing I like better than reproducing the same item over and over and over again is chewing on wads of tinfoil.

I still have the original prototype from --ahem-- 1997-98. OMG, how old is that? ...Well, you do the math.  Fast-forward to today and it looks rather spooky in all its forlorn decay. It's held together by a miraculous blend of squirrel poop and spiderwebs, a concoction that gives Krazy Glue a run for its money.  Still, I'm afraid to touch the thing, lest it completely fall to dust and ruin.

My vintage bird cabin --like its builder--has seen its better days

In other exciting news: I had a blogger friend from Spain drop by to see Merriman Park and share a spot of lunch last Saturday. Young Rosell from Madrid is here in town on a summer internship through the University of Minnesota, where I myself attended school as a mere young slip of a boy. We both simply gorged ourselves on chocolate-covered strawberries and other nibble-y things and talked smack about all yous other miniature bloggers.

Rosell & the Giant Floating Head of yours truly snap a selfie in front of Merriman Park

Rosell is a very talented miniaturist who doesn't have a blog per se but what she does have is a fabulous YouTube video, (featuring the splendid Georgian mansion and garden built by her and her father). It was very delightful to meet you, Rosell! I hope to see you again before your internship is over.

Enjoy Rosell's gorgeous dollhouse, coming up next!