The amount of work, detail and beauty my husband produces is quite numbing at the best of times. I have written before how hard and challenging it is for me to create fabric pieces that complement his wooden artistry. Every time I feel I fail, but nonetheless I am ever so pumped to be able to share his work with the world. I present you Arwen Edwina's lovely, amazing, beautiful fairy bed.
Since this bed will live with fairy-loving people, I made a bumped pad of sorts (with layers of cotton batting), appliqué wool leaves and toadstools, some embroidery and a few bugs for good measure. The four beautiful carved posts have mushroom tops made of wool, chenille, and cotton jersey. Obscuring the beauty is the bed is a much painful, but while the children grow, we need to protect them while they play. I think Arwen is going to be very happy when she gets to nap on this bed.
Cutting each little leaf, choosing the different wood varieties, carving the branches and the posts plus the frame, sanding each to a baby-bum-smoothness, painting some with watercolours and then buffing again, arranging them in the most pleasing pattern, attaching each one with a sturdy peg, sealing it, sanding it, sealing it again…the hours that went on this bed are through the roof. The time spent dreaming this bed was source of merriment in the house, excitement from the little girls while it came together (with the customary "make me one like it!), while the wife just shook her head in bewilderment. How can he do this?
At the risk of overkill, I took a hundred photos. You are welcome that I only shared these few. I seriously can't wait for him to get his website up and running, so that you too can have a peek into his creative process (and not just us, bewildered family members, who adore him but cannot possibly grasp the greatness!). Now all that is left to do, is make a wooden crate and ship it to the land of Nova Scotia, where the lull of the ocean runs loud and the love of a *few* girls will treat Arwen Edwina to her new bed.
*Thank you for your unbelievable patience. I can't believe it's finished!