The Tail End

Would You Like To Meet The Little Creatures....?

If you Ever Find, Dear Readers, that one of your Little People has gone and inserted themselves into Someone Else's House, thereby causing you to Begin to tell a Story before you even have all the Characters MADE, then you must be willing to accept Whatever sort of Creatures you are able to make in a hurry! Such is the case with the Little Creatures I made for my Tiny Tree House... I really don't think they are the permanent residents or Owners of that House! I really had some MUCH OLDER and more grizzled inhabitants in mind... and as I mentioned in the Story... I am calling these Creatures the Nephew and Niece of those Owners.... who have not yet been created! (DON'T ask me where these Creatures will live when the Uncle and Aunt are at home...!) But nevertheless, I am Quite satisfied with these little Creatures as examples of how to make the Tiny Residents of this Tree House! 

They are made with sculpey on a wire armature.....

I used a very fine gauge brass jewelry wire..... 

and baked the creature in sections..... 

head first then arms then legs.... 

so the un-baked clay would not get messed up as I was working on the parts.

The eyes are black beads pressed into the clay... 

and the ears are the finest glove leather I could find.

The arms and legs and tail are also the glove leather wrapped and glued around the wire. 

I only wrapped just enough to overlap and glue in place. This leaves the limbs quite skinny.... 

but that is essential at this scale so the clothing when added doesn't make them appear too fat.

Here you can see how small they are.... 

about one and one quarter inch tall!

Here I have also wrapped a layer around their middles.... 

although it was not technically necessary.... 

as clothes would surely cover this part...

But I couldn't bear to leave them "incomplete" under their clothes!

 Here is Samuel Whiskers with his trousers and neckcloth and Waistcoat on...

The buttons are individual pieces of gold Glitter that is a Round shape....!

And here is Anna Maria with her lace petticoat and her sleeves attached...

And her blue silk gown with a silk ribbon tied at the waist....

I rubbed glue on the edge of the silk fabric and let it dry 

before cutting the hem with pinking shears... 

this way it will not ravel!

Samuel's coat is made out of green velveteen.... 

with the edges treated with glue before cutting....

And more wonderful "brass buttons" made from pieces of Glitter!

Here you can see them in Residence in the Salon of the Tree House....

Oh Dear.... did we interrupt a Tarot Reading...?

Please Forgive us for intruding...!

As for Naming them after some Very Famous Rats of Literary Renown....

I really couldn't help myself, Dear Readers! 

I have wrestled for a Long while over what sort of Creatures will call this place Home... 

and have reluctantly acknowledged that given the scale of the Tree House (1/4 inch scale) 

in relation to The Folly (1/12 scale) they can only be a Family of Rats! 

Mice would be too small.... 

Rabbits too big.... and so forth...

So while I am Not a fan of Rats in General.... 

and Samuel Whiskers is the Bad Rat in the Tales told by Beatrix Potter.....

I am taking Liberties and imagining him as a younger Rat.... 

with Family and Relations.... who still have Not been made!

There will surely be other characters from other stories of Renown... 

thinking Ratty and Mole from "Wind In The Willows" who will eventually be created..... 

But it was Way too tempting to imagine Beatrice as a possible little Beatrix Potter....

(although Beatrix Potter was not born until 1866 and our Beatrice was born in 1848...)

and place her in this scene....

And speaking of Our Beatrice..... 

the poor child really was Not Well AT ALL by the time she reached home!

Clarence carried her upstairs and put her straight to bed....

Charlotte was Beside herself with worry as Beatrice's Fever climbed higher and higher....

Snowy would not leave her bedside 

as she tossed and turned with a fever that lasted for three days!

And to tell the truth... 

she raved quite wildly about a tiny Tree House and little creatures that talked to her....

And when her Fever finally broke and she was on the mend.... 

was it any Wonder that Nobody believed her Tale of Tiny Creatures?

And whether or not you want to believe that she Could have been somehow related to Beatrix Potter..... 

she never stopped telling stories about her little friends.... 

and even drew pictures of their Home from time to time....

So that, Dear Readers, is the end of the Tale, or the Tail End!

PS. Even Snowy was made in a Big Hurry for this story... 

such a hurry that I took no pictures and cut some corners.....

But I am Very Happy at how he turned out... 

a Little Creature with a Big Heart!!!

A Scary Tale - Part Two

Time Is Running Out....

Beatrice was Not at all sure she was feeling well, Dear Readers, because when she opened her eyes she saw a small creature dressed in a very nice Green Velvet Coat standing at the bottom of the stairs. He was staring at her so she stared back. Then she remembered her Manners and said, "Hello, my name is Beatrice... Who are you?"

To her surprise, he nodded his furry head and said in clear plain English "My name is Samuel. Samuel Whiskers, that is." And he cleared his throat and tried to look Important. "Is this your House?" asked Beatrice, still not sure she should be conversing in English with a Tiny Creature.... no matter How well dressed he was! " The House belongs to my Aunt and Uncle who have gone to Town for the Season," he explained. "But my Wife Anna Maria and I are looking after it while they are gone..." he added a trifle nervously. There followed a moment of awkward silence. Beatrice finally recollected that She was sitting Uninvited in Their kitchen and started to apologize and was about to squeeze back out the door... when Samuel Whiskers spoke up suddenly to say "Welcome to our Home.... please make yourself comfortable..." And he tried not to notice that her head scraped the ceiling and there was nowhere for her to turn around! Then he added hastily "If you will just excuse us... My Wife and I have something to attend to.....!"  And then he and Anna Maria, who had been hiding in the corner just out of sight, whisked up the stairs and disappeared. Now Beatrice was SURE she wasn't feeling well at all... she just wanted to go Home... so she closed her eyes once more.....

Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria ran out of their Tree House and dashed across the Countryside until they came to the Cottage where the Old Ladies Resided. They needed to ask for help in removing the Human Child from their Home!

They marched right up and knocked on the door! One of the Old Ladies answered.... she seemed only a little surprised to see such a small guest at her door!

"Begging your Pardon, Ma'am," he began.... 

"There seems to be a problem... and we need your help!" 

"Oh..?" said Hazel.... "And what problem is that?"

"There is a Human Child in our Tree House.....!" said Samuel. 

"This will not do at all! We can't have Human Children knowing about our house like this... 

they will tell tales... we will be found out....!" he stammered, getting quite agitated.

"She seems quite unwell" added Anna Maria....

"She looked feverish to me!"

"Oh, Dear!" said Hazel, a concerned frown on her brow....

"Agatha!" she called loudly.... (Agatha is a little hard of hearing)

"Agatha,  what can we do to help this child...."she hollered. 

"There will need to be a Memory Charm at the very least! 

Do you know how to do a Memory charm, Agatha?"

Agatha, who had been watching the Little Creatures quite intently, just shook her head and said "I was never any good at Memory Charms, Hazel..." Then she nodded her head wisely and said "I think we will need to call for help, Hazel.... we can't have the Children finding out about all this.... that would not be a good thing at all...!" And she shook her head again. "We need Old Meg!"

But Deep under the Foundations of the Castle, In the Crystal Caverns, 

Old Meg had already woken the Wizard!

They would need to make a special potion that the Tiny Creatures could give to the Child....

With Water drawn from the Spring of Dreams.... 

that poured from a Crevice into the Obsidian Basin....

And could Only be Touched by Those Who Dared To Dream.....

Never Knowing whether those Dreams would be Filled with Light.....

Or the Denizens of the Deep..... 

Nor for How Long One Would Sleep....

The Wizard dips his hands in the Water.....

And begins the spell....

Meanwhile, Dark has fallen and the Children have not returned home! This is not the First time this has happened... but nevertheless, Clarence is Uneasy. There is a Storm brewing. He can feel it in his bones! The children must be home before the storm breaks!

Clarence is afraid of neither the Storm nor the Dark! He has spent too many dark nights on the Stormy seas to be afraid of what the Night holds! But he is afraid for the Children... especially Beatrice who is still so young...! His heart quakes at the thought of what She might be fearing in the dark! And Caroline too... for all she is so practical that she never imagines terrors in the dark.... but still... they are so young...! He grabs his lantern and sets off into the Night......

With Snowy bounding quickly by his side......

Together they will find the Children and bring them safely Home...

But they need to hurry....

Because

Time is Running Out......

To Be Continued....

Weather Permitting!