Hummingbirds on Parade

Today, I bring you beautiful hummingbirds on various items, such as teapots.


I love the flower lid, and the hummingbirds are beautifully painted.


That's probably the most adorable hummingbird I've ever seen. I like the pearly shine on the wings! I can't imagine this costume being tolerated for more than a few seconds, but babies don't tolerate costumes in general. It would have to be a onesie to be acceptable, and even then, I'm sure kids can wriggle out of those if they put their minds to it.


This is carved out of wood. Look at the details on those feathers! This artist, Randal Martin, specializes in bird carvings (not that the studio name gave it away) and I can't stop looking at the incredible detail on them. He's been commissioned around the world for various pieces.


Now that I know this exists, I want it. I love the flow of the design, the way it's almost more about the idea of a hummingbird. It makes me think of some Pacific Northwest Indian designs.


These little hummingbirds are adorable! I love how rounded and cute they are. They go very well with a topsy-turvy cake.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sally Anns and a Can of Spam

Image
Sally Anns are one of my favorite cookies. By their taste alone, they evoke a sense of home and comfort, reminding me of the kitchen at my grandparents' place and the simple happiness of mid-afternoon sweets. They're the only food that evokes the thought, This would be better with a cup of coffee. Making them was a good Easter activity, especially as I was stuck away from the family due to unpacking (the books are now free!) and yard work shenanigans (such as finding a dead mouse in the yard, which was lovely). With help from my mom, I found the recipe in the family cookbook (my great-great-grandparents are on the cover, and other awesome old pictures are scattered throughout). I decided that the transgression of buying a can of Spam (just once) was worth it for the sake of the cookies. Poke holes in the bottom of the can to allow for air flow. I didn't have enough butter for a full batch, but half of one made 18 Cookies of Unusual Size. I made the mistake of...
Read more

The Beatles' Help! Scarf

Image
Remember when I posted about making Beatles-themed crafts after seeing Cirque du Soleil's performance of Love? I've finished the first one. Here's a refresher of the original Help! scarf. Source And here's my version: a massive thing that I gave my sister for her birthday. In these shots, it's wrapped around her neck twice. I didn't measure the beast before I sent it to its new home, but it's probably about 8 feet long. Made with Caron yarn on size 8 needles, this tube scarf was 40 stitches in the round. Each block of color is 20 rows. The only tricky parts are getting a smooth transition between colors and what to do with the yarn ends inside the tube, but they are easy problems to solve. When you transitioning, knit a normal row with the new color, then pull tight the last stitch of the previous color. That last stitch shouldn't disappear entirely, but it will be close, and your problem will be solved. Then, because this scarf ...
Read more

Pitman's Shorthand

Image
I found the strangest book yesterday, at Paul's Bookstore on State Street. It's an illustrated copy of  The Vicar of Wakefield  by Oliver Goldsmith. That's not the strange part - the strange part is that it's in "the style of phonography" and is completely illegible to me. Page after page just has these little squiggles instead of nice Roman letters. The cover says the book is in Pitman's shorthand (Pitman is the publisher); it's the title page that says phonography. If I remember right, the publishing date was abbreviated to the '60s, which must be the 1860s, based on the apparent age of the book and the fact that Pitman was alive then. Phonography, or Pitman's shorthand , is a phonetic version of English, written in those little squiggles, which emphasize particular sounds. Gregg shorthand is now more common (at least in the U.S.).
Read more