June Newsletter

June Newsletter

Dear friends,

I hope you are having a wonderful start to your summer. I'm sorry I didn't write a newsletter in May, I was very busy with book three and getting a new window display ready for the shop and now I'm done, I am sitting down with a cup of tea to finally write to you.

I've been been having fun making little hand painted faces of some of the characters from my stories, they are quite time intensive so I'm not sure how many of each I'll make but if you are interested they are £60 each and available on our web site.

Samuel Sippers

Sarah Stockton

Katenka

Elsie

Getting Book Three finalised and printed has been a much longer process than I ever could have imagined. If you pre-ordered a copy you will know already, that the first run we received was not up to snuff and we had to find a new manufacturer. We received a sample copy last week and it's so fantastic, that we are getting Books One and Two reprinted to match. They will all be available online and in the shop in early July.

Here are some pictures of the process of designing and building the summer window.

As always I started with a rough sketch and some measurements.

I found these grey foam sheets at the local DIY store and some wooden mushrooms from the craft store and began to build. I used shredded paper and plaster of Paris to create a rock texture on the foam and detail on the mushrooms.

Once the pieces were dry I painted them and added some fake moss and ferns. I also glued some inexpensive fake leaves onto bare sticks I collected from the garden to create height to the display.

Here is a closeup of the little Robin figure I made to fit in between the rocks. In the finished scene he is peeking out from behind the mushroom.

Below you can see the finished window once it was installed. Now I just need the copies of Book Three and I will be ready for tourist season...

This month I'm working on several new projects and I'll take photos along the way to share them with you in the next newsletter.

I'll hand you over to Quentin and Robin, they went on a little trip to Whitby last week and had a bit of an adventure that they are excited to tell you all about.

Welcome back and happy summer!

Well we had quite a little adventure last week, Robin wanted to visit the seaside. I'm not a big fan, (all that scratchy sand in my feathers and the beak full of salt when I try to preen them are not my idea of fun), but Robin insisted. He's wanted to ride in a steam train since the day he saw a picture of one in the library so I decided to treat him to a day trip to Whitby.

We got to the station in good time and a quick hop and a flap later we were on board. After we had settled in, Robin climbed up on the top of my hat where he could see out of the window and together we watched the world fly by.

I was admiring the views of the dales when Robin spotted the sea and well, you would have thought he had seen Clark Gable the way he carried on; jumping and waving about so wildly, the silly little fellow almost fell off!

He managed to compose himself and once we arrived, we made our way though the cobbled streets towards the sea and passed a shop selling jet jewellery. Robin stopped to look and before I could blink he'd gone in! A few minutes later he appeared in the window from behind a ring display and started to inspect a large pendent.

I was so terrified that he would be caught, that someone would think he was a toy and try to buy him, that my heart was in my beak. And then I lost sight of him as he slipped behind a display and vanished but moments later, to my great relief, he emerged from the door. I had him hop up onto my back and quickly made my way down toward the sand.

He was very excited talking about the jewellery and all the treasure he had seen, you would have thought he was a magpie the way he rambled on, but once we reached the beach then he found a little stone he fancied on the sand and then he quieted down.

By this time it was getting late and we decided to forgo our picnic on the shore (there is nothing worse than a sandy sandwich) and trotted back through town managing to catch the 3 o'clock train which got us home in time for supper.

I'll pass you along to Robin, he's dying to tell you about his treasure.

I hope you have a very fine June, be sure to enjoy plenty of strawberries while they are in season and always stop to smell the roses.

Until next time

Toddle pip

Quentin

Hello everyone,

It's been very exciting over the last few days, we went to the seaside on a train that was powered by boiling water, like a big kettle you can ride on but I dont think it made tea.

I love the seaside but I don't get too close to the water because of sea monsters and I was a bit frightened about going to Whitby because Dracula lives there but Quentin said he can't hurt me because he attacks at the neck and mine is so thin he wouldn't be able to get a good bite, but I wore a scarf later in the day just in case.

Have you heard of jet? it's a shiny black stone that they make into magnificent jewellery, I saw some in a shop window and I wanted to buy a necklace for Quentin's great aunt Millicent who we are visiting in the summer because she has shiny black eyes and I think they would match, but I only had five pence to spend and so I couldn't buy it but I inspected it closely because looking is free.

Then we went down to the beach and on the sand I found a stone that was in the shape of a moon, and I think everyone likes moons so I had Quentin bring it home for me in his bag and this morning we put a blanket out on the grass under the apple tree and I made it pretty with a picture of Quentin and I have a bit of ribbon so Millicent can tie it around her neck and remember him fondly when he is not there, which is most of the time.

I hope you have fun making things sometimes too, there are so many projects in my mind and I want to make them all so I hope I live for lots of years and I have lots of friends to give them to because my treasure box couldn't hold all my dreams so they will need good homes.

Bye bye for now

Robin

 
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