Making a it more accomplished

I spent a couple of hours on the internet, looking up how to finish the edge of a hooked rug. It was the Northwest Folk Design blog that set me off, with a post about various methods...Karen Kahle's website (?)  blog (?) was also very helpful, showing step-by-step instructions on how to crochet an edge....and it does look immeasurably better than my earlier rugs.

The original of this is a painting by Australian artist Dean Bowen ...

which I saw on Pinterest and sent to my sister, who altered the colours.
Faced with that large, blank corner on the bottom left, I added an element to relieve the monotony...

...using a stretchy velvet/ net combination, with a strip cut from a pair of red and gold tights to outline the edge of the wings...a bit tricky but not boring...

While waiting for parts of the big ship to dry I had a little play...

 Some years ago I made a series of these, which I called  "Over The Edge" ....they were about leaving the known, and stepping off into unknown territory. This one is " the ship of stillborn dreams"...it's made of very thin handmade paper and tissue...the prow is the jawbone of a mouse....the mast is the tip of a goose feather and the base a piece of bone from the beach.


The work on the big piece is unknown territory for me - technically quite tricky - and going back, albeit briefly, to something familiar is reassuring.

And this is another, not yet finished.

There have been many times when I've wished I had three hands, if not four....this afternoon was one of them, as I tried to balance a ship and four sticks.

As you can see, it's all very professional - a cardboard box with holes in it and bits of masking tape..

....looking at the photo, I can see that I've got the angle a bit wrong. Before putting all this together I was thinking that the ship was too clunky and heavy but am very much happier with it now.

The figures are emerging slowly...still looking very patchy and I am still feeling my way because I have no idea what surface finish to use, or how to make the moon shape that's in the original drawing.

Sometimes, (possibly often?) even if I can't see every part of a piece clearly at the start, things work themselves out.