Mannequin, manakin, manikin, or mannikin ?

Well I now have one of the above......whatever the spelling......courtesy of Ebay. At the moment,  I perceive her as a sort of Lara Croft type individual, and I purchased her outfit from a charity shop.
She needs to be feisty, as my son is using her for target practice!

I have also started to slice up the teasels and experiment with ways of turning them into clothing. I've got hold of some coffee sacks (the cultivated teasels were sewn into sacks before been transported to the mills), so I was keen to try it as a possible backing material. But, I may just wire the teasels together.

Today, being a dry day with a good breeze blowing,  I've managed to dye a small amount of teasels using the remainder of the Indian ink. These teasels don't take up the stain as well as the wild teasels but I think the results are still interesting.

LOL cat likes the Horn of Plenty

I never thought I’d see a genuine LOL cat, but look at the marking’s on this cat’s side!

(I ought to add that I only know about LOL cats because of my son’s obsession, and because I read about them in the financial pages of the Guardian….)

Installation is now complete, and Julia Ridge phoned me this morning to suggest that with the weather being good, today would be a good opportunity to get some photos.

The journey from Kinston St Mary has unfortunately caused a small amount of damage to the thatching.  On my way home, I managed to find  a few reeds, and  hope to return and make good in the next couple of days.

The cats obviously appreciate this work of art, as it provides a good look out point and scratching post. What more could you want, function as well as beauty!