Kid's Festival!

The Little Witches are delighted to report that we will be appearing at the Ottawa International Children's Festival this year (May 30-June 3, 2012)! We'll post details soon, but in the meantime, mark your calendars and get ready for hijinks and spontaneous poetry!

Alan Neal is My Hero

Or he will be once the Little Witches pay him a visit this coming Friday at CBC's Share Central. Alan Neal, host of CBC Ottawa's All in a Day, is perhaps unprepared for the azure and emerald visages of the witches in Full Form, replete with skates and Pansy Poppet in tow.

Come down to the Ben Franklin arena to see us shower attention on Neal!

All for a good cause, kiddies. All for a good cause.

In the meantime, look what we did to Glaswegian-in-Greenwich Adrian Harkin, one half of the dedicatee couple "Adrian and Johanna" who will be coming to Ottawa in February to experience the joy and splendour of a Canadian Winter. Adrian apparently thinks he'll only be playing ping pong, but we have a few post-Winterlude surprises for him.

Being a Glaswegian, he rarely touches the hard stuff, but I think our story drove him to it, as evidenced by the photo.

Till Friday, my dearies!
ETD

Lift Off!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the launch yesterday. We had such a good time -- the hot chocolate was hot, the cupcakes suitably wintery, and there was even some snow on the ground outside. The Pansy puppet worked marvellously! Susan, Kim and I want to especially thank Steph for the rainbow mitt and servery duties, Aaron for carrying heavy boxes, Abigayle and Genny for managing the money end of things, Caroline for the facepainting, and all our other friends and family members who support us in these adventures.

Liz, Susan and Kim hold a copy of the book, plus Flat Abby (drawn for us to look at, but not to take)! I'm quite naturally the one in green.

More photos after the JUMP:

A Week in the Country

Actually, it was only one night, but the ladies of Little Witch Press had a great time out at Kim's country estate. While there, we celebrated the arrival of the new book (it's here! it's here!), devised an entertaining launch event (December 3rd at the Firehall -- only five sleeps away), and plotted our next moves in the publishing world (cackling, of course).

While we are not necessarily seeking world domination (though a cup of tea would be nice), we would like children in other cities to know of our exploits. Plans are afoot to expand our publishing empire.

It all begins with a puppet. Yes, yes, she has proper clothes now. And mittens.

A big shout-out/thankyou to Steph Rea, who is busy creating Pansy the Puppet's Very Secret Weapon. You must come to the launch to see its debut! But I will likely be posting photos of the launch here, so you may get to see it after the fact.

Remember: Five sleeps. That's all.

The Puppet is Here!

I believe we have a finished puppet. Or, at least, a finished puppet head. I'll work on the body tomorrow. But here are the steps:

After forming the head from foam and gluing it together, I spray painted it. Today, I added more features using acrylic paint

Doesn't she look fetching? 

Then, I added button eyes and started in on the hair:

She looks like she's suffering from Male Pattern Baldness, I admit. But here she is more complete.

Notice that her mouth isn't quite right. That was the next step!

I carefully measured her mouth using a thin cardboard pattern. Then I cut the black foam and glued it on. She's enjoying a small pot on her head -- it helped hold her in place!

And here she is! Next? We work out about her clothes. But that's tomorrow!

Happy witching my dears -- book launch in just a short while! December 3rd -- mark your calendars. By then, the puppet will be in full form.

ETD

Puppet in Process

It's been years since I've made a puppet. Honestly, I'd almost forgotten. After wrassling with a big piece of foam from Rockland Fabrics, I had to come up with a sort of pattern. Luckily, there was this site so I had something to go from.

Then I experimented with glue. I started with rubber cement, but it didn't work. I was a bit worried about setting Pansy the Puppet's head on fire with hot glue, but in the end it was what did it. I glued and glued and burned my fingers and finally I had a head! Then I modeled the nose bits. I'd already bought some button eyes, but the next step, which I did this afternoon, was the paint my form.

Here she is, drying upside down from my basement beams!

Plus, if you look carefully in the background, you can see the awesome coat of awesomeness that will be Pansy the Puppet's overcoat. VV Boutique -- how I love thee!

More photos to come as I paint and add more -- the next step...makeup! Then eyes! Then -- hair! I have a surprise for hair!

And little Ms. Sassy Rouge will be knitting our accessories. Can't argue with that.

But too labour-intensive to be a product line.

Best to all!

Elizabeth Todd Doyle

To Muppet, or Not To Muppet?

My Special Dearies,

You see us -- and photographic proof is rampant on this blog -- green and blue, marching happily through the children's section of bookshops. But maybe the Little Witches are ready for a fresh approach. As many of you know, we have a new book coming out December 3rd, Witches Don't Do Winter. 

What if, and bear with me here, what if we made puppets? Performed with good big puppets? In this story of sheer athleticism (something which many of you probably already associate me with), Pansy must ski, snowshoe, toboggan and stop a few pucks. That's a lot of work for a poor Witch...but not for a witch puppet.

Not too shabby, eh? We could equip her with baby clothing and Bob's your uncle! Plus, Susan and I can dress in "orchestra black", sans green and blue faces. My skin will thank you.

Thoughts?

Love, 

Sandi Witch