Accidentally Artistic

Day 80: Taking down the Christmas tree is on tomorrow's agenda, a task which won't be as lengthy as in years past because I did some serious weeding of ornaments this year. My original plan had been to return to a theme of "birds only," but expanded that stipulation first to include "anything which might be found in a tree" and then later to include decorations with personal significance. You see where this is going, right? Well, I did manage to thin the collection by about 10%, which at least simplified the process of decorating for the holidays. Now technically, I could have shifted sheep to a different pasture, i.e., they could have been reclassified as knickknacks, but I really don't have much space for kitsch. In real life, Cindy (right) and Ivy (left) were two ewes in my flock when it was at its peak of seven sheep. They were best friends and were always to be found together, sometimes apart from the rest of the mob. One year, I decided to try my hand at modelling them in Fimo, a polymer clay which must be baked in the oven. It has to be said that my artistic skills are rather wanting, but occasionally, I've surprised myself by creating something acceptable, and such was the case here. Hung on the tree side by side and joined by a strand of perle cotton, Cindy and Ivy are each about an inch and a half tall. Their fleece locks were made by rolling out the clay until it was paper-thin, then cutting it into 1 mm. wide strips, short pieces of which were twisted and applied to their bodies with the tip of a toothpick. It was a painstaking process, but I am quite proud of the results. When I hang them on the tree, I have to remind myself that while sheep farming is fun on one hand, those cold, wet nights in the lambing shed and the annual desperate search for a shearer willing to service a small flock more than adequately speaks in favour of purchasing raw fleece or roving for my spinning projects. I'll keep my sheep on the Christmas tree, thank you.