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11/20/2024:Sometimes mistakes turn golden. Here, Little Red takes advantage of an unintended click to show off his march toward world domination.
11/05/2024:All the serpents (and the Salamander) having survived a midnight display session and the trip home, one more – a Ring-necked Snake with a full wax job – finally takes its place in the Gallery.
10/13/2024:At last, the long-planned Coral Snake, more or less finished a couple of days ago, found its way into the Gallery. The process was slowed by the insane difficulty of maintaining clear colors all the way through and stopped short by a bout of COVID, but Snake and Salamander finally found their way to a completion point.
09/22/2024:Serpent development still on hold, the Salamander took the opportunity to restore the rodent population, building Mouse Litter 27 and timing the steps. The batch of six took about 24 hours all told, from wire work to whiskers, documented on Facebook each step of the way. Their group portraits went into the Gallery today.
09/05/2024:Serpent development abruptly on hold for lack of a proper Coral Snake black, the design muse returned to the chiropteran world. A Little Brown Bat took shape with only a week’s work, and a couple of days later, his portrait found its way into the Gallery.
08/21/2024:Continuing the serpent development process, a Northwestern Garter Snake (sufficiently well developed to be identifiable by species) got through a portrait session and into the Gallery.
08/12/2024:And hot on the ground squirrel’s heels, Snakey, the test bed for a whole new line of animated snakes, finished his final grooming and photography sessions and found his way into the Gallery.
08/10/2024:The next, latest, and most frustrated entry in the cutest-rodent stakes, a California Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel who’d just spent a whole month on the workbench, finally managed to hold the Salamander’s attention (much distracted with yet more engineering) long enough to get the work completed and a portrait set into the Gallery.
07/10/2024:Finished tinkering with the biggest engineering project in more than a decade and posted pics of the results, a Honduran White Bat, built to either hang from a necklace or fly from a magnet-mounted frame, to the Gallery.
06/27/2024:Posted at-home pictures of Misty renamed Kitty Mouse and Parnassus the beach mouse to the Gallery, courtesy of their new person.
06/17/2024:About half-built on the train home from Minnesota in late May (when the cold really hit), Westbound Hamster loitered on the edges of the workbench for most of a week before getting a final grooming session yesterday.
06/06/2024:Mostly built on the train to Minnesota in early May, a long and almost Web-free vacation followed by a long, honking cold kept Eastbound Cat from joining the Gallery until today.
04/20/2024:Today the new American Badger consented to climb off the hat and get her portrait suite taken for the Gallery.
03/26/2024:Finishing in record time – mostly by virtue of having snuck onto the workbench well before his predecessor was complete – the second-ever Furry Tadpole found his way into the Gallery.
03/22/2024:Enough Beach Mice (for the moment; it may not be possible to have enough Beach Mice) and back to the Hex World for Blue, a tiny carnivore abducted for the express purpose of fillng a hole in the Salamander’s wardrobe but now offered to Earth via the Gallery.
03/06/2024:With the third off to a new home already, another Perdido Key Beach Mouse took shape and jumped into the Gallery.
03/05/2024:And the new beach mouse darted off to a new home almost instantly. Here she is, with her new person at the place he spends his days.
02/10/2024:And that one wasn't alone, yet another Perdido Key Beach Mouse followed the second, and also didn’t get into the Gallery until today.
02/10/2024:The first Perdido Key Beach Mouse departed for a new home in December, and a new one took shape on the workbench but managed to spend an entire month riding about the world without showing a whisker on the web.
12/30/2023:Back to the Hex World section of the Gallery for Goldyfar, a scampering omnivore with the beginnings of four usable hands.
12/13/2023:The next guy, another Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew, made it into the Gallery, having been delayed for several days by the construction of some octopus ornaments ordered at the latest holiday show.
11/17/2023:The next guy, a Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew (another African species entirely) made it into the Gallery only four days after completion.
11/10/2023:Getting lazy about posting again, but a Rufous Elephant Shrew (an African creature completed back on October 29) finally got his portrait into the Gallery.
10/15/2023:And we return to our friendly native Quad World with Chipmunk 41, another rodent superstar, who’s been running around for almost a week before joining the Gallery.
09/11/2023:Back to the Hex World for another ambiguous creature: Stripey Look-Back, a ground-dwelling omnivore who wants to persuade followers that he’s always watching. This one went through magor weight-loss surgery and a lot of color adjustment before getting a portrait in the Gallery.
08/15/2023:Another Earth native: a Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel gets a portrait set in the Gallery.
08/02/2023:Back to nature with another cheery Chipmunk for the Menagerie and the Gallery.
07/17/2023:In an unusual exploration of cartoonery, the Bunny-Wabbit hops on stage in the Gallery.
06/23/2023:Yet more catch-up: a Dashchund-cross Puppy (this one finished over a week ago) abandoned his companions in the old-refugee-skeleton brigade and got his portrait set into the Gallery.
06/17/2023:More catch-up: the new baby Beaver (finished almost a week ago) finally got her portrait set into the Gallery.
06/01/2023:Completed in record time (that is, five days, through yesterday), a Perdido Key Beach Mouse, one of the world’s least known and most beneficial rodents, posed for his portrait and entered the Gallery.
05/25/2023:The four Froggies, under construction for the past few weeks, finally reached a proper state of amphibian smoothness and got their portraits into the Gallery.
04/21/2023:Posted new pics of White-Face Mouse and the Sand Jackal, who had the excellent good fortune to run into a friendly photographer in the midst of a long morning’s bird walk.
04/15/2023:Froggies had to wait; the next Gallery spot got grabbed by the White Puppy who had been trapped nearly complete in the one-creature traveling felt kit for the past year or so. A bit more work and he was ready to run!
04/10/2023:Only a few days past completion, the six new members of Mouse Litter 26 have their portraits in the Gallery at last. Meanwhile, work is well under way on the four unrelated froggies scheduled for the next entry....
03/19/2023:Red Sky Lady, a Hex World dragon, has her place in the Gallery at last. (As promised, most days since early February saw at least some progress; arashi shibori silk adds a fiendish level of work to the construction process.)
02/27/2023:Finally got around to photographing and posting the first all-2023 creature, Momonga 5 (a tiny baby Japanese flying squirrel), who was completed back on February 5. The light was never right when there was time for the chore, of which there was little enough with a convention to run. Been working since, but it will be a while before the next creature makes an appearance here: a whole lot of hand sewing still to do.
01/22/2023:Free of moths but not free to work on the menagerie nearly as much as I’d hoped, it’s weeks since the year’s first addition was formally completed. (In fact, I was going to use a December 2022 date, as that’s when most of the work got done, but the cleanup on January 1 was extensive enough to count. Now Mouse Litter 25, six little darlings utterly unlikely to have had the same parents, have their portraits in the Gallery at last.
11/30/2022:Posted a happy picture of the new Raccoon (just after meeting his new person) to the Gallery.
11/27/2022:Unsnarling the carnage left by the War Against the Moths, I discovered that last April, in a vain attempt at catching up on the dark times, I’d photographed creatures in the wrong order, completely missing one in the process. A perfect fix would have required more renumbering and futzing about than I could face now, but I’ve come close: Hare 4, who should really be Hare 3 as he was completed a couple of weeks earlier, does have a place in the Gallery at last. (And I still have not spotted a postwar moth!)
11/07/2022:The War Against the Moths, which has been breaking my heart and curtailing my output for the last year or so, may have been won! At any rate, I’ve perked up enough to complete a fourth creature for the year, a commissioned Raccoon, and post a portrait set to the Gallery.
08/29/2022:After less delay but more time in progress (including some non-felting misadventures), posted the year’s third creature, a baby Burrowing Owl, to the Gallery.
07/15/2022:After even more delay than currently customary, posted a Mouse Lemur to the Gallery. This golden girl was mostly photographed two weeks ago, but the world has been full of dull distractions since then.
05/20/2022:Posted Sunset Snapper to the Gallery. She was completed a week ago (in the midst of a Covid attack). She’d been out in the world for a week or so, but returned to the bench to demand a full set of teeth in place of her original closed mouth.
04/14/2022:Catching up on old old business, posted Hare 3 and Hare 4, both completed last September, to the Gallery. UPDATE 11/27/2022: Things were worse than I knew. Got the wrong hare here.... Hare 3 should have been designated Hare 4, while the pix posted for “Hare 4” were actually a repeat of Hare 2from June.
04/08/2022:Lost heart last summer, and didn’t even manage to post the last creatures made before the light turned off entirely. Months later, I sat down to post the first new one, after four days of photography experiments, only to find that the serial numbering was two places off. No knowing when the missing hares will show up here, but the new guy, Little Red, a small but fearsome denizen of the Hex World, insists on taking his place in the Gallery without waiting a day longer. Good news: so far, my wrists and thumbs are working smoothly again....
08/26/2021:Posted an out-and-about pic of Chipmunk 38.
08/19/2021:Finally is getting too much use around here, but life is turned up high and felting loses out. Anyway, finally got around to photographing Silver, a male of the same species as Cinnamon (now known as Cataurs), and posted his portrait set to the Gallery about a week after he ventured off the workbench.
07/14/2021:Finally finished a first attempt at a nestling Barn Owl and posted his portrait set to the Gallery.
06/14/2021:Posted a snapshot of the Golden Gate Audubon Osprey happily visiting the Golden Gate Audubon office.
06/13/2021:Back to the Quad World (the one you’re familiar with) for a fine young lady Hare, posted to the Gallery after several days of trimming and grooming.
05/24/2021:Fourth try’s the charm! Finished (yet another) new set of photographs of Cinnamon, the lady of the Hex World plains, and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
05/15/2021:Posted an out-and-about snapshot of Bush Baby 2 (with his maker) to the Gallery.
05/11/2021:Collated photographs of the Rock Slider, all taken in the environment he was built for (the brand-new rock garden at the Lake Merritt Garden Center) and posted them to the Gallery.
04/29/2021:Captured Ray-Seal (the first swimming Hex Worlder) on the fourth attempt at a set of photographs, and posted his portrait to the Gallery.
04/23/2021:Collated the photos from a couple of trips outdoors and posted portraits of the latest Hex World denizen, Barker Greenslide, to the Gallery.
04/04/2021:Completed the hatchling Osprey for this year’s Golden Gate Audubon auction and posted its portrait to the Gallery.
03/22/2021:Finally got the portraits for a set of Salt Marsh Harvest Mice – one pair each Southern and Northern – into the Gallery today.
03/01/2021:Condor has landed! Posted the first pic from her new home to the Gallery today.
02/13/2021:Fourth set of photographs is the charm! The first commission of the year, a life-sized California Condor – some 12 days old, or thereabouts – enters the Gallery today.
01/19/2021:Finished photographing a Ringtail (also known as Ring-tailed Cat; the first in just over a decade) and posted the portrait set to the Gallery.
01/04/2021:First of the new year: another River Otter (also of a different color, if not quite so different) gets his portrait set into the Gallery.
12/28/2020:A new Cat (of a different color) enters the Gallery only one day after completion.
12/16/2020:Almost caught up: The third Bush Baby, finished and photographed only two days ago, enters the Gallery.
12/05/2020:Yet more Old Business: A second Bush Baby, completed and photographed November 28, finally emerges from the pandemic fug and takes his place in the Gallery.
11/23/2020:Continuing Old Business: A Bush Baby, already complete when the tuxedo cat was posted, finally got around to having a photo session today, beating his successor into the Gallery by at least a couple of days.
11/12/2020:Talk about Old Business! The new Tuxedo Cat, actually completed in September, finds his way into the Gallery – with a number two places past what he should have had. (At least with the clay-tablet update system this website employs, changing the number for even one creature doesn’t bear thinking about, let alone two.)
10/26/2020:In honor of the season, Ma Batness takes wing into the Gallery. There’s a reason it’s been more than three years since the last bat, and it may take another three before the old fingers forget this one....
10/06/2020:The new lad, called Wagtail ’cuz he can’t think of anything clearer, sat through his portrait set so he could join the Gallery.
09/21/2020:Almost three weeks late, the Hexabunny hops into the Gallery at last, answering the question: Can a green six-legged creature with red eyes be cute?
08/27/2020:From the Hex World desert this time: the Sand Jackal pauses in her pursuit of small crunchables to pose for her portrait in the Gallery.
08/19/2020:Someone wholly new this time: Silvertail Doggish, a new class of Hex World predator, flicks his silken tail and joins the Gallery after a few days of hat-riding.
08/10/2020:It’s a long, dry summer, but it’s not that no felting has happened; it’s just involved a lot of bits and fiddles, plus a whole lot of not-much-interest in photography. But at last, the three half-grown Blue Lorises (who have already been for several rides out in the world) made it into the Gallery today.
06/09/2020:After half a dozen attempts at a set of postable pictures (memory claims more than 200 photographs, but memory may lie), the menagerie’s new Unicorn joined the Gallery.
06/02/2020:Continuing to fill the world with slow-growing color, today the Blue Loris (finished since May 31 and mostly well before that) finally got his portrait set into the Gallery.
05/12/2020:What this world needs is color! Life has been brighter the last coupla weeks as the Crimson Dragon took shape and donned his magical silken wings; portraits in the Gallery now.
05/12/2020:Long, long lapse, partly irritation with uncooperative gray creatures, partly metaphysical Corona paralysis. Finally, in late April, the raccoons got declared finished weeks ago and work started on someone else (finished today), but first, the second miniature Raccoon needed his portrait set for the Gallery. (He’s a bit fuzzy and his big brother is a lot cuter than he used to be; more photos anon, perhaps.)
03/09/2020:Posted the portrait set of the new miniature Raccoon to the Gallery.
02/09/2020:Caught up with another creature and posted a second chain-riding Fire Salamander (completed February 7) to the Gallery.
01/29/2020:Put the finishing touches on a new Sugar Glider posted the portrait set to the Gallery.
01/10/2020:Photographed the latest hexapod creature, a new member of the Reddy species and posted the portraits to the Gallery.
01/05/2020:Back on the air! Webmaster identified a conflict between HTML versions, but why it worked until tweaked and then would not work when the pre-tweak version was restored defies understanding....
01/03/2020:Garbage alert! The creature pages just blanked out when I tried to update the copyright date. Hope to get this fixed soon....
12/27/2019:Put up another delayed portrait set: a chain-riding Fire Salamander completed just before Christmas.
12/04/2019:Finally got around to posting the portrait set for the first pin-based Chipmunk in years (held up for computer conversion and other adventures since November 14). Then photographed a new Sugar Glider, this one smaller and with set fur on her back, and added her portraits to the Gallery as well.
11/04/2019:Finished another baby Chipmunk and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
10/24/2019:Posted the current holiday ornament tree to the Gallery.
10/23/2019:Finished a new Sugar Glider and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
10/11/2019:Posted pics of a new and somewhat super-sized Isla Colon Strawberry Poison Dart Frog to the Gallery.
09/30/2019:Uploaded portraits of the next albino Hex Mouse, this one a male probably of a different subspecies, to the Gallery.
09/23/2019:Finished the latest creature, a gravid female Hex Mouse much delayed by the website disaster, and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
09/19/2019:Almost back to normal.... Garbage problem is solved, and the creatures can be viewed from anywhere. Chrome still insists on displaying the creature-type collections as one long row of mug shots running off the screen to the right, but we’re working on it.
09/18/2019:Making progress.... The Gallery is up and running, after going dark sometime between the 16th and this morning. Firefox, Internet Explorer, and MS Edge now run the Gallery properly, complete with special characters. Chrome is still a bit weird, but at least you can get to the creature pages. More news when there is any!
09/16/2019:Put the finishing touches on the latest occupant of the one-creature travel kit, a golden kitten, and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
09/15/2019:Garbage alert! The Gallery went dark as a result of code incompatibility. It’s working again, but not perfectly: curly quotes, en dashes, and some other characters come through as gibberish. Dunno how long this will last, but I hope it’s not going to require fixing all those hundreds of entries by hand....
09/11/2019:Finished a new life-sized natural creature, a female Pacific Chorus Frog, and posted her portrait set to the Gallery.
09/08/2019:Yet another salamander, this one a Western Redback (completed September 3), finds its place in the Gallery.
09/07/2019:Finally got round to photographing the Blue Ridge Two-lined Salamander finished back on August 25, and posted the pics to the Gallery.
08/23/2019:Photographed the latest California Red-legged Frog and posted the pics to the Gallery.
08/19/2019:Completed a Tortoiseshell Cat started on one of last year’s vacations and posted the portrait to the Gallery.
08/10/2019:The next California Red-legged Frog insisted on an all-outdoor photo shoot, so the pix come straight from phone camera to the Gallery.
08/01/2019:Finally got around to finishing the photography on the latest California Tiger Salamander commissioned by the habitat preservation crew, and posted the pics – some caught in the wild – to the Gallery.
07/21/2019:Not a chipmunk this time but someone similar: a commissioned Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel completed today and posted to the Gallery.
07/12/2019:We simply cannot keep chipmunks in the menagerie, but here’s the latest try to keep it stocked: a young female this time, posted to the Gallery today.
06/25/2019:And the second train-born creature – Reddy, another tiny Hex world predator, claims a page in the Gallery.
06/20/2019:Back to work for a few days, after a long sewing project and near heat exhaustion, and the new young Chipmunk started on the trip East finally joins the menagerie.
05/24/2019:What with one thing and another (including two weeks’ cross-country train travel) the young Hare begun on Easter Sunday did’t get finished till May 20, and then had to wait several days for a portrait session. The results were posted to the Gallery today at last.
04/18/2019:The third set of portrait photos of the new California Tiger Salamander met with the creature’s approval, so the portrait set was posted in the Gallery.
03/29/2019:Finally got the whiskers on the latest Hexapod Mouse and mounted his portrait in the Gallery.
03/27/2019:Uploaded a portrait of the California Red-legged Frog about to head home with his happy people, who won him at this year’s Ecological Restoration Business Association conference.
03/09/2019:Finished a long-term project – another male Red-breasted Pygmy Parrot (on an armature that’d been sitting around since 2017) – by posting the portrait set to the Gallery.
02/09/2019:Completed another San Joaquin Kit Fox for the biologists – one less charming and more true to the species. (This one will head for Sac’to; the biologists don’t get the choice... though one of them did wind up with the first California Tiger Salamander.)
02/02/2019:After another delay for daylight, posted pics of a first attempt at a San Joaquin Kit Fox intended for the biologist brigade.
01/18/2019:With the return of bright skies, it was possible to photograph the new creature: Snicker – a female of the Reacher species, completed January 18 – and post the portrait set to the Gallery.
01/09/2019:Finally managed to upload pics of the the very latest Chipmunk – another youngster, completed January 5 – to the Gallery.
12/27/2018:Struggled out from under the holidays to post portraits of the latest Chipmunk – completed Christmas day, but for a bit of polishing – to the Gallery.
12/18/2018:Added an at-home pic of the River Otter to the Gallery.
12/15/2018:Completed a third California Tiger Salamander – the second for the habitat restoration biologists – and uploaded the portrait set to the Gallery.
12/06/2018:Uploaded the portrait set for a new River Otter – another commissioned piece – to the Gallery. (This is the seventh otter built, and the second really focusing on River Otters.)
12/03/2018:Posted an at-home pic of the first Hexapod Mouse, along with a comment from his happy human companion.
11/22/2018:Completed the latest commission, a new California Red-legged Frog, and posted the portrait set to the Gallery.
11/19/2018:Posted the current holiday ornament tree to the Gallery.
11/12/2018:Added Harness Tips, a new page in the Prevent Escapes section. Look here for specifics on elegant and comfortable ways to keep adventurous creatures from striking out on their own in search of new homes.
11/08/2018:Finished the latest commission, another American Badger, and posted her portrait set to the Gallery.
10/31/2018:Posted another pic of Hexocet erectus, properly dressed this time.
10/31/2018:Bridging the gap in the menagerie caused by the simultaneous flight of all three magnet chipmunks, Chipmunk 33 joins the Gallery.
10/19/2018:Back to the Hex world, where the first tool user – Hexocet erectus – makes his appearance in the Gallery.
10/14/2018:After baking in the sun for six hours at a craft show on the 13th, the first California Tiger Salamander emerged as black and sleek and shiny as originally desired. The change was so dramatic as to require a complete photo shoot, uploaded to the Gallery with one of the original pictures kept for comparison.
10/07/2018:Uploaded the latest commission, an endangered Tipton Kangaroo Rat, to the Gallery.
09/26/2018:After sitting around and missing the light for a couple of days, the latest batch of Hedgehogs finally got their portraits taken and sent to the Gallery.
09/16/2018:Finished the next commission, a San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel, and posted his portrait set to the Gallery.
09/12/2018:Posted a pic of the new California Tiger Salamander with one of her happy people....
09/04/2018:Uploaded another California Tiger Salamander to the Gallery – with shorter legs and a blacker and slinkier back, this one is better fitted to the requirements of the organization that commissioned her (which wasn’t consulted on the replacement).
08/29/2018:Uploaded pics of a California Tiger Salamander to the Gallery.
08/24/2018:Finished revising an old, old friend – the Running Lizard from January 2010 – to test out a new technique for smooth-skinned creatures; added to his portrait page in the Gallery.
08/18/2018:The floor of the rodent display cage was looking bare, so the next Gallery page – Mouse Litter 24 – presents six charming mouse girls (well, five mouse girls and a rather fierce hex mouse lady) all on pin fasteners.
08/13/2018:With permission, posted a pic of the American Badger and her person to the Gallery.
08/03/2018:Completed the latest commission – the Salamander’s first-ever American Badger – and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
07/21/2018:Another round of photography and a new hex creature – a Ghost Cat Treeling enters the Gallery.
07/16/2018:Finished the photography on a new Hexapod Chipmunk built to replace the one that scampered away at the June 30 show, and added his portrait to the Gallery.
07/09/2018:Polished up the third Hazel Dormouse – mostly built at craft shows June 30 and July 1 – and posted pics to the Gallery.
06/26/2018:Finished the photography on the Burmese Cat mostly constructed on the train to and from Denver, and posted the pics to the Gallery.
06/24/2018:Completed another Hex world rodent (after a week’s rest on the home felting bench) and posted the second Hexapod Mouse to the Gallery.
06/23/2018:First post from a recent road trip: the spring-tailed Gray Squirrel captured by a paparazzo while contemplating the switch to a carnivorous lifestyle.
06/09/2018:The Hex world does have rodents, though the Reacher refused to be one. Here an albino Hexapod Mouse (or perhaps a rat) joins the menagerie and the Gallery.
06/05/2018:And in the Hex world, the Reacher, a tiny omnivore with no Quad World analogue, skitters among rocks and dead branches in search of calories that don’t fight back too hard. Finished June 4; posted to the Gallery today.
05/23/2018:Back in the Quad world for the moment, a new baby Chipmunk emerged from the travel felting bag and got her finishing touches, with pictures posted to the Gallery.
05/23/2018:Across the plains of the Hex world, the Gazellion gallops and spreads his flying fish wings to glide to safety or attack. Pictures of his miniature hat-riding counterpart can be found in the Gallery now.
05/11/2018:Still in the Hex world, “Midnight” the Hexapod Weasel joined the menagerie today.
05/05/2018:Added a snapshot of Siamouse admiring herself at a craft show.
05/04/2018:Still exploring the world where the first fish left the water on six legs rather than four.... But the newest denizen, a predator upon creatures rather larger than himself, rejects the “Hexapod” name and calls himself a Tiger Treeling. His life-sized portrait joined the Gallery today.
04/23/2018:Still exploring the world where the first fish left the water on six legs rather than four, completed a Hexapod Chipmunk and added the portrait to the Gallery.
04/16/2018:Returning to an old, old theme – dating back to ceramic sculpture days – a second felted Hexapod Lizard joined the Gallery. Come a long way since the first....
04/01/2018:Posted pics of a second Garden Dormouse (begun at a craft show March 10 and finished March 31 after a round of major surgery and a second skin) to the Gallery.
03/29/2018:Uploaded a snapshot of the young Fennec riding my hat on a fine spring day.
03/23/2018:Posted a new photo essay to the “In the Workshop” section: Birth of a Fennec, a step-by-step history of the Fennec kit, including the disasters and bloopers along the way.
03/19/2018: It’s been a busy month, though nothing to show for it till today. The new, life-sized Fennec kit finally agreed he was finished and insisted on riding down to the Lake Merritt garden for his photo shoot. The results – pared down to a dozen pics from the original ninety – are in the Gallery now.
02/19/2018: Posted a shot of the Fischer’s Lovebird matching grins with his new person....
02/10/2018: Solved! The answer to the dormouse eye problem revealed with a third try (and a second species, but the answer would be the same). Put the finishing touches on a Garden Dormouse and added the portrait series to the Gallery.
01/29/2018: Lessons learned, the second Hazel Dormouse reached the Gallery in three days’ time. Now every mouse in the house wants a foot job, but probably won’t get it. Maybe just the squirrels....
01/26/2018: It’s not that no work has been done this year; it’s been done over and over. After weeks of battle and a total head transplant, the first Hazel Dormouse makes it into the Gallery.
12/31/2017: Rounding out the year, finished a life-sized Long-tailed Weasel (who insisted on being photographed outdoors) and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
12/23/2017: Back to felting at last – after a round of craft shows and a total computer rebuild – and uploaded pics of the latest baby Fox Squirrel (a pin model this time) to the Gallery.
11/08/2017: Finished several months of excruciatingly tedious and depressing background labor on the new, near life-sized Russian Blue kitten and posted the portrait (with more explanation) to the Gallery.
11/04/2017: One baby Chipmunk deserved another; pics posted to the Gallery.
10/27/2017: Added the latest edition of the ornament collection to the Gallery.
10/20/2017: Posted another Chipmunk – a baby this time, and possibly the all-time cutest – to the Gallery.
10/15/2017:Back to avian affairs, posting portraits of a third Red-breasted Pygmy Parrot (built on the remaining armature from the year’s earlier burst of activity).
10/04/2017:Got the whiskers installed on the season’s second batch of mice – Litter #23 – and added their pics to the Gallery.
09/22/2017:Finished another magnet Chipmunk to replace the one that scampered off on the train, and posted his portrait to the Gallery.
09/17/2017:Posted the latest litter of mice (including the other two creatures from the August trip) to the Gallery.
08/31/2017:Polished up one of the new train creatures, Kempy the baby Fox Squirrel, and posted his portrait to the Gallery.
08/28/2017:Uploaded a snapshot of Miss Chips and her new person – on the train – to the Gallery.
07/14/2017:Posted pics of the latest pin-mounted Chipmunk, a baby this time, to the Gallery.
07/06/2017:Replaced all the images of the Beaver Festival Beaver – after the discovery that there’s about half an hour in the morning when the white background in the photo cube actually photographs white rather than shades of mud. It’s even better on a cloudy day, but I didn’t want to wait for that....
07/05/2017:Posted pics of yet another Beaver – this one with a spring-loaded tail – to the Gallery.
06/25/2017:Completed a new Beaver and posted a set of images to the Gallery.
06/21/2017:Posted the latest commission (and the first project to incorporate work of another artist), a winged rat with bling, to the Gallery.
06/07/2017:Wrapped up the other creature started at the May 6 craft fair, Sugar Glider 6, and posted pictures to the Gallery.
05/31/2017:Completed an all-in-May project, Miss Chips – otherwise known as Chipmunk 27 – and posted her portrait to the Gallery.
05/26/2017:Posted photos of a new dog fox to the Gallery.
05/12/2017:Finished a loooong learning experience with a new Honey Badger and posted a set of pics to the Gallery.
05/01/2017:Posted a portrait of the new bat at home on her person’s hat.
04/27/2017:Completed the latest commission, a fantasy bat on her way to a hat of her own, and posted a variety of views to the Gallery.
04/05/2017:Finally finished the photography on a new engineering marvel: another miniature Gray Squirrel with an even silkier tail than his predecessor’s – and one that actually moves on its own, courtesy of a built-in spring.
03/24/2017:Posted pics of the Least Weasel that was also work-in-progress for the past three weeks, finally finished late on the 21st (after a bout of photography proved he wasn’t finished at all).
03/18/2017:Finished photography on the female Geelvink Pygmy Parrot that got set aside for Silktail Squirrel, and posted pics to the Gallery.
03/15/2017:Completed a miniature Gray Squirrel and posted pics to the Gallery... but not just another squirrel; this one reflects an experiment in the ongoing quest for a properly glittery squirrel tail, with pied silk sewn into the felted base.
02/26/2017:Posted a consolidated portrait of another walkabout Russian Dwarf Hamster to the Gallery.
02/25/2017:Posted a picture of Quicksilver Mouse at Stitches West.
02/10/2017:Further adventures in the psittacine realm: a Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot. He’s a bit longer than the pygmy variety and likes to sit head downward, though he doesn’t have to do so.
01/27/2017:Finally got around to finishing and posting a new Pygmy Parrot – the blue-purple-headed Geevlink species this time – to the Gallery. (He’d been finished enough to wear on birding expeditions all week but photography revealed a few last problems.)
01/14/2017:Set the parrots aside this year and completed an urgent commission for a pair of California Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, posting their portraits to the Gallery today. In the process, I learned enough about the species to realize that the little guy currently in the menagerie needed a serious update at the same time. See the new him at Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel 2 now.
12/31/2016:Continuing the new bird project, posted pics of a second Pygmy Parrot to the Gallery. Then added a new pic of the first one, incorporating some feather enhancements learned while working on the second. (It wasn’t necessary to do a complene repeat photo shoot, as the first set was inadvertently but cleverly arranged to minimize views of the wing primaries, which got most of the work.
12/19/2016:Posted pics of the project delayed pending chipmunkery, a life-sized Pygmy Parrot (completed on the 17th and worn for the Christmas Bird Count on the 18th), to the Gallery.
12/16/2016:Completed Chipmunk 26 and posted her portrait to the Gallery, replacing Chipmunk 25 for her waiting person. (The 10th was a big day in menagerie land, with both chipmunks, the fox, a couple of mice, and several other creatures scampering off to new homes.)
12/09/2016:Set aside a long-term project to complete and post Chipmunk 25 to the Gallery, ’cuz a magnet chipmunk just wouldn’t do.... (She’s listed as having a home already, because she’ll either get one on the 10th or have one next week.)
11/26/2016:Finally got the whiskers onto Chipmunk 24 (the latest addition to the magnet chipmunk clan) and posted pics to the Gallery.
11/15/2016:Bre’r Fox inspired someone to want a fox – but not that fox – to use as a holiday gift for a small granddaughter, so the Young Vixen was born. Posted pics to the Gallery today, after her person got a good look at her.
11/07/2016:Added pics of Bre’r Fox – a portrait of a fox seen patrolling part of his territory at a pond in Alaska – to the Gallery. Construction pics can be found on the Salamander Feltworks Facebook page.
10/29/2016:Finished another Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (the chipmunk-y guy with the plain face) and posted his portrait to the Gallery.
10/21/2016:A two-in-one day! After a solid week without access to the Internet, it was finally possible to add two new creatures to the Gallery: a hugely complicated Pygmy Marmoset, the first experiment in building a real (as opposed to fantasy) primate, and the latest Chipmunk, who populates the pin-creature niche in that section of the menagerie.
09/29/2016:Finally got around to photographing White-Ears, the newest walkabout magnet mouse, and posted his composite portrait to the Gallery. He’s in the same set but not called a “minie-mousie” like the others because the distinction doesn’t make a difference anymore.
09/20/2016:Finished the third creature begun on the train – a Baby California Ground Squirrel made up as a necklace – and posted a portrait to the Gallery.
09/16/2016:Finished the other creature mostly done on the train – Gray Tom, a cat with cattitude – and posted pics to the Gallery.
09/15/2016:Posted a new set of pics of the River Otter to the Gallery. The original chin whiskers were replaced twice in search of something silkier than horsehair – which flat doesn’t work at that length – that would be in proportion to the tiny figure....
09/14/2016:Posted pics of the newest froglet – Walkabout Froggie #11 – to the Gallery. This “Isla Colon” Strawberry Poison Dart Frog was begun and completed on the summer’s trip to Chicago.
08/26/2016:Added a third Russian Dwarf Hamster to the species’ page.
08/17/2016:Finished a River Otter – complete with chin whiskers – and added pics to the Gallery.
08/10/2016:Added another Gray Squirrel – a baby this time – to the Gallery.
07/31/2016:Posted another set of the latest batch of mice, picking up further tail corrections.
07/29/2016:Posted pics of the rest of the updated mice to their pages in the Gallery – locations to be discovered by those who really want to look at mouse tails....
07/28/2016:Posted updated pics of the latest batch of mice to the Gallery, reflecting the new attention to de tails.
07/25/2016:Posted pics of the latest batch of mice to the Gallery, along with a shot of their new approach to insides and outsides.
07/09/2016:Finished an actual Beaver for the Martinez Beaver Festival, where she’ll show up in the silent auction on August 6.
07/07/2016:Put up a pic of a third batch of Book Beavers & Buddies – featuring a few weasels and squirrels – and posed in something that may turn into their formal display.
06/30/2016:Added pics of yet another Momonga (Japanese Flying Squirrel) to the Gallery – this one with eyes built as domes rather than spheres so as to fit into the head at something closer to the size and curvature proper to this mind-boggling species.
06/24/2016:Added pics of the fourth Fox Squirrel to the Gallery.
06/17/2016:Completed another Japanese Flying Squirrel – otherwise known as a “Momonga” – to fill out the collection, and posted his portrait to the Gallery.
06/09/2016:Added five more Hedgehogs to the collection and posted their pics to the Gallery.
05/29/2016:Finished a new video of the Red Wyvern and posted it to YouTube as Big Red on the Move: The Remake. ’Samazing what goes into setting up a home office for do-it-yourself stop-motion video!
05/26/2016:Put up a pic of the next batch of Book Beavers & Buddies – not quite halfway to the planned inventory.
05/17/2016:Posted pics of the first set of the first new line in a while: Book Beavers & Buddies, woodland creatures intended for the Martinez Beaver Festival in August. More will appear in odd moments over the summer....
05/13/2016:Modified the Lesser Jerboa with the technique learned from the Kozlov’s Pygmy Jerboa and put up a revised set of pictures on his page, keeping one of the old ones for comparison.
05/10/2016:Another jerboa – this time a Kozlov’s Pygmy Jerboa – joins the menagerie.
05/09/2016:Responding to the sad tale of a vanishing squirrel, the new page Preventing Escapes details ways to keep adventurous creatures from striking out on their own in search of new homes.
05/08/2016:The Green Wyvern insisted on an updated portrait for the Gallery, showing off his fine emerald necklace. (The bling started out as part of the safety chain, which he wanted to keep instead of passing it along to the next new member of the menagerie. Fortunately, it was long enough to spare him a bit!)
04/22/2016:A big day! Finished another addition to the walkabout mini-mousie collection and posted a composite portrait to the Gallery. Then, having finished the much-delayed second member of a pair of hamsters I gave them their page in the Gallery too.
04/18/2016:Finished polishing the portraits of the latest entrant in the cutest-rodent stakes: a Lesser Jerboa. He’d really like to be the Featured Creature, but for now Big Red and his movie own that spot, so he’s stuck with his page in the Gallery.
04/17/2016:Completed a stop-mmotion video of the Red Wyvern and posted it to YouTube as Big Red on the Move.
03/28/2016:Returned to the Red Wyvern and posted a new photo essay to the “In the Workshop” section: Corrective Surgery, tracing the steps needed to let him stand on his own.
03/26/2016:Posted pictures of the Red Wyvern to the Gallery. He was started before his predecessor and then set aside on what turned out to be a well-founded suspicion that he was too big for his lack of britches. He seemed finished on March 21, then required two days of surgery and another two to develop a useful set of photographs.
03/09/2016:Finally finished the first creature since the convention that ate most of February – a Green Wyvern (four-limbed dragon) with pleated silk wings – and added a huge set of pictures to the Gallery.
02/06/2016:Posted pics to the Gallery of a frog that first appeared in a vision quest.
02/02/2016:Posted a pic of the Bernese Mountain Dog at home with his model and grinning at the world.
01/30/2016:Completed a new venture into big-canine-land – a Bernese Mountain Dog – and posted pictures of a series of poses to the Gallery, along with some construction details.
01/25/2016:Posted a pic of the beagle meeting her model to the Gallery.
01/18/2016:Added an at-home picture of the Teddy Bear Hamster to the Gallery.
01/09/2016:Added still images of the best desk toy ever – a foot-long purring cat – to the Gallery.
01/04/2016:Replaced the art on the “navmanders” – the little circles with arrows and creeping salamanders – that you can use to move through the Gallery pages. (Updated the old images so they can’t be shown here, but to the eye of 2016, they looked rather like hairy cockroaches....)
01/03/2016:Finished replacing the site banner (which had been through half a dozen updates over preceding days) with something more open and easier to read. Old banner:

12/11/2015:Posted pics of the next commission – a long-haired Teddy Bear Hamster – to the Gallery.
11/Tit2015:Refilled the ornament tree for the holiday season and posted a new pic to the Gallery. LATER: Added another Russian Dwarf Hamster to the species’ page.
11/18/2015:Completed another complex creature – a Beagle this time – and posted pics to the Gallery.
10/31/2015:Posted pics of another new rodent – a Russian Dwarf Hamster – to the Gallery.
10/31/2015:Posted pics of another new rodent – a Russian Dwarf Hamster – to the Gallery.
10/30/2015:Added a composite shot of the new mini-mousie to the Gallery.
10/27/2015:Posted pics of a Black and Red Salamander, this year’s second railroad amphibian, to the Gallery.
10/17/2015:The first members of the new Walkabout collection: more mini-mousies, mostly from the go-to-meeting kit, posted to the Gallery.
10/16/2015:Posted the first of the creatures from the latest cross-country train trip – another salamander – to the Gallery.
09/21/2015:Completed the first big creature in a long time – Ma Coyote – and posted pictures to the Gallery.
08/26/2015:Posted pics of another pair of Salt Marsh Harvest Mice to the Gallery – the southern subspecies this time – along with a bit of waxy habitat of their own.
08/17/2015:Posted pics of a pair of Salt Marsh Harvest Mice to the Gallery – along with a bit of waxy habitat.
08/12/2015:A new insight can turn the world on its head. The shrews (July 16) included a huge breakthrough in ear technology: in addition to its well-known properties, a dab of beeswax can turn wool into cartilage. This proved so useful to the mousies (August 3) and the new chipmunk (August 8), that every rodent, cat, or dog still in reach of the felting bench started to scream for attention. August 10 was Ear Day for everybody, and today the resulting photography was finished and added to the Gallery. See the results most vividly with the Momonga, but everyone still at home got the upgrade, and almost all have photos of it on their pages. And if your felted friend feels left out, get in touch! If you arrange the transportation both ways, the upgrade (along with any minor repairs that may be needed) is free!
08/08/2015:Added the newest pin-based Chipmunk to the Gallery.
08/03/2015:Posted yet more fuzzy prospects for the Walkabout series to the Gallery: six tiny mousies, including True, the mousest mouse ever to hop off the felting bench.
07/16/2015:Forget the waxmanders - we want fuzzy Walkabout creatures. Completed a set of likely prospects – three Pygmy Shrews – and added their portraits to the Gallery.
07/12/2015:At last – an at-home picwe waf the Owlet, at large in the world for almost four years, to post to the Gallery.
07/06/2015:Completed the next round of the waxmander experiment - an Orange Salamander this time – and posted the results to the Gallery. Definitely not Walkabout material, as it’s mostly waxwork and carving and not something to do on the bus, but interesting.
07/02/2015:Posted the results of a new experiment - a completely wax-soaked Red-cheeked Salamander – to the Gallery. Not the next Walkabout project after all....
06/26/2015:Completed Walkabout Froggie #10 – the first on a magnet fastener instead of a pin – and posted a composite portrait to the Gallery.
06/23/2015:Finished the Golden Hamster who was the work-in-progress at the last two art shows and put up her page in the Gallery.
06/22/2015:Returning to the world of living Pokemon, finished a second Momonga (Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel) and posted pics to the Gallery.
06/13/2015:For the first time in two years, posted a new photo essay to the “In the Workshop” section: Jerboa Taking Shape, a step-by-step history of the Long-eared Jerboa from concept to completion. LATER: Updated the rest of the photo essays with the newest (admittedly old-fashioned) html trick, which gets all the pictures to show up as large as feasible for the screen they’re on – and the same size, too.
06/05/2015:Completed a new excursion into the outer reaches of cute and posted pics of a Long-eared Jerboa to the Gallery.
05/26/2015:Refurbished the chipmunk necklace and posted revised and original pics to the Gallery.
05/23/2015:Added the latest batch of hedgehogs to the Gallery.
05/14/2015:Uploaded pics of a young California Red-legged Frog to the Gallery. This one insisted on a trip outside to enjoy some real grass instead of the usual studio background....
05/06/2015:Posted a new bunny to the Gallery. Built in a week, and no sign of RSI in the Salamander’s paws.... No, spoke too soon; suddenly they’re tired....
04/29/2015:First batch of pictures with the new camera (the black screen and white starburst that was all the old one would show really put a crimp in its usefulness!) and a new venture into the farther reaches of cute: a Momonga – a.k.a. Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel – posted to the Gallery.
04/18/2015:Added another Clown Frog – also begun in the intervals between stripes and spots on the Malayan Tapir – to the Gallery.
04/11/2015:Added a new cat – well begun in the intervals between stripes and spots on the Malayan Tapir – to the Gallery.
04/02/2015:The first new creature finished in over a month: a baby Malayan Tapir, and well worth the wait, joins the Gallery. (Wrist trouble reduces the amount of working time in a day, and this baby needed a lot of attention....)
02/27/2015:Uploaded the latest Walkabout Froggie to the Gallery.
02/08/2015:Posted pics of the new magnet-riding Wolfhound to the Gallery.
01/27/2015:Added the latest addition to the Chipmunk family to the Gallery.
01/21/2015:Replaced the Fox Squirrel pics the Gallery to show off his new tail.
01/14/2015:Posted pics of a new magnet-riding Fox Squirrel to the Gallery.
01/06/2015:Added a fiesty little Fox to the Gallery. ALSO: Added a warning about leaping hat creatures to the Magnet Safety page.
12/19/2014:Replaced the pictures of Sugar Glider 4 to reflect a drastic revision of the creature – the first commission to bounce. She needed to look enough like a live sugar glider gripping a flat surface to serve as a stunt double in cage toy advertising, and she just didn’t. Although made to measure, her half-flying pose made her body seem huge by comparison, and her feet and tail really were way too wide. Since it seemed better to have two happy sugar gliders out in the world than one overweight and crabby one hiding on a shelf somewhere, I insisted on recalling her and building a replacement (see Sugar Glider 5). Then, even though it seemed likely that someone else who’d never seen the real thing would eventually fall in love with her just as she was, she refused to put up with knowing she was not true to life....
12/17/2014:Added a total bundle of joy – a Fennec (desert fox) – to the Gallery.
12/11/2014:Added another (and yet more realistic) Sugar Glider to the Gallery.
11/25/2014:Posted a dog named Sheep – the last addition to the menagerie before the weekend’s big show – to the Gallery.
11/22/2014:Posted the first specimens of a whole new (to the Salamander) species: a pair of Pikas to the Gallery.
11/21/2014:After making a firm resolution to keep the Salamander Feltworks page on Facebook up to date, added a link to it from the home page here. Now you can find out when someone new gets added....
11/15/2014:Added the new Sugar Glider to the Gallery.
11/03/2014:After much time figuring out how to photograph creatures who basically hate each other as a group, finally posted pix of a litter of carnivorous Grasshopper Mice to the Gallery.
10/28/2014:Posted a pic of the rebuilt sandpiper at home.
10/19/2014:Rebuilt the sandpiper – sans magnets – and uploaded a pic to the Gallery.
10/09/2014:Finished some revisions to Hedgehog 3 – an early and not totally successful experiment – and uploaded a portrait to the Gallery. LATER: Hedgehog 6 demanded a share of the action and a new portrait too.
10/07/2014:Added the latest commission – a pet hamster – to the Gallery.
10/04/2014:Uploaded pics of yet another Chipmunk – smaller and thus arguably cuter than her predecessors – to the Gallery.
09/30/2014:Uploaded a composite pic of the latest Walkabout Froggie to the Gallery.
09/22/2014:Replaced most of the Hedgehog pics with better ones – less background, more hedgehog.
09/20/2014:Added pics of a new batch of Hedgehogs to the Gallery. LATER: Repolished the toes on the latest Walkabout Froggie and got the pictures uploaded.
08/24/2014:Added the latest Chipmunk to the Gallery.
08/21/2014:Added the summer’s major work – a Tiger Wyvern – to the Gallery. He would have been a good candidate for a new photo essay, especially as he required the invention of a whole new process for producing thin wings, but the idea didn’t come up in time; few things are as inaccessible as a picture of the inside of a creature that already has an outside. But the page does have a couple of before-and-after images....
08/06/2014:Put up a pic and review of Chipmunk 16 en route to his new home.
07/17/2014:Posted the latest teeny tiny Walkabout Froggie to the Gallery.
07/04/2014:Returned to the avian world and posted a Fischer’s Lovebird – who insisted on pictures taken out in the world – to the Gallery.
06/23/2014:Lotsa website action: Added the latest batch of hedgehogs (two of them already adopted) to the Gallery, and posted a pic of a new and ultra-small Walkabout Froggie. Also noted the new-home status of the several creatures who left the Salamander’s hands over the preceding weekend.
06/15/2014:Wool to wool... completed my first felted sheep and added her pictures to the Gallery.
06/04/2014: Finished yet another litter of mice, including one who isn’t a sibling at all, and posted their portraits to the Gallery.
05/20/2014:Assembled the last few weeks of hedgehog experiments and posted them to the Gallery. With lots and lots of two kinds of teasel heads in hand, it seems likely that hedgehogs will become a staple of the menagerie – though they’ve a long way to go to pass the mice, now numbering well over a hundred.
05/10/2014: Revised the new Hamster to reduce the beady-eyed look, and added new pics to the Gallery. (Leaving the old full face to show the difference.)
05/09/2014:Added shots of the new latest Clipper Kitty, now with a name of her own – Lady Gray – to the Gallery. LATER: Added a commissioned Hamster to the Gallery.
04/29/2014:Added shots of the latest Clipper Kitty to the Gallery.
04/28/2014:Posted some hedgehog background: a picture of real teasels both dried and green from the collection now on hand and awaiting experiment.
04/17/2014:Posted pics of the latest experiment – a Hedgehog built on the seed head of a roadside teasel – to the gallery. Better Hedgehogs will probably follow, if another teasel stand comes to hand.
04/06/2014:Finished the next litter of mice, including one with a clip fastener and a bunch of wild and wacky but altogether real color combos.
03/25/2014:Tried out a variation on the Clipper Kitty design, with different type of clip replacing the other fastener options.
03/18/2014:Put up pictures of the newest kitty design, with an alligator clip replacing the other fastener options.
03/08/2014:Replaced all the pictures of the Western Gray Squirrel with new ones that do a better job of showing off her proper grayness.
03/06/2014:Took rodent realism to a new level with a Western Gray Squirrel and added a pic to the Gallery.
02/25/2014:Returned to the Walkabout Froggies with a new Blue Jeans morph Strawberry Poison Dart Frog, and posted a composite picture to the Gallery.
02/24/2014:Uploaded a new version of In the Workshop to show how the felting bench has changed over the years.
02/10/2014:Back in the flying hexapod biz, with a Pygmy Wasp Darter in the Gallery on flexible silken wings.
02/09/2014:Made the charming discovery that wall corners have enough steel in them to support a small magnet creature, and added a pic of the magnet-equipped members of the latest litter of mice enjoying the freedom of the house.
01/30/2014:Rebuilt the Waspoid, as the Wasp Darter wasn’t pleased with it, and added a pic to the Gallery.
01/28/2014:Added a new and strange hexapod, the Cerulean Wasp Darter, to the Gallery.
01/15/2014:Posted an outdoor pic of a couple of the latest mice to the Gallery.
01/15/2014:Added the latest litter of mice, somewhat belatedly, to the Gallery.
12/12/2013:Posted a pic of Sylvester the Magneticat and a dangerous friend to the Gallery.
12/10/2013:Posted at-home pictures of the Clown Frog, Cousin Watermouse, and Buttercrunch Mouse to their pages in the Gallery.
12/03/2013:Added a runaway fantasy creation – the I dunno what it is so I’m calling it a Black-beaked Lizird – to the Gallery.
11/30/2013:Added another magnet chipmunk to the Gallery.
11/20/2013:Added the latest batch of holiday ornaments to the Gallery.
11/17/2013:Double day! Posted a picture of Ears the mouse and her person to the Gallery, and added a new commissioned Cat as well.
10/27/2013:Posted a picture of the Sable Ferret at home to the Gallery.
10/10/2013:Put up at-home pictures of Chipmunk 15 and Moon Mouse.
10/10/2013:And another pin Chipmunk added to the Gallery.
10/06/2013:Added yet another magnet-based Chipmunk to the Gallery.
10/03/2013:Back to the super-tiny with a new concept: Walkabout Froggies, a collection designed to be enlarged in the future without adding inventory numbers, added to the Gallery.
09/10/2013:Added a young Large-spotted Genet – much more than a week in the making (the tail was more than a week all by itself) – to the Gallery.
09/02/2013:Added a new magnet Chipmunk to the Gallery.
08/20/2013:Put up the first entirely new page in a couple of years – Magnet Safety – expanding the notes that go on the “care and feeding” cards for the creatures with magnetic fasteners.
08/14/2013:Yet more mice – small enough this time, and possibly with enough control to do it again, posted to the Gallery.
08/03/2013:Added the latest equine creations, a pair of Shetland Fillies to the Gallery.
07/10/2013:Continuing the frog theme, posted some life-sized (or almost down to life-sized) Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs to the Gallery.
06/29/2013:Posted pics of the latest experiment, a life-sized Red-eyed Tree Frog, to the Gallery.
06/25/2013:Added a trio of Hamsters to the Gallery.
06/16/2013:Added a new Siamese Cat to the Gallery.
06/06/2013:Posted pics of the latest magnet-based Chipmunk to the Gallery.
05/26/2013:Added a new Clown Frog to the Gallery. The pictures are from the fifth set of images; for some reason, this little jewel just didn’t take to photography.
05/22/2013:Put up new pictures of the White-fronted Amazon Parrot – showing off the completely rebuilt beak. The original was so much work that it was possible to suppress the sneaking thought that the beak was way too big while construction was in progress, but afterwards there was no living with the results.
05/14/2013:Another major work – a life-sized (or perhaps a bit more than life-sized) White-fronted Amazon Parrot – added to the Gallery. Working bigger, they just don’t get done so quickly....
04/17/2013:Added a new photo essay, this one detailing the construction of Butch: see New Ivory-billed Woodpecker (also linked from In the Workshop).
04/15/2013:Added a long-term dream – a life-sized baby Ivory-billed Woodpecker – to the Gallery.
03/22/2013:Posted a new litter of mice to the Gallery.
01/28/2013:Emerged from a truly dreadful cold to post another bunny-furred bunny to the Gallery.
01/09/2013:Added a mallard duckling to the Gallery.
01/07/2013:Posted pics of the extensively rebuilt Sylvester the Magneticat to the Gallery. (He got tired of people asking whether he was a skunk....)
12/30/2012:Added a white rabbit to the Gallery. Later: Put up a pic of the sugar gliders with their newly acquired humans....
12/20/2012:Added www.salfelt.com as an alternate URL for the Salamander Feltworks site. And hilary@salfelt.com works as an e-mail address, too – no more writing too many letters in too little space for moi!
12/18/2012:Added a pair of only somewhat imaginary Baby Duckysauruses to the Gallery.
12/09/2012:Posted the season’ crowning achievement, a magnetronic Sandpiper to the Gallery.
12/06/2012:Added a slightly oversized pair of Cedar Waxwings to the Gallery.
11/27/2012:Added another big boy – a Bald Eagle – to the Gallery.
11/26/2012:Added a pair of Kingfishers to the Gallery.
11/07/2012:Posted another red frog to the Gallery.
10/30/2012:Added the latest batch of creatures, a trio of sugar gliders to the Gallery.
10/12/2012:Posted pics of the cougar cub begun at Steamstock to the Gallery.
10/06/2012:Posted a pic of the wolf cub’s new person – and enlarged the rest of her pics in the Gallery.
10/04/2012:Revisited the ornament collection to add some new steampunk models, plus a few of the regular cats and frogs and whatnot. LATER: Added yet another litter of mice to the Gallery.
09/25/2012:Added another chipmunk – a necklace this time – to the Gallery.
09/21/2012:Posted the latest cat to the Gallery.
09/17/2012:Added a yellow-eyed wolf cub to the Gallery. LATER: Posted pics of two newly costumed steampunk dragons to their page.
09/11/2012:Added another tree frog to the Gallery.
09/10/2012:Added a real Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel to the Gallery.
09/07/2012:Added another pin-backed Chipmunk to the Gallery.
09/05/2012:Posted new pix of Chipmunk 10, who now has a new face courtesy of the Salamander’s continuing education.
08/29/2012:Added a dachshund, to the Gallery – revealing some glitches to the new site coding (well on their way to being fixed as of 8/30).
08/26/2012:Big news: Rebuilt the Gallery itself so you can see just the kind of creature that interests you most. The historical record is still there too, of course, so you can also see everyone in the order of creation.
08/22/2012:Added the third creature from the summer’s train trip: Sylvester the Magneticat, the first to require two magnet sets, to the Gallery.
08/21/2012:Added two of the creatures from the summer’s train trip – a magnet-based chipmunk and a green lizard necklace – to the Gallery.
08/01/2012:Finished a young tuxedo cat and added her to the Gallery.
07/30/2012:Added yet another litter of mice to the Gallery, half on the traditional pins and the other half on magnets.
07/22/2012:Posted pics of the first magnetic froggie – a Strawberry Poison Dart Frog – to the gallery.
07/20/2012:Added the latest major project – Centaur Bill – to the gallery, including three pictures of the work in progress.
07/15/2012:Completed yet another new chipmunk – they’re almost impossible to keep around the house – and added him to the gallery.
07/09/2012:Posted pictures of a new discovery – Stegosaurus fibula (a dinosaur small enough to wear on a hat) – to the gallery.
07/07/2012:Added the next litter of mice, all with built-in magnets and keeper buttons, to the Gallery. (One looks remarkably like a baby rat – but odd things happen....)
06/21/2012:Added the other creature started at the SF Free Folk Festival, a wooly gray dog to the Gallery.
06/20/2012:Unveiled the latest technical achievement – Miss Magnet Mouse, complete with no-pins fastener – in the Gallery.
06/14/2012:Added a new hamster to the Gallery.
06/10/2012:Added a working pic of the hat squirrel – on a hat – to the Gallery.
06/07/2012:Added a another cat hat brooch – a female this time – to the Gallery. ALSO: Replaced pictures of the very first lizard with some in better focus. (Not that a truly sharply focused look is possible, given that what’s really out of focus is the wool....)
06/03/2012:Added a cat hat brooch to the Gallery.
05/29/2012:Added another squirrel hat brooch – a red-tailed black one this time – to the Gallery.
05/25/2012:Finished the black otter hat brooch from a recent trip, and added pics to the Gallery.
05/24/2012:Added a portrait of a lounging cat designed for an Asian doll to the Gallery.
05/21/2012:Posted at-home pix for the boxer family, the vixen, and the Clown Tree Frog to the Gallery.
05/19/2012:Added another little cat to the Gallery.
05/05/2012:Finished another travel-kit special, a chipmunk again, and added the pics to the Gallery.
04/30/2012:Finished a gray tomcat after three sessions in the traveling kit, and added the pics to the Gallery.
04/27/2012:Turned the singleton Least Weasel into a pair, with pics of both in the Gallery.
04/22/2012:Added a life-sized Least Weasel to the Gallery, with a set of pics replaced on the 27th.
04/14/2012:Posted lots of pics of the newest creature, a foot-long Beluga Whale, to the Gallery.
04/10/2012:Added the latest and most realistic California ground squirrel yet to the Gallery.
04/09/2012:Posted a snapshot of Terezz the cat – lurking by the sales cage – to the Gallery.
04/05/2012:Added another baby squirrel to the Gallery.
04/03/2012:Brand new! A photo essay of the construction of Draco Magnus: see Birth of a Dragon (also linked from In the Workshop).
04/01/2012:Added three new creatures to the Gallery: a Red-eyed Tree Frog that was almost finished a week ago, a new chipmunk that had been hanging fire in the traveling kit since February, and a Short-tailed Shrew, something not tried before.
03/31/2012:Added a portrait of the dog fox at home to the Gallery.
03/22/2012:Added the tenth litter of mice to the Gallery.
03/11/2012:Added a brooch-sized Siamese cat to the Gallery.
03/09/2012:Added another of the nifty finger froggies to the Gallery.
03/03/2012:Added a new squirrel to the Gallery: neat and petit and designed for riding on a hat.
03/01/2012:Added a honey badger – a creature completely new to the Salamander – to the Gallery.
02/14/2012:Added Draco Magnus – the biggest dragon to date – to the Gallery.
02/07/2012:Added a tiny otter – designed as a hat brooch – to the Gallery.
02/03/2012:Revised the red holiday frog to highlight his eyes with dark eye-liner, and added the new portrait to the Gallery.
01/30/2012:Succumbed to second thoughts and revised the blue wyvern, replacing most of the Gallery pics.
01/29/2012:Added another dragon – a blue wyvern – to the Gallery.
01/26/2012:Posted 13 pics of a whole new dimension in felted fancy: the Hexapod Wasp Darter, a wearable action figure, to the Gallery.
01/19/2012:Posted pics of three more baby dragons – hatchlings belonging to Sparkithrax, the mascot of DunDraCon – to the Gallery.
01/11/2012:Posted pics of three baby dragons – the first of a group intended for DunDraCon – to the Gallery. LATER: Updated the page for the worm to include the name bestowed after a composters’ contest.
01/03/2012:Added two more tree frogs to the Gallery.
12/26/2011:Added the latest equine adventure to the Gallery.
12/23/2011:Posted pics of a new chipmunk – mostly built on the 22nd, en route to see a grand-niece in the Nutcracker – to the Gallery.
12/20/2011:Added a new mare to the Gallery.
12/19/2011:One of the mice in Litter 9 demanded a new coat, and emerged wearing a fox suit....
12/14/2011:Added another kid toy – a moderately fantastic turtle – to the Gallery, along with pictures of the engineering that makes it possible to get him to stick his neck (and legs) out and push them in.
12/12/2011:Added another froggie to the Gallery.
12/09/2011:Added the first of a whole new concept – a wool ball shaped like a drowsy raccoon – to the Gallery.
12/06/2011:Added a clown tree frog to the Gallery.
12/02/2011:Added a baby squirrel to the Gallery.
11/29/2011:A busy day! Added a new litter of mice to the Gallery, plus new batches of Book Beasties and ornaments. All part of getting ready for the December Oakland Art Murmur.
11/26/2011:Added the latest engineering project, a free-swimming platypus to the Gallery, along with a couple of pictures of its innards.
11/15/2011:Added a tiny dog fox to the Gallery.
11/13/2011:Added a giraffe – a year in the planning – to the Gallery.
11/11/2011:Added another baby boxer to the Gallery.
11/04/2011:Went through the Gallery and edited each creature’s main page to show how you can go about adopting it – or commissioning a cousin for yourself if it already has a home.
11/01/2011:Added a young chocolate poodle to the Gallery.
10/29/2011:Replaced most of the pictures for the fifth chipmunk yet again, without the original scowl. (But there's one shot to show how she started out.)
10/23/2011:Put up a pic of the next dress mouse – and a cute little devil he is, too.
10/19/2011:Added a new frog to the Gallery – the first with proper toes.
10/15/2011:Added the Tennessee Stud to the Gallery, along with a couple of construction pix.
10/04/2011:Added another salamander necklace to the Gallery, in time to have at least one salamander to show at the next sales event (at the Oakland Art Murmur this Friday).
10/02/2011:Added a vixen to the Gallery.
09/26/2011:Added an owlet to the Gallery, along with some photos of the work in progress.
09/13/2011:Added another gerbil to the Gallery. This one has to be about the longest work-in-progress; she was started on the train home from Chicago in July, then set aside for lack of the right wool to finish.
09/10/2011:Modifications to the Gray Mare (#42) turned her into what is essentially a new creature, added to the Gallery as #106.
09/05/2011:Added the first batch of holiday ornaments to the Gallery.
09/01/2011:Added a chameleon to the Gallery.
08/31/2011:Added two pictures of the Super-Worm – at work and at play – to the Gallery.
08/28/2011:Added a figure of Pan to the Gallery.
08/19/2011:Added yet another litter of mice to the Gallery – all pale this time, as the lightest-colored mice seem to have the easiest time finding homes.
08/17/2011:Posted an at-home picture of the Kakapo – now named “Charlie” – to the Gallery.
08/08/2011:Added the Super-Worm to the Gallery.
07/30/2011:Added Creature #100, a googly-eyed frog, to the Gallery.
07/29/2011:Added the second train creation, a cream-colored gerbil, to the Gallery. LATER: Put up a pic of the latest dress mouse, a fine lady this time.
07/28/2011:Just home from a train vacation around North America, I gave the fifth chipmunk a tail haircut and ear job and replaced the pictures in the Gallery. LATER: Finished a golden ground squirrel (like a chipmunk with a plain face), mostly done on the train, and added him to the gallery.
07/05/2011:Added a tiny furry cat to the Gallery.
07/01/2011:Added a little sketch of a fox to the Gallery.
06/28/2011:Added the froggie built at the SF Free Folk Festival to the Gallery.
06/26/2011:Added a photo of one of the new mice peering out of the sales cage.
06/24/2011:Added another litter of mice to the Gallery. LATER: Added a new chipmunk to the Gallery.
06/18/2011:Added a kakapo (a flightless New Zealand parrot, about half life-size) to the Gallery.
06/03/2011:Added another chipmunk to the Gallery.
05/11/2011:Added a sixth litter of mice to the Gallery – along with a lone mousely experiment with an armature of heavy aluminum wire instead of pipe cleaners. LATER: Posted a pic of another dressed-up mouse to the fifth litter.
05/03/2011:Added a satyr to the Gallery – first venture with a creature possessing human hands and face.
04/29/2011:Waiting overnight did no good for the out-of-order pics problem this time, so I sent a “SQL-ing for Help” message to my webmaster, who fixed the code at once. The revised third eyas now has a full suite of pictures, with captions that follow the intended sequence.
04/28/2011:Started replacing the pics for the third eyas yet again; watching this year’s nestlings mature revealed too many deficiencies in even the corrected version posted April 4, so it wound up almost completely rebuilt. But the pics can’t be replaced all at once, because they wind up out of order until the site has time to refresh itself.
04/10/2011:Added a running puppy to the Gallery. LATER: Put up an at-home pic of the Boxer Family, with their real-world model.
04/07/2011:Added the Flower Kitty to the Gallery.
04/05/2011:Added a Frisian stallion to the Gallery.
04/04/2011:Replaced the pics for another eyas, who’d been added to the Gallery on the 3rd. This one is old enough to band – and strong enough to stand up on his own two legs.
03/18/2011:Added E-Chup, a new eyas (baby falcon) to the Gallery.
03/06/2011:Added Rosanewt to the Gallery.
02/17/2011:Posted a new picture of the second Chipmunk, out for a ride with her person.
02/16/2011:Added an at-home picture for the Abyssinian Cat – keeping watch, like so many of her fellows, over her person’s computer.
02/14/2011:Added another Chipmunk to the Gallery.
02/05/2011:Added the Hexapod Lizard to the Gallery.
01/29/2011:Posted a pic of the white mouse from Litter 5, dressed for an evening on the town. A glorious destiny awaits him....
01/28/2011:Added the Sable Ferret to the Gallery.
01/20/2011:Added Building the Lindsay Raccoon to the site. Find out what was happening in the two weeks she took to build!
01/19/2011:Added the Lindsay Raccoon Kit to the Gallery. Work started January 5; she's the biggest and in some ways the most complex project to date.
01/03/2011:Added the Pine Marten to the Gallery.
12/29/2010:Added an at-home image for the Polar Bear. LATER: Added another Chipmunk—livelier than ever—to the Gallery.
12/23/2010:Added an at-home image for Get-Outta-My-Way Jack. LATER: Added Sparkithrax the Dragon to the Gallery, happily combining two of the Salamander’s lives.
12/15/2010:Added the Ring-tailed Cat to the Gallery.
12/13/2010:Added the latest Frog to the Gallery.
12/08/2010:Added the Guanaco to the Gallery.
12/05/2010:Added an at-home (well, at-work) image for the Wyvern.
11/28/2010:Added the Pride of Lions to the Galllery — a second experiment in building a set at the same time, so they interact with each other and make sense as a group as well as one by one.
11/26/2010:The second day of the second year of my felting life.... Another Thanksgiving with nephew and family allowed me to get pictures of the first pouches I made (never turned in to the school); see them at “Meet the Salamander.” I also collected an at-home image for the first Teen Unicorn, who happens to stand beside one of the early ceramic pieces.
11/23/2010:A busy day! Added the Ground Squirrel — the latest Amtrak special — plus an at-home image for Tilly the Chihuahua. Also adjusted “In the Workshop” to show the portable felting bench actually in use on the train.
11/11/2010:Added the Boxer Family to the site — three figures built together, so they play together.
11/03/2010:Updated Making Murphy with extra notes that pop up on mouseover.
11/02/2010:Added the fifth Mouse Litter to the site, plus two more images to the Yale’s page.
10/28/2010:Added Puff (an homage to the Magic Dragon) to the site. Meanwhile, the expanded back stories are up through #37 in the Gallery.
10/25/2010:Expanded the back stories on the first ten creatures in the Gallery.
10/21/2010:Added Murphy Kitten to the site, and put up a brand-new feature: Making Murphy, a photo-essay on the construction process.
10/20/2010:Replaced the Gallery shot and main image of the Shoulder Hamster, who’d been suffering from a serious case of lack-of-cute around the nose and teeth. The Salamander hates to go back to anyone who’s been declared finished, but made an exception this time.
10/19/2010:What’s new is this What’s New page — watch it for news of new features on the site, new creatures in the Gallery, and new pictures of the places creatures get into when they leave the Salamander's paws....
* A lot of nifty pictures have come in in the last couple of weeks, too: the Purple Bear, the Blue Frog, the Friendly Bear, and the third and fourth litters of mice, for starters.
* Ancient history: The Salamander Feltworks site went live on July 26, 2010, with Gallery entries through #46, the Salamander itself. The collection actually ran through #52, the Lioness, at that point, but an impending cross-country train trip got in the way of the rest of the job. (That was before Roderick finished the nifty do-it-yourself upload forms the site offers these days....)