This is going to be a picture-heavy post. Apologies in advance to those with dial-up.

I finished Wilbur the Intrepid Tardigrade:



Here he is, sitting for his portrait. He's mostly felt - his "claws" (which I'm not totally satisfied with but can't think of a better way to do) are chenille stems. His back legs are jointed so he can sit down or stand up on his hind legs or walk on "all eights" like a non-anthropomorphized tardigrade would.

The French knot* "bumps" on his back took an entire skein of floss.



Wilbur researches his family. He thinks he bears some resemblence to that fellow in the top drawing. Wilbur is a "eutardigrade" or a "naked tardigrade." (If he had hard armored plates on his back instead of "ornamentation" he would be a "heterotardigrade" or "armored tardigrade.")

Wilbur is more amused than ashamed by the fact that he is running around "nakey."



Having been bitten by the travel bug from reading many travel books, and having read that tardigrades are found on every continent but Antarctica, Wilbur plots to be the first tardigrade to travel to that continent.

(I am VERY proud of that little suitcase, and am sorry the "travel stickers" don't show up as well - there's the ubiquitous "Paris" sticker, and also one from the Grand Canyon. There's one purportedly from the White Star Line (the steamship line that is most [in]famous for the Titanic). The one in the lower lefthand corner reads "Hotel Kodama, Tokyo, Japan." Which is an allusion to the fact that Wilbur was mostly sewn while I was watching "Princess Mononoke": Miyazake depicts kodama (tree spirits, apparently part of Japanese folklore) as little white beings that remind me a bit of animated fungi).



After realizing that Antarctica is in the Southern Hemisphere, and thus, winter is coming on there, Wilbur decides to postpone his trip and enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon bath with books to read in the bath (what? don't YOU read in the bath?) and a cup of tea.

(This is how big of a geek I am - can you see the water in the tub is purple? I put a pinch of my own bath salts in there so it would "read" as bathwater on the photo).

Here's another shot of Wilbur with his tub:


It's a piece of souvenir china from Hot Springs, Arkansas. I found it at one of the antique shops yesterday for $3. (There is a little chip out of the rim, and there are also nicotine stains in the bottom - apparently it was designed to be used as an ashtray). It says "Souvenir of Hot Springs, Arkansas" on the foot-part of the tub, and has a picture of Bath House Row (which I have seen!) on one side, and the convention center on the other. I do not know how old it is (probably not as old as it looks), but it's one of those things that I just love - it feels so mid-century and kitschy.

(*Hee...I wonder if a few years ago during the "Freedom Fries" flap, if anyone objected to calling French knots "French." "Freedom knots" is pretty laughable, actually)