Froggo footstool pics?

[brenda]

This project took several months, starting from drawing the design, transfering it to linen, then hooking the image with narrow strips of handcut wool fabric. Yesterday and today, I did the upholstery using layers of burlap, cotton batting, horsehair (really!), linen fabric, more cotton batting, more linen, and finally the rughooked covering. The French nails are all hand hammered over a braided trim.

The wooden base is antique, and I freshened the finish on it before the upholstery began.

This is the footstool I use every day, and I love having the new froggo design. The froggo scene is at dusk, and the outer scene with the damselfly (not a dragonfly) and the hummingbird is at daytime. The inspiration for the design was an antique French postcard, hence the line that splits the two scenes. It left room for some text, and I chose to use 'Sweet Home' for my froggo's special place.

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoy it!

The colors are more subdued in reality. My phone jazzed up the colors.

[George K]

That's just sweet as hell!

Wonderful work, and, obviously, your design.

Of course, you're not going to either let the frogs sit on them or put them in their home, right?

[brenda]

@George-K
Yes, it's my own design, with inspiration from the antique postcard as mentioned. I made many changes to it, adding the hummingbird, changing a butterfly to the damselfly, and adding considerably to the area in the frog's home, such as more water and plants. The postcard was only a line drawing, not colored at all, so I used colors that fit the story, even though my phone camera doesn't show them accurately.

The stuffing inside was interesting to figure out, too. I wanted the sides of the cushion area to be taller. There's a wonderful upholstery guy on YouTube, and I checked to see if he had any that would show me how to raise the sides. He has a video about redoing an 1870 Victorian chair. In the early steps, he created a burlap tubing by nailing each long side to the seat base, and stuffing it like a sausage to build up an edging of 3 or 4 inches. Bingo! That's the technique I used to raise the sides of the upholstered area for my footstool. Hubby thought it was rather ingenious, and it worked like a charm.

The inner part of the sausage ring is filled with layers of cotton batting and horsehair stuffing, held in place with linen fabric stapled to the sides of the wooden base. I bought a handy little upholstery air nailer. It's a great thing for this type of work . The end result has just the right balance between soft and firm. I have my feet on it right now. Ahhhhhhh.

Froggos can't be trusted to sit on it. They'd either hop off and disappear, poop on it, pee on it, or all the above.

[mark]

WOW! That is so cool! I love it. I am going to show that off to my artist daughter. She will love it.

[taiwan_girl]

@brenda That is awesome!!!!!!

[Horace]

Beautiful work Brenda!

[brenda]

@mark Thank you, Mark !

It's not something with broad appeal, I wouldn't think. It's a bit of whimsy, and I very much like to incorporate that feeling in every room of the house. Even our hall from the dining room to the kitchen has pictures of Jurgi, and little sets of vintage antlers mounted on walnut display boards. Those I got from Germany, just to make the hall interesting and amusing. They're real antlers from little mountain animals. I can't think of the name of them right now.

Your daughter is artistic with fiber and fabric, so she might enjoy my amusing little footstool. Let me know if she laughs. That's a perfect response to this piece.

[brenda]

@taiwan_girl Thanks, TG!

[brenda]

@Horace It would feel quite small to you, Horace, but it fits for my stature of a little over five feet. I believe yours should have an elk or bison, something majestic.

[Horace]

@brenda said in Froggo footstool pics?:

@Horace It would feel quite small to you, Horace, but it fits for my stature of a little over five feet. I believe yours should have an elk or bison, something majestic.

Thanks Brenda. I was thinking maybe a caped grizzly bear riding a winged hippopotamus with a unicorn horn, but maybe that would be too cliche.

[brenda]

@Horace said in Froggo footstool pics?:

@brenda said in Froggo footstool pics?:

@Horace It would feel quite small to you, Horace, but it fits for my stature of a little over five feet. I believe yours should have an elk or bison, something majestic.

Thanks Brenda. I was thinking maybe a caped grizzly bear riding a winged hippopotamus with a unicorn horn, but maybe that would be too cliche.

That sounds perfect!

Now I need to teach you how to rug hook. I've not taught it before, but you'll do great.

[Catseye3]

Luv these!

You are exceptionally talented, Brenda. I love being able to see your work.

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[Mik]

Great stuff. Just great. Frogtastic!

[Catseye3]

On behalf of TNCR, I hereby officially adopt 'frogtastic' into our forum lexicon.

[brenda]

@Catseye3
Thanks, Cats! It's fun to share these, especially
my own designs, which are always a bit quirky, and thus fit my style and personality. If the design makes me laugh, then I know it works.

[brenda]

@Mik said in Froggo footstool pics?:

Great stuff. Just great. Frogtastic!

Thanks, Mik!

I appreciate the new adjective, too. If we use it often enough, it might get added to the dictionary, or at least the urban dictionary . I shall be using it often, because it really is frogtastic!

[Mik]

Amphibilicious!