Nemo der Kleine Otter

Allow me to introduce you to little Otto Otter.  Here he is.

Woo hoo!  Here I am!

He went to live in Germany and we got sent some pictures and . . . ah, hang on . . . what is he doing?

Who is he playing with . . . ?

Could it possibly be . . . a REAL otter?

Otto vs Real Otter (with a nice chewy biro)

Yup, Otto went to live with Nemo the little otter at the Aquazoo in Düsseldorf.  Nemo is an Asian Short-Clawed Otter and is a minor celebrity in his home town.  He has hundreds of fans around the world, his own Facebook page (with over 2200 friends) and regularly appears in many newspaper articles and TV clips in Germany.

But Nemo is not an exhibit at the zoo. Nemo has been raised since birth by the director of the Aquazoo Dr Wolfgang Gettmann and his family, and as Asian Short Claws are so social and family-orientated, he now regards the Gettmanns and their dog Balou as his own family and loves their company.  These unusual circumstances arose when Nemo's mother gave birth to seven cubs at once. As otter mums usually have a litter of four cubs max, she found seven way too overwhelming to care for properly and sadly two cubs died.  The decision was made to take one of the other cubs away so that they would all have a greater chance of survival and so Dr Gettmann became the Daddy!

Baby Nemo being bottle fed.

Nemo in his favourite place - on Dr Gettmann's shoulder.

I thought it would be really sweet to have a picture of a Shark Alley otter with a real live otter so I made Otto and sent him over.  I chose to sew his eyes from felt rather than sequins so that he was completely safe for Nemo to play with, hence them not looking as super-shiny as those of the other sewn otters.

Dr Gettmann and his family went to a great deal of time and trouble to take the following shots, for which I am very grateful (I'm sure they had a lot better things to do!) and they're so fun and cute that I'd like to share them with you too.

"And who might you be?!"

Rolling with the homies

Got any spare?

Otto, Balou and Nemo.  Happy families!

(All Nemo pictures by Dr Wolfgang Gettmann)


UPDATE

In December 2012, I was lucky enough to spend some time with Nemo myself. Full story here!

Fun with Collage

Back in March I spent two days at the fabulous St Andrew's Primary School in Stockwell introducing SEVEN different classes to the joys of mixed media collage. Nature was our inspiration, as it tied in with their class projects, and some of the finished pieces were quite fantastic!  The kids were brilliant as well - very polite and flatteringly excited by some of the examples of my work that I showed them, plus some of the younger ones were delightfully and unexpectedly affectionate, which quite bought a tear to my soppy old eyes.

I have some of the work pictured here and I'm looking forward to the rest as I didn't get to spend long enough with each class to see the collages finished.

Beautiful Things

A visit home for tedious things (dentist, work) also meant a much less tedious visit to the wonderful Wisley RHS Gardens for some sunny floral inspiration.

This is one of my favourite pictures from inside the tropical greenhouse.

 

And here is some more gorgeousness.

Olympia's Big Night

Olympia Otter had a big night out at an Olympic Opening Ceremony party in Brighton yesterday.

 

Take a look at the Shark Alley otter-based website Get Buzzy With The Fuzzy to see what she got up to.

Summer!

Whoa - sunshine.  Steady on.

I've got so used to staying in, making and trying to psych myself up for some Shark Alley marketing and PR, that it was a shock to the system to get out of the house and enjoy some sun!  We took the number 12 bus from Brighton to East Dean (about 4 miles from Eastbourne), passing the gorgeous Cuckmere Haven on the way, and took in the Seven Sisters Sheep Centre and a bit of the footpath to Beachy Head (must do the whole walk at some point).  It was all very beautiful and good for the soul.

I've been taking a bit of a break from markets over the summer and concentrating on making lots of jewellery for the Shark Alley and Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous websites and to restock Oak Studio in Hampstead and Bellis here in Brighton.

I have been working on combining resin with paper, as I still love the colours and patterns of the handmade papers, and have been using gel resin to coat the pieces.  This not only strengthens them but also gives the most incredible luxurious glossy finish which really enhances the colours, especially the metallics.  I'm so pleased with the results.

Shiny shiny . . . very shiny

A recent trip to Falkiners in Southampton Row, London introduced me to the delights of Japanese Chiyogami paper.  This paper is screen printed by hand with patterns based on kimono fabrics and each sheet is just beautiful.  I could have bought them all, but at £7.00 a pop, I had to settle for an Origami pack of mixed smaller sheets!  They have inspired a whole load of brooch designs and are a joy to work with. As I only have a limited amount of each paper, each brooch is a complete one-off.

Olympic Otters

GODAMMIT I have succumbed to the Olympic hype and put together these little limited edition sweethearts in red, white and blue felt with white stitching.

Olympia Otter and her synchronised swimming team have quite naturally scooped gold medals in ALL the aquatic disciplines.

I'm taking them up to Oak Studios in Hampstead tomorrow, but they're also available on the Shark Alley website for a limited period (until 12th August - the end of the games).

IOSF

So delighted to say that Shark Alley otters are now on sale on the International Otter Survival Fund website - and two have gone to Japan already!