there will soon be fairies at the bottom of my garden (well, one, anyway)

Oh'er!!!. Your little lady looks to me as though she is awaiting a happy event, new life for a new garden, you better keep your eyes peeled Fran, you could be in for a a surprise one of these days, lol....
I have a homemade plynth under my pixie so that I can see her amongst the planting, I popped an upside down plantpot in a bucket and poured concrete around it then knocked it out when it had set, hey presto pixie sits up high to survey her domain.....

lol, she's certainly a lot more down-to-earth than the usual run of fairy ladies!

that's a very neat idea, Lincs - I'd looked up "how to make a plinth" but most results were for buying one, and when I put "how to make" in quotes, so they had to be included in the search, there were some ery complicated ways involving cutting and bending and welding metal bars ...

your way sounds a damn sight easier! I had thought of getting broken paving slabs and just building a column, but of course would need to get the slabs, or slab pieces.

I've bought some ready-mix concrete, small bag only, to see how I get on with it (for making troughs etc, lot easier than making hyertufa from scratch!).

I'd been dithering about how to get re-usable moulds so I could cast small ornametns etc without needing a new mould each time. i thought of making indentations in finely-sieved soil or damp sand in a large tray - make an impression and then just pour in and leave to set

Come to that, i could cast my own slab pieces!

lol you've given me new inspiration again! if there were a GoY medal, I'd award yuo one

Put hypertufa into the goy search box and theirs some info there that may help

just for a bit of fun put "no-one loves a fairy when she's forty" into google, I remember it from family favorites on the radio :0)

lol did that ages ago, Pam, and have a load of links. I found and added to a couple of blogs on "fish box torughs" and did a blog of all links i'd found in GoY and elsewhere.

My problem is not so much making it (though it does sound complicated to a total newbie) as being able to see to make it. I'd have to get very close to see what I'm doing, and Portland cement is very fine, I've read; I'm worried about inhalation - and getting it into my eyes.

I've got dusk masks and protective goggles (though they do nothing to assist my vision!), but not sure how effective even they'd be against very find powder. lol and they're not at all sexy to wear ...

So I thought I'd start with ready-mix - still need to be that close, but as it's "add water and stir" I won't be that close for so long. If I manage that ok, then I'll try the next step up - but see how I get on with most basic leel first :-}

I got some wraparound sunglasses (amazon) that fit over my varifocals, they stop the glare and flicker from low winter sun, may work for safety but wash them under the tap or soon be scratched.
did you listen to tessie o'shea!

no, but will! have heard a couple of versions, mainly men-in-drag spoofs. I've got some wraparound shades too, hadn't thought of them before. thank you!

I can imagine that!......lol

I like this Fran....I'm sure she'll make a lovely feature in your garden.
Best of luck with your DIY plinth!

thanks, Scottish - she's more like me than the traditional fairy, so she'll fell like family, lol

Fab fairy! Well spotted! Mine is much more in the 'traditional' style, but yours is far more interesting!

Hmm....'fairy envy' an entirely new gardening experience! lol!

She is a lovely lady, I smiled when I saw her, Fran my plinth was made over 20yrs ago and has stood the test of time, been bounced a few times over the years as well, we have castle turrets around the garden as well, they were made the same day and for those we used the kids sandcastle buckets, just to use up the spare cooncrete, lol...

lol Karen! is there a "fairy" section in GoyPedia? I might get some ideas for the future - or find some non-tweem non-stripper fairies!

I just looked for the Amazon link, but it seems they were telling the truth when they said it was the last one in stock!

That's good to know, Lincs - I'll have some more of a think about mine, given the wonderful ideas GoYers have been handing me on a plate!

Well i'm sorry but that is the most ridiculous thing i've seen in a long time and the last picture looks like it belongs in a porn movie.

Having never felt the need to watch such a movie, I guess we' ll have to let you be the judge Scrumpy........

Ooooh, Scrumpy, I think you are blushing! ;)

eye of the beholder, Scrumpygraham - to the pure etc

and why only the last pic? she was equally naked in all the others!

But I bow to your superior knowlege of porn ... :-D

She's the earth-mother type of fairy; I'll have to chec out the neames of Earth Mothers in various cultures and see it here's one that might suit her.

lol, she could be Eve, wonder if they do an Adam??

and she's certainly a conversation piece!!

LOL..

Pity she couldn't find something a bit wider to sit on though - its tempting to give her a cushion. But as fairies are magic she's probably ok...

lol that's true! she does rather fit the width of her seat exactly - but maybe her wings are keeping her from making more than minimal contact

My fairy is a twee one but a gift from my aunty so she's special.....and seems to be doing a good job amongst the heuchera.....keeping the vine weevil at bay I hope.....

lol Pam, there's twee and TWEE - and all the ones I've found so far have been TWEEEEEEEEEE - i did see some "sleeping fairies" on eBay that were neither twee nor strippers, naturalistic poses and natural colours, and properly dressed! but, typically, I can't find them again.

Gifts have their own inbuilt significance, which (usually) outweighs all other considerations - one sees the donor when one looks at the gift.

But as usual it's "different strokes" your defiition of twee might be miles from mine and both would be equally valid (I seem to have an inbuilt aversion to "cute"; no doubt it's my loss)

oh, btw, Stera - I was looking at other garden statues, and the sitting ones all have seats as narrow as their bottoms. may be a way of saving materials!

How would Rhianon suit as a name?

Fran I googled earth mother names (I know I should be doing things!)
And palaeolithic figures look similar to your girl, try it.....Venus or Gaia seem to be there........

thanks, Pam! I'm sure I'll find a name that'll "click"!

Aphrodite...

lol Lincs, why not? I've been checking out earth-mother names, or trying, to, but Google isn't cooperating - i get histories of this name or that, but not a list, and certainly not a list with definitions.

there are several prehistoric statues of women, as fully-figured as this (or even more so), ironically called "Venuses" - the Venus of Willensdorf is the best-known, I think.

I was trying to find a British-Celtic name - might try aWelsh translator, see what that throws up!

It's threads like this that makes me glad I'm a male and don't have to read the inane ramblings of the knitting circle.
This is a gardening forum and our female contributors are on about fairies.
Give me strength.

Knew that would bring him out the woodwork
LOL..

You are the reason for the name Scrumpy, so pleased you are keeping up.

I have enjoyed reading through the comments Grumpy - sorry, Scrumpy!

lol LIncs, very true!

and double Lol, Shirley!

tried Welsh, Irish and Scots Gaelic - who'd beleive that "fairy" in Irish was - er - "fairy"??? at least, if the site was to be trusted, which I'm not sure it was

Its amusing Shirley, the green house is sorted,the weather is atrocious and the housework was finished for a while, so had to find someone to occupy the time with, anyway it would be so rude to ignore him, plus if he gets bored he gets annoyed....As usual he's missed a bit out....Even the most famous gardens have ornaments and statues in there gardens...

Well, life's too short not have a giggle now and then! What weather conditions do you have then Sue? It's chilly and grey, but dry down here.

Scrumpygraham:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16150

first line :-D

Shirley we are having a right mixture, started out terrible, then sunshine for about 3hrs,now ending the day the same way, rain,snow, hail, out around Rutland between 3 and 4.30pm and some of the fields were white over, then the rains came so we were driving through the flooded roads as it changed so quickly, bit of an exciting trip as the wipers couldn't cope at one point and you just couldn't see properly, although the lads we escort back and forth to school thought it was brilliant.....

I'm sorry your weather has been so bad Sue - can just imagine the school boys enjoying it all though! The weekend looks set to be 13 degrees - weird weather all round .....

weather's a bit mixed and mad all over, I think. never before had to have the heating on so high, or so early in the day

We have those light that come on when it gets dark......they came on at 4.30!
we had similar Lincs but not as bad, its very still out now , no wind but pouring rain......
hope its right about weekend I really dislike easterly winds

wow, Pam. the pc is set up at the mo so screen feces window, so i have to have blinds down and light on whenever i'm in here, morining or afternoon - bit of a shock to come out and see that the sun's shining everywhere else!

hadn't heard a weather forecast, but what you say sounds faintly hopeful - if it happens!

Pam we have a saying here that when the fair is in town anything can happen, its arriving on Sunday..
The plum tree is just coming into bloom so I'm hoping it doesn't stay bad for long as its going to be loaded if it doesn't get frosted over..........

Oops Lincs! Ours is in november and it Always rains!
Still its been a funny year we'll probably have a heatwave!

Oh yes that'll be good, it is a bit like a flipping yoyo isn't it, can't change it so go with the flow is the only answer...

I think your fairy will need to grow bigger wings before she gets lift off, Fran. I have enjoyed reading all the comments, made me smile :)

Have to say it was all changed today, glorious sunshine, all day in the garden, grasses all mowed and trimmed, good day all round.....

thanks Gee. I did wonder what the stubby bits underneath were - wing cases?? given her probably body mass, she'd need a hang glider!

aw, Lincs, i had some rain

Same here Lincs, and still abit of a chilly breeze, southeasterly though,
still and hazy start to the day, hope its nice eveywhere and no rain for you Fran

me, too, Pam, I've need a couple of dry days so I can get that tent down and packed!

I think she has two pairs of wings like a butterfly but she'll need more than that to achieve lift off!

that was my second thought - but symbolic iwngs only! maybe we all need symbolic wings, to remind us that we can fly if we remember ...

update: for some reason I've found myself referring to her as "Emma", no idea where that came from! but it seems that she's let me know what she wants to be called ...

ha! just Googled the meaning of the name: Wiki says it's "derived from the Germanic word ermen meaning whole or universal". think that'll do!

:o) fun read Fran glad you found a suitable fairy and now a suitable name her plinth could be a concrete mushroom! very fairy that, for any scathing males who scroll this far down lol :o)

thanks Neellan, she's a tad out of the ordinary!

the mushroom's a very good iea, thanks so much! will need to have a flast top, for stability, or maybe a "sunk" bit to sit her on or on

and as for scathing males, lol they're their own punishment!

Fairies need Mushrooms I'm told! think an indent sounds a good idea to keep her safe :o)

Their own punishment so true lol :o)

maybe I could plant some "magic mushrooms" around it, lol, then I'd think I could fly as well!

Not meaning to cast aspersions at my new neighbours, but after 60+ uears of living in Bethnal Green, I have the feeling that she ought to be cemeented to her hase, to make her less portable. (shame on me!!)

Probably as well Fran no aspertions taken! but it would be a shame if she slipped off her seat and was broken after all your efforts. :o)

ooh, there's that!! lol I've bought a small bag of ready-mixed concrete to practice casting and trough-making (I don't trust myself yet to mix proper hypertufa) - maybe I could make a couple of spares!!

For visiting fairies!!! lol happy casting :o)

lol thanks!

Your welcome :o)