Wednesday
Jan252012
Frog face!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 2:15PM 
Yesterday we were collecting leaves and we found this fantastic frog leaf. Can you see the eyes and the wide froggy mouth?
The Blog of Small Things
"Violet Mackerel is a girl with a theory. Her theory is that when you are having a very important and brilliant idea, what generally happens is that you find something small and special on the ground."
- From "Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot", by Anna Branford.
Since reading Violet's first book, my daughters and I can't help thinking about her Theory of Finding Small Things every time we happen upon a lovely stone, or an interesting twig, or a lost earring. In fact, we've been doing it so often, we thought we might start a blog to record the things we find. It would be lots of fun if everyone joined in! If you find a small something, and you would like it to be recorded on the Blog of Small Things, send me a photo or a drawing of the thing you found, and a little story about what Important Thought you were having when you found it. (It would be best if your photo doesn't show your face, to keep your identity secret!)
I'll post your picture and story on the blog for everyone to see, and together we'll see how many Small Things we can collect. I have some lovely little packets of Small Things put together by Anna to give away to the first five people who send me a story.
Send your picture and story to studio@sarahdavisillustration.com
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 2:15PM Thursday
Dec222011
Small things in disguise....
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 10:29PM Hi,
I'm Stella and I'm visiting my friend Violet. I found a leaf that is shaped like a seahorse and a seed that looks like a flower with a ladybird. I am going to read Violet Mackerel's Natural Habitat, which has a ladybird on the cover. I have already read Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot.
Thursday
Dec222011
A small thing and a big thing....
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 9:24AM 
This is a petal with water drops on it that I found on my street while I was playing schools. I was playing schools with a big thing I found on my street - a broken drawer that me and my sister turned into a desk. I sent you a photo of that too, just so you could see.
Adelaide
Wednesday
Dec212011
All a-flutter...
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 4:24PM Hello, 
I'm Torin. I found this wing on a rock in my back yard. It was hard to take a photo of it because it is so small. It's a bit blurry, but that makes it look like it's fluttering.
Tuesday
Dec202011
Tiny and ancient...
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 10:52PM Peter Taylor is a writer and illustrator, a very talented calligrapher - and an admirer of small things, just like Violet.
Peter says: "I love photographing minute fungi growing on the ground and have always collected small things wherever I can find them. When I was a child, I asked adults who we visited as a family if they could spare something small for my 'museum', which I housed in a drawer. Many were very generous and some of the objects must have been in their own families for a long time. When I was 30 and moved from England to Australia in 1982, I worked for a shop owner and his wife who, as soon as the shop finished trading at Saturday lunchtime, took me antique hunting with them - and as you've guessed, while they chose tables and chairs, my attraction was always to the smallest things in each display. Some I've just had to buy, including an ancient Venetian glass bead, a tiny half-groat coin and pages of medieval books that could have easily been hidden if necesary when they were first written. This passion of mine for small things has often been remarked on by my friends, one of whom noted that even my wife is only 5 foot tall."
From Peter's collection:
An early 20th century toy: two storks that open, each with a little baby or person inside. These figures the size of a pencil point have jointed limbs that can be moved.
A complete 16 page London evening newspaper dated 1873, the size of CD. 17 lines of type fit in the height of the sharpened end of a pencil.