It’s A Hedgehog Party!

What In The World Is A Party Hedgehog?

What do you think of when you read the word »hedgehog«? In German, the word for »hedgehog« is »Igel«, which sounds a lot like the English word »Eagle«, and hedgehogs (Igel) are very much loved in Germany.

What associations come to your mind’s eye? There are several terms in the German language, such as »einigeln« (nestling in, as onto the sofa in the winter), »Igelball« (hedgehog ball or spiky therapy massage ball), »Igelkartoffeln« (hedgehog potatoes – whole potatoes that have been cut to look spiky), »Igelstellung« (rolled up like a hedgehog), »Seeigel« (sea urchin), »Igelburg« (a hedgehog fortress), »Igelbär”«(a special kind of ant eater that has a spiky appearance) and many more. But have you ever heard of a Party Hedgehog (»Partyigel« in German)? 

Pierced by a hedgehog?

Lotte Wagner’s Inkbuddies recently featured the prompt “Hedgehog”. Why a prompt and what is Inkbuddies? More on that in a moment. 

In my speed video, you can watch me over my shoulder while I sketch my party hedgehogs, The video is relatively short at 6 minutes—I spent about 20-25 minutes on the hedgehog sketch. Later, I painted it with watercolors and filmed that, too. When I upload the video of that part of the process, I will, of course, also post it here on my blog. 

Does A Word Like “Hedgehog” Catapult You Back In Time?

Of course, the first thing I thought of when I read Lotte Wagner’s Inkbuddies prompt »Hedgehog«, was a line from a play from third grade in Mrs. Cacciatore’s class. “But Porcupine told me that it was a chair”. Well, Porcupine was of course a porcupine, which is different from a hedgehog. But with their many prickly quills – they do look a bit alike. And my brain was doing some weird German-English translation juggling act at the time. On top of that, I still hear my father’s voice, who used to tease me with this one sentence from the play.  (Occasionally, he still does today, too. But that’s just my dad). 

A Hedgehog Is Not A Porcupine

But since a hedgehog is not a porcupine, I had to let my thoughts flow and whirl even more freely to do justice to the prompt “Hedgehog”. That’s often the case when I’m painting or developing an illustration—I shimmy from branch to branch until I get hold of a tasty-looking fruit—until an idea pricks into my brain (pun intended) and takes root.

So Retro

And that’s how it happened. Because the other day (or was it last year? I don’t know. Time flies.) I had made canapés for the local street festival. I didn’t want to cook, so I skewered the canapés onto a melon and served that. Someone at the party shouted with a giggle – “A party hedgehog – so retro!”. That’s right. A party hedgehog like that is really mid-century modern. Super retro and all that. I was kind of embarrassed at first at the thought that it might be too old-fashioned, but no matter, the main thing is that I hardly had any work in the kitchen.

Mid-century modern/retro led me to me think of John Travolta, “Saturday Night Fever” and the disco ball. The Bee Gees song »You Should Be Dancing, yeah!« echoed between my ears. (Talk about unwelcome earworms!) From this bud of an idea, it was easy to imagine dancing party hedgehogs with cheese canapés impaled on their backs – as party hedgehogs, that is. (No hedgehogs were harmed in this drawing. I promise).

Voices, Colors, People, Experiences, Play

Why am I telling you all this? Sometimes readers and journalists ask me where I get my ideas from. 

Sometimes my ideas come to me like a burst of rain. But more often—especially in my search-and-find illustrations—they appear magically as I let my mind wander while I draw. They are dialogues between the present and the past. Little bubbles full of childhood memories-voices, colors, people, experiences, and play. 

My father said recently when I spoke to him on the phone that I’ve always had a great imagination.

It’s wonderful to somehow always keep my childhood alive. 

And that’s what I was thinking about when I drew my party hedgehogs. 

If you’ve worked up an appetite for more creative projects, I have another creative blog post for you to have fun with.

Lotte Wagners Inkbuddies

Lotte Wagner has a fantastic website called Inkbuddies. It’s for people who like to illustrate and draw just for the fun of it. Every two weeks she gives out a prompt, and if you’re registered on Inkbuddies—registration is free at the time of this writing—you can take part. Funny Fortnight is the name of her program, and I think it’s so wonderful to simply give my ideas free rein without any pressure. 

My Recipe For Happy Party Hedgehogs

Making a party hedgehog is super easy. You need:

• A large, round or oval fruit
• A lemon
• Smaller fruit or fruit pieces and cubes, such as strawberries, apple pieces, blueberries, melon cubes, grapes, etc.
• Cheese cubes
• Short kebab skewers and or toothpicks

1. Choose a large, round fruit, such as a melon or grapefruit. (An orange would also work, but then it would be for a party for one or two. I used an orange for my party hedgehog photo.) Cut it in half and place it on a plate so that the cut side is facing down.
2. For the head, cut a lemon in half through the middle and then cut that in half lengthwise. Scoop out some of the flesh so that the lemon quarter, and trim a little of the inside rind so the lemon fits snugly against your base fruit. You can use toothpicks to attach the lemon from the inside to your base fruit. (If you are using a large fruit, you could choose a pear or other larger fruit for the head).
3. For the face: To make the eyes, put two halves of a blueberry on separate small wooden skewers and push them into the lemon. For the nose, you can choose a strawberry or a blackberry and attach it to the lemon with a small wooden skewer. In my photo, I used the stem end of the lemon as the nose. That does the trick, too.
4. Then skewer the cheese cubes and insert them in rows into the large fruit, fanning them out to create the hedgehog »quills«. Make sure that the wooden skewers stick out of the cubes so you can top them with fruit.
5. Decorate the cheese skewers with colorful berries so that your party hedgehog looks spiky and hedgehog-like. The wooden skewers should still stick out a little as a “handle” so your guests can take some canapés from the hedgehog.

Enjoy your Party Hedgehog Party and Guten Appetit!