Month: July 2020

Paint pouring rocks

On By CarynIn Craft

I have been hearing about paint pouring projects for about two years. At the beginning of the summer I purchased some flow agent (Floetrol, but there are others), but didn’t get around to giving it a try until now. I’m sorry I waited, this was fun! My kids really liked it, and it wasn’t nearly as messy as I feared it would be.

Preparing to paint pour

I lined paper plates with wax paper to catch the drippings. (When the paint is dry we will use the drippings for another project.) I put bamboo sticks across the plates to hold the rocks above the plate. I used 5oz paper cups for mixing and pouring. I mixed about twice as much Floetrol as paint, so the consistency was about the same as pancake syrup. When the solid colors were mixed, I poured spots of color into a different cup. Then I handed over the cup and let the kids pour!

Paint poured rock by my eldest

After pouring, we let the rocks sit for a bit, then moved them over to another sheet of wax paper so we could pour more.

Paint poured rocks waiting to dry

I don’t feel like we have wasted paint since we caught the drippings and used up all the mixed paint. The stir sticks will dry and can be used again. Some artists use washable cups, which is a good idea if this becomes a frequent craft for us.

Dried paint poured rocks

Once these have sat a couple days, I will put on a protective clear coat. These are too pretty to just leave to the elements!

Green grass

On By CarynIn chickens
Chickens at the “salad bar”

I purchased some wheat seeds for the two “salad bars” in the coop runs. The forage seed I was using had more dicotyledons (two leaf) sprouts than monocotyledons (one leaf) sprouts. The sprouts weren’t growing through the mesh, but bending down underneath. The wheat grass is working nicely as it can grow through the mesh and be neatly trimmed by the chickens, which they do enthusiastically.

Froggy went a courtin’

On By CarynIn Wildlife
Toad likes back rubs

I’ve seen videos of people giving a toad a back scratch, and the toad leans into the attention as if in enjoyment, but I didn’t think this was a regular toad behavior. Imagine my delight when one of the house toads let me give him (her?) a scratch! Oh wait, you don’t have to imagine, here is the video. Warning, my voice goes hypersonic and I speak baby talk to the toad (incidentally, I never use this speech mode with children, it is reserved for animals).

Ear saver head band

On By CarynIn Craft

As I make masks, I have long strips of waste fabric, so I made some head bands with buttons to try as ear savers!

Child’s mask attached to buttons on a head band

To make the headband, I made a strip of fabric 3” wide and 15” long for an adult size, or 3” x 12” for a child size. I folded the strip lengthwise with right sides together and sewed a 3/8” seam.

Sewing the seam for the headband

I used a tube turner to turn the fabric tube inside out, then pressed it flat.

Tube turner

To attach the 3/8” elastic, I folded the end of the tube to the inside, then made two inverted folds on the sides to reduce the width of the headband (other sizes of elastic would work as well). I sewed across the end to secure the elastic.

Elastic sewn in

After sewing in the elastic on one side, I measured 21.5” from the end of the fabric for the adult size (19.5” for the child size), cut the elastic, and sewed in the second side. With the elastic secured, I sewed on machine washable buttons.

Ear saver headbands (top child sized, bottom adult sized)

Mister mister

On By CarynIn Coop
Mister set up up in the runs

It is 102 in the shade here in the afternoon. I have iced foot baths, lots of shade, an oscillating fan, cool treats, I water down the ground, but I haven’t tried a mister. I had a mister that I bought for humans, but the humans were not that impressed (the youngest human likes to be soaked, not misted), so out to the chickens it goes! Not entirely sure what the chickens think of it either, but at least they didn’t freak out when I set it up (no broken wings). Picking a spot was problematic. I didn’t want it to spray on them, or the food, or into the coop. I settled on the corner of the run where wind blows the mist either way.