I had a request for a camel laser cut ornament, so took a slice of flame maple and line engraved an SVG camel image. I like a line engrave of SVG files better than a bitmap engrave for JPG type images.
I like the way the flame maple looks like shifting desert sands, especially when it catches the light on the move.
Back in June of 2012 I was still making jewelry to enter into the Fire Mountain Gem contest. I was just starting to put my head toward marketing and using purchased elements rather than components made from scratch. The contest really is to motivate buyers to purchase from the company, so the designs that win need to have a wow factor and inspire makers to buy. Custom sculpted elements aren’t usually in the standard beaders repertoire.
I fell short of the mark on this design. I love it, but it did not make the short list in the contest. I used a purchased wire knit chain and braided it, used purchased ribbon ends and clasp, and built a daisy pin using plated button and pin findings, crystal petals, crystal beads, and seed beads.
I certainly had a long list of purchased elements, but maybe my color scheme didn’t fit what the judges were looking for, or I used difficult to decipher techniques. Hard to tell. I was getting better taking project photos, though.
I saw a hint about making clips to hold down material in the laser cutter. The tip was for a different brand than I have, with a different grid, but I thought I could design my own clip.
I find the little straining strongman amusing, but it does stick up above the material, so has to be placed away from the path of the laser. I may design something more streamlined later, but the current version is functional so it might be awhile before need demands a redesign.
I found out about crepe yarn, which is a three ply yarn with a different construction. A single is spun in the S direction, then two plied in the Z direction. Then another single is spun with a Z twist, the plied with the two ply in an S direction. The resulting yarn has an interesting texture. I decided to try this method with the natural cotton I am spinning on the Ashford Traveller wheel.
I grossly misjudged the amount of Z twist single and ended up with way more than I needed to ply the three ply. Sigh.
It will be interesting to see how the yarn knits up. It does have more texture than a standard three ply, but because my cotton was spun from raw bolls that had not been carded, the yarn already had a variations in the spin.
What’s the test that it is actually cold in Texas? You find a dog and cat sharing the fuzzy blanket.
Missy the dog has always needed a couch buddy, and Sophie the cat is the most laid back, so I’m not surprised that it is these two we caught sharing warmth. Missy runs very warm, but has a large personal space, so doesn’t usually let the other cats near.
Critters and Craft 