Month: July 2026

Throwback Thursday: painted flags

On By CarynIn art, Craft

In April 2018 I decided to try making my own garden flags. I taped down cotton cloth on cardboard with masking tape, then used acrylic paint to completely cover the cloth.

Photo description: four garden flags freshly painted, drying on the cardboard where they were taped for painting

Once the paint was dry I hemmed the flags and sewed in the top channel so they could hang on my garden flag pole.

Photo description: finished flag hanging vertically in the garden

These flags held up remarkably well. If I were to make them again, I would be sure to iron the fabric before taping it down, and sew the pocket at the top wide enough to accommodate the loops that are on my holder. In summary, iron the fabric, and measure twice, cut once, which is good advice for most projects.

Allogrooming

On By CarynIn Cats

I caught Mr Tom and his Shadow in the meadow allogrooming, a type of cat community behavior that establishes bonds and hierarchy. They didn’t know I was in the coop run, so I was able to capture a video. I was actually able to take many one minute recordings before they spotted me, then after realizing I was there they both played it cool like they weren’t just aggressively grooming each other.

Photo description: two long haired cats in a meadow, one black, one white, black one looking at the camera

It came back

On By CarynIn Uncategorized

The hearty hibiscus was not doing well in the shadowed front garden bed, so in winter I moved it out to the meadow next to the coop. I wasn’t sure it was alive, but it put out leaves and buds this summer!

Photo description: hearty hibiscus with buds ready to bloom, coop and chicken in the background

I planted it near the rain runoff path, so usually I don’t need to worry about watering it. The cross vine planted there no longer needs watering, except when we get a week of 98 degrees. Then everything looks rather sad.

PVC overtone flute

On By CarynIn Craft, music, Uncategorized

Watching YouTube shorts sent me down another overtone rabbit hole. There was a person with a flute with no finger holes playing a lilting beautiful tune. Wha?! Some quick internet research revealed the Koncovka, a Slavic shepard’s instrument made from a long wood tube. The flute has two overtone series possibilities, one with the bottom hole open and the other with it covered, giving this simple whistle an astonishing number of notes for something with no finger holes. My next question was how to make one, and I found this short YouTube tutorial to make a PVC version.

I have some thin walled PVC tubes from an old Ladder ball game. These pipes have become materials for other projects more than they were ever assembled for the game.

Photo description: PVC pipe with a slot cut and sanded smooth, a section of dowel sanded to fit snuggly inside the tube, and a short section of red PVC pipe the same length as the wood and split lengthwise
Photo description: wood plug finished with butcher block wax and fit into the top of the tube
Photo description: red sleeve placed over the white PVC to create a narrow hole
Photo description: rubber band around the red sleeve to keep it tight and reduce air leaking
Photo description: finished PVC overtone flute

The tone of the flute is quite pleasing and very fun to experiment with. Below is an audio file of me playing the PVC overtone flute I talk about in this blog post.

I love it when my crafting and music rabbit holes merge and open a new room.

Jewel orchid

On By CarynIn Garden

My jewel orchid under glass is getting ready to bloom! It has sent up the spike and there are buds at the top.

Photo description: jewel orchid spike under an acrylic cylinder

It isn’t a great photo. When the blooms open, I’ll have to see if I can set up a photo shoot for it. I’ve heard the blooms aren’t very showy. Jewel orchids are mostly prized for the leaf decoration, which you can see in the photo above is showy.